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Bobwhite Quail on Your Land Tips on Management for Georgia and the Southeast

Cooperative Extension Service bull The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Table of Contents

QUAIL SPECIES 3

QUAIL NEEDS 3 Seasonal Needs and Activities 4

PLANT SUCCESSION AND EDGE 5

LAND IMPROVEMENT 9 Open Habitats and Edges 9

Croplands and Their Edges 10 Prescribed Burning 10 Grazing 10 Mowing10 Herbicides10 Tilling Fallow Fields 10 Broomsedge Fields 11 Pastures 11

Woodlands and Edges 11 Thinning 11 Pine Understory Fires 12 Forest Edges 14

Plantings14 Food Patches 14

MANAGEMENT PLAN 16 Map Topographic Features and Land Use 16 Identity Management Units 16 Land Management Decisions 16

II II II II II II II II II II II Land Design II 17

MEASURING SUCCESSII 18 Quail Hunt Report 19 Quail Observation Record 19 Estimating Age and Growth 19

MORTALITY FACTORS 20 Weather20 Pesticides 20 Predation20

HUNTING REGULATIONS 20

STOCKING AND FEEDING 21 Stocking 21 Feeding 21

REFERENCES 22

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS24

Bobwhite Quail on Your Land Tips on Management for Georgia

and the Southeast

Bobwhite quail are a symbol of quality rural life on southern farms and forests Quail are welcome everywhere but they have declined on many lands This bulletin gives suggestions on how to manage habitats to increase and maintain quail populashytions The strategy is to know the needs of quail and manage land to provide for those needs

Bobwhite quail do not need wilderness and truly natural areas In fact quail were not common in the Southeastern wilderness Early naturalists deshyscribed an abundance of deer bear turkeys washyterfowl and other game but they hardly mentioned quail As land was cultivated and hunting increased many wildlife species declined Quail on the other hand found the new conditions ideal and they prospered

Quail were unusually numerous from 1800 to 1940 as an accident of history That time might be described as the Old South when rural land was dominated by a type of agriculture and land use that incidentlly favored high quail populations Fields were small and fencerows were brushy Crop residues weed seeds and insects were plentiful Predators were considered varmints and were pershysecuted Use of pesticides was low

Since 1940 deer and turkey have made a comeshyback as our attitudes and land Llse changed-but quail have declined on most lands Quail in the Southeast will probably never again return to the widespread abundance they once briefly enjoyed (although they are still numerous in certain places) Lands with consistently abundant quail are usually the result of management aimed at helping quail

QUAIL SPECIES Quail are members of the chicken family Several

species are native to North America but the bobshywhite quail is the only species native to the Southshyeast The Southeast has two races of bobwhiteshythe northern and the Florida Their Florida race is darker and smaller The scaled blue valley Gamshybels California and Mearns quail are western speshycies The Coturnix quail an easily domesticated European and Middle Eastern species is the one

usually mass reared for food The Mexican quail is a smaller lighter colored subspecies of bobwhite found in Mexico State agencies and private inshydividuals released Mexican quail in some Southshyeastern states before 1950 Contrary to rumor they did not survive as a distinct race and had no lasting impact on native bobwhites

Facts About Bobwhite Quail

bull Quail are social-live in groups called covies

bull Weight six or seven ounces Florida quail about five ounces

bull Home range varies with habitat qualityshycovies commonly use 10 to 100 acres

bull Usually less than 20 percent live more than a year

bull Lay 14 +- eggs Less than 20 percent of nests hatch successfully

bull Quail wilt renest two or three times in continuing attempts to bring off a brood Later nests have fewer eggs

bull Eggs require 23 days to hatch bull Nest losses are due to weather (excesshy

sive rain or drought) mowing pesticides cotton rats opossums raccoons dogs rat snakes kingsnakes and others Conshytrary to rumor fire ants destroy very few quail nests

bull Nesting period is April to October peak varies throughout the range and occurs sometime between May and August

QUAIL NEEDS Some game animals like deer are managed

largely by hunting to keep populations in balance with habitat Quail management is much more difshyficult Understanding the quais food and cover needs is the key to quail management

Bobwhite quail are hard to manage because they are particularly vulnerable to predation and they

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depend on a wide variety of food plants which occurs in a relatively small area (See Tables 1 and 2 pages 7 and 8) To escape predators efficiently they need a habitat having relatively bare ground well-covered (roofed over) with a canopy of vegshyetation Hard woody stems provide better escape cover than soft flexible vegetation

To get a view of how a quail sees its world lie down on the ground and look at the habitat with your eyes six inches above the ground As a quail you are a good runner and scratcher but your legs are only two inches long Can you recognize the elements of a good home You will see that large areas of very thick grass will pose a problem for walking and will also hide predators If no roof of stems and leaves covers your head you will be vulnerable to attack from above Do you see any suitable food in your field of view Are any safe nesting sites nearby Is this a haven to lead your chicks searching for succulent insects Safe passhysageways under the roof of vegetation must lead to everything you need These are the composhynents of good quail habitat (See Figure 1 page 6)

Seasonal Needs and Activities

Quail activities and needs vary as the seasons change If your land is to be a safe and productive haven for quail you must provide for their needs throughout the year There can be no weak link

Spring

Spring starts when buds break and leaves begin to expand Insects become more abundant Quail coveys (social groups) begin to break up in March as the birds become territorial and seek mates The males begin their familiar bob-bob-white call in late winter and increase calling as spring days lengthen Coveys may re-group at night but males especially become increasingly hostile toward each other during the day as they seek a mate Once a pair has bonded the hen seeks a suitable nest Site She looks for clumpy cover (well roofed over) that allows her easy access without being seen She prefers cover with small openings here and there Broomsedge fields with blackberries are an example of good nesting habitat In habitats which are burned periodically quail seem to prefer nestshying in vegetation burned one or two years previshyously They nest less often in fresh regrowth The home range of nesting quail may be less than 20 acres

The hen makes a nest of grasses and leaves in a suitable hidden place and lays an egg a day for a total of about 14 eggs in her first nest She inshycubates these eggs for 23 days with brief times off the nest for feeding The nest has only about

one chance in five of hatching successfully Preshydators disturbance and bad weather claim the rest

After the eggs hatch the hen broods the young briefly and then leads them away to a suitable area for rearing They will not return to the nest The hen does not feed the young She leads them to places where they can find insects (not seeds) which will form the bulk of their diet as they grow Often both parents accompany the young The male may share brooding duties

If the young are to survive the brood-rearing habitat must have abundant insects yet be well roofed over with vegetation or it must be within a few feet of escape cover Cover and insects are what fill the quails needs at this time-not the developing grain that will feed them after they are grown

Summer

Summer starts when the rush of spring growth is over and all the leaves are fully expanded The needs during spring begin to overlap with fall needs as many broods are in different stages of develshyopment Quail that failed to nest successfully the first time will try another time or two June July and August are the most important months for nesting Often a very successful late hatch proshyvides more birds for fall hunting than successful early hatches Excessive rain severe drought and losses to cotton rats certain snakes predatory birds and mammals pesticides and other causes limit survival of the young Providing needs for nesting and brood rearing is the aspect of quail management that is least understood and least under the managers control Quail chicks are unshyable to fly for two weeks after hatching and they suffer about 70 percent loss at this time

Fall

A grown brood and its parents form a covey Unsuccessful birds and other coveys may join them Food and cover are at their peak The quails diet expands to include seeds of herbaceous plants berries acorns other tree seeds and green leaves as well as insects Quail may move to conshycentrated seed sources Some birds may leave their home area and join other coveys some disshytance away Their home range in fall may cover up to 100 acres or more but a covey of quail may confine its activities to 20 acres or less if food and cover are good

Winter Winter begins as shortening days and colder

weather cause leaves to wither and fall Seeds near thickets become increasingly valuable as

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weeds die down and cover decreases Quail do eat greens and insects but the dwindling supply of seeds is their primary remaining food Birds in a covey roosts at night in a tight little circle with their heads facing out Latecomers to a complete roosting circle may climb on top in order squeeze in or they may form a new circle nearby As winter advances covey numbers lose members to huntshyers and predators Snow and ice make quail esshypecially vulnerable As coveys lose individuals the survivors may join to form a larger group Coveys commonly vary between six and 20 members

PLANT SUCCESSION AND EDGE In the Southeast Mother Nature works hard to

fill vacant land with forests of one kind or another Weeds and grasses are the first plants to colonize bare soil After a few years shrubs and seedling trees show through the weeds As more years pass the land becomes a thicket of saplings then pole-sized trees start crowding each other out Often pines dominate the early stages but evenshytually after a human lifetime or more large hardshywoods will likely be the most common trees This process is called plant succession and quail have a particular place in it That place is during the early stage of succession when the land is weedy or brushy especially if there are thickets intershyspersed where quail can find refuge for hiding Vast areas of bare ground or unbroken dense forshyests are both unsuitable for quail (See Figure 2 page 9)

Quail may also occupy a forest with widely spaced trees which allow sunlight to nourish weeshydy or brushy growth on the forest floor Of course if suitable habitats are interspersed with dense forshyests quail may use these forests

Habitat edge is where two habits join It is often better for quail than uniform habitat Where a field meets a forest pond or fencerow is an intersection where there is often a great diverSity of types and heights of vegetation

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6

~WINTER

Survivors pair up

Quail like clumpy nesting cover best Lay 14 + eggs Late clutches have less Peak nesting is In late May

Food and cover become scarcer due to decomshyposition of seed plowing burning Bicolor I bush hogged corn high tannin sorghums will help quail

now Mortality is high but 20 of birds

will survive

Quail need brood rearing habitat-nearly bare ground with a canopy of corn Weeds or othar vegetation Baby chicks need Insacts mora than seed

Figure 1 Quail Needs through the Year

bull Wild seeds and cultlvatad crops ara at peak Living Is easy for quail Abundant food and habitat now do not guarantee high quail populations next year Time to harvest is now

Table 1 Preferred Bobwhite Food Plants

COASTAL PIEDMONT PLATEAU MOUNTAIN PLAIN

Beggar weeds Ragweeds Common lespedeza Corn Korean clover Partridge peas Oaks Milk peas Sumacs Bush clovers Pines Soy bean Cowpeas Jewel-weeds Dogwoods Sweet-gum Wild beans Sorghum Hog peanut Panic grasses Black locust Joh nson grass Wheat Honeysuckles Sassafras Smartweeds Vetches Crab grass Paspalums Ash Poor Joe Bull grass Spu rred butterfly peas Grapes Dove weeds Foxtail grasses Cranesbill Wood sorrels Sericea Nut rushes Bicolor Blackberries Nightshades Beggar ticks Ground nut

SEED PLANT Landers and Johnson 1976

Fsect ~ ~ ~ =shy~ -

~ - I

I

o 8 16 0 8 16 0 8 16 0 8 16

AVERAGE IMPORTANCE VALUE

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Table 2 Foods Eaten by Quail in Spring Summer and Early Fall in Longleaf-Slash Pine

Spring Summer Early fall 43a 35 14

Food Vol Freq Vol Freq Vol Freq Woody plant seed

Beautyberry 21 57 Blackberry 88 139 20 57 Blueberry and huckleberry 71 46 128 114 Maple 84 116 Oak 28 23 09 71 Red bay 04 23 Loblolly pine 10 23 Poison oak and poison ivy 29 57 09 143 Sumac 15 143 Wax-myrtle 26 70 Other lt 01 46

Subtotal 311 198 33 Legume seed

Butterfly pea 15 70 44 200 09 214 Bush lespedeza 05 70 lt01 57 Common and kobe lespedeza 16 46 31 86 lt01 142 Milkpea 02 163 04 171 lt01 142 Partridge pea 01 23 lt01 142 Pencil-flower 04 70 36 286 lt01 71 Rhynchosia lt01 46 01 57 Tephrosia 02 70 01 57 01 142 Tick-clover 01 46 71 214 Wildbean 09 71 Other lt 01 70

Subtotal 46 117 90 Grass seed

Bristlegrass 01 46 16 171 01 19 Panicum 170 395 21 428 424 857 Paspalum lt 01 93 39 314 80 500 Uniola lt01 23 lt01 28 Other lt 01 23 lt01 28

Subtotal 171 76 505 Spurge seed

Croton lt 01 23 29 171 19 19 Noseburn 36 86 05 71 Rush-foil 71 71 Spurge lt01 28 lt01 71 Stillingia 02 23 61 214

Subtotal 02 65 156 Sedge seed

Beak-rush lt01 23 lt01 57 lt01 71 Flatsedge 14 23 Nut-rush 17 209 104 571 05 214 Sedge 01 23

Subtotal 31 104 05 Other plant seed

Buttercup 30 46 Buttonweed lt 01 23 Geranium 08 23 Gold star-grass 01 23 08 28 09 71 Oxalis 27 70 lt01 28 Plantain 34 70 Serinea 45 46 Violet 08 93 Other lt 01 23 lt 01 57 lt01 71

Subtotal 153 08 09 Green plant leaves 144 488 20 200 lt 01 71 Animal matter

Ants 02 139 24 171 lt01 143 Beetles 59 395 47 314 42 285 True bugs 10 139 04 114 14 71 Grasshoppers 70 163 224 800 71 357 Leafhoppers lt01 46 01 28 Spiders 01 70

Other lt01 46 112 171 75 214 Subtotal 142 412 202

Number of Crops examined Reid and Goodrum 1979

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I

Plant Succession and Quail

CDcO T shyo-

3 5 10 25 50 75 100

Time in Years

Figure 2 Plant Succession and Quail

- High Quail Use -- shy

I I

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LAND IMPROVEMENT Control and manipulate plant succession to

maintain land with suitable food and cover for quail In more arid parts of the US the open or brushy habitats which quail require may exist naturally and require little management or maintenance This is not usually so in the Southeast Either set back plant succession or work to maintain existing vegshyetation or replace succession with plantings Difshyferent percentages of desirable and undesirable plants will survive on different sites Use your eye experience and knowledge in manipulating or maintaining the habitat There are three main opshytions

1 Manage open habitats by burning mowshying grazing herbicides or tilling (set back succession)

2 Manage woodlands by selective thinning and burning (set back or steer succession while maintaining important trees and unshyderstory vegetation)

3 Plant food and cover crops (replace natural succession)

Open Habitats and Edges

Open habitats include croplands fallow fields and fence rows open forest understory and passhytures These existing groundcover plants are the primary key to quail production on most quail lands

Groundcovers vary in their ability to produce food and cover for quail They all need a periodic setshyback of plant succession to prevent them from becoming forests Means of setback are fire grazshying mowing herbicides and tilling

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Croplands and Their Edges

Corn sorghum soybeans wheat oats peashynuts sunflowers and other agricultural crops may provide excellent brood rearing habitat Recent reshysearch shows that quail broods use the middles of large fields as well as small ones Create suitshyable nesting habitat and escape cover along field edges by several means plantings (see Plantings page 14) leave uncultivated strips leave strips of grain unharvested or let fencerows grow up to bushes Bermuda grass ragweed and other weeds When fields are bare quail may avoid these strips however once crops are developing quail will use brushy and weedy strips for nesting and roosting habitat The width of a field border is up to you Fifteen feet is okay but twice as wide is better

Prescribed Burning

Fire in open or brushy habitats (and under cershytain kinds of pine forest) sets back plant successhysion and stimulates regrowth It provides many of the same benefits as harrowing but at less exshypense A prescribed fire is one set with a goal and a plan

Fire may favor grasses over annual weeds in some cases As with harrowing the time of year helps determine the kinds of plants that will prosshyper afterwards Burning temporarily destroys covshyer and makes quail more vulnerable to predation in the short term Often the best time to burn is late winter and early spring because these burns are followed by quick regrowth as the weather warms

Early winter burns deprive quail of cover for long periods which makes them especially vulnerable to predation by wintering hawks and owls Many of these predators will migrate back north before bud break

Summer burns are recommended at times parshyticularly as a means of controlling woody vegeshytation Summer burns however risk destroying quail nests and small chicks

How often should you burn The richer the soil the faster plants grow and the more often burning is necessary Vegetation on very poor soils may be slow to recover A mosaic of a one to four year old burned areas often works well to insure a mixshyture of food and cover Annual fires prevent blackshyberries runner oaks and certain other desirable plants from fruiting because they set fruit on stems which grew the year before Burns adjacent to existing cover allow a mix of open areas and cover A greater variety of plants results from a mosaic of burns than when large areas are given uniform treatment Some environments need burning more

often than others Exclude fire from choice thickshyets Rake debris away from tree trunks to protect desirable fruit bearing trees like oaks and cherries

Always contain prescribed fires within a manshymade or natural firebreak Get help from experishyenced personnel when conducting fires Bulletins on controlled fire are available from the county office of your University of Georgia Extension Sershyvice Burning permits and technical assistance are available from the Georgia Forestry Commission Also read the section on fire in pine understories on page 12

Grazing

Cattle goats and sheep can maintain areas of short vegetation which can be very desirable when interspersed with cover Overgrown windrows of branches and trunks left after logging brushy ditch banks and dense thickets of briars are good kinds of cover which farm animals wont overuse if pickings are better in the open field Brief periods of intensive grazing act as fire harrowing or mowshying which will setback plant succession If grazing continues too long however it may be detrimental Cattle are quick to remove desirable quail plants such as legumes Watch especially the edges of woodlots When they begin to open up damage has been done Grazing is usually a spring and summer management tool

Mowing

Mowing functions much like grazing and it has the added advantage of being very selective Mow at anytime of year to suppress unwanted growth as needed Avoid mowing nesting and brood rearshying cover from May to September

Herbicides

Herbicides are available in a great variety of forshymulations for spraying on foliage treating tree trunks or treating soil (to set back plant successhysion) Get professional advice before using these materials

Tilling Fallow fields

Harrowing tends to inhibit some grasses and hardwood sprouts and make way for annual weeds that produce seeds insects and greens for quail Use a tractor to drag a disc harrow over old fields and open forest understories

The time of harrowing is important Try harrowshying small plots at different times throughout the year and note what weeds grow Note which plots quail use at different time of year Results will vary with the season and locality Harrow between early

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fall and early spring before greenup to stimulate blackberries and desirable weeds such as ragshyweeds Florida beggarweed partridge pea large seeded grasses and other annuals Fall harrowing offers the advantage of supplementing natural growth with wheat or other fall planted grain Early spring harrowing allows quail to use the cover all winter Spring and summer harrowing may inshycrease Florida beggarweed and cranesbill gerashynium July harrowing on certain sites in South Georgia may produce solid stands of Florida pulshysey which makes an excellent environment for inshysect production The best seed production will occur during the first and second years after harshyrowing When broomsedge increases and seed bearing annuals decline its usually time to harrow again A rotation is often best A field or field edge should have harrowed portions in various stages of regrowth

Broomsedge Fields

Abandoned agricultural fields often revert to relshyatively uniform stands of broomsedge-a perennial grass that often grows in clumps two to four feet tall Broomsedge fields can be excellent roosting and nesting habitat but they can be poor producshyers of seeds insects and diversity Increase plant diversity by periodically harrowing strips and patches in the field Avoid harrowing sections alshyready covered with desirable vegetation Time of harrowing will affect the outcome (Refer to preshyvious section on tilling fallow fields) Try a threeshyyear rotation so each year there is a mixture of 1shy2 and 3-year-old cover

Pastures

Pastures are often excellent for insect producshytion but dense grasses are inhospitable for very small quail chicks Manage pasture edges for nestshying habitat and escape cover the same as for agshyricultural fields

Mow pastures by starting in the middle and cirshycling out to the edges This will keep the birds in the cover and drive them to the edge of the field If you begin mowing at the edge and finishing in the center of the field quail trapped in the middle will be vulnerable to attack by hawks egrets and other predators

Woodlands and Edges Thinning

Only a fixed amount of sunlight strikes a given piece of land Decide which small plants and trees will get that light to grow and produce Quail cover foods or wood products

Improve a dense woods for quail by harvesting some trees The extra light on the ground will allow food and cover plants to thrive This also gives quail a safer refuge from which to feed on seeds and fruits that fall from the trees

When choosing trees for removal you must inevshyitably make trade-offs among timber value growth potential and value to quail and other wildlife There is no one proper way to thin woodlands A wildlife enthusiast often prefers a variety of trees to a pure stand or monoculture Oaks pines elms sweetshygums sugar-berries black cherries persimmons dogwoods and blackgums all produce fruits and seeds used by quail (See Table 3 page 12) Durshying any year certain of them will have good seed production

There is no set rule as to the number of trees to remove when thinning Heavier thinning will put more light on the ground and will stimulate unshydergrowth This undergrowth may be excellent or poor for quail depending on the soil and previous history of the site Gain experience by thinning a few acres Wait a year or two for the response before thinning large areas Keep in mind that quail are often unable to use a forest habitat with too sparse an understory because they are vulnerable to predation Consider too that certain old natural forests have become increasingly rare If you have a special woods treasure it as it is

Get an accurate measure of the volume and professional help before selling any trees The Unishyversity of Georgia Extension Service has bulletins on timber harvest to help you

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Table 3 Trees with Value for Quail Pine Understory Fires

