New Quail section

More good stuff from Gulsby and Lashley about ground nesting bird predation this week. Is baiting keeping coon populations propped up above normal levels? Hmmm
So, what I heard was they referenced a study that showed human feeding of coyotes increased the population and the alluded to it being more continuous or possibly year round. That nasty word - anecdotal observation in my area - very few people feed year corn round. None of my 15 adjacent landowners feed year round. A few of them not at all - half about two months - and me about 6 months. There are 100’s of thousands of acres in this state where supplemental feeding is not even allowed - as in all federal and state owned lands. At least in the podcasts I listened to, they talked about feeding of corn and how it might affect coon abundance - but did not provide supporting documentation specifically related to coons. My personal opinion is, it probably would - especially if provided year round - not quite so sure if only provided two or three months - but I have no evidence to support that.

Their reference to trapping and the quickness with which coon populations recover is similar to what I see. That is why I do my trapping Mar-June. I usually see considerable repopulation within four months of my stopping trapping. I have not seen that the last 18 months - I would guess that is more related to something outside my control - maybe distemper or parvo - but I would guess my coon population the last two years is 25% of previous years. During that same period, my feral hog population is 10% of what it was two years ago.

There are so many variables. And while controlled research is often considered more true to form and more factual - it is somewhat anecdotal also, because it is generally site specific and likely not representative of the entire range of a particular species. As an example - these guys question the effects of supplemental feeding turkeys. Tall Timbers Plantation has found great value in supplemental feeding of quail - well, that is quail and not turkeys. About five years ago, I had two adult hen turkeys and eleven poults show up about the first of august. I mowed a five acre food plot and me and my wife fed them a mixture of bird seed and milo - for two months - until they finally left the end of September. We spread the seed randomly around the cleared field. Not a bird was lost in that two months. That is phenomenal in my opinion. I am not sure eleven poults living together have all survived two months - anywhere. 😉

And yes, that is definitely anecdotal evidence - but it matches success seen with supplemental feeding of quail in northern Florida. I dont relate that experience to support supplemental feeding of turkeys - but mention it because, even though I saw success and so did Tall Timbers - I think it is a long ways from proving successful across the whole of turkey range. I think a lot of things are probably consistent across the whole range - but I think several studies would need to prove that.
 
We certainly agree that feeding is not a problem when you’re also doing Tall Timbers-level management!
 
We certainly agree that feeding is not a problem when you’re also doing Tall Timbers-level management!
Yes - and how you feed and what you feed and where you feed would make a difference also.
 
Yes - and how you feed and what you feed and where you feed would make a difference also.
Lol. Been knowing some master baiters my whole life. Especially back when it was illegal. :)
 
Lol. Been knowing some master baiters my whole life. Especially back when it was illegal. :)
I have thought about doing what tall timbers does even though I dont have quail - just to see if it benefited my cotton rat population like it did theirs. My cotton rats are almost absent on my place now and they used to be thick. If the few rabbits I have had another animal to absorb some of the predation, their population might benefit. But I always worry if the prey base increases, will the predator numbers follow suit.
 

Research on supplemental feeding of quail from Tall Timbers
I’ll tell you swamp. My habitat work, which mirrors theirs on a much smaller scale, has increased the rat population tremendously. I am seeing more and more quail every time I am on the farm.

AND, the rats bring in snakes. The areas where I find the most field rats I find the rattlesnakes.

Also the rats play havoc on my barn and seed and equipment storage. I have to keep rat poison out at all times.
 
I’ll tell you swamp. My habitat work, which mirrors theirs on a much smaller scale, has increased the rat population tremendously. I am seeing more and more quail every time I am on the farm.

AND, the rats bring in snakes. The areas where I find the most field rats I find the rattlesnakes.

Also the rats play havoc on my barn and seed and equipment storage. I have to keep rat poison out at all times.
I have almost no cotton rats and no snakes. I used to have a lot of both. No quail either - although I never expect to have quail. I do have more rabbits and turkeys, now. Even when I had a lot of cotton rats - I had very few around the house area. They seemed to stay more in the fields - or my dogs maybe caught most of them. I can bush hog a five acre field and not see a single cotton rat - I used to see fifty. That is the case on both my properties - six miles apart.
 
I have almost no cotton rats and no snakes. I used to have a lot of both. No quail either - although I never expect to have quail. I do have more rabbits and turkeys, now. Even when I had a lot of cotton rats - I had very few around the house area. They seemed to stay more in the fields - or my dogs maybe caught most of them. I can bush hog a five acre field and not see a single cotton rat - I used to see fifty. That is the case on both my properties - six miles apart.
Weird. My scenario is the opposite. I have them everywhere, as well as rabbits. Gonna do a rabbit hunt soon.
 
I have almost no cotton rats and no snakes. I used to have a lot of both. No quail either - although I never expect to have quail. I do have more rabbits and turkeys, now. Even when I had a lot of cotton rats - I had very few around the house area. They seemed to stay more in the fields - or my dogs maybe caught most of them. I can bush hog a five acre field and not see a single cotton rat - I used to see fifty. That is the case on both my properties - six miles apart.
Do you do burns? I’ve been burning the snot out of my place.
 
Do you do burns? I’ve been burning the snot out of my place.
Not since I almost burned my neighbor’s house down. Aint never burning again. As far as the rats go, I dont think that is what is holding them back. 140 acres I own used to have cotton rats in everything I bush hog, and I asked the farmer when I bought it if he had ever burned it - he said not in the 30 years he owned it. Said was too wet in winter to burn it and you would have to be crazy to put a match to it in summer
 
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