So,..About Quail?

Fsentkilr,

That is absolutely fantastic news! It may not be the glory days, but at least on your 7K acres, you have quail. If we (generally) ever truly care to have quail numbers come back it is going to take more people with your dedication to the birds because of the relatively minimal amount of land that is publicly owned.

KsHusker,

I grew up in Parsons. Quail populations in that area have been so greatly diminished. I didn't hunt birds back then, but I wish I would have. I wish a large landowner like Beachner Grain would combine with QF to develop a quail habitat strategy. They could make a significant difference.
 
The Parsons area is a great area. Sure too bad the numbers are down. BTW, ate at the Kitchen Pass on Halloween weekend and found the food good.
 
Maynard,

Surprisingly, Parsons has a lot of good food for a town its size. When I make it back, I prefer Ernesto's. But that turkey club with waffle fries at KP is hard to beat.
 
I don't agree with all the guys that say that quail numbers will never recover. They may not get back to what they were 20 years ago but they will come back some. There are thousands and thousands of acres of upland bird buffers in this area which make ideal nesting habitat. A lot of the ground is farmed using notill which leaves the stubble there all winter which makes it better for feeding quail to stay in through the winter. It used to all be worked down black all winter. Quail will actually stay out in standing corn and milo stubble even roosting there. I am convinced that predators, at least in this area are more to blame than cover. When fur was high you would never see a bobcat, and now I see them all the time including the middle of the day. Dead coons, skunks and possums litter the road, and it used to be rare to see a dead coon on the road. My son saw 6 coyotes yesterday hunting deer. These types of predators are very hard on nesting upland birds. I have never been much of a predator hunter preferring to hunt pheasants out west an quail here, but thats going to change starting this winter. I don't think its a coincidence that quail numbers started to decline in this area at the same time fur prices went in the toilet.
 
M. R. Byrd said:
The Parsons area is a great area. Sure too bad the numbers are down. BTW, ate at the Kitchen Pass on Halloween weekend and found the food good.
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Maynard, Maynard, Maynard you did it again. Some how you have the gift of changing the topic to FOOD.:D:D:D
 
OKIEGunner said:
Maynard, Maynard, Maynard you did it again. Some how you have the gift of changing the topic to FOOD.:D:D:D
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Peach pie a la mode tonight. Wish it had followed a fried quail dinner instead of a grilled cheese. Come on guys, we all need to help rebuild the quail numbers so we all can enjoy some of the finer things in life, that is quail hunting, good dog work, fellowship and a fine quail dinner.;)
 
M. R. Byrd said:
Peach pie a la mode tonight. Wish it had followed a fried quail dinner instead of a grilled cheese. Come on guys, we all need to help rebuild the quail numbers so we all can enjoy some of the finer things in life, that is quail hunting, good dog work, fellowship and a fine quail dinner.;)
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Now that is a platform I can vote for.
 
In MO back in the early 90's they had 100 wild quail with transmitters on them in a 5000 acre ca area in jan i killed three of these and the ca guys were there that day, i blew theirs ears off as i approached them, any way by turning them in i got a little bit of history, of the 100, 73 were deceased, of this 73 only 22 were killed by hunters the most of the rest were killed by coons, birds, hawks, owls as they were found in trees, wild cats etc and some were just found dead, it goes with other studies in other states, baasically only 30 % make it the next year and hunters do not kill the most, however shooting covies with less than 5 or 6 birds in them will cause some more of the birds in the covies to not make it. they told me another story, why you cain't find singles, they knew a bird was in some crp, a guy had a pup so they let him see if it could point it, dog couln't find it and the bird would not flush, they turned a older dog out, same thing, guy who owned the dogs said there was no bird there, they had to put the receiver literally right on the bird and by hand move back the grass to get the bird to fly.
one more, a covey was always near the one of the parking lots, it got so when a truck door was shut they flew off the area
 
setterbud said:
In MO back in the early 90's they had 100 wild quail with transmitters on them in a 5000 acre ca area in jan i killed three of these and the ca guys were there that day, i blew theirs ears off as i approached them, any way by turning them in i got a little bit of history, of the 100, 73 were deceased, of this 73 only 22 were killed by hunters the most of the rest were killed by coons, birds, hawks, owls as they were found in trees, wild cats etc and some were just found dead, it goes with other studies in other states, baasically only 30 % make it the next year and hunters do not kill the most, however shooting covies with less than 5 or 6 birds in them will cause some more of the birds in the covies to not make it. they told me another story, why you cain't find singles, they knew a bird was in some crp, a guy had a pup so they let him see if it could point it, dog couln't find it and the bird would not flush, they turned a older dog out, same thing, guy who owned the dogs said there was no bird there, they had to put the receiver literally right on the bird and by hand move back the grass to get the bird to fly.
one more, a covey was always near the one of the parking lots, it got so when a truck door was shut they flew off the area
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Thanks for the report. Some here don't believe predation is an issue. It's worse now than in the seventies.
 
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