Quail in southern Iowa

Roy B

Roy B

Member
We went down south last weekend and did some mixed bag hunting and ended the day with 2 roosters and 2 bobwhites. We only seen one good sized covey of quail and were able to get 2 out of it. Last year we were moving as many as 4 to 5 coveys a day hunting public area. Just curious what everyone else was seeing this year? Seems like the numbers are down a bit.
 
Southern Iowa and northern Missouri quail are decimated. I bet numbers are down 50-75% from just a couple years ago.

What do you think is the reason? Weather or habitat or predators or a combo of all 3???
 
Roy B said:
Southern Iowa and northern Missouri quail are decimated. I bet numbers are down 50-75% from just a couple years ago.

What do you think is the reason? Weather or habitat or predators or a combo of all 3???
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We had deep snow for an extended period last winter. Ice storms were also a problem in SC and SE Iowa.
 
Yeah, I would defer to the biologists, but my understanding was the extended freeze last year was just too much cold for too long for covies to survive. As always, that compounds the relentless habitat destruction and the spring and summer climate change.
 
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