Species Beech American Cherry Black

Dogwood

Gum Black

Hickory Bitternut Mockernut Shagbark Pignut

Red Maple

Mulberry Red

Oak

Persimmon Common

Pine Loblolly Longleaf Slash Shortleaf

Sugarberry

Sweetgum

Yellow Poplar

Honey Locust

Black Locust

Remarks Fall food highly ranked as a food source (nuts buds catkins) Summer fruit important because of long ripening period and frequency of good seed years Good for fencerows and field edges Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit persists on tree into winter months Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit is important but remains on the tree for only a short period after ripshyening Good fall color Nuts provide a food source from late summer to the next spring Shagbark and mockernut are preferred mast proshyducers for wildlife Wildlife use only a small percent of the annual bitternut crop Quail eat residue left by squirrels Produces food in early spring Imporshytant because of its widespread occurshyrence Good food source in mid spring early summer Quail and turkey eat fallen fruit Oaks rate at the top in value to wildlife On drier sites a good balance of speshycies in the white and red oak groups will help maintain a consistent level of mast production Quail peck at pieces of acorns left by squirrels and other animals These acorn fragments are often very abundant Ripened fruit are available to wildlife for a long period in the fall because they fall a few at a time over a long period Seeds are especially good quail food for wildlife Longleaf pine shortleaf is excellent Pine types with associated hardwoods provide food sources for many wildlife species Small berries are an important food source for many summer and wintering birds as well as quail Produces abundant small seeds A preferred quail food in late fall Widespread on well-drained sites A prolific seed bearer Seed will persist on cone and can be used by many types of birds and some mammals through winter months Fallen pods are a favorite deer food as are small trees and stump sprouts

Birds and rodents feed on pods Seeds are good food source for quail

Southern pines (longleaf shortleaf loblolly or slash) vary in their ability to produce quail The variation is due to the understory and soil Very sparse pine forests with a good understory are better for quail than dense pines which often have little or no suitable groundcover for quail Hardshywood sprouts small trees gallberries broomshysedge wiregrass or other vegetation are examples of pine understories

Southern pines of suitable size are resistent to properly managed fire Timber managers periodishycally burn pine understories to prevent hardwoods from growing large enough to compete with the pines Fires can remove excess pine needles and allow certain plants to grow while inhibiting others Many plants that thrive after a fire are good for quail

Avoid burning large areas Large burned areas are less desirable for quail than those which leave scattered unburned patches of habitat valuable for nesting feeding and protection Sometimes you can burn with spot fires under conditions which leave patches of cover Or you can divide the woods into a mosaic of smaller sections with fishyrebreaks Burn a third of these sections each year at winters end (See Figure 3)

Figure 3 Fire is a useful tool to manage vegetation under pines

Rake around or otherwise protect isolated mast (seed and fruit) bearing trees in pine stands likeshywise avoid burning forest edges if they contain choice thickets or other desirable plants

In the Coastal Plain wiregrass habitats are parshyticularly interesting Many quail hunting purists beshylieve longleaf pine and wiregrass are the finest quail lands of them all although wiregrass provides no food for quail Wiregrass will carry a fire nearly any time of year Maintain wiregrass by burning Harshyrowing and herbicides may permanently destroy

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wiregrass Recommendations for establishing wiregrass are not known although it sometimes sets seed following hot summer fires If youre planning a food patch or other soil disturbance you may want to avoid a wiregrass area Vast unishyform areas of wiregrass may have few quail due to a scarcity of suitable cover for hiding and esshycape (See Figure 4)

Figure 5 This pine woods has no vegetation to support quail

Figure 4 Longleaf Pine and Wiregrass Habitat

Choosing the right time to burn pinelands is critshyical Early winter burns deprive quail for a tong time Burns just before spring greenup allow cover to re-grow shortly after a fire But fires after March 15 may destroy turkeys nests Often ideal condishytions for a winter or early spring fire develop after a cold front brings a soaking rain of at least an inch A few days of steady reliable wind from the north or west will usually follow The litter should be wet right down to the soil (check it) As the litter dries from the top there is an increasing layer of flammable material above moist litter Flash fuels like dry grasses may burn readily after only a short drying period-especially if its windy When there is enough dry material to carry a fire check the wind and humidity Humidity should be between 30 percent and 60 percent A wind speed of 5 to 15 miles per hour will help keep the heat cleared away from the pine tops and reduce the chance of scorching tree tops With no wind scorching is likely Fires may be set to back into the wind (backshyfire) burn at a right angle to the wind (flank fire) or run with the wind (headfire) Backfires are safest for beginners Set fires with a drip torch in strips or as spots Do not encircle areas with fire unless you intend to kill all trees and vegetation within Read Extension Bulletin 838 Prescribed Burnshying AManagement Tool before using fire in pineshylands(See Figures 56 and 7)

Figure 6 This pine woods has too much tall vegetation to be suitable for quail A controlled fire and thinning would help

Figure 7 This pine woods has been created by thinning and periodic fire to make good quail habitat

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Forest Edges

Brushy forest edges are particularly important for quail Quail use the dense edge cover to travel and exploit foods on both sides of the edge The brushy edge is often good nesting and brood-rearshying habitat Broaden and improve the forest edge by thinning Leave mast-bearing trees and leave a few rows of grain unharvested in any adjoining fields along the expanded edge An expanded forshyest edge may have double or triple the value for quail of an unimproved forest edge (See Figure 8)

Plantings

Bare earth is the simplest environment with which to create food and cover Bare land needs everything and that takes work and money But with proper planning you can expect excellent reshysults Plan for both food and cover Food plantings work best where they adjoin existing cover such as fallow fields brushlands swamps stream botshytoms and forests Remember that quail travel litshytle therefore provide food and cover within a birds daily range of movement

Before edge expansion Narrow quail use zone

Lhigh quail use

After edge expansion Wide quail use zone

_----high quail use-------raquo

Figure 8 Expand forest edges to improve habitat for quail

Food Patches

There is no single best food for quail Think about what you want A fall grain patch to concentrate birds for hunting is a common goal A food patch planted in separate sections to offer a variety of foods and bordered by cover can help provide for quail throughout the year

Often suitable feeding areas are useless to quail because they lack nearby cover Clean agricultural fields and open grazed woodlots are examples Establish strips of cover by planting along field and forest borders if cover is lacking Develop hedgeshyrows of weeds and bushes between fields

Blend food and cover to make a multi-purpose quail habitat patch A good patch has a variety of plantings that will provide food and cover There are many plant materials to choose from (See Tashyble 4 page 15) Do a soil test before planting Follow the recommendations Your Georgia Coshyoperative Extension Service agent can process your soil sample for you Use the following ideas when designing your food patches

Site A relatively flat site free from erosion hazard with good sOiland surrounded by quail cover is a good site One half to one acre is a good size if your goal is to create an environment that is good for quail year round (There is no minishymum size limit) Many small patches of one-tenth to one-half acre are better than one big patch A few large patches are more convenient in forest habitat Avoid small areas if they are overhung by large trees Use a ripper bar to cut tree roots that extend into food patches

Border Enhance escape cover around the peshyrimeter of the patch with bicolor lespeshydeza multiflora rose wild plums hawthorns blackberries or other suitashyble plants A border 15 to 30 feet wide is sufficient

Interior Plant small patches of wheat or rye sorshyghum annuallespedezas corn clover cowpeas soybeans partridge pea milshylets or other foods of your choice in strips or patches Leave each segment fallow for several months or a year following each crop to benefit from annual weeds that will volunteer in Always aim to have some seeds some insects and some greens available during each month of the year

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Table 4 Planting Specifications for Selected Quail Plants Planting Time to

Plant Soil pH Rate Dates Maturity Other Beggarweed Fertile Broadcast No later than 150-180 Use scarified seed s Ga only Florida moist sandy 10 Ibsacre June 1 days Seed available as food from Novshy

soils Feb Annual

Clover All except 60-65 Broadcast Sept 1shy Inoculate seed Use reseeding Crimson poor hulled- Oct 1 variety Winter annual

15 to 20 Ibsacre unhulledshy45-60 Ibsacre

Clover Moist clays 65-70 Broadcast 2-3 For winter Good for winter greens Inoculate White or loams Ibsacre Sept 1shy seed Use scarified seed

Oct 1 Perennial May die in summer

Corn Fertile 60-68 Space at 8shy March 15shy 80-100 Plant to mature before frost Use wellshy 10 in 361 June 1 days hand seeded full season varieties drained rows (ca 7

Ibsacre

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Broadcast 30shy Feb 1shy Seed generally avaitable after first Annual sand 35lbsacre March 1 frost Annual Will reseed Korean Kobe

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Plants 241 Nov 1-April 1 Use scarified seed Seeds available bicolor amp deep sands or apart in 36 to for plants in Sept Use a 0-20-20 fertilizer for thunbergii poorly drained 48 rows max seed production Perennial

Seed 36 March 1-April rows 12-14 15 for seed Ibsacre

Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 60 days Annual Browntop Ibsacre Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 75 days Proso Ibsacre Drill

15lbsacre Multi-flora Rose Upland soils 4-8 Winter- Excellent cover-may be a pest

apart during Propagate from cuttings during dormant midsummer season

Oats All 60 Broadcast or Aug 15shy Annual drill Oct 15 2-2V2 bushelacre

Pea Moist sites 60-65 Broadcast 15 March 1-April 150 days Seed available as food beginning in Partridge preferred but Ibsacre Nov Annual

will produce Rows 307 on all Ibsacre

Sesame Well-drained 65-70 Broadcast 10 After soil temp 8-100 S Ga Do not plant on same site 2 Ibsacre Drill reaches 75 days years in row due to wilt Annual 4-5 Ibs in 36 degrees F (ca rows July 1)

Sorghum All 58-62 36-44 rows March 15-July 95-130 Plant late and still have grain grain 2-8 between 1 days before frost Bird-resistant strains including plants have durable grain that may last all milo and Broadcast 30 winter wheat Ibsacre

Sunflower All but best Broadcast 5 June 1shy Annual on fertile soils Ibsacre June 30

Rows 361 121 apart in row Get further Winter-during info from dormant county agent season

Wheat Well-drained heavy

60 Drill 2 bushelsacre

N Ga Oct 15 thru Nov 1 S

180 days Available as food beginning about May Annual

Ga Nov 1 Wild Plum Plant 3shy Winter-during other shrubs 6 apart dormant

season

Carlton 1987 15

MANAGEMENT PLAN Put your ideas together with a management plan

Your land has its own soil vegetation topography land use and history all of which give the land its unique personality If youre like most landowners you appreciate many features of your land not just quail Only a few landowners manage their land primarily for quail Most want to identify parts of their land where changes can help quail at little cost This bulletin has described the land manshyagement practices you can use for manipulation of soil and vegetation to improve habitat and thereshyby make an environment which will hold more quail Use your judgement to integrate quail manageshyment into existing and future land uses Now how do you go about making a management plan

Map Topographic Features and Land Use

First make a land management plan to know what youve got Get a topographic map a soil map and an aerial photograph These may be availshyable from US Geological Survey ASCS office or Soil Conservation Service office Then make a map that shows the details of the land property boundshyaries roads trails fencerows power lines buildshyings agricultural fields fallow fields pastures and stands of trees according to species and size As you roam around your land start making notes of streams marshes ponds rocky outcrops sanshydhills animal burrows den trees nesting sites of unusual birds old house sites rare plants Indian artifact sites or any other special features that inshyterest you Identify features on the map with names or numbers Make notes on the ecological history and development of your forests or other habitats For example you might note dates and locations of previous fires or grazing beaver ponds soil erosion soil type timber harvest and areas of young seedlings

Identify Management Units

After your inventory is complete identify your maps habitat types (eg broomsedge fields mixed hardwood forest croplandsix-year-old planted pines etc) and special areas (eg stream bottom hardwood draw old house site)

Land Management Decisions Determine your primary goals for each forest

stand agricultural field and other management unit where your goals are primarily utilitarian Now look at all your management units and see if there is an opportunity to improve each one for quail withshyout unduly interfering with your other goals

Because there is no one best plan you need to look at the land think of the needs of the birds then be creative Make a grid chart like the one below to avoid overlooking possibilities List manshyagement units on one side and management opshytions on the other Then think about what you want for each site Each square in the grid represents an option Some are good and some are poor Table 5 shows when deficiencies are most likely to occur on lands managed for quail

ngThinni Burnin 2 Edge UFood t Cover ~ Tillingi Fertiliz E LimingampProtect CIS Mowini Grazin Ii Herbic

g enhancement planting planting

ing

ion g g ides

plusmnt ++=

m Figure 9 Quail Management Decision Grid

Table 5 Weak Links in Quail Habitat

Spril19 Summer Fall Winter

Escape Cover Insect Food Nesting Cover

Brood Rearing Habitat

Seeds

Stars indicate where quail management is most likely to be deficient

16

Land Design

Quail are the dessert in a beautiful landscape for many wildlife lovers Like visiting a fine restaushyrant a hunt on beautiful land is an event to reshymember So keep aesthetics in mind as you execute your management plan Here are three tips on designing land

1 Avoid fragmentation 2 Create visual variety 3 Increase edge habitat

Avoid Fragmentation

If a wildlife habitat is reduced in size fewer speshycies of animals are likely to live there For example a small woodlot isolated by bare fields is likely to have fewer species of wildlife than a similar sized tract of land that adjoins other wooded habitat If these die then it often takes awhile before new animals find it This is certainly true for quail They are not good travelers and may seldom use isoshylated pockets of good food and cover So plan if possible to connect the isolated woodlot to anshyother larger forest by a wooded travel way With a mechanism to allow re-population from the larger habitat the small woods becomes a part of a largshyer one

Remember the characteristics of good quail covshyer-bare ground and a roof of vegetation

Create Visual Variety

Use your eye to create an interesting landscape When you create openings in woodlands or plant field borders or mast-bearing trees you join Mothshyer Nature as landscape architect Mix native tree species to create variety Consider selecting trees for fall color or distinctive appearance When plantshying consider arrangements that look natural rather than set about in rows and squares

Some habitats may seem beautiful to the eye even though they have no demonstrated utilitarian benefit You may want to keep them as they are for aesthetic reasons

Increase Edge Habitat

Increase edge habitat by changing the shape of a field A square 40-acre field has a mile of edge But if the field borders are scalloped into an arshyrangement of points bays and crenulations doushyble the prime field edge habitat It is also much more interesting to walk and hunt where you can not see the whole field at once-where rounding each point or investigating each little bay presents a new chance for seeing wildlife at close range

In the same way breaking large fields into small ones increases edge When doing so avoid moshynotonous straight lines of habitat edge if you can

Crop fields have straight edges for practical reashysons-they are much more efficient to plow and plant If you are willing to trade off some agriculshytural efficiency you can also improve the aesthetic qualities of your cropland as quail habitat (See Figure 10)

-~ --shy

Figure 10A

Figure 10B

Figure 10A Land before quail management has large unbroken fields dense stands of trees and little nesting cover Figure 10B Land after 20 years of quail management has less productive fields now in trees Large fields have been broken up with strips of pines edge fields are left in grassy weedy growth as nesting cover and stands of dense pines have been thinned to stimulate growth of understory plilnta which is managed by occasional use of fire Drawings based on photos in Rosene 1969

17

MEASURING SUCCESS How does one measure success at quail manshy

agement Managing wild animal populations is not like managing a domesticated animal or a cultishyvated crop where progress is easy to observe and measure Quail exist amidst an infinite number of variables and other organisms that are beyond the landowners control The exact number of quail on your land is unknown and always changing

A beginner may expect a few simple manageshyment practices to produce regular successful hunts and heavy game bags Things may not work out that way It will probably take a few years to notice a change To observe this change keep written records to document what you see and keep recshyords of your hunting success Cooperate with your state wildlife agency by sharing your records with them Adapt the report forms on the following page to your needs

18

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

Bobwhite Quail on Your Land Tips on Management for Georgia

and the Southeast

Bobwhite quail are a symbol of quality rural life on southern farms and forests Quail are welcome everywhere but they have declined on many lands This bulletin gives suggestions on how to manage habitats to increase and maintain quail populashytions The strategy is to know the needs of quail and manage land to provide for those needs

Bobwhite quail do not need wilderness and truly natural areas In fact quail were not common in the Southeastern wilderness Early naturalists deshyscribed an abundance of deer bear turkeys washyterfowl and other game but they hardly mentioned quail As land was cultivated and hunting increased many wildlife species declined Quail on the other hand found the new conditions ideal and they prospered

Quail were unusually numerous from 1800 to 1940 as an accident of history That time might be described as the Old South when rural land was dominated by a type of agriculture and land use that incidentlly favored high quail populations Fields were small and fencerows were brushy Crop residues weed seeds and insects were plentiful Predators were considered varmints and were pershysecuted Use of pesticides was low

Since 1940 deer and turkey have made a comeshyback as our attitudes and land Llse changed-but quail have declined on most lands Quail in the Southeast will probably never again return to the widespread abundance they once briefly enjoyed (although they are still numerous in certain places) Lands with consistently abundant quail are usually the result of management aimed at helping quail

QUAIL SPECIES Quail are members of the chicken family Several

species are native to North America but the bobshywhite quail is the only species native to the Southshyeast The Southeast has two races of bobwhiteshythe northern and the Florida Their Florida race is darker and smaller The scaled blue valley Gamshybels California and Mearns quail are western speshycies The Coturnix quail an easily domesticated European and Middle Eastern species is the one

usually mass reared for food The Mexican quail is a smaller lighter colored subspecies of bobwhite found in Mexico State agencies and private inshydividuals released Mexican quail in some Southshyeastern states before 1950 Contrary to rumor they did not survive as a distinct race and had no lasting impact on native bobwhites

Facts About Bobwhite Quail

bull Quail are social-live in groups called covies

bull Weight six or seven ounces Florida quail about five ounces

bull Home range varies with habitat qualityshycovies commonly use 10 to 100 acres

bull Usually less than 20 percent live more than a year

bull Lay 14 +- eggs Less than 20 percent of nests hatch successfully

bull Quail wilt renest two or three times in continuing attempts to bring off a brood Later nests have fewer eggs

bull Eggs require 23 days to hatch bull Nest losses are due to weather (excesshy

sive rain or drought) mowing pesticides cotton rats opossums raccoons dogs rat snakes kingsnakes and others Conshytrary to rumor fire ants destroy very few quail nests

bull Nesting period is April to October peak varies throughout the range and occurs sometime between May and August

QUAIL NEEDS Some game animals like deer are managed

largely by hunting to keep populations in balance with habitat Quail management is much more difshyficult Understanding the quais food and cover needs is the key to quail management

Bobwhite quail are hard to manage because they are particularly vulnerable to predation and they

3

depend on a wide variety of food plants which occurs in a relatively small area (See Tables 1 and 2 pages 7 and 8) To escape predators efficiently they need a habitat having relatively bare ground well-covered (roofed over) with a canopy of vegshyetation Hard woody stems provide better escape cover than soft flexible vegetation

To get a view of how a quail sees its world lie down on the ground and look at the habitat with your eyes six inches above the ground As a quail you are a good runner and scratcher but your legs are only two inches long Can you recognize the elements of a good home You will see that large areas of very thick grass will pose a problem for walking and will also hide predators If no roof of stems and leaves covers your head you will be vulnerable to attack from above Do you see any suitable food in your field of view Are any safe nesting sites nearby Is this a haven to lead your chicks searching for succulent insects Safe passhysageways under the roof of vegetation must lead to everything you need These are the composhynents of good quail habitat (See Figure 1 page 6)

Seasonal Needs and Activities

Quail activities and needs vary as the seasons change If your land is to be a safe and productive haven for quail you must provide for their needs throughout the year There can be no weak link

Spring

Spring starts when buds break and leaves begin to expand Insects become more abundant Quail coveys (social groups) begin to break up in March as the birds become territorial and seek mates The males begin their familiar bob-bob-white call in late winter and increase calling as spring days lengthen Coveys may re-group at night but males especially become increasingly hostile toward each other during the day as they seek a mate Once a pair has bonded the hen seeks a suitable nest Site She looks for clumpy cover (well roofed over) that allows her easy access without being seen She prefers cover with small openings here and there Broomsedge fields with blackberries are an example of good nesting habitat In habitats which are burned periodically quail seem to prefer nestshying in vegetation burned one or two years previshyously They nest less often in fresh regrowth The home range of nesting quail may be less than 20 acres

The hen makes a nest of grasses and leaves in a suitable hidden place and lays an egg a day for a total of about 14 eggs in her first nest She inshycubates these eggs for 23 days with brief times off the nest for feeding The nest has only about

one chance in five of hatching successfully Preshydators disturbance and bad weather claim the rest

After the eggs hatch the hen broods the young briefly and then leads them away to a suitable area for rearing They will not return to the nest The hen does not feed the young She leads them to places where they can find insects (not seeds) which will form the bulk of their diet as they grow Often both parents accompany the young The male may share brooding duties

If the young are to survive the brood-rearing habitat must have abundant insects yet be well roofed over with vegetation or it must be within a few feet of escape cover Cover and insects are what fill the quails needs at this time-not the developing grain that will feed them after they are grown

Summer

Summer starts when the rush of spring growth is over and all the leaves are fully expanded The needs during spring begin to overlap with fall needs as many broods are in different stages of develshyopment Quail that failed to nest successfully the first time will try another time or two June July and August are the most important months for nesting Often a very successful late hatch proshyvides more birds for fall hunting than successful early hatches Excessive rain severe drought and losses to cotton rats certain snakes predatory birds and mammals pesticides and other causes limit survival of the young Providing needs for nesting and brood rearing is the aspect of quail management that is least understood and least under the managers control Quail chicks are unshyable to fly for two weeks after hatching and they suffer about 70 percent loss at this time

Fall

A grown brood and its parents form a covey Unsuccessful birds and other coveys may join them Food and cover are at their peak The quails diet expands to include seeds of herbaceous plants berries acorns other tree seeds and green leaves as well as insects Quail may move to conshycentrated seed sources Some birds may leave their home area and join other coveys some disshytance away Their home range in fall may cover up to 100 acres or more but a covey of quail may confine its activities to 20 acres or less if food and cover are good

Winter Winter begins as shortening days and colder

weather cause leaves to wither and fall Seeds near thickets become increasingly valuable as

