Kansas Quail
Hey guys and great topic!
I would like to add my 2cents regarding bobwhite hunting in Midwest, bird numbers and habitat. First I'm 48 and had the great fortune to live in Nebraska and grew up bird hunting in the late 70's and 80's. I've long since moved away, but like many of us, I travel west each year to chase birds.
Most of my hunting since 1993 has been in southeast, south central and north central Kansas. Occasionally I return to Nebraska or Montana. But Kansas is my fav destination and I have made many great friends over the years, with farmers, ranchers, bar owners and just plain great folk!
Back in the 70's and 80's, I only had to travel outside of Omaha to find quail. Most of the farms had weedy draws, fallow pasture with plum thickets, thick fence rows and crop stubble tall enough to hold birds. We didn't count coveys, because quail numbers were very healthy. Each covey had 12 to 20 birds and often after a covey flush, the dogs would point a new covey as we pursued singles.
In 1993, I had graduated college and moved to Kentucky. I then began to travel west and my Grandparents lived in Kansas. I would visit them and started to make connections in south east Kansas. Iola, Garnett and Westphalia were my happy hunting grounds. I met a heck of a famer named George Frank, who farmed 5K acres with some of the best quail habitat I had ever hunted. George was a gentleman and very kind toward bird hunters. Often inviting me and my father for lunch or dinner. I soon met several other landowners near the Frank's farm and had access to thousands of prime quail hunting spots. From 1993 till 2006 the hunting was very good. 8-12 covey days were common and we had several 15+ covey days mixed in. Milo, wheat and beans were the crops with some corn. George left all of his fence rows thick with warm season grasses, plumb thickets and brush piles. Often you could get 2-3 coveys pointed per fence row. Them work across a pasture or stubble field toward the next fence row.
I began to notice a sharp decline in bird numbers around 2006/7....several flood events in the nesting season, hurt the quail and then we noticed more fescue planted, fence rows and fields plowed under and the gradual loss of prime habitat. Bird numbers were so low....maybe 1-3 coveys per day, that I moved across the state to try new areas.
North central and south central Kansas offered better numbers of birds from the late 90's up to 2010. I remember that in 2010 pheasant hunters harvested over 900,000 birds and that was a banner year. The habitat was still excellent and there was lots of CRP acres to hunt. Again we averaged 8-12 coveys per day and also lots of pheasants. Great Bend, Pratt, Russell, Smith Center and Clay Center were all areas that held good to excellent numbers of birds and lots of habitat.
Then came the massive draught of 2011 thru 2014. that really devastated pheasants and quail state wide! I stopped hunting Kansas from 2012 thru 2015! I was just so sad to see how the numbers had fallen from the effects of the drought and habitat loss....The CRP program allows for emergency haying and grazing during the droughts. And as a result the CRP was cut and plowed up coast to coast...We began to catch a break in 2015 and mild winters followed by good spring rains slowly began to help birds recover. However the recovery still has a ways to go....
Will Kansas hunters ever see the great numbers I once experienced or the incredible 15-20+ covey days from the 60's and 70's? In local areas with excellent habitat and farmers that practice good conservation....it may be possible on a small scale...However the national trend of clean farming, plowing under every damn fence row, wind break and pasture to make room for more crops....planted right up to the damn road is what we have to deal with! It's all about quality habitat, good conservation and educating hunters, farmers and our youth. I respect the farmer that has to make money on his land and provide for his family, However I want to cry when I drive country roads here in Kentucky or in Kansas and see the current state of our agriculture practices....mow and spray every damn weed, farm every acre, pull up fence rows and tree lined creek beds, and plant crops right up to the road!