Middle Tennessee. This home place farm is about 246 acres and I am all over it pretty much all the time. In the past 5 OR 6 years have not seen any quail at all. Today ridding along and near the edge of a wheat field jumped a covey that looked like could be 30 birds or more about 2 months old. Really makes you wonder where did they come from all of a sudden. Anybody got any ideas on anything I could do to keep them around.
- Thread starter jm.
- Start date
pete black
Well-known Member
On that many acres there should be enough cover for them. Perhaps they were coop raised and then released although the survival rate for them is low. I heard my first quail call in 2 years on my land in n. al. today. No thoughts on how to encourage them to stay.
I've been over a large portion of both West TN and Southwestern KY this year. I have heard tons of Bobwhites calling. I have heard virtually none in years but they seem to be everywhere this year. I'm glad to see it. Maybe the population is on the mend?
I released around 200 birds last fall in middle TN where I grew up. Maybe they came over to your house?
I released around 200 birds last fall in middle TN where I grew up. Maybe they came over to your house?
FLOLDFORD
Well-known Member
- Location
- Lakeland Florida
When I was growing up here in central Florida quail were abundant but not anymore. I haven't seen a covey within 20 miles of my house in years. Development is the biggest reason not any woods for them anymore.I spent a lot of Saturday's with my father walking the woods behind 2 good bird dogs.My dad loved to hunt the singles after a covey was flushed more than anything he always had some really good dogs.Went on a hunt a few years back where they released pen raised birds just wasn't the same.The guide had to kick them to get them to fly. Shot a couple couple and then went back to the truck it just wasn't much fun.
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
I have em on my place in Clinton County MO but not as many as just a few years ago. An old timer told me 40 years go that domestic cats are the worst thing for game birds. I know we have a heavy amount of coyote and coon too. Of course owls eat the young uns too. They are fairly close to the bottom of the food chain.
Best thing you can do is create good cover for them to escape into.
Best thing you can do is create good cover for them to escape into.
I had just assumed they were no more because we farm a lot of land and haven,t heard or saw one in several years. Most of the old timers blamed it on the turkeys coming back. They were saying the turkeys were eating the small quail. Have plenty of turkeys, some coytes , bob cats and what ever but really got excited when I saw a covey with that many. Going to be checking that field of wheat pretty regular. May just bushhog some down or leave some strips.
Hay hay hay
Well-known Member
Simple, fence rows with overhead cover. If you leave the fencerows tall with horse weeds and overhead cover to stop the overhead preditors you can have quail. If your horizon to horizon mowing motivations force you to mow from edge to edge the quail will disappear.
Quail need places to raise a brood and over story (weeds) to keep the bird preditors away. We are all obsessed with neatness. Bad for wildlife.
Dense fescue sod is also tough on chicks. No way to move on the ground. Common sense really.
Quail need places to raise a brood and over story (weeds) to keep the bird preditors away. We are all obsessed with neatness. Bad for wildlife.
Dense fescue sod is also tough on chicks. No way to move on the ground. Common sense really.
Paul from MI
Well-known Member
We had quite a few here in Southern Michigan until a couple of really hard winters in the late 70's. We have some guys that release pen-raised birds to train their dogs about 1/2 mile away. I had a pair of them winter in one of my open pole barns, right next to a wagon load of ear corn. Haven't seen any since, but I hear coyotes all the time.
Larry NEIL
Well-known Member
I used to hunt quail in south east IL. from Effingham down to the Ohio river. Also hunted pheasants around my place here. That was 25+ years ago. Coyotes ate what ever survived the clean farming revolution.
Gambles
Well-known Member
Several years ago, my brother hit a turkey with his car and gutted the bird. He found about 5-6 baby quail in the turkey. Since turkey have taken over, our quail is way down. I saw a field with over a hundred turkey in it recently.
I'm sure there are other reasons for a lower quail population, but having turkeys in the area doesn't help.