4

weeds die down and cover decreases Quail do eat greens and insects but the dwindling supply of seeds is their primary remaining food Birds in a covey roosts at night in a tight little circle with their heads facing out Latecomers to a complete roosting circle may climb on top in order squeeze in or they may form a new circle nearby As winter advances covey numbers lose members to huntshyers and predators Snow and ice make quail esshypecially vulnerable As coveys lose individuals the survivors may join to form a larger group Coveys commonly vary between six and 20 members

PLANT SUCCESSION AND EDGE In the Southeast Mother Nature works hard to

fill vacant land with forests of one kind or another Weeds and grasses are the first plants to colonize bare soil After a few years shrubs and seedling trees show through the weeds As more years pass the land becomes a thicket of saplings then pole-sized trees start crowding each other out Often pines dominate the early stages but evenshytually after a human lifetime or more large hardshywoods will likely be the most common trees This process is called plant succession and quail have a particular place in it That place is during the early stage of succession when the land is weedy or brushy especially if there are thickets intershyspersed where quail can find refuge for hiding Vast areas of bare ground or unbroken dense forshyests are both unsuitable for quail (See Figure 2 page 9)

Quail may also occupy a forest with widely spaced trees which allow sunlight to nourish weeshydy or brushy growth on the forest floor Of course if suitable habitats are interspersed with dense forshyests quail may use these forests

Habitat edge is where two habits join It is often better for quail than uniform habitat Where a field meets a forest pond or fencerow is an intersection where there is often a great diverSity of types and heights of vegetation

5

6

~WINTER

Survivors pair up

Quail like clumpy nesting cover best Lay 14 + eggs Late clutches have less Peak nesting is In late May

Food and cover become scarcer due to decomshyposition of seed plowing burning Bicolor I bush hogged corn high tannin sorghums will help quail

now Mortality is high but 20 of birds

will survive

Quail need brood rearing habitat-nearly bare ground with a canopy of corn Weeds or othar vegetation Baby chicks need Insacts mora than seed

Figure 1 Quail Needs through the Year

bull Wild seeds and cultlvatad crops ara at peak Living Is easy for quail Abundant food and habitat now do not guarantee high quail populations next year Time to harvest is now

Table 1 Preferred Bobwhite Food Plants

COASTAL PIEDMONT PLATEAU MOUNTAIN PLAIN

Beggar weeds Ragweeds Common lespedeza Corn Korean clover Partridge peas Oaks Milk peas Sumacs Bush clovers Pines Soy bean Cowpeas Jewel-weeds Dogwoods Sweet-gum Wild beans Sorghum Hog peanut Panic grasses Black locust Joh nson grass Wheat Honeysuckles Sassafras Smartweeds Vetches Crab grass Paspalums Ash Poor Joe Bull grass Spu rred butterfly peas Grapes Dove weeds Foxtail grasses Cranesbill Wood sorrels Sericea Nut rushes Bicolor Blackberries Nightshades Beggar ticks Ground nut

SEED PLANT Landers and Johnson 1976

Fsect ~ ~ ~ =shy~ -

~ - I

I

o 8 16 0 8 16 0 8 16 0 8 16

AVERAGE IMPORTANCE VALUE

7

Table 2 Foods Eaten by Quail in Spring Summer and Early Fall in Longleaf-Slash Pine

Spring Summer Early fall 43a 35 14

Food Vol Freq Vol Freq Vol Freq Woody plant seed

Beautyberry 21 57 Blackberry 88 139 20 57 Blueberry and huckleberry 71 46 128 114 Maple 84 116 Oak 28 23 09 71 Red bay 04 23 Loblolly pine 10 23 Poison oak and poison ivy 29 57 09 143 Sumac 15 143 Wax-myrtle 26 70 Other lt 01 46

Subtotal 311 198 33 Legume seed

Butterfly pea 15 70 44 200 09 214 Bush lespedeza 05 70 lt01 57 Common and kobe lespedeza 16 46 31 86 lt01 142 Milkpea 02 163 04 171 lt01 142 Partridge pea 01 23 lt01 142 Pencil-flower 04 70 36 286 lt01 71 Rhynchosia lt01 46 01 57 Tephrosia 02 70 01 57 01 142 Tick-clover 01 46 71 214 Wildbean 09 71 Other lt 01 70

Subtotal 46 117 90 Grass seed

Bristlegrass 01 46 16 171 01 19 Panicum 170 395 21 428 424 857 Paspalum lt 01 93 39 314 80 500 Uniola lt01 23 lt01 28 Other lt 01 23 lt01 28

Subtotal 171 76 505 Spurge seed

Croton lt 01 23 29 171 19 19 Noseburn 36 86 05 71 Rush-foil 71 71 Spurge lt01 28 lt01 71 Stillingia 02 23 61 214

Subtotal 02 65 156 Sedge seed

Beak-rush lt01 23 lt01 57 lt01 71 Flatsedge 14 23 Nut-rush 17 209 104 571 05 214 Sedge 01 23

Subtotal 31 104 05 Other plant seed

Buttercup 30 46 Buttonweed lt 01 23 Geranium 08 23 Gold star-grass 01 23 08 28 09 71 Oxalis 27 70 lt01 28 Plantain 34 70 Serinea 45 46 Violet 08 93 Other lt 01 23 lt 01 57 lt01 71

Subtotal 153 08 09 Green plant leaves 144 488 20 200 lt 01 71 Animal matter

Ants 02 139 24 171 lt01 143 Beetles 59 395 47 314 42 285 True bugs 10 139 04 114 14 71 Grasshoppers 70 163 224 800 71 357 Leafhoppers lt01 46 01 28 Spiders 01 70

Other lt01 46 112 171 75 214 Subtotal 142 412 202

Number of Crops examined Reid and Goodrum 1979

8

I

Plant Succession and Quail

CDcO T shyo-

3 5 10 25 50 75 100

Time in Years

Figure 2 Plant Succession and Quail

- High Quail Use -- shy

I I

2

LAND IMPROVEMENT Control and manipulate plant succession to

maintain land with suitable food and cover for quail In more arid parts of the US the open or brushy habitats which quail require may exist naturally and require little management or maintenance This is not usually so in the Southeast Either set back plant succession or work to maintain existing vegshyetation or replace succession with plantings Difshyferent percentages of desirable and undesirable plants will survive on different sites Use your eye experience and knowledge in manipulating or maintaining the habitat There are three main opshytions

1 Manage open habitats by burning mowshying grazing herbicides or tilling (set back succession)

2 Manage woodlands by selective thinning and burning (set back or steer succession while maintaining important trees and unshyderstory vegetation)

3 Plant food and cover crops (replace natural succession)

Open Habitats and Edges

Open habitats include croplands fallow fields and fence rows open forest understory and passhytures These existing groundcover plants are the primary key to quail production on most quail lands

Groundcovers vary in their ability to produce food and cover for quail They all need a periodic setshyback of plant succession to prevent them from becoming forests Means of setback are fire grazshying mowing herbicides and tilling

9

Croplands and Their Edges

Corn sorghum soybeans wheat oats peashynuts sunflowers and other agricultural crops may provide excellent brood rearing habitat Recent reshysearch shows that quail broods use the middles of large fields as well as small ones Create suitshyable nesting habitat and escape cover along field edges by several means plantings (see Plantings page 14) leave uncultivated strips leave strips of grain unharvested or let fencerows grow up to bushes Bermuda grass ragweed and other weeds When fields are bare quail may avoid these strips however once crops are developing quail will use brushy and weedy strips for nesting and roosting habitat The width of a field border is up to you Fifteen feet is okay but twice as wide is better

Prescribed Burning

Fire in open or brushy habitats (and under cershytain kinds of pine forest) sets back plant successhysion and stimulates regrowth It provides many of the same benefits as harrowing but at less exshypense A prescribed fire is one set with a goal and a plan

Fire may favor grasses over annual weeds in some cases As with harrowing the time of year helps determine the kinds of plants that will prosshyper afterwards Burning temporarily destroys covshyer and makes quail more vulnerable to predation in the short term Often the best time to burn is late winter and early spring because these burns are followed by quick regrowth as the weather warms

Early winter burns deprive quail of cover for long periods which makes them especially vulnerable to predation by wintering hawks and owls Many of these predators will migrate back north before bud break

Summer burns are recommended at times parshyticularly as a means of controlling woody vegeshytation Summer burns however risk destroying quail nests and small chicks

How often should you burn The richer the soil the faster plants grow and the more often burning is necessary Vegetation on very poor soils may be slow to recover A mosaic of a one to four year old burned areas often works well to insure a mixshyture of food and cover Annual fires prevent blackshyberries runner oaks and certain other desirable plants from fruiting because they set fruit on stems which grew the year before Burns adjacent to existing cover allow a mix of open areas and cover A greater variety of plants results from a mosaic of burns than when large areas are given uniform treatment Some environments need burning more

often than others Exclude fire from choice thickshyets Rake debris away from tree trunks to protect desirable fruit bearing trees like oaks and cherries

Always contain prescribed fires within a manshymade or natural firebreak Get help from experishyenced personnel when conducting fires Bulletins on controlled fire are available from the county office of your University of Georgia Extension Sershyvice Burning permits and technical assistance are available from the Georgia Forestry Commission Also read the section on fire in pine understories on page 12

Grazing

Cattle goats and sheep can maintain areas of short vegetation which can be very desirable when interspersed with cover Overgrown windrows of branches and trunks left after logging brushy ditch banks and dense thickets of briars are good kinds of cover which farm animals wont overuse if pickings are better in the open field Brief periods of intensive grazing act as fire harrowing or mowshying which will setback plant succession If grazing continues too long however it may be detrimental Cattle are quick to remove desirable quail plants such as legumes Watch especially the edges of woodlots When they begin to open up damage has been done Grazing is usually a spring and summer management tool

Mowing

Mowing functions much like grazing and it has the added advantage of being very selective Mow at anytime of year to suppress unwanted growth as needed Avoid mowing nesting and brood rearshying cover from May to September

Herbicides

Herbicides are available in a great variety of forshymulations for spraying on foliage treating tree trunks or treating soil (to set back plant successhysion) Get professional advice before using these materials

Tilling Fallow fields

Harrowing tends to inhibit some grasses and hardwood sprouts and make way for annual weeds that produce seeds insects and greens for quail Use a tractor to drag a disc harrow over old fields and open forest understories

The time of harrowing is important Try harrowshying small plots at different times throughout the year and note what weeds grow Note which plots quail use at different time of year Results will vary with the season and locality Harrow between early

10

fall and early spring before greenup to stimulate blackberries and desirable weeds such as ragshyweeds Florida beggarweed partridge pea large seeded grasses and other annuals Fall harrowing offers the advantage of supplementing natural growth with wheat or other fall planted grain Early spring harrowing allows quail to use the cover all winter Spring and summer harrowing may inshycrease Florida beggarweed and cranesbill gerashynium July harrowing on certain sites in South Georgia may produce solid stands of Florida pulshysey which makes an excellent environment for inshysect production The best seed production will occur during the first and second years after harshyrowing When broomsedge increases and seed bearing annuals decline its usually time to harrow again A rotation is often best A field or field edge should have harrowed portions in various stages of regrowth

Broomsedge Fields

Abandoned agricultural fields often revert to relshyatively uniform stands of broomsedge-a perennial grass that often grows in clumps two to four feet tall Broomsedge fields can be excellent roosting and nesting habitat but they can be poor producshyers of seeds insects and diversity Increase plant diversity by periodically harrowing strips and patches in the field Avoid harrowing sections alshyready covered with desirable vegetation Time of harrowing will affect the outcome (Refer to preshyvious section on tilling fallow fields) Try a threeshyyear rotation so each year there is a mixture of 1shy2 and 3-year-old cover

Pastures

Pastures are often excellent for insect producshytion but dense grasses are inhospitable for very small quail chicks Manage pasture edges for nestshying habitat and escape cover the same as for agshyricultural fields

Mow pastures by starting in the middle and cirshycling out to the edges This will keep the birds in the cover and drive them to the edge of the field If you begin mowing at the edge and finishing in the center of the field quail trapped in the middle will be vulnerable to attack by hawks egrets and other predators

Woodlands and Edges Thinning

Only a fixed amount of sunlight strikes a given piece of land Decide which small plants and trees will get that light to grow and produce Quail cover foods or wood products

Improve a dense woods for quail by harvesting some trees The extra light on the ground will allow food and cover plants to thrive This also gives quail a safer refuge from which to feed on seeds and fruits that fall from the trees

When choosing trees for removal you must inevshyitably make trade-offs among timber value growth potential and value to quail and other wildlife There is no one proper way to thin woodlands A wildlife enthusiast often prefers a variety of trees to a pure stand or monoculture Oaks pines elms sweetshygums sugar-berries black cherries persimmons dogwoods and blackgums all produce fruits and seeds used by quail (See Table 3 page 12) Durshying any year certain of them will have good seed production

There is no set rule as to the number of trees to remove when thinning Heavier thinning will put more light on the ground and will stimulate unshydergrowth This undergrowth may be excellent or poor for quail depending on the soil and previous history of the site Gain experience by thinning a few acres Wait a year or two for the response before thinning large areas Keep in mind that quail are often unable to use a forest habitat with too sparse an understory because they are vulnerable to predation Consider too that certain old natural forests have become increasingly rare If you have a special woods treasure it as it is

Get an accurate measure of the volume and professional help before selling any trees The Unishyversity of Georgia Extension Service has bulletins on timber harvest to help you

11

Table 3 Trees with Value for Quail Pine Understory Fires

Species Beech American Cherry Black

Dogwood

Gum Black

Hickory Bitternut Mockernut Shagbark Pignut

Red Maple

Mulberry Red

Oak

Persimmon Common

Pine Loblolly Longleaf Slash Shortleaf

Sugarberry

Sweetgum

Yellow Poplar

Honey Locust

Black Locust

Remarks Fall food highly ranked as a food source (nuts buds catkins) Summer fruit important because of long ripening period and frequency of good seed years Good for fencerows and field edges Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit persists on tree into winter months Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit is important but remains on the tree for only a short period after ripshyening Good fall color Nuts provide a food source from late summer to the next spring Shagbark and mockernut are preferred mast proshyducers for wildlife Wildlife use only a small percent of the annual bitternut crop Quail eat residue left by squirrels Produces food in early spring Imporshytant because of its widespread occurshyrence Good food source in mid spring early summer Quail and turkey eat fallen fruit Oaks rate at the top in value to wildlife On drier sites a good balance of speshycies in the white and red oak groups will help maintain a consistent level of mast production Quail peck at pieces of acorns left by squirrels and other animals These acorn fragments are often very abundant Ripened fruit are available to wildlife for a long period in the fall because they fall a few at a time over a long period Seeds are especially good quail food for wildlife Longleaf pine shortleaf is excellent Pine types with associated hardwoods provide food sources for many wildlife species Small berries are an important food source for many summer and wintering birds as well as quail Produces abundant small seeds A preferred quail food in late fall Widespread on well-drained sites A prolific seed bearer Seed will persist on cone and can be used by many types of birds and some mammals through winter months Fallen pods are a favorite deer food as are small trees and stump sprouts

Birds and rodents feed on pods Seeds are good food source for quail

Southern pines (longleaf shortleaf loblolly or slash) vary in their ability to produce quail The variation is due to the understory and soil Very sparse pine forests with a good understory are better for quail than dense pines which often have little or no suitable groundcover for quail Hardshywood sprouts small trees gallberries broomshysedge wiregrass or other vegetation are examples of pine understories

Southern pines of suitable size are resistent to properly managed fire Timber managers periodishycally burn pine understories to prevent hardwoods from growing large enough to compete with the pines Fires can remove excess pine needles and allow certain plants to grow while inhibiting others Many plants that thrive after a fire are good for quail

Avoid burning large areas Large burned areas are less desirable for quail than those which leave scattered unburned patches of habitat valuable for nesting feeding and protection Sometimes you can burn with spot fires under conditions which leave patches of cover Or you can divide the woods into a mosaic of smaller sections with fishyrebreaks Burn a third of these sections each year at winters end (See Figure 3)

Figure 3 Fire is a useful tool to manage vegetation under pines

Rake around or otherwise protect isolated mast (seed and fruit) bearing trees in pine stands likeshywise avoid burning forest edges if they contain choice thickets or other desirable plants

In the Coastal Plain wiregrass habitats are parshyticularly interesting Many quail hunting purists beshylieve longleaf pine and wiregrass are the finest quail lands of them all although wiregrass provides no food for quail Wiregrass will carry a fire nearly any time of year Maintain wiregrass by burning Harshyrowing and herbicides may permanently destroy

12

wiregrass Recommendations for establishing wiregrass are not known although it sometimes sets seed following hot summer fires If youre planning a food patch or other soil disturbance you may want to avoid a wiregrass area Vast unishyform areas of wiregrass may have few quail due to a scarcity of suitable cover for hiding and esshycape (See Figure 4)

Figure 5 This pine woods has no vegetation to support quail

Figure 4 Longleaf Pine and Wiregrass Habitat

Choosing the right time to burn pinelands is critshyical Early winter burns deprive quail for a tong time Burns just before spring greenup allow cover to re-grow shortly after a fire But fires after March 15 may destroy turkeys nests Often ideal condishytions for a winter or early spring fire develop after a cold front brings a soaking rain of at least an inch A few days of steady reliable wind from the north or west will usually follow The litter should be wet right down to the soil (check it) As the litter dries from the top there is an increasing layer of flammable material above moist litter Flash fuels like dry grasses may burn readily after only a short drying period-especially if its windy When there is enough dry material to carry a fire check the wind and humidity Humidity should be between 30 percent and 60 percent A wind speed of 5 to 15 miles per hour will help keep the heat cleared away from the pine tops and reduce the chance of scorching tree tops With no wind scorching is likely Fires may be set to back into the wind (backshyfire) burn at a right angle to the wind (flank fire) or run with the wind (headfire) Backfires are safest for beginners Set fires with a drip torch in strips or as spots Do not encircle areas with fire unless you intend to kill all trees and vegetation within Read Extension Bulletin 838 Prescribed Burnshying AManagement Tool before using fire in pineshylands(See Figures 56 and 7)

Figure 6 This pine woods has too much tall vegetation to be suitable for quail A controlled fire and thinning would help

Figure 7 This pine woods has been created by thinning and periodic fire to make good quail habitat

13

Forest Edges

Brushy forest edges are particularly important for quail Quail use the dense edge cover to travel and exploit foods on both sides of the edge The brushy edge is often good nesting and brood-rearshying habitat Broaden and improve the forest edge by thinning Leave mast-bearing trees and leave a few rows of grain unharvested in any adjoining fields along the expanded edge An expanded forshyest edge may have double or triple the value for quail of an unimproved forest edge (See Figure 8)

Plantings

Bare earth is the simplest environment with which to create food and cover Bare land needs everything and that takes work and money But with proper planning you can expect excellent reshysults Plan for both food and cover Food plantings work best where they adjoin existing cover such as fallow fields brushlands swamps stream botshytoms and forests Remember that quail travel litshytle therefore provide food and cover within a birds daily range of movement

Before edge expansion Narrow quail use zone

Lhigh quail use

After edge expansion Wide quail use zone

_----high quail use-------raquo

Figure 8 Expand forest edges to improve habitat for quail

Food Patches

There is no single best food for quail Think about what you want A fall grain patch to concentrate birds for hunting is a common goal A food patch planted in separate sections to offer a variety of foods and bordered by cover can help provide for quail throughout the year

Often suitable feeding areas are useless to quail because they lack nearby cover Clean agricultural fields and open grazed woodlots are examples Establish strips of cover by planting along field and forest borders if cover is lacking Develop hedgeshyrows of weeds and bushes between fields

Blend food and cover to make a multi-purpose quail habitat patch A good patch has a variety of plantings that will provide food and cover There are many plant materials to choose from (See Tashyble 4 page 15) Do a soil test before planting Follow the recommendations Your Georgia Coshyoperative Extension Service agent can process your soil sample for you Use the following ideas when designing your food patches

Site A relatively flat site free from erosion hazard with good sOiland surrounded by quail cover is a good site One half to one acre is a good size if your goal is to create an environment that is good for quail year round (There is no minishymum size limit) Many small patches of one-tenth to one-half acre are better than one big patch A few large patches are more convenient in forest habitat Avoid small areas if they are overhung by large trees Use a ripper bar to cut tree roots that extend into food patches

Border Enhance escape cover around the peshyrimeter of the patch with bicolor lespeshydeza multiflora rose wild plums hawthorns blackberries or other suitashyble plants A border 15 to 30 feet wide is sufficient

Interior Plant small patches of wheat or rye sorshyghum annuallespedezas corn clover cowpeas soybeans partridge pea milshylets or other foods of your choice in strips or patches Leave each segment fallow for several months or a year following each crop to benefit from annual weeds that will volunteer in Always aim to have some seeds some insects and some greens available during each month of the year

14

Table 4 Planting Specifications for Selected Quail Plants Planting Time to

Plant Soil pH Rate Dates Maturity Other Beggarweed Fertile Broadcast No later than 150-180 Use scarified seed s Ga only Florida moist sandy 10 Ibsacre June 1 days Seed available as food from Novshy

soils Feb Annual

Clover All except 60-65 Broadcast Sept 1shy Inoculate seed Use reseeding Crimson poor hulled- Oct 1 variety Winter annual

15 to 20 Ibsacre unhulledshy45-60 Ibsacre

Clover Moist clays 65-70 Broadcast 2-3 For winter Good for winter greens Inoculate White or loams Ibsacre Sept 1shy seed Use scarified seed

Oct 1 Perennial May die in summer

Corn Fertile 60-68 Space at 8shy March 15shy 80-100 Plant to mature before frost Use wellshy 10 in 361 June 1 days hand seeded full season varieties drained rows (ca 7

