Quail Coming Back?

[watermen]

Too soon to get real excited, but during turkey season I heard more quail ans saw more quail than in quite a few years. Still don.t have the covey back below the house the big ice storm of 4 or 5 years ago got them. I did hear quail everywhere I went for 3 weeks and heard birds last two nughts fishing down by the river. Would like them to rebound some this year, they may have got a start last year and have even been seeing them getting grit in the evenings. May have to look for a Pointer the last lab has been gone for 3 years.

[ness]

I've seen more the last couple years too. Also had a good pheasant season in NW MO this year. Didn't even go to western KS. I'm hopeful.

[jdmidwest]

I have noticed that too, many more birds than in the past. I had one in the yard the other day, came out of a local pasture. Several were whistling the other day when we were fishing a creek. I see more along the roads lately too. But they are singles and pairs, no coveys.

[Quillback]

Let's hope they are on the way back, sure would be nice to have some public land hunting closer to home than Kansas or Nebraska. My pointer is a year old now, I'm looking forward to this fall!

[Chase Replogle]

I turkey hunted around Lebanon, MO this spring and actually kicked up two different covey's on my uncles land. He is right on the Osage river. I know he has been working hard to keep cover for them... and shooting a lot of coyotes.

Good luck with the new pointer Quillback. I have a new Brittney coming this summer. Maybe by the time she's ready we'll have some quail to chase. We can only hope.

[Blazerman]

They are running all over at my property alongside the Meramec south of St. Clair. We have always had a few but on Sunday we saw quite a few and they were calling all day long.

Saw one running across my front yard where there is no cover at all and it ended up under my big white pine that has the branches to the ground. Stayed there all day calling and calling.

I am thinking the warm winter and warm spring with not much rain has the population on the rebound.

[Stoneroller]

the biggest reason for the decline in quails is the lack of transition areas along wooded tracts near open fields. farmers either plow right to the treeline or mow the grasses that grow along the edge of the fields and this is prime quail habitat. if you want quail. let native grasses grow around and through open fields. they need the tall grasses for saftey, food, and shelter. Habitat destruction is the #1 reason for the lower quail population, make them happy, they'll be back in force.

btw coyotes are not a major predator of quails. racoons eat far more quail eggs and babies than coyotes ever will. Think about it, the effort a coyote would spend trying to catch a quail is dispproportionate to the amount of energy it's going to get from a bite sized bird. Much easier for a coyote to find and eat human garbage, a rabbit, or a dead animal. Killing other animals in the thought that you are going to improve habitat for a different animal is a flawed, at best, option. The only way that would be effective is if you were shooting humans.

[Chase Replogle]

Stoneroller,

The only way that would be effective is if you were shooting humans.

You better be careful with talk of shooting humans. Some of those guys in Lebanon might take you up on it.

No, I think your advice is exactly right. Most of his success in bring the quail back is in restoring his land. Farmers, farm every inch of land they can... which I understand, and with better equipment means more effective methods. My uncle has been working to leave a lot of cover, just like you said, around the transitions form woods to field.

This maybe a fly fishing forum, and it maybe just spring, but this has me looking forward to fall bird hunting.

Chase

[ness]

btw coyotes are not a major predator of quails. racoons eat far more quail eggs and babies than coyotes ever will. Think about it, the effort a coyote would spend trying to catch a quail is dispproportionate to the amount of energy it's going to get from a bite sized bird. Much easier for a coyote to find and eat human garbage, a rabbit, or a dead animal. Killing other animals in the thought that you are going to improve habitat for a different animal is a flawed, at best, option. The only way that would be effective is if you were shooting humans.

That seems counter-intuitive.

If a coyote comes along a quail nest, he's gonna eat the eggs or chicks just like a raccoon would, right? He's not gonna take a pass on that in the hopes he can run down a rabbit. I'm sure there are a lot of other things going on I'm not thinking about.

[ness]

Man, love to hear these stories of seeing coveys.

Chase -- where is your Brittany coming from?