leader in habit and quail success

Weimdogman said:
Cattle scratch around in the fields during the winter. Makes it easier for birds to find feed and food. Birds pick at corn out of copies. Cattle also fertilize the grasslands.
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Makes sense. I love the snowy days with cattle near by and busting a covey of quail and pheasant simultaneously
 
515, disturbance of warm season grass was talked about in the habitat forum. there are some good videos on youtube by hamilton native seeds. bob white 1 and 2. don't know how to copy, or i would. they discuss disturbing warm season grasses by grazing and burning to make it quail mecca. this seems to be MDC's new " if you build it they will come" recipe for landowners.
 
lonejackfool said:
515, disturbance of warm season grass was talked about in the habitat forum. there are some good videos on youtube by hamilton native seeds. bob white 1 and 2. don't know how to copy, or i would. they discuss disturbing warm season grasses by grazing and burning to make it quail mecca. this seems to be MDC's new " if you build it they will come" recipe for landowners.
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I read once that one of the reasons there were so many quail earlier in this century was because everyone had a few cattle. Like you stated they disturb and fertilize the soil. But the real reason was because they rotated the cattle onto another pasture when it got grazed down. Then when they let the 1st pasture recover WHALA!! perfect early succession for nesting and chick habitat.
 
birddude said:
I read once that one of the reasons there were so many quail earlier in this century was because everyone had a few cattle. Like you stated they disturb and fertilize the soil. But the real reason was because they rotated the cattle onto another pasture when it got grazed down. Then when they let the 1st pasture recover WHALA!! perfect early succession for nesting and chick habitat.
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Yes most were very good about not over grazing.
However farming was not efficient- weeds in fields-grain left in the fields-fencerows because you needed fences to keep the cattle in,or out.

My friend is a very efficient farmer. His fields go in early and come out early. New well maintained equipment. Walk his fields and it is hard to find kernels of corn or random soybeans. No fences and mowed waterways. That is hay ($) and allows the field to be dry quicker for spring planting. Lucky for me and my deer hunting obsessed brother he has some slough areas and river/creek bottom land
 
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So, I used to hunt Quail around Joplin/Carthage area with pretty good success. Haven't been there in years. The #s were fading fast then. Any rebound? Quail #s in Missouri in general??
 
Is there a slight rebound in Missouri. I'd say yes, but take that with a grain of salt. In places where I sometimes find coveys, I was finding coveys. In places where I usually find coveys I'd find 2 coveys. In places where I've lucked into covey's in the past (hunitng woodcock) I'm still not finding coveys. I have to travel about 5 hours to get to good habitat in either Kansas or Oklahoma. If I really want to get the dogs into some birds I go there.
It's better than the past couple of years, but will take a couple more years of rebounding to get to the point to where I'm confident that I can find covey's without having to walk all day.
 
I think the big picture here is. Cattle CAN be good for quail, if the area is not overgrazed. And the cattle don't stomp down all the woody cover. Also needs to be thick escape cover. If its easy to walk through, then it's not good escape cover. Keeping several types of grass in the pasture helps too. In my opinion, proper grazing is better than mowing.
 
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