Ibsacre

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Broadcast 30shy Feb 1shy Seed generally avaitable after first Annual sand 35lbsacre March 1 frost Annual Will reseed Korean Kobe

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Plants 241 Nov 1-April 1 Use scarified seed Seeds available bicolor amp deep sands or apart in 36 to for plants in Sept Use a 0-20-20 fertilizer for thunbergii poorly drained 48 rows max seed production Perennial

Seed 36 March 1-April rows 12-14 15 for seed Ibsacre

Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 60 days Annual Browntop Ibsacre Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 75 days Proso Ibsacre Drill

15lbsacre Multi-flora Rose Upland soils 4-8 Winter- Excellent cover-may be a pest

apart during Propagate from cuttings during dormant midsummer season

Oats All 60 Broadcast or Aug 15shy Annual drill Oct 15 2-2V2 bushelacre

Pea Moist sites 60-65 Broadcast 15 March 1-April 150 days Seed available as food beginning in Partridge preferred but Ibsacre Nov Annual

will produce Rows 307 on all Ibsacre

Sesame Well-drained 65-70 Broadcast 10 After soil temp 8-100 S Ga Do not plant on same site 2 Ibsacre Drill reaches 75 days years in row due to wilt Annual 4-5 Ibs in 36 degrees F (ca rows July 1)

Sorghum All 58-62 36-44 rows March 15-July 95-130 Plant late and still have grain grain 2-8 between 1 days before frost Bird-resistant strains including plants have durable grain that may last all milo and Broadcast 30 winter wheat Ibsacre

Sunflower All but best Broadcast 5 June 1shy Annual on fertile soils Ibsacre June 30

Rows 361 121 apart in row Get further Winter-during info from dormant county agent season

Wheat Well-drained heavy

60 Drill 2 bushelsacre

N Ga Oct 15 thru Nov 1 S

180 days Available as food beginning about May Annual

Ga Nov 1 Wild Plum Plant 3shy Winter-during other shrubs 6 apart dormant

season

Carlton 1987 15

MANAGEMENT PLAN Put your ideas together with a management plan

Your land has its own soil vegetation topography land use and history all of which give the land its unique personality If youre like most landowners you appreciate many features of your land not just quail Only a few landowners manage their land primarily for quail Most want to identify parts of their land where changes can help quail at little cost This bulletin has described the land manshyagement practices you can use for manipulation of soil and vegetation to improve habitat and thereshyby make an environment which will hold more quail Use your judgement to integrate quail manageshyment into existing and future land uses Now how do you go about making a management plan

Map Topographic Features and Land Use

First make a land management plan to know what youve got Get a topographic map a soil map and an aerial photograph These may be availshyable from US Geological Survey ASCS office or Soil Conservation Service office Then make a map that shows the details of the land property boundshyaries roads trails fencerows power lines buildshyings agricultural fields fallow fields pastures and stands of trees according to species and size As you roam around your land start making notes of streams marshes ponds rocky outcrops sanshydhills animal burrows den trees nesting sites of unusual birds old house sites rare plants Indian artifact sites or any other special features that inshyterest you Identify features on the map with names or numbers Make notes on the ecological history and development of your forests or other habitats For example you might note dates and locations of previous fires or grazing beaver ponds soil erosion soil type timber harvest and areas of young seedlings

Identify Management Units

After your inventory is complete identify your maps habitat types (eg broomsedge fields mixed hardwood forest croplandsix-year-old planted pines etc) and special areas (eg stream bottom hardwood draw old house site)

Land Management Decisions Determine your primary goals for each forest

stand agricultural field and other management unit where your goals are primarily utilitarian Now look at all your management units and see if there is an opportunity to improve each one for quail withshyout unduly interfering with your other goals

Because there is no one best plan you need to look at the land think of the needs of the birds then be creative Make a grid chart like the one below to avoid overlooking possibilities List manshyagement units on one side and management opshytions on the other Then think about what you want for each site Each square in the grid represents an option Some are good and some are poor Table 5 shows when deficiencies are most likely to occur on lands managed for quail

ngThinni Burnin 2 Edge UFood t Cover ~ Tillingi Fertiliz E LimingampProtect CIS Mowini Grazin Ii Herbic

g enhancement planting planting

ing

ion g g ides

plusmnt ++=

m Figure 9 Quail Management Decision Grid

Table 5 Weak Links in Quail Habitat

Spril19 Summer Fall Winter

Escape Cover Insect Food Nesting Cover

Brood Rearing Habitat

Seeds

Stars indicate where quail management is most likely to be deficient

16

Land Design

Quail are the dessert in a beautiful landscape for many wildlife lovers Like visiting a fine restaushyrant a hunt on beautiful land is an event to reshymember So keep aesthetics in mind as you execute your management plan Here are three tips on designing land

1 Avoid fragmentation 2 Create visual variety 3 Increase edge habitat

Avoid Fragmentation

If a wildlife habitat is reduced in size fewer speshycies of animals are likely to live there For example a small woodlot isolated by bare fields is likely to have fewer species of wildlife than a similar sized tract of land that adjoins other wooded habitat If these die then it often takes awhile before new animals find it This is certainly true for quail They are not good travelers and may seldom use isoshylated pockets of good food and cover So plan if possible to connect the isolated woodlot to anshyother larger forest by a wooded travel way With a mechanism to allow re-population from the larger habitat the small woods becomes a part of a largshyer one

Remember the characteristics of good quail covshyer-bare ground and a roof of vegetation

Create Visual Variety

Use your eye to create an interesting landscape When you create openings in woodlands or plant field borders or mast-bearing trees you join Mothshyer Nature as landscape architect Mix native tree species to create variety Consider selecting trees for fall color or distinctive appearance When plantshying consider arrangements that look natural rather than set about in rows and squares

Some habitats may seem beautiful to the eye even though they have no demonstrated utilitarian benefit You may want to keep them as they are for aesthetic reasons

Increase Edge Habitat

Increase edge habitat by changing the shape of a field A square 40-acre field has a mile of edge But if the field borders are scalloped into an arshyrangement of points bays and crenulations doushyble the prime field edge habitat It is also much more interesting to walk and hunt where you can not see the whole field at once-where rounding each point or investigating each little bay presents a new chance for seeing wildlife at close range

In the same way breaking large fields into small ones increases edge When doing so avoid moshynotonous straight lines of habitat edge if you can

Crop fields have straight edges for practical reashysons-they are much more efficient to plow and plant If you are willing to trade off some agriculshytural efficiency you can also improve the aesthetic qualities of your cropland as quail habitat (See Figure 10)

-~ --shy

Figure 10A

Figure 10B

Figure 10A Land before quail management has large unbroken fields dense stands of trees and little nesting cover Figure 10B Land after 20 years of quail management has less productive fields now in trees Large fields have been broken up with strips of pines edge fields are left in grassy weedy growth as nesting cover and stands of dense pines have been thinned to stimulate growth of understory plilnta which is managed by occasional use of fire Drawings based on photos in Rosene 1969

17

MEASURING SUCCESS How does one measure success at quail manshy

agement Managing wild animal populations is not like managing a domesticated animal or a cultishyvated crop where progress is easy to observe and measure Quail exist amidst an infinite number of variables and other organisms that are beyond the landowners control The exact number of quail on your land is unknown and always changing

A beginner may expect a few simple manageshyment practices to produce regular successful hunts and heavy game bags Things may not work out that way It will probably take a few years to notice a change To observe this change keep written records to document what you see and keep recshyords of your hunting success Cooperate with your state wildlife agency by sharing your records with them Adapt the report forms on the following page to your needs

18

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

depend on a wide variety of food plants which occurs in a relatively small area (See Tables 1 and 2 pages 7 and 8) To escape predators efficiently they need a habitat having relatively bare ground well-covered (roofed over) with a canopy of vegshyetation Hard woody stems provide better escape cover than soft flexible vegetation

To get a view of how a quail sees its world lie down on the ground and look at the habitat with your eyes six inches above the ground As a quail you are a good runner and scratcher but your legs are only two inches long Can you recognize the elements of a good home You will see that large areas of very thick grass will pose a problem for walking and will also hide predators If no roof of stems and leaves covers your head you will be vulnerable to attack from above Do you see any suitable food in your field of view Are any safe nesting sites nearby Is this a haven to lead your chicks searching for succulent insects Safe passhysageways under the roof of vegetation must lead to everything you need These are the composhynents of good quail habitat (See Figure 1 page 6)

Seasonal Needs and Activities

Quail activities and needs vary as the seasons change If your land is to be a safe and productive haven for quail you must provide for their needs throughout the year There can be no weak link

Spring

Spring starts when buds break and leaves begin to expand Insects become more abundant Quail coveys (social groups) begin to break up in March as the birds become territorial and seek mates The males begin their familiar bob-bob-white call in late winter and increase calling as spring days lengthen Coveys may re-group at night but males especially become increasingly hostile toward each other during the day as they seek a mate Once a pair has bonded the hen seeks a suitable nest Site She looks for clumpy cover (well roofed over) that allows her easy access without being seen She prefers cover with small openings here and there Broomsedge fields with blackberries are an example of good nesting habitat In habitats which are burned periodically quail seem to prefer nestshying in vegetation burned one or two years previshyously They nest less often in fresh regrowth The home range of nesting quail may be less than 20 acres

The hen makes a nest of grasses and leaves in a suitable hidden place and lays an egg a day for a total of about 14 eggs in her first nest She inshycubates these eggs for 23 days with brief times off the nest for feeding The nest has only about

one chance in five of hatching successfully Preshydators disturbance and bad weather claim the rest

After the eggs hatch the hen broods the young briefly and then leads them away to a suitable area for rearing They will not return to the nest The hen does not feed the young She leads them to places where they can find insects (not seeds) which will form the bulk of their diet as they grow Often both parents accompany the young The male may share brooding duties

If the young are to survive the brood-rearing habitat must have abundant insects yet be well roofed over with vegetation or it must be within a few feet of escape cover Cover and insects are what fill the quails needs at this time-not the developing grain that will feed them after they are grown

Summer

Summer starts when the rush of spring growth is over and all the leaves are fully expanded The needs during spring begin to overlap with fall needs as many broods are in different stages of develshyopment Quail that failed to nest successfully the first time will try another time or two June July and August are the most important months for nesting Often a very successful late hatch proshyvides more birds for fall hunting than successful early hatches Excessive rain severe drought and losses to cotton rats certain snakes predatory birds and mammals pesticides and other causes limit survival of the young Providing needs for nesting and brood rearing is the aspect of quail management that is least understood and least under the managers control Quail chicks are unshyable to fly for two weeks after hatching and they suffer about 70 percent loss at this time

Fall

A grown brood and its parents form a covey Unsuccessful birds and other coveys may join them Food and cover are at their peak The quails diet expands to include seeds of herbaceous plants berries acorns other tree seeds and green leaves as well as insects Quail may move to conshycentrated seed sources Some birds may leave their home area and join other coveys some disshytance away Their home range in fall may cover up to 100 acres or more but a covey of quail may confine its activities to 20 acres or less if food and cover are good

Winter Winter begins as shortening days and colder

weather cause leaves to wither and fall Seeds near thickets become increasingly valuable as

4

weeds die down and cover decreases Quail do eat greens and insects but the dwindling supply of seeds is their primary remaining food Birds in a covey roosts at night in a tight little circle with their heads facing out Latecomers to a complete roosting circle may climb on top in order squeeze in or they may form a new circle nearby As winter advances covey numbers lose members to huntshyers and predators Snow and ice make quail esshypecially vulnerable As coveys lose individuals the survivors may join to form a larger group Coveys commonly vary between six and 20 members

PLANT SUCCESSION AND EDGE In the Southeast Mother Nature works hard to

fill vacant land with forests of one kind or another Weeds and grasses are the first plants to colonize bare soil After a few years shrubs and seedling trees show through the weeds As more years pass the land becomes a thicket of saplings then pole-sized trees start crowding each other out Often pines dominate the early stages but evenshytually after a human lifetime or more large hardshywoods will likely be the most common trees This process is called plant succession and quail have a particular place in it That place is during the early stage of succession when the land is weedy or brushy especially if there are thickets intershyspersed where quail can find refuge for hiding Vast areas of bare ground or unbroken dense forshyests are both unsuitable for quail (See Figure 2 page 9)

Quail may also occupy a forest with widely spaced trees which allow sunlight to nourish weeshydy or brushy growth on the forest floor Of course if suitable habitats are interspersed with dense forshyests quail may use these forests

Habitat edge is where two habits join It is often better for quail than uniform habitat Where a field meets a forest pond or fencerow is an intersection where there is often a great diverSity of types and heights of vegetation

5

6

~WINTER

Survivors pair up

Quail like clumpy nesting cover best Lay 14 + eggs Late clutches have less Peak nesting is In late May

Food and cover become scarcer due to decomshyposition of seed plowing burning Bicolor I bush hogged corn high tannin sorghums will help quail

now Mortality is high but 20 of birds

will survive

Quail need brood rearing habitat-nearly bare ground with a canopy of corn Weeds or othar vegetation Baby chicks need Insacts mora than seed

Figure 1 Quail Needs through the Year

bull Wild seeds and cultlvatad crops ara at peak Living Is easy for quail Abundant food and habitat now do not guarantee high quail populations next year Time to harvest is now

Table 1 Preferred Bobwhite Food Plants

COASTAL PIEDMONT PLATEAU MOUNTAIN PLAIN

Beggar weeds Ragweeds Common lespedeza Corn Korean clover Partridge peas Oaks Milk peas Sumacs Bush clovers Pines Soy bean Cowpeas Jewel-weeds Dogwoods Sweet-gum Wild beans Sorghum Hog peanut Panic grasses Black locust Joh nson grass Wheat Honeysuckles Sassafras Smartweeds Vetches Crab grass Paspalums Ash Poor Joe Bull grass Spu rred butterfly peas Grapes Dove weeds Foxtail grasses Cranesbill Wood sorrels Sericea Nut rushes Bicolor Blackberries Nightshades Beggar ticks Ground nut

SEED PLANT Landers and Johnson 1976

Fsect ~ ~ ~ =shy~ -

~ - I

I

o 8 16 0 8 16 0 8 16 0 8 16

AVERAGE IMPORTANCE VALUE

7

Table 2 Foods Eaten by Quail in Spring Summer and Early Fall in Longleaf-Slash Pine

Spring Summer Early fall 43a 35 14

Food Vol Freq Vol Freq Vol Freq Woody plant seed

Beautyberry 21 57 Blackberry 88 139 20 57 Blueberry and huckleberry 71 46 128 114 Maple 84 116 Oak 28 23 09 71 Red bay 04 23 Loblolly pine 10 23 Poison oak and poison ivy 29 57 09 143 Sumac 15 143 Wax-myrtle 26 70 Other lt 01 46

Subtotal 311 198 33 Legume seed

Butterfly pea 15 70 44 200 09 214 Bush lespedeza 05 70 lt01 57 Common and kobe lespedeza 16 46 31 86 lt01 142 Milkpea 02 163 04 171 lt01 142 Partridge pea 01 23 lt01 142 Pencil-flower 04 70 36 286 lt01 71 Rhynchosia lt01 46 01 57 Tephrosia 02 70 01 57 01 142 Tick-clover 01 46 71 214 Wildbean 09 71 Other lt 01 70

Subtotal 46 117 90 Grass seed

Bristlegrass 01 46 16 171 01 19 Panicum 170 395 21 428 424 857 Paspalum lt 01 93 39 314 80 500 Uniola lt01 23 lt01 28 Other lt 01 23 lt01 28

Subtotal 171 76 505 Spurge seed

Croton lt 01 23 29 171 19 19 Noseburn 36 86 05 71 Rush-foil 71 71 Spurge lt01 28 lt01 71 Stillingia 02 23 61 214

Subtotal 02 65 156 Sedge seed

Beak-rush lt01 23 lt01 57 lt01 71 Flatsedge 14 23 Nut-rush 17 209 104 571 05 214 Sedge 01 23

Subtotal 31 104 05 Other plant seed

Buttercup 30 46 Buttonweed lt 01 23 Geranium 08 23 Gold star-grass 01 23 08 28 09 71 Oxalis 27 70 lt01 28 Plantain 34 70 Serinea 45 46 Violet 08 93 Other lt 01 23 lt 01 57 lt01 71

Subtotal 153 08 09 Green plant leaves 144 488 20 200 lt 01 71 Animal matter

Ants 02 139 24 171 lt01 143 Beetles 59 395 47 314 42 285 True bugs 10 139 04 114 14 71 Grasshoppers 70 163 224 800 71 357 Leafhoppers lt01 46 01 28 Spiders 01 70

Other lt01 46 112 171 75 214 Subtotal 142 412 202

Number of Crops examined Reid and Goodrum 1979

8

I

Plant Succession and Quail

CDcO T shyo-

3 5 10 25 50 75 100

Time in Years

Figure 2 Plant Succession and Quail

- High Quail Use -- shy

I I

2

LAND IMPROVEMENT Control and manipulate plant succession to

maintain land with suitable food and cover for quail In more arid parts of the US the open or brushy habitats which quail require may exist naturally and require little management or maintenance This is not usually so in the Southeast Either set back plant succession or work to maintain existing vegshyetation or replace succession with plantings Difshyferent percentages of desirable and undesirable plants will survive on different sites Use your eye experience and knowledge in manipulating or maintaining the habitat There are three main opshytions

1 Manage open habitats by burning mowshying grazing herbicides or tilling (set back succession)

2 Manage woodlands by selective thinning and burning (set back or steer succession while maintaining important trees and unshyderstory vegetation)

3 Plant food and cover crops (replace natural succession)

Open Habitats and Edges

Open habitats include croplands fallow fields and fence rows open forest understory and passhytures These existing groundcover plants are the primary key to quail production on most quail lands

Groundcovers vary in their ability to produce food and cover for quail They all need a periodic setshyback of plant succession to prevent them from becoming forests Means of setback are fire grazshying mowing herbicides and tilling

9

Croplands and Their Edges

Corn sorghum soybeans wheat oats peashynuts sunflowers and other agricultural crops may provide excellent brood rearing habitat Recent reshysearch shows that quail broods use the middles of large fields as well as small ones Create suitshyable nesting habitat and escape cover along field edges by several means plantings (see Plantings page 14) leave uncultivated strips leave strips of grain unharvested or let fencerows grow up to bushes Bermuda grass ragweed and other weeds When fields are bare quail may avoid these strips however once crops are developing quail will use brushy and weedy strips for nesting and roosting habitat The width of a field border is up to you Fifteen feet is okay but twice as wide is better

Prescribed Burning

Fire in open or brushy habitats (and under cershytain kinds of pine forest) sets back plant successhysion and stimulates regrowth It provides many of the same benefits as harrowing but at less exshypense A prescribed fire is one set with a goal and a plan

Fire may favor grasses over annual weeds in some cases As with harrowing the time of year helps determine the kinds of plants that will prosshyper afterwards Burning temporarily destroys covshyer and makes quail more vulnerable to predation in the short term Often the best time to burn is late winter and early spring because these burns are followed by quick regrowth as the weather warms

Early winter burns deprive quail of cover for long periods which makes them especially vulnerable to predation by wintering hawks and owls Many of these predators will migrate back north before bud break

Summer burns are recommended at times parshyticularly as a means of controlling woody vegeshytation Summer burns however risk destroying quail nests and small chicks

How often should you burn The richer the soil the faster plants grow and the more often burning is necessary Vegetation on very poor soils may be slow to recover A mosaic of a one to four year old burned areas often works well to insure a mixshyture of food and cover Annual fires prevent blackshyberries runner oaks and certain other desirable plants from fruiting because they set fruit on stems which grew the year before Burns adjacent to existing cover allow a mix of open areas and cover A greater variety of plants results from a mosaic of burns than when large areas are given uniform treatment Some environments need burning more

often than others Exclude fire from choice thickshyets Rake debris away from tree trunks to protect desirable fruit bearing trees like oaks and cherries

Always contain prescribed fires within a manshymade or natural firebreak Get help from experishyenced personnel when conducting fires Bulletins on controlled fire are available from the county office of your University of Georgia Extension Sershyvice Burning permits and technical assistance are available from the Georgia Forestry Commission Also read the section on fire in pine understories on page 12

Grazing

Cattle goats and sheep can maintain areas of short vegetation which can be very desirable when interspersed with cover Overgrown windrows of branches and trunks left after logging brushy ditch banks and dense thickets of briars are good kinds of cover which farm animals wont overuse if pickings are better in the open field Brief periods of intensive grazing act as fire harrowing or mowshying which will setback plant succession If grazing continues too long however it may be detrimental Cattle are quick to remove desirable quail plants such as legumes Watch especially the edges of woodlots When they begin to open up damage has been done Grazing is usually a spring and summer management tool

Mowing

Mowing functions much like grazing and it has the added advantage of being very selective Mow at anytime of year to suppress unwanted growth as needed Avoid mowing nesting and brood rearshying cover from May to September

Herbicides

Herbicides are available in a great variety of forshymulations for spraying on foliage treating tree trunks or treating soil (to set back plant successhysion) Get professional advice before using these materials

Tilling Fallow fields

Harrowing tends to inhibit some grasses and hardwood sprouts and make way for annual weeds that produce seeds insects and greens for quail Use a tractor to drag a disc harrow over old fields and open forest understories

The time of harrowing is important Try harrowshying small plots at different times throughout the year and note what weeds grow Note which plots quail use at different time of year Results will vary with the season and locality Harrow between early

10

fall and early spring before greenup to stimulate blackberries and desirable weeds such as ragshyweeds Florida beggarweed partridge pea large seeded grasses and other annuals Fall harrowing offers the advantage of supplementing natural growth with wheat or other fall planted grain Early spring harrowing allows quail to use the cover all winter Spring and summer harrowing may inshycrease Florida beggarweed and cranesbill gerashynium July harrowing on certain sites in South Georgia may produce solid stands of Florida pulshysey which makes an excellent environment for inshysect production The best seed production will occur during the first and second years after harshyrowing When broomsedge increases and seed bearing annuals decline its usually time to harrow again A rotation is often best A field or field edge should have harrowed portions in various stages of regrowth

