Quail on my property.

Art Eatman said:

Quail are fun people. During my Terlingua years I had a house covey of blues that would come when I called, eager for the hen-scratch I'd feed them. Finally had them gentled enough to feed under the chair I was sitting in. Bunch of welfare queens.

Click to expand...

Growing up we always had a house covey and they too were fed very well. They were fun to watch.

Good news for you. I'm not really a quail hunter, but I have lived in Fl., Tn., and NC. Seems like every time I was in the woods hunting, training, or whatever well into the 90's I was almost always flushing quail. I can't remember the last time I've seen wild quail anywhere.

Feral cats and fire ants are very detrimental to a quail population.

Art Eatman said:

Feral cats and fire ants are very detrimental to a quail population.

Click to expand...

I don't have fire ants up here yet, but the Ag Department says it's a matter of time..., but like fox we're up to our armpits in feral cats..., at least where it's agains the law to take them out.

LD

I’m cursed. We had quail on my grandpas farm when I still lived in KY. We didn’t have many though so we left them alone. At that time a few older gentlemen owned a contiguous 2500 acres which served as my semi-private hunting oasis. My grandpa is the only one left. Where they had all got their farms into govt programs for set aside and bird populations things were coming back and doing well. Now the new owners are all leasing out to industrial farms and rowcrop is pushing the animals back into the rocky wooded hillsides. Density is up and the animals are healthy...but I live in TN now and don’t want to have to buy Vaseline to ease the pain of an out of state hunting license...

Art Eatman said:

Feral cats and fire ants are very detrimental to a quail population.

Click to expand...

Yep, luckily we don't have any cats on our place and no fire ants...yet. The fire ants are devastating.

FL-NC said:

Good news for you. I'm not really a quail hunter, but I have lived in Fl., Tn., and NC. Seems like every time I was in the woods hunting, training, or whatever well into the 90's I was almost always flushing quail. I can't remember the last time I've seen wild quail anywhere.

Click to expand...

They are slowly making a come back in the portion of Texas where my land is. Ten years ago I thought I would never hear another quail call again.

If you have a deer feeder they will come to the feeder for corn. To make it better go to the local CoOp and buy chicken scratch and throw out 2 pounds every time you are around your deer feeder. Quail are hard to keep around in Oklahoma because they travel so much. They are paired up and sitting now but when the chicks are large enough to move they will travel. Here today and gone tomorrow.

Go after the ants with a vengeance.
They are a major nemesis of juvenile rabbits and quail.

Lot more quail in my neighborhood than I usually hear/see when I’m out looking for them in the woods.

Bfh_auto said:

Good idea. I'm not far enough West for mesquite. All I have are Hackberry, Mulberry, and Cottonwood.

Click to expand...

Trimming the cedar trees can give them some cover too.

Bfh_auto said:

I will not let cedar trees live on my property. They make good habitat for some things, but the bad outweighs the good.

Click to expand...

True enough..

Used to be quite a few Valley Quail out here, but with the total lack of rain, they are far and few to be seen. Used to be quite a few springs out here in the hills, but lately they are all dried up. Seems the most of them have moved close to the river, which has a lot of homes, and no hunting obviously. BTW yesterday it was 126 degrees out here, and definitely not livable for man or beast, supposed to be that way for the next few days. Reckon I'll get in the motor home and head up north for a bit.

Quails is practically chickens. A slingshot with steel slingshot ammo is all that is needed. Don't alert the media. If anybody asks, to say the poor bass turds dropped right in front of you of a heart attack. Or use a bolt of lightning as the culprit. Just hide the slingshot in your backpack. Ummm... nice quail.
I have never done this, by the way.

I saw one quail on the side of a road last week driving through Blackwater state forest. First I've seen here. There are some efforts going on there to improve habitat.

Feral cats and fire ants are very detrimental to a quail population.

Click to expand...

As are dogs, coyotes, skunks, fox, snakes, chemical pollution, farm equipment, habitat loss, raptors, and on and on.

My uncle used to love quail stuffed with wild rice and baked with oyster dressing. Since dad, my husband and a certain unnamed idiot that shall remain my brother have made the coyote population very rare we are starting to see quail again. Since we still pasture cattle the trees and brush along the fence rows make good cover for both quail and rabbit. Add to it that certain unnamed idiot also drills about ten feet of a mixture of oats, wheat, rye and rapeseed that we allow to seed out next to the pastures. Oddly enough, the fence rows also have a rather large percentage of catnip which seems to attract the bird population as well.

My dad is quite happy that the rabbit population has "bounced back" to almost what he claims they were in the 1960s guess who he insists has to fry the things for him. His favorite is rabbit that the carcass has been soaked overnight in brine then coated in a mixture of homeground wheat flour and cornmeal then fried. Gravy, baking powder biscuits and fried sliced potatoes along with either green beans or peas complete the meal. Silly me, I honestly thought when he married my stepmother I wouldn't have to cook for him anymore.

Dang ya got my mouth watering and I'm slobbering all over my clean T shirt.

Art Eatman said:

Feral cats and fire ants are very detrimental to a quail population.

Click to expand...

As is habitat loss, farm chemicals, every snake, raptor, skunk, raccoon, and on and on...............

FL-NC said:

I saw one quail on the side of a road last week driving through Blackwater state forest. First I've seen here. There are some efforts going on there to improve habitat.

Click to expand...

Consider yourself lucky.

Around here, tge red-tailed hawks are about as hard on small game as any other predator.

<*(((>< said:

Pile a bunch of brush in an area near some water and cover, quail love brush piles, makes for a secure home. We had about 100 quail a year ago in our back lot near our brush pile.

Click to expand...

If quail have enough native tall grass (i.e. bluestem) they don't need brushpiles. The reason people think quail need brushpiles is because we have eliminated most of the native grasses they evolved with, and it's a 2nd best option for cover.

When I was a kid I always heard the bobwhite quail, in the fence rows/overgrowth. Fire ants were the change I noticed more than anything else.

You knock out cover and you’ll see rabbits have problems but bring it back and they are back.

Only thing that doesn’t fit that thought is the fact that chaparral birds have been fine despite being ground nesting birds too.