I'm sure there are other reasons for a lower quail population, but having turkeys in the area doesn't help.
Nancy Howell
Well-known Member
When James and I first married, the call of the bob white was common. (25 yrs ago) Don't know exactly when I missed them, but they've been gone from this area for about 15 yrs now.
Wildlife dept. tried restocking, but survival rate is just about zip.
While fire ants and coyotes are generally blamed, Wildlife experts say its the loss of habitat.
Sure miss that call.
Wildlife dept. tried restocking, but survival rate is just about zip.
While fire ants and coyotes are generally blamed, Wildlife experts say its the loss of habitat.
Sure miss that call.
Fergienewbee
Well-known Member
Quail need brushy thickets for loafing and escape cover. Wild plum, gray dogwood, berry canes, etc. Chicks need an overhead canopy of weeds with open ground beneath to forage and catch insects. If there are weeds, food usually isn't a problem. Fescue is death for quail. You can cut trees and let them lay where the fall in fence rows or drag a couple of trees into a field. I do that a lot for rabbits and they like the same kind of cover as quail. Missouri has some of the best information on quail habitat. Google Covey Headquarters or MDC.gov.
I hunted quail in Oklahoma. I'll NEVER forget that experience. What a rush on the covey rise!!
Larry
I hunted quail in Oklahoma. I'll NEVER forget that experience. What a rush on the covey rise!!
Larry
Texasmark1
Well-known Member
Have fire ants? You can thank them for the problem. When they invaded N. TX. the Quail left, one way or the other.
Mark
Mark
GeneMO
Well-known Member
- Location
- Pilot Grove, Mo.
Edge feathering along the timber and strip disking/food plots rotated every 3 years.
Get with your consevation folks. Here in MO we have "Private land" folks with our Missouri Dept. of Conservation. They have some pretty good ideas.
The edge feathering, where you cut all the trees along a section of timber, maybe 50' back into the trees and let em lay where they fall. They also suggest you spray with roundup first to kill any fescue along the tree line.
Good to hear you have some. They are near extinct here in our area.
Gene
Get with your consevation folks. Here in MO we have "Private land" folks with our Missouri Dept. of Conservation. They have some pretty good ideas.
The edge feathering, where you cut all the trees along a section of timber, maybe 50' back into the trees and let em lay where they fall. They also suggest you spray with roundup first to kill any fescue along the tree line.
Good to hear you have some. They are near extinct here in our area.
Gene
There's ALLOT going on to restore the quail numbers through various conservation organizations.
Nancy, we're hoping we'll hear the bob white again soon thanks to the efforts of UNT Quail research and restoration.
http://biology.unt.edu/unt-quail
I'm not sure about Kentucky but I suspect the covey you came across was the results of someone's efforts.
Nancy, we're hoping we'll hear the bob white again soon thanks to the efforts of UNT Quail research and restoration.
http://biology.unt.edu/unt-quail
I'm not sure about Kentucky but I suspect the covey you came across was the results of someone's efforts.
T in NE
Well-known Member
- Location
- Cambridge, Nebraska
Yesterday I was riding along a fence spraying thistles and drove by a bobwhite sitting on a post. Guy behind me had his daughter with him, they stopped and watched it for a minute before it flew away.
Never saw one til I moved to Nebraska.
Never saw one til I moved to Nebraska.
Tim Barnes
Member
I'm in NW South Carolina and had't heard a bobwhite in about 20 years until last year. I heard one lonely bird calling for a few weeks, then nothing. I've seen no fire ant nests up here in the foothills of the Blue Ridge but we got plenty of coyotes and turkeys plus a feral hog will wander through now and then. I reckon the birds are about extinct now. We had plenty back when we ran a few cattle & kept hogs in confinement. I sure miss them. You can buy pen raised, dressed birds at the state farmers market but they sure are proud of them. The last time I looked it was about $10.00 for 3 birds.
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