Broomsedge Fields

Abandoned agricultural fields often revert to relshyatively uniform stands of broomsedge-a perennial grass that often grows in clumps two to four feet tall Broomsedge fields can be excellent roosting and nesting habitat but they can be poor producshyers of seeds insects and diversity Increase plant diversity by periodically harrowing strips and patches in the field Avoid harrowing sections alshyready covered with desirable vegetation Time of harrowing will affect the outcome (Refer to preshyvious section on tilling fallow fields) Try a threeshyyear rotation so each year there is a mixture of 1shy2 and 3-year-old cover

Pastures

Pastures are often excellent for insect producshytion but dense grasses are inhospitable for very small quail chicks Manage pasture edges for nestshying habitat and escape cover the same as for agshyricultural fields

Mow pastures by starting in the middle and cirshycling out to the edges This will keep the birds in the cover and drive them to the edge of the field If you begin mowing at the edge and finishing in the center of the field quail trapped in the middle will be vulnerable to attack by hawks egrets and other predators

Woodlands and Edges Thinning

Only a fixed amount of sunlight strikes a given piece of land Decide which small plants and trees will get that light to grow and produce Quail cover foods or wood products

Improve a dense woods for quail by harvesting some trees The extra light on the ground will allow food and cover plants to thrive This also gives quail a safer refuge from which to feed on seeds and fruits that fall from the trees

When choosing trees for removal you must inevshyitably make trade-offs among timber value growth potential and value to quail and other wildlife There is no one proper way to thin woodlands A wildlife enthusiast often prefers a variety of trees to a pure stand or monoculture Oaks pines elms sweetshygums sugar-berries black cherries persimmons dogwoods and blackgums all produce fruits and seeds used by quail (See Table 3 page 12) Durshying any year certain of them will have good seed production

There is no set rule as to the number of trees to remove when thinning Heavier thinning will put more light on the ground and will stimulate unshydergrowth This undergrowth may be excellent or poor for quail depending on the soil and previous history of the site Gain experience by thinning a few acres Wait a year or two for the response before thinning large areas Keep in mind that quail are often unable to use a forest habitat with too sparse an understory because they are vulnerable to predation Consider too that certain old natural forests have become increasingly rare If you have a special woods treasure it as it is

Get an accurate measure of the volume and professional help before selling any trees The Unishyversity of Georgia Extension Service has bulletins on timber harvest to help you

11

Table 3 Trees with Value for Quail Pine Understory Fires

Species Beech American Cherry Black

Dogwood

Gum Black

Hickory Bitternut Mockernut Shagbark Pignut

Red Maple

Mulberry Red

Oak

Persimmon Common

Pine Loblolly Longleaf Slash Shortleaf

Sugarberry

Sweetgum

Yellow Poplar

Honey Locust

Black Locust

Remarks Fall food highly ranked as a food source (nuts buds catkins) Summer fruit important because of long ripening period and frequency of good seed years Good for fencerows and field edges Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit persists on tree into winter months Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit is important but remains on the tree for only a short period after ripshyening Good fall color Nuts provide a food source from late summer to the next spring Shagbark and mockernut are preferred mast proshyducers for wildlife Wildlife use only a small percent of the annual bitternut crop Quail eat residue left by squirrels Produces food in early spring Imporshytant because of its widespread occurshyrence Good food source in mid spring early summer Quail and turkey eat fallen fruit Oaks rate at the top in value to wildlife On drier sites a good balance of speshycies in the white and red oak groups will help maintain a consistent level of mast production Quail peck at pieces of acorns left by squirrels and other animals These acorn fragments are often very abundant Ripened fruit are available to wildlife for a long period in the fall because they fall a few at a time over a long period Seeds are especially good quail food for wildlife Longleaf pine shortleaf is excellent Pine types with associated hardwoods provide food sources for many wildlife species Small berries are an important food source for many summer and wintering birds as well as quail Produces abundant small seeds A preferred quail food in late fall Widespread on well-drained sites A prolific seed bearer Seed will persist on cone and can be used by many types of birds and some mammals through winter months Fallen pods are a favorite deer food as are small trees and stump sprouts

Birds and rodents feed on pods Seeds are good food source for quail

Southern pines (longleaf shortleaf loblolly or slash) vary in their ability to produce quail The variation is due to the understory and soil Very sparse pine forests with a good understory are better for quail than dense pines which often have little or no suitable groundcover for quail Hardshywood sprouts small trees gallberries broomshysedge wiregrass or other vegetation are examples of pine understories

Southern pines of suitable size are resistent to properly managed fire Timber managers periodishycally burn pine understories to prevent hardwoods from growing large enough to compete with the pines Fires can remove excess pine needles and allow certain plants to grow while inhibiting others Many plants that thrive after a fire are good for quail

Avoid burning large areas Large burned areas are less desirable for quail than those which leave scattered unburned patches of habitat valuable for nesting feeding and protection Sometimes you can burn with spot fires under conditions which leave patches of cover Or you can divide the woods into a mosaic of smaller sections with fishyrebreaks Burn a third of these sections each year at winters end (See Figure 3)

Figure 3 Fire is a useful tool to manage vegetation under pines

Rake around or otherwise protect isolated mast (seed and fruit) bearing trees in pine stands likeshywise avoid burning forest edges if they contain choice thickets or other desirable plants

In the Coastal Plain wiregrass habitats are parshyticularly interesting Many quail hunting purists beshylieve longleaf pine and wiregrass are the finest quail lands of them all although wiregrass provides no food for quail Wiregrass will carry a fire nearly any time of year Maintain wiregrass by burning Harshyrowing and herbicides may permanently destroy

12

wiregrass Recommendations for establishing wiregrass are not known although it sometimes sets seed following hot summer fires If youre planning a food patch or other soil disturbance you may want to avoid a wiregrass area Vast unishyform areas of wiregrass may have few quail due to a scarcity of suitable cover for hiding and esshycape (See Figure 4)

Figure 5 This pine woods has no vegetation to support quail

Figure 4 Longleaf Pine and Wiregrass Habitat

Choosing the right time to burn pinelands is critshyical Early winter burns deprive quail for a tong time Burns just before spring greenup allow cover to re-grow shortly after a fire But fires after March 15 may destroy turkeys nests Often ideal condishytions for a winter or early spring fire develop after a cold front brings a soaking rain of at least an inch A few days of steady reliable wind from the north or west will usually follow The litter should be wet right down to the soil (check it) As the litter dries from the top there is an increasing layer of flammable material above moist litter Flash fuels like dry grasses may burn readily after only a short drying period-especially if its windy When there is enough dry material to carry a fire check the wind and humidity Humidity should be between 30 percent and 60 percent A wind speed of 5 to 15 miles per hour will help keep the heat cleared away from the pine tops and reduce the chance of scorching tree tops With no wind scorching is likely Fires may be set to back into the wind (backshyfire) burn at a right angle to the wind (flank fire) or run with the wind (headfire) Backfires are safest for beginners Set fires with a drip torch in strips or as spots Do not encircle areas with fire unless you intend to kill all trees and vegetation within Read Extension Bulletin 838 Prescribed Burnshying AManagement Tool before using fire in pineshylands(See Figures 56 and 7)

Figure 6 This pine woods has too much tall vegetation to be suitable for quail A controlled fire and thinning would help

Figure 7 This pine woods has been created by thinning and periodic fire to make good quail habitat

13

Forest Edges

Brushy forest edges are particularly important for quail Quail use the dense edge cover to travel and exploit foods on both sides of the edge The brushy edge is often good nesting and brood-rearshying habitat Broaden and improve the forest edge by thinning Leave mast-bearing trees and leave a few rows of grain unharvested in any adjoining fields along the expanded edge An expanded forshyest edge may have double or triple the value for quail of an unimproved forest edge (See Figure 8)

Plantings

Bare earth is the simplest environment with which to create food and cover Bare land needs everything and that takes work and money But with proper planning you can expect excellent reshysults Plan for both food and cover Food plantings work best where they adjoin existing cover such as fallow fields brushlands swamps stream botshytoms and forests Remember that quail travel litshytle therefore provide food and cover within a birds daily range of movement

Before edge expansion Narrow quail use zone

Lhigh quail use

After edge expansion Wide quail use zone

_----high quail use-------raquo

Figure 8 Expand forest edges to improve habitat for quail

Food Patches

There is no single best food for quail Think about what you want A fall grain patch to concentrate birds for hunting is a common goal A food patch planted in separate sections to offer a variety of foods and bordered by cover can help provide for quail throughout the year

Often suitable feeding areas are useless to quail because they lack nearby cover Clean agricultural fields and open grazed woodlots are examples Establish strips of cover by planting along field and forest borders if cover is lacking Develop hedgeshyrows of weeds and bushes between fields

Blend food and cover to make a multi-purpose quail habitat patch A good patch has a variety of plantings that will provide food and cover There are many plant materials to choose from (See Tashyble 4 page 15) Do a soil test before planting Follow the recommendations Your Georgia Coshyoperative Extension Service agent can process your soil sample for you Use the following ideas when designing your food patches

Site A relatively flat site free from erosion hazard with good sOiland surrounded by quail cover is a good site One half to one acre is a good size if your goal is to create an environment that is good for quail year round (There is no minishymum size limit) Many small patches of one-tenth to one-half acre are better than one big patch A few large patches are more convenient in forest habitat Avoid small areas if they are overhung by large trees Use a ripper bar to cut tree roots that extend into food patches

Border Enhance escape cover around the peshyrimeter of the patch with bicolor lespeshydeza multiflora rose wild plums hawthorns blackberries or other suitashyble plants A border 15 to 30 feet wide is sufficient

Interior Plant small patches of wheat or rye sorshyghum annuallespedezas corn clover cowpeas soybeans partridge pea milshylets or other foods of your choice in strips or patches Leave each segment fallow for several months or a year following each crop to benefit from annual weeds that will volunteer in Always aim to have some seeds some insects and some greens available during each month of the year

14

Table 4 Planting Specifications for Selected Quail Plants Planting Time to

Plant Soil pH Rate Dates Maturity Other Beggarweed Fertile Broadcast No later than 150-180 Use scarified seed s Ga only Florida moist sandy 10 Ibsacre June 1 days Seed available as food from Novshy

soils Feb Annual

Clover All except 60-65 Broadcast Sept 1shy Inoculate seed Use reseeding Crimson poor hulled- Oct 1 variety Winter annual

15 to 20 Ibsacre unhulledshy45-60 Ibsacre

Clover Moist clays 65-70 Broadcast 2-3 For winter Good for winter greens Inoculate White or loams Ibsacre Sept 1shy seed Use scarified seed

Oct 1 Perennial May die in summer

Corn Fertile 60-68 Space at 8shy March 15shy 80-100 Plant to mature before frost Use wellshy 10 in 361 June 1 days hand seeded full season varieties drained rows (ca 7

Ibsacre

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Broadcast 30shy Feb 1shy Seed generally avaitable after first Annual sand 35lbsacre March 1 frost Annual Will reseed Korean Kobe

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Plants 241 Nov 1-April 1 Use scarified seed Seeds available bicolor amp deep sands or apart in 36 to for plants in Sept Use a 0-20-20 fertilizer for thunbergii poorly drained 48 rows max seed production Perennial

Seed 36 March 1-April rows 12-14 15 for seed Ibsacre

Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 60 days Annual Browntop Ibsacre Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 75 days Proso Ibsacre Drill

15lbsacre Multi-flora Rose Upland soils 4-8 Winter- Excellent cover-may be a pest

apart during Propagate from cuttings during dormant midsummer season

Oats All 60 Broadcast or Aug 15shy Annual drill Oct 15 2-2V2 bushelacre

Pea Moist sites 60-65 Broadcast 15 March 1-April 150 days Seed available as food beginning in Partridge preferred but Ibsacre Nov Annual

will produce Rows 307 on all Ibsacre

Sesame Well-drained 65-70 Broadcast 10 After soil temp 8-100 S Ga Do not plant on same site 2 Ibsacre Drill reaches 75 days years in row due to wilt Annual 4-5 Ibs in 36 degrees F (ca rows July 1)

Sorghum All 58-62 36-44 rows March 15-July 95-130 Plant late and still have grain grain 2-8 between 1 days before frost Bird-resistant strains including plants have durable grain that may last all milo and Broadcast 30 winter wheat Ibsacre

Sunflower All but best Broadcast 5 June 1shy Annual on fertile soils Ibsacre June 30

Rows 361 121 apart in row Get further Winter-during info from dormant county agent season

Wheat Well-drained heavy

60 Drill 2 bushelsacre

N Ga Oct 15 thru Nov 1 S

180 days Available as food beginning about May Annual

Ga Nov 1 Wild Plum Plant 3shy Winter-during other shrubs 6 apart dormant

season

Carlton 1987 15

MANAGEMENT PLAN Put your ideas together with a management plan

Your land has its own soil vegetation topography land use and history all of which give the land its unique personality If youre like most landowners you appreciate many features of your land not just quail Only a few landowners manage their land primarily for quail Most want to identify parts of their land where changes can help quail at little cost This bulletin has described the land manshyagement practices you can use for manipulation of soil and vegetation to improve habitat and thereshyby make an environment which will hold more quail Use your judgement to integrate quail manageshyment into existing and future land uses Now how do you go about making a management plan

Map Topographic Features and Land Use

First make a land management plan to know what youve got Get a topographic map a soil map and an aerial photograph These may be availshyable from US Geological Survey ASCS office or Soil Conservation Service office Then make a map that shows the details of the land property boundshyaries roads trails fencerows power lines buildshyings agricultural fields fallow fields pastures and stands of trees according to species and size As you roam around your land start making notes of streams marshes ponds rocky outcrops sanshydhills animal burrows den trees nesting sites of unusual birds old house sites rare plants Indian artifact sites or any other special features that inshyterest you Identify features on the map with names or numbers Make notes on the ecological history and development of your forests or other habitats For example you might note dates and locations of previous fires or grazing beaver ponds soil erosion soil type timber harvest and areas of young seedlings

Identify Management Units

After your inventory is complete identify your maps habitat types (eg broomsedge fields mixed hardwood forest croplandsix-year-old planted pines etc) and special areas (eg stream bottom hardwood draw old house site)

Land Management Decisions Determine your primary goals for each forest

stand agricultural field and other management unit where your goals are primarily utilitarian Now look at all your management units and see if there is an opportunity to improve each one for quail withshyout unduly interfering with your other goals

Because there is no one best plan you need to look at the land think of the needs of the birds then be creative Make a grid chart like the one below to avoid overlooking possibilities List manshyagement units on one side and management opshytions on the other Then think about what you want for each site Each square in the grid represents an option Some are good and some are poor Table 5 shows when deficiencies are most likely to occur on lands managed for quail

ngThinni Burnin 2 Edge UFood t Cover ~ Tillingi Fertiliz E LimingampProtect CIS Mowini Grazin Ii Herbic

g enhancement planting planting

ing

ion g g ides

plusmnt ++=

m Figure 9 Quail Management Decision Grid

Table 5 Weak Links in Quail Habitat

Spril19 Summer Fall Winter

Escape Cover Insect Food Nesting Cover

Brood Rearing Habitat

Seeds

Stars indicate where quail management is most likely to be deficient

16

Land Design

Quail are the dessert in a beautiful landscape for many wildlife lovers Like visiting a fine restaushyrant a hunt on beautiful land is an event to reshymember So keep aesthetics in mind as you execute your management plan Here are three tips on designing land

1 Avoid fragmentation 2 Create visual variety 3 Increase edge habitat

Avoid Fragmentation

If a wildlife habitat is reduced in size fewer speshycies of animals are likely to live there For example a small woodlot isolated by bare fields is likely to have fewer species of wildlife than a similar sized tract of land that adjoins other wooded habitat If these die then it often takes awhile before new animals find it This is certainly true for quail They are not good travelers and may seldom use isoshylated pockets of good food and cover So plan if possible to connect the isolated woodlot to anshyother larger forest by a wooded travel way With a mechanism to allow re-population from the larger habitat the small woods becomes a part of a largshyer one

Remember the characteristics of good quail covshyer-bare ground and a roof of vegetation

Create Visual Variety

Use your eye to create an interesting landscape When you create openings in woodlands or plant field borders or mast-bearing trees you join Mothshyer Nature as landscape architect Mix native tree species to create variety Consider selecting trees for fall color or distinctive appearance When plantshying consider arrangements that look natural rather than set about in rows and squares

Some habitats may seem beautiful to the eye even though they have no demonstrated utilitarian benefit You may want to keep them as they are for aesthetic reasons

Increase Edge Habitat

Increase edge habitat by changing the shape of a field A square 40-acre field has a mile of edge But if the field borders are scalloped into an arshyrangement of points bays and crenulations doushyble the prime field edge habitat It is also much more interesting to walk and hunt where you can not see the whole field at once-where rounding each point or investigating each little bay presents a new chance for seeing wildlife at close range

In the same way breaking large fields into small ones increases edge When doing so avoid moshynotonous straight lines of habitat edge if you can

Crop fields have straight edges for practical reashysons-they are much more efficient to plow and plant If you are willing to trade off some agriculshytural efficiency you can also improve the aesthetic qualities of your cropland as quail habitat (See Figure 10)

-~ --shy

Figure 10A

Figure 10B

Figure 10A Land before quail management has large unbroken fields dense stands of trees and little nesting cover Figure 10B Land after 20 years of quail management has less productive fields now in trees Large fields have been broken up with strips of pines edge fields are left in grassy weedy growth as nesting cover and stands of dense pines have been thinned to stimulate growth of understory plilnta which is managed by occasional use of fire Drawings based on photos in Rosene 1969

17

MEASURING SUCCESS How does one measure success at quail manshy

agement Managing wild animal populations is not like managing a domesticated animal or a cultishyvated crop where progress is easy to observe and measure Quail exist amidst an infinite number of variables and other organisms that are beyond the landowners control The exact number of quail on your land is unknown and always changing

A beginner may expect a few simple manageshyment practices to produce regular successful hunts and heavy game bags Things may not work out that way It will probably take a few years to notice a change To observe this change keep written records to document what you see and keep recshyords of your hunting success Cooperate with your state wildlife agency by sharing your records with them Adapt the report forms on the following page to your needs

18

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

weeds die down and cover decreases Quail do eat greens and insects but the dwindling supply of seeds is their primary remaining food Birds in a covey roosts at night in a tight little circle with their heads facing out Latecomers to a complete roosting circle may climb on top in order squeeze in or they may form a new circle nearby As winter advances covey numbers lose members to huntshyers and predators Snow and ice make quail esshypecially vulnerable As coveys lose individuals the survivors may join to form a larger group Coveys commonly vary between six and 20 members

PLANT SUCCESSION AND EDGE In the Southeast Mother Nature works hard to

fill vacant land with forests of one kind or another Weeds and grasses are the first plants to colonize bare soil After a few years shrubs and seedling trees show through the weeds As more years pass the land becomes a thicket of saplings then pole-sized trees start crowding each other out Often pines dominate the early stages but evenshytually after a human lifetime or more large hardshywoods will likely be the most common trees This process is called plant succession and quail have a particular place in it That place is during the early stage of succession when the land is weedy or brushy especially if there are thickets intershyspersed where quail can find refuge for hiding Vast areas of bare ground or unbroken dense forshyests are both unsuitable for quail (See Figure 2 page 9)

Quail may also occupy a forest with widely spaced trees which allow sunlight to nourish weeshydy or brushy growth on the forest floor Of course if suitable habitats are interspersed with dense forshyests quail may use these forests

Habitat edge is where two habits join It is often better for quail than uniform habitat Where a field meets a forest pond or fencerow is an intersection where there is often a great diverSity of types and heights of vegetation

5

6

~WINTER

Survivors pair up

Quail like clumpy nesting cover best Lay 14 + eggs Late clutches have less Peak nesting is In late May

Food and cover become scarcer due to decomshyposition of seed plowing burning Bicolor I bush hogged corn high tannin sorghums will help quail

now Mortality is high but 20 of birds

will survive

Quail need brood rearing habitat-nearly bare ground with a canopy of corn Weeds or othar vegetation Baby chicks need Insacts mora than seed

Figure 1 Quail Needs through the Year

bull Wild seeds and cultlvatad crops ara at peak Living Is easy for quail Abundant food and habitat now do not guarantee high quail populations next year Time to harvest is now

Table 1 Preferred Bobwhite Food Plants

COASTAL PIEDMONT PLATEAU MOUNTAIN PLAIN

Beggar weeds Ragweeds Common lespedeza Corn Korean clover Partridge peas Oaks Milk peas Sumacs Bush clovers Pines Soy bean Cowpeas Jewel-weeds Dogwoods Sweet-gum Wild beans Sorghum Hog peanut Panic grasses Black locust Joh nson grass Wheat Honeysuckles Sassafras Smartweeds Vetches Crab grass Paspalums Ash Poor Joe Bull grass Spu rred butterfly peas Grapes Dove weeds Foxtail grasses Cranesbill Wood sorrels Sericea Nut rushes Bicolor Blackberries Nightshades Beggar ticks Ground nut

SEED PLANT Landers and Johnson 1976

Fsect ~ ~ ~ =shy~ -

~ - I

I

o 8 16 0 8 16 0 8 16 0 8 16

AVERAGE IMPORTANCE VALUE

7

Table 2 Foods Eaten by Quail in Spring Summer and Early Fall in Longleaf-Slash Pine

Spring Summer Early fall 43a 35 14

Food Vol Freq Vol Freq Vol Freq Woody plant seed

Beautyberry 21 57 Blackberry 88 139 20 57 Blueberry and huckleberry 71 46 128 114 Maple 84 116 Oak 28 23 09 71 Red bay 04 23 Loblolly pine 10 23 Poison oak and poison ivy 29 57 09 143 Sumac 15 143 Wax-myrtle 26 70 Other lt 01 46

Subtotal 311 198 33 Legume seed

Butterfly pea 15 70 44 200 09 214 Bush lespedeza 05 70 lt01 57 Common and kobe lespedeza 16 46 31 86 lt01 142 Milkpea 02 163 04 171 lt01 142 Partridge pea 01 23 lt01 142 Pencil-flower 04 70 36 286 lt01 71 Rhynchosia lt01 46 01 57 Tephrosia 02 70 01 57 01 142 Tick-clover 01 46 71 214 Wildbean 09 71 Other lt 01 70

Subtotal 46 117 90 Grass seed

Bristlegrass 01 46 16 171 01 19 Panicum 170 395 21 428 424 857 Paspalum lt 01 93 39 314 80 500 Uniola lt01 23 lt01 28 Other lt 01 23 lt01 28

Subtotal 171 76 505 Spurge seed

Croton lt 01 23 29 171 19 19 Noseburn 36 86 05 71 Rush-foil 71 71 Spurge lt01 28 lt01 71 Stillingia 02 23 61 214

Subtotal 02 65 156 Sedge seed

Beak-rush lt01 23 lt01 57 lt01 71 Flatsedge 14 23 Nut-rush 17 209 104 571 05 214 Sedge 01 23

Subtotal 31 104 05 Other plant seed

Buttercup 30 46 Buttonweed lt 01 23 Geranium 08 23 Gold star-grass 01 23 08 28 09 71 Oxalis 27 70 lt01 28 Plantain 34 70 Serinea 45 46 Violet 08 93 Other lt 01 23 lt 01 57 lt01 71

Subtotal 153 08 09 Green plant leaves 144 488 20 200 lt 01 71 Animal matter

Ants 02 139 24 171 lt01 143 Beetles 59 395 47 314 42 285 True bugs 10 139 04 114 14 71 Grasshoppers 70 163 224 800 71 357 Leafhoppers lt01 46 01 28 Spiders 01 70

Other lt01 46 112 171 75 214 Subtotal 142 412 202

Number of Crops examined Reid and Goodrum 1979

8

I

Plant Succession and Quail

CDcO T shyo-

3 5 10 25 50 75 100

Time in Years

Figure 2 Plant Succession and Quail

- High Quail Use -- shy

I I

2

LAND IMPROVEMENT Control and manipulate plant succession to

maintain land with suitable food and cover for quail In more arid parts of the US the open or brushy habitats which quail require may exist naturally and require little management or maintenance This is not usually so in the Southeast Either set back plant succession or work to maintain existing vegshyetation or replace succession with plantings Difshyferent percentages of desirable and undesirable plants will survive on different sites Use your eye experience and knowledge in manipulating or maintaining the habitat There are three main opshytions

1 Manage open habitats by burning mowshying grazing herbicides or tilling (set back succession)

2 Manage woodlands by selective thinning and burning (set back or steer succession while maintaining important trees and unshyderstory vegetation)

3 Plant food and cover crops (replace natural succession)

Open Habitats and Edges

Open habitats include croplands fallow fields and fence rows open forest understory and passhytures These existing groundcover plants are the primary key to quail production on most quail lands

Groundcovers vary in their ability to produce food and cover for quail They all need a periodic setshyback of plant succession to prevent them from becoming forests Means of setback are fire grazshying mowing herbicides and tilling

9

Croplands and Their Edges

Corn sorghum soybeans wheat oats peashynuts sunflowers and other agricultural crops may provide excellent brood rearing habitat Recent reshysearch shows that quail broods use the middles of large fields as well as small ones Create suitshyable nesting habitat and escape cover along field edges by several means plantings (see Plantings page 14) leave uncultivated strips leave strips of grain unharvested or let fencerows grow up to bushes Bermuda grass ragweed and other weeds When fields are bare quail may avoid these strips however once crops are developing quail will use brushy and weedy strips for nesting and roosting habitat The width of a field border is up to you Fifteen feet is okay but twice as wide is better

Prescribed Burning

Fire in open or brushy habitats (and under cershytain kinds of pine forest) sets back plant successhysion and stimulates regrowth It provides many of the same benefits as harrowing but at less exshypense A prescribed fire is one set with a goal and a plan

Fire may favor grasses over annual weeds in some cases As with harrowing the time of year helps determine the kinds of plants that will prosshyper afterwards Burning temporarily destroys covshyer and makes quail more vulnerable to predation in the short term Often the best time to burn is late winter and early spring because these burns are followed by quick regrowth as the weather warms

Early winter burns deprive quail of cover for long periods which makes them especially vulnerable to predation by wintering hawks and owls Many of these predators will migrate back north before bud break

Summer burns are recommended at times parshyticularly as a means of controlling woody vegeshytation Summer burns however risk destroying quail nests and small chicks

How often should you burn The richer the soil the faster plants grow and the more often burning is necessary Vegetation on very poor soils may be slow to recover A mosaic of a one to four year old burned areas often works well to insure a mixshyture of food and cover Annual fires prevent blackshyberries runner oaks and certain other desirable plants from fruiting because they set fruit on stems which grew the year before Burns adjacent to existing cover allow a mix of open areas and cover A greater variety of plants results from a mosaic of burns than when large areas are given uniform treatment Some environments need burning more

often than others Exclude fire from choice thickshyets Rake debris away from tree trunks to protect desirable fruit bearing trees like oaks and cherries

Always contain prescribed fires within a manshymade or natural firebreak Get help from experishyenced personnel when conducting fires Bulletins on controlled fire are available from the county office of your University of Georgia Extension Sershyvice Burning permits and technical assistance are available from the Georgia Forestry Commission Also read the section on fire in pine understories on page 12

Grazing

Cattle goats and sheep can maintain areas of short vegetation which can be very desirable when interspersed with cover Overgrown windrows of branches and trunks left after logging brushy ditch banks and dense thickets of briars are good kinds of cover which farm animals wont overuse if pickings are better in the open field Brief periods of intensive grazing act as fire harrowing or mowshying which will setback plant succession If grazing continues too long however it may be detrimental Cattle are quick to remove desirable quail plants such as legumes Watch especially the edges of woodlots When they begin to open up damage has been done Grazing is usually a spring and summer management tool

Mowing

Mowing functions much like grazing and it has the added advantage of being very selective Mow at anytime of year to suppress unwanted growth as needed Avoid mowing nesting and brood rearshying cover from May to September

Herbicides

Herbicides are available in a great variety of forshymulations for spraying on foliage treating tree trunks or treating soil (to set back plant successhysion) Get professional advice before using these materials

Tilling Fallow fields

Harrowing tends to inhibit some grasses and hardwood sprouts and make way for annual weeds that produce seeds insects and greens for quail Use a tractor to drag a disc harrow over old fields and open forest understories

The time of harrowing is important Try harrowshying small plots at different times throughout the year and note what weeds grow Note which plots quail use at different time of year Results will vary with the season and locality Harrow between early

10

fall and early spring before greenup to stimulate blackberries and desirable weeds such as ragshyweeds Florida beggarweed partridge pea large seeded grasses and other annuals Fall harrowing offers the advantage of supplementing natural growth with wheat or other fall planted grain Early spring harrowing allows quail to use the cover all winter Spring and summer harrowing may inshycrease Florida beggarweed and cranesbill gerashynium July harrowing on certain sites in South Georgia may produce solid stands of Florida pulshysey which makes an excellent environment for inshysect production The best seed production will occur during the first and second years after harshyrowing When broomsedge increases and seed bearing annuals decline its usually time to harrow again A rotation is often best A field or field edge should have harrowed portions in various stages of regrowth

Broomsedge Fields

Abandoned agricultural fields often revert to relshyatively uniform stands of broomsedge-a perennial grass that often grows in clumps two to four feet tall Broomsedge fields can be excellent roosting and nesting habitat but they can be poor producshyers of seeds insects and diversity Increase plant diversity by periodically harrowing strips and patches in the field Avoid harrowing sections alshyready covered with desirable vegetation Time of harrowing will affect the outcome (Refer to preshyvious section on tilling fallow fields) Try a threeshyyear rotation so each year there is a mixture of 1shy2 and 3-year-old cover

Pastures

Pastures are often excellent for insect producshytion but dense grasses are inhospitable for very small quail chicks Manage pasture edges for nestshying habitat and escape cover the same as for agshyricultural fields

Mow pastures by starting in the middle and cirshycling out to the edges This will keep the birds in the cover and drive them to the edge of the field If you begin mowing at the edge and finishing in the center of the field quail trapped in the middle will be vulnerable to attack by hawks egrets and other predators

Woodlands and Edges Thinning

Only a fixed amount of sunlight strikes a given piece of land Decide which small plants and trees will get that light to grow and produce Quail cover foods or wood products

Improve a dense woods for quail by harvesting some trees The extra light on the ground will allow food and cover plants to thrive This also gives quail a safer refuge from which to feed on seeds and fruits that fall from the trees

When choosing trees for removal you must inevshyitably make trade-offs among timber value growth potential and value to quail and other wildlife There is no one proper way to thin woodlands A wildlife enthusiast often prefers a variety of trees to a pure stand or monoculture Oaks pines elms sweetshygums sugar-berries black cherries persimmons dogwoods and blackgums all produce fruits and seeds used by quail (See Table 3 page 12) Durshying any year certain of them will have good seed production

There is no set rule as to the number of trees to remove when thinning Heavier thinning will put more light on the ground and will stimulate unshydergrowth This undergrowth may be excellent or poor for quail depending on the soil and previous history of the site Gain experience by thinning a few acres Wait a year or two for the response before thinning large areas Keep in mind that quail are often unable to use a forest habitat with too sparse an understory because they are vulnerable to predation Consider too that certain old natural forests have become increasingly rare If you have a special woods treasure it as it is

Get an accurate measure of the volume and professional help before selling any trees The Unishyversity of Georgia Extension Service has bulletins on timber harvest to help you

11

Table 3 Trees with Value for Quail Pine Understory Fires

Species Beech American Cherry Black

Dogwood

Gum Black

Hickory Bitternut Mockernut Shagbark Pignut

Red Maple

Mulberry Red

Oak

Persimmon Common

Pine Loblolly Longleaf Slash Shortleaf

Sugarberry

Sweetgum

Yellow Poplar

Honey Locust

Black Locust

Remarks Fall food highly ranked as a food source (nuts buds catkins) Summer fruit important because of long ripening period and frequency of good seed years Good for fencerows and field edges Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit persists on tree into winter months Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit is important but remains on the tree for only a short period after ripshyening Good fall color Nuts provide a food source from late summer to the next spring Shagbark and mockernut are preferred mast proshyducers for wildlife Wildlife use only a small percent of the annual bitternut crop Quail eat residue left by squirrels Produces food in early spring Imporshytant because of its widespread occurshyrence Good food source in mid spring early summer Quail and turkey eat fallen fruit Oaks rate at the top in value to wildlife On drier sites a good balance of speshycies in the white and red oak groups will help maintain a consistent level of mast production Quail peck at pieces of acorns left by squirrels and other animals These acorn fragments are often very abundant Ripened fruit are available to wildlife for a long period in the fall because they fall a few at a time over a long period Seeds are especially good quail food for wildlife Longleaf pine shortleaf is excellent Pine types with associated hardwoods provide food sources for many wildlife species Small berries are an important food source for many summer and wintering birds as well as quail Produces abundant small seeds A preferred quail food in late fall Widespread on well-drained sites A prolific seed bearer Seed will persist on cone and can be used by many types of birds and some mammals through winter months Fallen pods are a favorite deer food as are small trees and stump sprouts

Birds and rodents feed on pods Seeds are good food source for quail

Southern pines (longleaf shortleaf loblolly or slash) vary in their ability to produce quail The variation is due to the understory and soil Very sparse pine forests with a good understory are better for quail than dense pines which often have little or no suitable groundcover for quail Hardshywood sprouts small trees gallberries broomshysedge wiregrass or other vegetation are examples of pine understories

Southern pines of suitable size are resistent to properly managed fire Timber managers periodishycally burn pine understories to prevent hardwoods from growing large enough to compete with the pines Fires can remove excess pine needles and allow certain plants to grow while inhibiting others Many plants that thrive after a fire are good for quail

Avoid burning large areas Large burned areas are less desirable for quail than those which leave scattered unburned patches of habitat valuable for nesting feeding and protection Sometimes you can burn with spot fires under conditions which leave patches of cover Or you can divide the woods into a mosaic of smaller sections with fishyrebreaks Burn a third of these sections each year at winters end (See Figure 3)

Figure 3 Fire is a useful tool to manage vegetation under pines

Rake around or otherwise protect isolated mast (seed and fruit) bearing trees in pine stands likeshywise avoid burning forest edges if they contain choice thickets or other desirable plants

In the Coastal Plain wiregrass habitats are parshyticularly interesting Many quail hunting purists beshylieve longleaf pine and wiregrass are the finest quail lands of them all although wiregrass provides no food for quail Wiregrass will carry a fire nearly any time of year Maintain wiregrass by burning Harshyrowing and herbicides may permanently destroy

12

wiregrass Recommendations for establishing wiregrass are not known although it sometimes sets seed following hot summer fires If youre planning a food patch or other soil disturbance you may want to avoid a wiregrass area Vast unishyform areas of wiregrass may have few quail due to a scarcity of suitable cover for hiding and esshycape (See Figure 4)

Figure 5 This pine woods has no vegetation to support quail

Figure 4 Longleaf Pine and Wiregrass Habitat

Choosing the right time to burn pinelands is critshyical Early winter burns deprive quail for a tong time Burns just before spring greenup allow cover to re-grow shortly after a fire But fires after March 15 may destroy turkeys nests Often ideal condishytions for a winter or early spring fire develop after a cold front brings a soaking rain of at least an inch A few days of steady reliable wind from the north or west will usually follow The litter should be wet right down to the soil (check it) As the litter dries from the top there is an increasing layer of flammable material above moist litter Flash fuels like dry grasses may burn readily after only a short drying period-especially if its windy When there is enough dry material to carry a fire check the wind and humidity Humidity should be between 30 percent and 60 percent A wind speed of 5 to 15 miles per hour will help keep the heat cleared away from the pine tops and reduce the chance of scorching tree tops With no wind scorching is likely Fires may be set to back into the wind (backshyfire) burn at a right angle to the wind (flank fire) or run with the wind (headfire) Backfires are safest for beginners Set fires with a drip torch in strips or as spots Do not encircle areas with fire unless you intend to kill all trees and vegetation within Read Extension Bulletin 838 Prescribed Burnshying AManagement Tool before using fire in pineshylands(See Figures 56 and 7)

Figure 6 This pine woods has too much tall vegetation to be suitable for quail A controlled fire and thinning would help

Figure 7 This pine woods has been created by thinning and periodic fire to make good quail habitat

13

Forest Edges

Brushy forest edges are particularly important for quail Quail use the dense edge cover to travel and exploit foods on both sides of the edge The brushy edge is often good nesting and brood-rearshying habitat Broaden and improve the forest edge by thinning Leave mast-bearing trees and leave a few rows of grain unharvested in any adjoining fields along the expanded edge An expanded forshyest edge may have double or triple the value for quail of an unimproved forest edge (See Figure 8)

Plantings

Bare earth is the simplest environment with which to create food and cover Bare land needs everything and that takes work and money But with proper planning you can expect excellent reshysults Plan for both food and cover Food plantings work best where they adjoin existing cover such as fallow fields brushlands swamps stream botshytoms and forests Remember that quail travel litshytle therefore provide food and cover within a birds daily range of movement

Before edge expansion Narrow quail use zone

Lhigh quail use

After edge expansion Wide quail use zone

_----high quail use-------raquo

Figure 8 Expand forest edges to improve habitat for quail

Food Patches

There is no single best food for quail Think about what you want A fall grain patch to concentrate birds for hunting is a common goal A food patch planted in separate sections to offer a variety of foods and bordered by cover can help provide for quail throughout the year

Often suitable feeding areas are useless to quail because they lack nearby cover Clean agricultural fields and open grazed woodlots are examples Establish strips of cover by planting along field and forest borders if cover is lacking Develop hedgeshyrows of weeds and bushes between fields

Blend food and cover to make a multi-purpose quail habitat patch A good patch has a variety of plantings that will provide food and cover There are many plant materials to choose from (See Tashyble 4 page 15) Do a soil test before planting Follow the recommendations Your Georgia Coshyoperative Extension Service agent can process your soil sample for you Use the following ideas when designing your food patches

Site A relatively flat site free from erosion hazard with good sOiland surrounded by quail cover is a good site One half to one acre is a good size if your goal is to create an environment that is good for quail year round (There is no minishymum size limit) Many small patches of one-tenth to one-half acre are better than one big patch A few large patches are more convenient in forest habitat Avoid small areas if they are overhung by large trees Use a ripper bar to cut tree roots that extend into food patches

Border Enhance escape cover around the peshyrimeter of the patch with bicolor lespeshydeza multiflora rose wild plums hawthorns blackberries or other suitashyble plants A border 15 to 30 feet wide is sufficient

Interior Plant small patches of wheat or rye sorshyghum annuallespedezas corn clover cowpeas soybeans partridge pea milshylets or other foods of your choice in strips or patches Leave each segment fallow for several months or a year following each crop to benefit from annual weeds that will volunteer in Always aim to have some seeds some insects and some greens available during each month of the year

14

Table 4 Planting Specifications for Selected Quail Plants Planting Time to

Plant Soil pH Rate Dates Maturity Other Beggarweed Fertile Broadcast No later than 150-180 Use scarified seed s Ga only Florida moist sandy 10 Ibsacre June 1 days Seed available as food from Novshy

soils Feb Annual

Clover All except 60-65 Broadcast Sept 1shy Inoculate seed Use reseeding Crimson poor hulled- Oct 1 variety Winter annual

15 to 20 Ibsacre unhulledshy45-60 Ibsacre

Clover Moist clays 65-70 Broadcast 2-3 For winter Good for winter greens Inoculate White or loams Ibsacre Sept 1shy seed Use scarified seed

Oct 1 Perennial May die in summer

Corn Fertile 60-68 Space at 8shy March 15shy 80-100 Plant to mature before frost Use wellshy 10 in 361 June 1 days hand seeded full season varieties drained rows (ca 7

Ibsacre

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Broadcast 30shy Feb 1shy Seed generally avaitable after first Annual sand 35lbsacre March 1 frost Annual Will reseed Korean Kobe

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Plants 241 Nov 1-April 1 Use scarified seed Seeds available bicolor amp deep sands or apart in 36 to for plants in Sept Use a 0-20-20 fertilizer for thunbergii poorly drained 48 rows max seed production Perennial

Seed 36 March 1-April rows 12-14 15 for seed Ibsacre

Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 60 days Annual Browntop Ibsacre Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 75 days Proso Ibsacre Drill

15lbsacre Multi-flora Rose Upland soils 4-8 Winter- Excellent cover-may be a pest

apart during Propagate from cuttings during dormant midsummer season

Oats All 60 Broadcast or Aug 15shy Annual drill Oct 15 2-2V2 bushelacre

Pea Moist sites 60-65 Broadcast 15 March 1-April 150 days Seed available as food beginning in Partridge preferred but Ibsacre Nov Annual

will produce Rows 307 on all Ibsacre

Sesame Well-drained 65-70 Broadcast 10 After soil temp 8-100 S Ga Do not plant on same site 2 Ibsacre Drill reaches 75 days years in row due to wilt Annual 4-5 Ibs in 36 degrees F (ca rows July 1)

Sorghum All 58-62 36-44 rows March 15-July 95-130 Plant late and still have grain grain 2-8 between 1 days before frost Bird-resistant strains including plants have durable grain that may last all milo and Broadcast 30 winter wheat Ibsacre

Sunflower All but best Broadcast 5 June 1shy Annual on fertile soils Ibsacre June 30

Rows 361 121 apart in row Get further Winter-during info from dormant county agent season

Wheat Well-drained heavy

60 Drill 2 bushelsacre

N Ga Oct 15 thru Nov 1 S

180 days Available as food beginning about May Annual

Ga Nov 1 Wild Plum Plant 3shy Winter-during other shrubs 6 apart dormant

season

Carlton 1987 15

MANAGEMENT PLAN Put your ideas together with a management plan

Your land has its own soil vegetation topography land use and history all of which give the land its unique personality If youre like most landowners you appreciate many features of your land not just quail Only a few landowners manage their land primarily for quail Most want to identify parts of their land where changes can help quail at little cost This bulletin has described the land manshyagement practices you can use for manipulation of soil and vegetation to improve habitat and thereshyby make an environment which will hold more quail Use your judgement to integrate quail manageshyment into existing and future land uses Now how do you go about making a management plan

Map Topographic Features and Land Use

First make a land management plan to know what youve got Get a topographic map a soil map and an aerial photograph These may be availshyable from US Geological Survey ASCS office or Soil Conservation Service office Then make a map that shows the details of the land property boundshyaries roads trails fencerows power lines buildshyings agricultural fields fallow fields pastures and stands of trees according to species and size As you roam around your land start making notes of streams marshes ponds rocky outcrops sanshydhills animal burrows den trees nesting sites of unusual birds old house sites rare plants Indian artifact sites or any other special features that inshyterest you Identify features on the map with names or numbers Make notes on the ecological history and development of your forests or other habitats For example you might note dates and locations of previous fires or grazing beaver ponds soil erosion soil type timber harvest and areas of young seedlings

Identify Management Units

After your inventory is complete identify your maps habitat types (eg broomsedge fields mixed hardwood forest croplandsix-year-old planted pines etc) and special areas (eg stream bottom hardwood draw old house site)

Land Management Decisions Determine your primary goals for each forest

stand agricultural field and other management unit where your goals are primarily utilitarian Now look at all your management units and see if there is an opportunity to improve each one for quail withshyout unduly interfering with your other goals

Because there is no one best plan you need to look at the land think of the needs of the birds then be creative Make a grid chart like the one below to avoid overlooking possibilities List manshyagement units on one side and management opshytions on the other Then think about what you want for each site Each square in the grid represents an option Some are good and some are poor Table 5 shows when deficiencies are most likely to occur on lands managed for quail

ngThinni Burnin 2 Edge UFood t Cover ~ Tillingi Fertiliz E LimingampProtect CIS Mowini Grazin Ii Herbic

g enhancement planting planting

ing

ion g g ides

plusmnt ++=

m Figure 9 Quail Management Decision Grid

Table 5 Weak Links in Quail Habitat

Spril19 Summer Fall Winter

Escape Cover Insect Food Nesting Cover

Brood Rearing Habitat

Seeds

Stars indicate where quail management is most likely to be deficient

16

Land Design

Quail are the dessert in a beautiful landscape for many wildlife lovers Like visiting a fine restaushyrant a hunt on beautiful land is an event to reshymember So keep aesthetics in mind as you execute your management plan Here are three tips on designing land

1 Avoid fragmentation 2 Create visual variety 3 Increase edge habitat

Avoid Fragmentation

If a wildlife habitat is reduced in size fewer speshycies of animals are likely to live there For example a small woodlot isolated by bare fields is likely to have fewer species of wildlife than a similar sized tract of land that adjoins other wooded habitat If these die then it often takes awhile before new animals find it This is certainly true for quail They are not good travelers and may seldom use isoshylated pockets of good food and cover So plan if possible to connect the isolated woodlot to anshyother larger forest by a wooded travel way With a mechanism to allow re-population from the larger habitat the small woods becomes a part of a largshyer one

Remember the characteristics of good quail covshyer-bare ground and a roof of vegetation

Create Visual Variety

Use your eye to create an interesting landscape When you create openings in woodlands or plant field borders or mast-bearing trees you join Mothshyer Nature as landscape architect Mix native tree species to create variety Consider selecting trees for fall color or distinctive appearance When plantshying consider arrangements that look natural rather than set about in rows and squares

Some habitats may seem beautiful to the eye even though they have no demonstrated utilitarian benefit You may want to keep them as they are for aesthetic reasons

Increase Edge Habitat

Increase edge habitat by changing the shape of a field A square 40-acre field has a mile of edge But if the field borders are scalloped into an arshyrangement of points bays and crenulations doushyble the prime field edge habitat It is also much more interesting to walk and hunt where you can not see the whole field at once-where rounding each point or investigating each little bay presents a new chance for seeing wildlife at close range

In the same way breaking large fields into small ones increases edge When doing so avoid moshynotonous straight lines of habitat edge if you can

Crop fields have straight edges for practical reashysons-they are much more efficient to plow and plant If you are willing to trade off some agriculshytural efficiency you can also improve the aesthetic qualities of your cropland as quail habitat (See Figure 10)

-~ --shy

Figure 10A

Figure 10B

Figure 10A Land before quail management has large unbroken fields dense stands of trees and little nesting cover Figure 10B Land after 20 years of quail management has less productive fields now in trees Large fields have been broken up with strips of pines edge fields are left in grassy weedy growth as nesting cover and stands of dense pines have been thinned to stimulate growth of understory plilnta which is managed by occasional use of fire Drawings based on photos in Rosene 1969

17

MEASURING SUCCESS How does one measure success at quail manshy

agement Managing wild animal populations is not like managing a domesticated animal or a cultishyvated crop where progress is easy to observe and measure Quail exist amidst an infinite number of variables and other organisms that are beyond the landowners control The exact number of quail on your land is unknown and always changing

A beginner may expect a few simple manageshyment practices to produce regular successful hunts and heavy game bags Things may not work out that way It will probably take a few years to notice a change To observe this change keep written records to document what you see and keep recshyords of your hunting success Cooperate with your state wildlife agency by sharing your records with them Adapt the report forms on the following page to your needs

18

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

6

~WINTER

Survivors pair up

Quail like clumpy nesting cover best Lay 14 + eggs Late clutches have less Peak nesting is In late May

Food and cover become scarcer due to decomshyposition of seed plowing burning Bicolor I bush hogged corn high tannin sorghums will help quail

now Mortality is high but 20 of birds

will survive

Quail need brood rearing habitat-nearly bare ground with a canopy of corn Weeds or othar vegetation Baby chicks need Insacts mora than seed

Figure 1 Quail Needs through the Year

bull Wild seeds and cultlvatad crops ara at peak Living Is easy for quail Abundant food and habitat now do not guarantee high quail populations next year Time to harvest is now

Table 1 Preferred Bobwhite Food Plants

COASTAL PIEDMONT PLATEAU MOUNTAIN PLAIN

Beggar weeds Ragweeds Common lespedeza Corn Korean clover Partridge peas Oaks Milk peas Sumacs Bush clovers Pines Soy bean Cowpeas Jewel-weeds Dogwoods Sweet-gum Wild beans Sorghum Hog peanut Panic grasses Black locust Joh nson grass Wheat Honeysuckles Sassafras Smartweeds Vetches Crab grass Paspalums Ash Poor Joe Bull grass Spu rred butterfly peas Grapes Dove weeds Foxtail grasses Cranesbill Wood sorrels Sericea Nut rushes Bicolor Blackberries Nightshades Beggar ticks Ground nut

SEED PLANT Landers and Johnson 1976

Fsect ~ ~ ~ =shy~ -

~ - I

I

o 8 16 0 8 16 0 8 16 0 8 16

AVERAGE IMPORTANCE VALUE

7

Table 2 Foods Eaten by Quail in Spring Summer and Early Fall in Longleaf-Slash Pine

Spring Summer Early fall 43a 35 14

Food Vol Freq Vol Freq Vol Freq Woody plant seed

Beautyberry 21 57 Blackberry 88 139 20 57 Blueberry and huckleberry 71 46 128 114 Maple 84 116 Oak 28 23 09 71 Red bay 04 23 Loblolly pine 10 23 Poison oak and poison ivy 29 57 09 143 Sumac 15 143 Wax-myrtle 26 70 Other lt 01 46

Subtotal 311 198 33 Legume seed

Butterfly pea 15 70 44 200 09 214 Bush lespedeza 05 70 lt01 57 Common and kobe lespedeza 16 46 31 86 lt01 142 Milkpea 02 163 04 171 lt01 142 Partridge pea 01 23 lt01 142 Pencil-flower 04 70 36 286 lt01 71 Rhynchosia lt01 46 01 57 Tephrosia 02 70 01 57 01 142 Tick-clover 01 46 71 214 Wildbean 09 71 Other lt 01 70

Subtotal 46 117 90 Grass seed

Bristlegrass 01 46 16 171 01 19 Panicum 170 395 21 428 424 857 Paspalum lt 01 93 39 314 80 500 Uniola lt01 23 lt01 28 Other lt 01 23 lt01 28

Subtotal 171 76 505 Spurge seed

Croton lt 01 23 29 171 19 19 Noseburn 36 86 05 71 Rush-foil 71 71 Spurge lt01 28 lt01 71 Stillingia 02 23 61 214

Subtotal 02 65 156 Sedge seed

Beak-rush lt01 23 lt01 57 lt01 71 Flatsedge 14 23 Nut-rush 17 209 104 571 05 214 Sedge 01 23

Subtotal 31 104 05 Other plant seed

Buttercup 30 46 Buttonweed lt 01 23 Geranium 08 23 Gold star-grass 01 23 08 28 09 71 Oxalis 27 70 lt01 28 Plantain 34 70 Serinea 45 46 Violet 08 93 Other lt 01 23 lt 01 57 lt01 71

Subtotal 153 08 09 Green plant leaves 144 488 20 200 lt 01 71 Animal matter

Ants 02 139 24 171 lt01 143 Beetles 59 395 47 314 42 285 True bugs 10 139 04 114 14 71 Grasshoppers 70 163 224 800 71 357 Leafhoppers lt01 46 01 28 Spiders 01 70

Other lt01 46 112 171 75 214 Subtotal 142 412 202

Number of Crops examined Reid and Goodrum 1979

8

I

Plant Succession and Quail

CDcO T shyo-

3 5 10 25 50 75 100

Time in Years

Figure 2 Plant Succession and Quail

- High Quail Use -- shy

I I

2

LAND IMPROVEMENT Control and manipulate plant succession to

maintain land with suitable food and cover for quail In more arid parts of the US the open or brushy habitats which quail require may exist naturally and require little management or maintenance This is not usually so in the Southeast Either set back plant succession or work to maintain existing vegshyetation or replace succession with plantings Difshyferent percentages of desirable and undesirable plants will survive on different sites Use your eye experience and knowledge in manipulating or maintaining the habitat There are three main opshytions

1 Manage open habitats by burning mowshying grazing herbicides or tilling (set back succession)

2 Manage woodlands by selective thinning and burning (set back or steer succession while maintaining important trees and unshyderstory vegetation)

3 Plant food and cover crops (replace natural succession)

Open Habitats and Edges

Open habitats include croplands fallow fields and fence rows open forest understory and passhytures These existing groundcover plants are the primary key to quail production on most quail lands

Groundcovers vary in their ability to produce food and cover for quail They all need a periodic setshyback of plant succession to prevent them from becoming forests Means of setback are fire grazshying mowing herbicides and tilling

9

Croplands and Their Edges

Corn sorghum soybeans wheat oats peashynuts sunflowers and other agricultural crops may provide excellent brood rearing habitat Recent reshysearch shows that quail broods use the middles of large fields as well as small ones Create suitshyable nesting habitat and escape cover along field edges by several means plantings (see Plantings page 14) leave uncultivated strips leave strips of grain unharvested or let fencerows grow up to bushes Bermuda grass ragweed and other weeds When fields are bare quail may avoid these strips however once crops are developing quail will use brushy and weedy strips for nesting and roosting habitat The width of a field border is up to you Fifteen feet is okay but twice as wide is better

Prescribed Burning

Fire in open or brushy habitats (and under cershytain kinds of pine forest) sets back plant successhysion and stimulates regrowth It provides many of the same benefits as harrowing but at less exshypense A prescribed fire is one set with a goal and a plan

Fire may favor grasses over annual weeds in some cases As with harrowing the time of year helps determine the kinds of plants that will prosshyper afterwards Burning temporarily destroys covshyer and makes quail more vulnerable to predation in the short term Often the best time to burn is late winter and early spring because these burns are followed by quick regrowth as the weather warms

Early winter burns deprive quail of cover for long periods which makes them especially vulnerable to predation by wintering hawks and owls Many of these predators will migrate back north before bud break

Summer burns are recommended at times parshyticularly as a means of controlling woody vegeshytation Summer burns however risk destroying quail nests and small chicks

How often should you burn The richer the soil the faster plants grow and the more often burning is necessary Vegetation on very poor soils may be slow to recover A mosaic of a one to four year old burned areas often works well to insure a mixshyture of food and cover Annual fires prevent blackshyberries runner oaks and certain other desirable plants from fruiting because they set fruit on stems which grew the year before Burns adjacent to existing cover allow a mix of open areas and cover A greater variety of plants results from a mosaic of burns than when large areas are given uniform treatment Some environments need burning more

often than others Exclude fire from choice thickshyets Rake debris away from tree trunks to protect desirable fruit bearing trees like oaks and cherries

Always contain prescribed fires within a manshymade or natural firebreak Get help from experishyenced personnel when conducting fires Bulletins on controlled fire are available from the county office of your University of Georgia Extension Sershyvice Burning permits and technical assistance are available from the Georgia Forestry Commission Also read the section on fire in pine understories on page 12

Grazing

Cattle goats and sheep can maintain areas of short vegetation which can be very desirable when interspersed with cover Overgrown windrows of branches and trunks left after logging brushy ditch banks and dense thickets of briars are good kinds of cover which farm animals wont overuse if pickings are better in the open field Brief periods of intensive grazing act as fire harrowing or mowshying which will setback plant succession If grazing continues too long however it may be detrimental Cattle are quick to remove desirable quail plants such as legumes Watch especially the edges of woodlots When they begin to open up damage has been done Grazing is usually a spring and summer management tool

Mowing

Mowing functions much like grazing and it has the added advantage of being very selective Mow at anytime of year to suppress unwanted growth as needed Avoid mowing nesting and brood rearshying cover from May to September

Herbicides

Herbicides are available in a great variety of forshymulations for spraying on foliage treating tree trunks or treating soil (to set back plant successhysion) Get professional advice before using these materials

Tilling Fallow fields

Harrowing tends to inhibit some grasses and hardwood sprouts and make way for annual weeds that produce seeds insects and greens for quail Use a tractor to drag a disc harrow over old fields and open forest understories

The time of harrowing is important Try harrowshying small plots at different times throughout the year and note what weeds grow Note which plots quail use at different time of year Results will vary with the season and locality Harrow between early

10

fall and early spring before greenup to stimulate blackberries and desirable weeds such as ragshyweeds Florida beggarweed partridge pea large seeded grasses and other annuals Fall harrowing offers the advantage of supplementing natural growth with wheat or other fall planted grain Early spring harrowing allows quail to use the cover all winter Spring and summer harrowing may inshycrease Florida beggarweed and cranesbill gerashynium July harrowing on certain sites in South Georgia may produce solid stands of Florida pulshysey which makes an excellent environment for inshysect production The best seed production will occur during the first and second years after harshyrowing When broomsedge increases and seed bearing annuals decline its usually time to harrow again A rotation is often best A field or field edge should have harrowed portions in various stages of regrowth

Broomsedge Fields

Abandoned agricultural fields often revert to relshyatively uniform stands of broomsedge-a perennial grass that often grows in clumps two to four feet tall Broomsedge fields can be excellent roosting and nesting habitat but they can be poor producshyers of seeds insects and diversity Increase plant diversity by periodically harrowing strips and patches in the field Avoid harrowing sections alshyready covered with desirable vegetation Time of harrowing will affect the outcome (Refer to preshyvious section on tilling fallow fields) Try a threeshyyear rotation so each year there is a mixture of 1shy2 and 3-year-old cover

Pastures

Pastures are often excellent for insect producshytion but dense grasses are inhospitable for very small quail chicks Manage pasture edges for nestshying habitat and escape cover the same as for agshyricultural fields

Mow pastures by starting in the middle and cirshycling out to the edges This will keep the birds in the cover and drive them to the edge of the field If you begin mowing at the edge and finishing in the center of the field quail trapped in the middle will be vulnerable to attack by hawks egrets and other predators

Woodlands and Edges Thinning

Only a fixed amount of sunlight strikes a given piece of land Decide which small plants and trees will get that light to grow and produce Quail cover foods or wood products

Improve a dense woods for quail by harvesting some trees The extra light on the ground will allow food and cover plants to thrive This also gives quail a safer refuge from which to feed on seeds and fruits that fall from the trees

When choosing trees for removal you must inevshyitably make trade-offs among timber value growth potential and value to quail and other wildlife There is no one proper way to thin woodlands A wildlife enthusiast often prefers a variety of trees to a pure stand or monoculture Oaks pines elms sweetshygums sugar-berries black cherries persimmons dogwoods and blackgums all produce fruits and seeds used by quail (See Table 3 page 12) Durshying any year certain of them will have good seed production

There is no set rule as to the number of trees to remove when thinning Heavier thinning will put more light on the ground and will stimulate unshydergrowth This undergrowth may be excellent or poor for quail depending on the soil and previous history of the site Gain experience by thinning a few acres Wait a year or two for the response before thinning large areas Keep in mind that quail are often unable to use a forest habitat with too sparse an understory because they are vulnerable to predation Consider too that certain old natural forests have become increasingly rare If you have a special woods treasure it as it is

Get an accurate measure of the volume and professional help before selling any trees The Unishyversity of Georgia Extension Service has bulletins on timber harvest to help you

11

Table 3 Trees with Value for Quail Pine Understory Fires

Species Beech American Cherry Black

Dogwood

Gum Black

Hickory Bitternut Mockernut Shagbark Pignut

Red Maple

Mulberry Red

Oak

Persimmon Common

Pine Loblolly Longleaf Slash Shortleaf

Sugarberry

Sweetgum

Yellow Poplar

Honey Locust

Black Locust

Remarks Fall food highly ranked as a food source (nuts buds catkins) Summer fruit important because of long ripening period and frequency of good seed years Good for fencerows and field edges Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit persists on tree into winter months Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit is important but remains on the tree for only a short period after ripshyening Good fall color Nuts provide a food source from late summer to the next spring Shagbark and mockernut are preferred mast proshyducers for wildlife Wildlife use only a small percent of the annual bitternut crop Quail eat residue left by squirrels Produces food in early spring Imporshytant because of its widespread occurshyrence Good food source in mid spring early summer Quail and turkey eat fallen fruit Oaks rate at the top in value to wildlife On drier sites a good balance of speshycies in the white and red oak groups will help maintain a consistent level of mast production Quail peck at pieces of acorns left by squirrels and other animals These acorn fragments are often very abundant Ripened fruit are available to wildlife for a long period in the fall because they fall a few at a time over a long period Seeds are especially good quail food for wildlife Longleaf pine shortleaf is excellent Pine types with associated hardwoods provide food sources for many wildlife species Small berries are an important food source for many summer and wintering birds as well as quail Produces abundant small seeds A preferred quail food in late fall Widespread on well-drained sites A prolific seed bearer Seed will persist on cone and can be used by many types of birds and some mammals through winter months Fallen pods are a favorite deer food as are small trees and stump sprouts

Birds and rodents feed on pods Seeds are good food source for quail

Southern pines (longleaf shortleaf loblolly or slash) vary in their ability to produce quail The variation is due to the understory and soil Very sparse pine forests with a good understory are better for quail than dense pines which often have little or no suitable groundcover for quail Hardshywood sprouts small trees gallberries broomshysedge wiregrass or other vegetation are examples of pine understories

Southern pines of suitable size are resistent to properly managed fire Timber managers periodishycally burn pine understories to prevent hardwoods from growing large enough to compete with the pines Fires can remove excess pine needles and allow certain plants to grow while inhibiting others Many plants that thrive after a fire are good for quail

Avoid burning large areas Large burned areas are less desirable for quail than those which leave scattered unburned patches of habitat valuable for nesting feeding and protection Sometimes you can burn with spot fires under conditions which leave patches of cover Or you can divide the woods into a mosaic of smaller sections with fishyrebreaks Burn a third of these sections each year at winters end (See Figure 3)

Figure 3 Fire is a useful tool to manage vegetation under pines

Rake around or otherwise protect isolated mast (seed and fruit) bearing trees in pine stands likeshywise avoid burning forest edges if they contain choice thickets or other desirable plants

In the Coastal Plain wiregrass habitats are parshyticularly interesting Many quail hunting purists beshylieve longleaf pine and wiregrass are the finest quail lands of them all although wiregrass provides no food for quail Wiregrass will carry a fire nearly any time of year Maintain wiregrass by burning Harshyrowing and herbicides may permanently destroy

12

wiregrass Recommendations for establishing wiregrass are not known although it sometimes sets seed following hot summer fires If youre planning a food patch or other soil disturbance you may want to avoid a wiregrass area Vast unishyform areas of wiregrass may have few quail due to a scarcity of suitable cover for hiding and esshycape (See Figure 4)

Figure 5 This pine woods has no vegetation to support quail

Figure 4 Longleaf Pine and Wiregrass Habitat

Choosing the right time to burn pinelands is critshyical Early winter burns deprive quail for a tong time Burns just before spring greenup allow cover to re-grow shortly after a fire But fires after March 15 may destroy turkeys nests Often ideal condishytions for a winter or early spring fire develop after a cold front brings a soaking rain of at least an inch A few days of steady reliable wind from the north or west will usually follow The litter should be wet right down to the soil (check it) As the litter dries from the top there is an increasing layer of flammable material above moist litter Flash fuels like dry grasses may burn readily after only a short drying period-especially if its windy When there is enough dry material to carry a fire check the wind and humidity Humidity should be between 30 percent and 60 percent A wind speed of 5 to 15 miles per hour will help keep the heat cleared away from the pine tops and reduce the chance of scorching tree tops With no wind scorching is likely Fires may be set to back into the wind (backshyfire) burn at a right angle to the wind (flank fire) or run with the wind (headfire) Backfires are safest for beginners Set fires with a drip torch in strips or as spots Do not encircle areas with fire unless you intend to kill all trees and vegetation within Read Extension Bulletin 838 Prescribed Burnshying AManagement Tool before using fire in pineshylands(See Figures 56 and 7)

Figure 6 This pine woods has too much tall vegetation to be suitable for quail A controlled fire and thinning would help

Figure 7 This pine woods has been created by thinning and periodic fire to make good quail habitat

13

Forest Edges

Brushy forest edges are particularly important for quail Quail use the dense edge cover to travel and exploit foods on both sides of the edge The brushy edge is often good nesting and brood-rearshying habitat Broaden and improve the forest edge by thinning Leave mast-bearing trees and leave a few rows of grain unharvested in any adjoining fields along the expanded edge An expanded forshyest edge may have double or triple the value for quail of an unimproved forest edge (See Figure 8)

Plantings

Bare earth is the simplest environment with which to create food and cover Bare land needs everything and that takes work and money But with proper planning you can expect excellent reshysults Plan for both food and cover Food plantings work best where they adjoin existing cover such as fallow fields brushlands swamps stream botshytoms and forests Remember that quail travel litshytle therefore provide food and cover within a birds daily range of movement

Before edge expansion Narrow quail use zone

Lhigh quail use

After edge expansion Wide quail use zone

_----high quail use-------raquo

Figure 8 Expand forest edges to improve habitat for quail

Food Patches

There is no single best food for quail Think about what you want A fall grain patch to concentrate birds for hunting is a common goal A food patch planted in separate sections to offer a variety of foods and bordered by cover can help provide for quail throughout the year

Often suitable feeding areas are useless to quail because they lack nearby cover Clean agricultural fields and open grazed woodlots are examples Establish strips of cover by planting along field and forest borders if cover is lacking Develop hedgeshyrows of weeds and bushes between fields

Blend food and cover to make a multi-purpose quail habitat patch A good patch has a variety of plantings that will provide food and cover There are many plant materials to choose from (See Tashyble 4 page 15) Do a soil test before planting Follow the recommendations Your Georgia Coshyoperative Extension Service agent can process your soil sample for you Use the following ideas when designing your food patches

Site A relatively flat site free from erosion hazard with good sOiland surrounded by quail cover is a good site One half to one acre is a good size if your goal is to create an environment that is good for quail year round (There is no minishymum size limit) Many small patches of one-tenth to one-half acre are better than one big patch A few large patches are more convenient in forest habitat Avoid small areas if they are overhung by large trees Use a ripper bar to cut tree roots that extend into food patches

Border Enhance escape cover around the peshyrimeter of the patch with bicolor lespeshydeza multiflora rose wild plums hawthorns blackberries or other suitashyble plants A border 15 to 30 feet wide is sufficient

Interior Plant small patches of wheat or rye sorshyghum annuallespedezas corn clover cowpeas soybeans partridge pea milshylets or other foods of your choice in strips or patches Leave each segment fallow for several months or a year following each crop to benefit from annual weeds that will volunteer in Always aim to have some seeds some insects and some greens available during each month of the year

14

Table 4 Planting Specifications for Selected Quail Plants Planting Time to

Plant Soil pH Rate Dates Maturity Other Beggarweed Fertile Broadcast No later than 150-180 Use scarified seed s Ga only Florida moist sandy 10 Ibsacre June 1 days Seed available as food from Novshy

soils Feb Annual

Clover All except 60-65 Broadcast Sept 1shy Inoculate seed Use reseeding Crimson poor hulled- Oct 1 variety Winter annual

15 to 20 Ibsacre unhulledshy45-60 Ibsacre

Clover Moist clays 65-70 Broadcast 2-3 For winter Good for winter greens Inoculate White or loams Ibsacre Sept 1shy seed Use scarified seed

Oct 1 Perennial May die in summer

Corn Fertile 60-68 Space at 8shy March 15shy 80-100 Plant to mature before frost Use wellshy 10 in 361 June 1 days hand seeded full season varieties drained rows (ca 7

Ibsacre

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Broadcast 30shy Feb 1shy Seed generally avaitable after first Annual sand 35lbsacre March 1 frost Annual Will reseed Korean Kobe

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Plants 241 Nov 1-April 1 Use scarified seed Seeds available bicolor amp deep sands or apart in 36 to for plants in Sept Use a 0-20-20 fertilizer for thunbergii poorly drained 48 rows max seed production Perennial

Seed 36 March 1-April rows 12-14 15 for seed Ibsacre

Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 60 days Annual Browntop Ibsacre Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 75 days Proso Ibsacre Drill

15lbsacre Multi-flora Rose Upland soils 4-8 Winter- Excellent cover-may be a pest

apart during Propagate from cuttings during dormant midsummer season

Oats All 60 Broadcast or Aug 15shy Annual drill Oct 15 2-2V2 bushelacre

Pea Moist sites 60-65 Broadcast 15 March 1-April 150 days Seed available as food beginning in Partridge preferred but Ibsacre Nov Annual

will produce Rows 307 on all Ibsacre

Sesame Well-drained 65-70 Broadcast 10 After soil temp 8-100 S Ga Do not plant on same site 2 Ibsacre Drill reaches 75 days years in row due to wilt Annual 4-5 Ibs in 36 degrees F (ca rows July 1)

Sorghum All 58-62 36-44 rows March 15-July 95-130 Plant late and still have grain grain 2-8 between 1 days before frost Bird-resistant strains including plants have durable grain that may last all milo and Broadcast 30 winter wheat Ibsacre

Sunflower All but best Broadcast 5 June 1shy Annual on fertile soils Ibsacre June 30

Rows 361 121 apart in row Get further Winter-during info from dormant county agent season

Wheat Well-drained heavy

60 Drill 2 bushelsacre

N Ga Oct 15 thru Nov 1 S

180 days Available as food beginning about May Annual

Ga Nov 1 Wild Plum Plant 3shy Winter-during other shrubs 6 apart dormant

season

Carlton 1987 15

MANAGEMENT PLAN Put your ideas together with a management plan

Your land has its own soil vegetation topography land use and history all of which give the land its unique personality If youre like most landowners you appreciate many features of your land not just quail Only a few landowners manage their land primarily for quail Most want to identify parts of their land where changes can help quail at little cost This bulletin has described the land manshyagement practices you can use for manipulation of soil and vegetation to improve habitat and thereshyby make an environment which will hold more quail Use your judgement to integrate quail manageshyment into existing and future land uses Now how do you go about making a management plan

Map Topographic Features and Land Use

First make a land management plan to know what youve got Get a topographic map a soil map and an aerial photograph These may be availshyable from US Geological Survey ASCS office or Soil Conservation Service office Then make a map that shows the details of the land property boundshyaries roads trails fencerows power lines buildshyings agricultural fields fallow fields pastures and stands of trees according to species and size As you roam around your land start making notes of streams marshes ponds rocky outcrops sanshydhills animal burrows den trees nesting sites of unusual birds old house sites rare plants Indian artifact sites or any other special features that inshyterest you Identify features on the map with names or numbers Make notes on the ecological history and development of your forests or other habitats For example you might note dates and locations of previous fires or grazing beaver ponds soil erosion soil type timber harvest and areas of young seedlings

Identify Management Units

After your inventory is complete identify your maps habitat types (eg broomsedge fields mixed hardwood forest croplandsix-year-old planted pines etc) and special areas (eg stream bottom hardwood draw old house site)

Land Management Decisions Determine your primary goals for each forest

stand agricultural field and other management unit where your goals are primarily utilitarian Now look at all your management units and see if there is an opportunity to improve each one for quail withshyout unduly interfering with your other goals

Because there is no one best plan you need to look at the land think of the needs of the birds then be creative Make a grid chart like the one below to avoid overlooking possibilities List manshyagement units on one side and management opshytions on the other Then think about what you want for each site Each square in the grid represents an option Some are good and some are poor Table 5 shows when deficiencies are most likely to occur on lands managed for quail

ngThinni Burnin 2 Edge UFood t Cover ~ Tillingi Fertiliz E LimingampProtect CIS Mowini Grazin Ii Herbic

g enhancement planting planting

ing

ion g g ides

plusmnt ++=

m Figure 9 Quail Management Decision Grid

Table 5 Weak Links in Quail Habitat

Spril19 Summer Fall Winter

Escape Cover Insect Food Nesting Cover

Brood Rearing Habitat

Seeds

Stars indicate where quail management is most likely to be deficient

16

Land Design

Quail are the dessert in a beautiful landscape for many wildlife lovers Like visiting a fine restaushyrant a hunt on beautiful land is an event to reshymember So keep aesthetics in mind as you execute your management plan Here are three tips on designing land

1 Avoid fragmentation 2 Create visual variety 3 Increase edge habitat

Avoid Fragmentation

If a wildlife habitat is reduced in size fewer speshycies of animals are likely to live there For example a small woodlot isolated by bare fields is likely to have fewer species of wildlife than a similar sized tract of land that adjoins other wooded habitat If these die then it often takes awhile before new animals find it This is certainly true for quail They are not good travelers and may seldom use isoshylated pockets of good food and cover So plan if possible to connect the isolated woodlot to anshyother larger forest by a wooded travel way With a mechanism to allow re-population from the larger habitat the small woods becomes a part of a largshyer one

Remember the characteristics of good quail covshyer-bare ground and a roof of vegetation

Create Visual Variety

Use your eye to create an interesting landscape When you create openings in woodlands or plant field borders or mast-bearing trees you join Mothshyer Nature as landscape architect Mix native tree species to create variety Consider selecting trees for fall color or distinctive appearance When plantshying consider arrangements that look natural rather than set about in rows and squares

Some habitats may seem beautiful to the eye even though they have no demonstrated utilitarian benefit You may want to keep them as they are for aesthetic reasons

Increase Edge Habitat

Increase edge habitat by changing the shape of a field A square 40-acre field has a mile of edge But if the field borders are scalloped into an arshyrangement of points bays and crenulations doushyble the prime field edge habitat It is also much more interesting to walk and hunt where you can not see the whole field at once-where rounding each point or investigating each little bay presents a new chance for seeing wildlife at close range

In the same way breaking large fields into small ones increases edge When doing so avoid moshynotonous straight lines of habitat edge if you can

Crop fields have straight edges for practical reashysons-they are much more efficient to plow and plant If you are willing to trade off some agriculshytural efficiency you can also improve the aesthetic qualities of your cropland as quail habitat (See Figure 10)

-~ --shy

Figure 10A

Figure 10B

Figure 10A Land before quail management has large unbroken fields dense stands of trees and little nesting cover Figure 10B Land after 20 years of quail management has less productive fields now in trees Large fields have been broken up with strips of pines edge fields are left in grassy weedy growth as nesting cover and stands of dense pines have been thinned to stimulate growth of understory plilnta which is managed by occasional use of fire Drawings based on photos in Rosene 1969

17

MEASURING SUCCESS How does one measure success at quail manshy

agement Managing wild animal populations is not like managing a domesticated animal or a cultishyvated crop where progress is easy to observe and measure Quail exist amidst an infinite number of variables and other organisms that are beyond the landowners control The exact number of quail on your land is unknown and always changing

A beginner may expect a few simple manageshyment practices to produce regular successful hunts and heavy game bags Things may not work out that way It will probably take a few years to notice a change To observe this change keep written records to document what you see and keep recshyords of your hunting success Cooperate with your state wildlife agency by sharing your records with them Adapt the report forms on the following page to your needs

18

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

Table 1 Preferred Bobwhite Food Plants

COASTAL PIEDMONT PLATEAU MOUNTAIN PLAIN

Beggar weeds Ragweeds Common lespedeza Corn Korean clover Partridge peas Oaks Milk peas Sumacs Bush clovers Pines Soy bean Cowpeas Jewel-weeds Dogwoods Sweet-gum Wild beans Sorghum Hog peanut Panic grasses Black locust Joh nson grass Wheat Honeysuckles Sassafras Smartweeds Vetches Crab grass Paspalums Ash Poor Joe Bull grass Spu rred butterfly peas Grapes Dove weeds Foxtail grasses Cranesbill Wood sorrels Sericea Nut rushes Bicolor Blackberries Nightshades Beggar ticks Ground nut

SEED PLANT Landers and Johnson 1976

Fsect ~ ~ ~ =shy~ -

~ - I

I

o 8 16 0 8 16 0 8 16 0 8 16

AVERAGE IMPORTANCE VALUE

7

Table 2 Foods Eaten by Quail in Spring Summer and Early Fall in Longleaf-Slash Pine

Spring Summer Early fall 43a 35 14

Food Vol Freq Vol Freq Vol Freq Woody plant seed

Beautyberry 21 57 Blackberry 88 139 20 57 Blueberry and huckleberry 71 46 128 114 Maple 84 116 Oak 28 23 09 71 Red bay 04 23 Loblolly pine 10 23 Poison oak and poison ivy 29 57 09 143 Sumac 15 143 Wax-myrtle 26 70 Other lt 01 46

Subtotal 311 198 33 Legume seed

Butterfly pea 15 70 44 200 09 214 Bush lespedeza 05 70 lt01 57 Common and kobe lespedeza 16 46 31 86 lt01 142 Milkpea 02 163 04 171 lt01 142 Partridge pea 01 23 lt01 142 Pencil-flower 04 70 36 286 lt01 71 Rhynchosia lt01 46 01 57 Tephrosia 02 70 01 57 01 142 Tick-clover 01 46 71 214 Wildbean 09 71 Other lt 01 70

Subtotal 46 117 90 Grass seed

Bristlegrass 01 46 16 171 01 19 Panicum 170 395 21 428 424 857 Paspalum lt 01 93 39 314 80 500 Uniola lt01 23 lt01 28 Other lt 01 23 lt01 28

Subtotal 171 76 505 Spurge seed

Croton lt 01 23 29 171 19 19 Noseburn 36 86 05 71 Rush-foil 71 71 Spurge lt01 28 lt01 71 Stillingia 02 23 61 214

Subtotal 02 65 156 Sedge seed

Beak-rush lt01 23 lt01 57 lt01 71 Flatsedge 14 23 Nut-rush 17 209 104 571 05 214 Sedge 01 23

Subtotal 31 104 05 Other plant seed

Buttercup 30 46 Buttonweed lt 01 23 Geranium 08 23 Gold star-grass 01 23 08 28 09 71 Oxalis 27 70 lt01 28 Plantain 34 70 Serinea 45 46 Violet 08 93 Other lt 01 23 lt 01 57 lt01 71

Subtotal 153 08 09 Green plant leaves 144 488 20 200 lt 01 71 Animal matter

Ants 02 139 24 171 lt01 143 Beetles 59 395 47 314 42 285 True bugs 10 139 04 114 14 71 Grasshoppers 70 163 224 800 71 357 Leafhoppers lt01 46 01 28 Spiders 01 70

Other lt01 46 112 171 75 214 Subtotal 142 412 202

Number of Crops examined Reid and Goodrum 1979

8

I

Plant Succession and Quail

CDcO T shyo-

3 5 10 25 50 75 100

Time in Years

Figure 2 Plant Succession and Quail

- High Quail Use -- shy

I I

2

LAND IMPROVEMENT Control and manipulate plant succession to

maintain land with suitable food and cover for quail In more arid parts of the US the open or brushy habitats which quail require may exist naturally and require little management or maintenance This is not usually so in the Southeast Either set back plant succession or work to maintain existing vegshyetation or replace succession with plantings Difshyferent percentages of desirable and undesirable plants will survive on different sites Use your eye experience and knowledge in manipulating or maintaining the habitat There are three main opshytions

1 Manage open habitats by burning mowshying grazing herbicides or tilling (set back succession)

2 Manage woodlands by selective thinning and burning (set back or steer succession while maintaining important trees and unshyderstory vegetation)

3 Plant food and cover crops (replace natural succession)

Open Habitats and Edges

Open habitats include croplands fallow fields and fence rows open forest understory and passhytures These existing groundcover plants are the primary key to quail production on most quail lands

Groundcovers vary in their ability to produce food and cover for quail They all need a periodic setshyback of plant succession to prevent them from becoming forests Means of setback are fire grazshying mowing herbicides and tilling

9

Croplands and Their Edges

Corn sorghum soybeans wheat oats peashynuts sunflowers and other agricultural crops may provide excellent brood rearing habitat Recent reshysearch shows that quail broods use the middles of large fields as well as small ones Create suitshyable nesting habitat and escape cover along field edges by several means plantings (see Plantings page 14) leave uncultivated strips leave strips of grain unharvested or let fencerows grow up to bushes Bermuda grass ragweed and other weeds When fields are bare quail may avoid these strips however once crops are developing quail will use brushy and weedy strips for nesting and roosting habitat The width of a field border is up to you Fifteen feet is okay but twice as wide is better

Prescribed Burning

Fire in open or brushy habitats (and under cershytain kinds of pine forest) sets back plant successhysion and stimulates regrowth It provides many of the same benefits as harrowing but at less exshypense A prescribed fire is one set with a goal and a plan

Fire may favor grasses over annual weeds in some cases As with harrowing the time of year helps determine the kinds of plants that will prosshyper afterwards Burning temporarily destroys covshyer and makes quail more vulnerable to predation in the short term Often the best time to burn is late winter and early spring because these burns are followed by quick regrowth as the weather warms

Early winter burns deprive quail of cover for long periods which makes them especially vulnerable to predation by wintering hawks and owls Many of these predators will migrate back north before bud break

Summer burns are recommended at times parshyticularly as a means of controlling woody vegeshytation Summer burns however risk destroying quail nests and small chicks

How often should you burn The richer the soil the faster plants grow and the more often burning is necessary Vegetation on very poor soils may be slow to recover A mosaic of a one to four year old burned areas often works well to insure a mixshyture of food and cover Annual fires prevent blackshyberries runner oaks and certain other desirable plants from fruiting because they set fruit on stems which grew the year before Burns adjacent to existing cover allow a mix of open areas and cover A greater variety of plants results from a mosaic of burns than when large areas are given uniform treatment Some environments need burning more

often than others Exclude fire from choice thickshyets Rake debris away from tree trunks to protect desirable fruit bearing trees like oaks and cherries

Always contain prescribed fires within a manshymade or natural firebreak Get help from experishyenced personnel when conducting fires Bulletins on controlled fire are available from the county office of your University of Georgia Extension Sershyvice Burning permits and technical assistance are available from the Georgia Forestry Commission Also read the section on fire in pine understories on page 12

Grazing

Cattle goats and sheep can maintain areas of short vegetation which can be very desirable when interspersed with cover Overgrown windrows of branches and trunks left after logging brushy ditch banks and dense thickets of briars are good kinds of cover which farm animals wont overuse if pickings are better in the open field Brief periods of intensive grazing act as fire harrowing or mowshying which will setback plant succession If grazing continues too long however it may be detrimental Cattle are quick to remove desirable quail plants such as legumes Watch especially the edges of woodlots When they begin to open up damage has been done Grazing is usually a spring and summer management tool

Mowing

Mowing functions much like grazing and it has the added advantage of being very selective Mow at anytime of year to suppress unwanted growth as needed Avoid mowing nesting and brood rearshying cover from May to September

Herbicides

Herbicides are available in a great variety of forshymulations for spraying on foliage treating tree trunks or treating soil (to set back plant successhysion) Get professional advice before using these materials

Tilling Fallow fields

Harrowing tends to inhibit some grasses and hardwood sprouts and make way for annual weeds that produce seeds insects and greens for quail Use a tractor to drag a disc harrow over old fields and open forest understories

The time of harrowing is important Try harrowshying small plots at different times throughout the year and note what weeds grow Note which plots quail use at different time of year Results will vary with the season and locality Harrow between early

10

fall and early spring before greenup to stimulate blackberries and desirable weeds such as ragshyweeds Florida beggarweed partridge pea large seeded grasses and other annuals Fall harrowing offers the advantage of supplementing natural growth with wheat or other fall planted grain Early spring harrowing allows quail to use the cover all winter Spring and summer harrowing may inshycrease Florida beggarweed and cranesbill gerashynium July harrowing on certain sites in South Georgia may produce solid stands of Florida pulshysey which makes an excellent environment for inshysect production The best seed production will occur during the first and second years after harshyrowing When broomsedge increases and seed bearing annuals decline its usually time to harrow again A rotation is often best A field or field edge should have harrowed portions in various stages of regrowth

Broomsedge Fields

Abandoned agricultural fields often revert to relshyatively uniform stands of broomsedge-a perennial grass that often grows in clumps two to four feet tall Broomsedge fields can be excellent roosting and nesting habitat but they can be poor producshyers of seeds insects and diversity Increase plant diversity by periodically harrowing strips and patches in the field Avoid harrowing sections alshyready covered with desirable vegetation Time of harrowing will affect the outcome (Refer to preshyvious section on tilling fallow fields) Try a threeshyyear rotation so each year there is a mixture of 1shy2 and 3-year-old cover

Pastures

Pastures are often excellent for insect producshytion but dense grasses are inhospitable for very small quail chicks Manage pasture edges for nestshying habitat and escape cover the same as for agshyricultural fields

Mow pastures by starting in the middle and cirshycling out to the edges This will keep the birds in the cover and drive them to the edge of the field If you begin mowing at the edge and finishing in the center of the field quail trapped in the middle will be vulnerable to attack by hawks egrets and other predators

Woodlands and Edges Thinning

Only a fixed amount of sunlight strikes a given piece of land Decide which small plants and trees will get that light to grow and produce Quail cover foods or wood products

Improve a dense woods for quail by harvesting some trees The extra light on the ground will allow food and cover plants to thrive This also gives quail a safer refuge from which to feed on seeds and fruits that fall from the trees

When choosing trees for removal you must inevshyitably make trade-offs among timber value growth potential and value to quail and other wildlife There is no one proper way to thin woodlands A wildlife enthusiast often prefers a variety of trees to a pure stand or monoculture Oaks pines elms sweetshygums sugar-berries black cherries persimmons dogwoods and blackgums all produce fruits and seeds used by quail (See Table 3 page 12) Durshying any year certain of them will have good seed production

There is no set rule as to the number of trees to remove when thinning Heavier thinning will put more light on the ground and will stimulate unshydergrowth This undergrowth may be excellent or poor for quail depending on the soil and previous history of the site Gain experience by thinning a few acres Wait a year or two for the response before thinning large areas Keep in mind that quail are often unable to use a forest habitat with too sparse an understory because they are vulnerable to predation Consider too that certain old natural forests have become increasingly rare If you have a special woods treasure it as it is

Get an accurate measure of the volume and professional help before selling any trees The Unishyversity of Georgia Extension Service has bulletins on timber harvest to help you

11

Table 3 Trees with Value for Quail Pine Understory Fires

Species Beech American Cherry Black

Dogwood

Gum Black

Hickory Bitternut Mockernut Shagbark Pignut

Red Maple

Mulberry Red

Oak

Persimmon Common

Pine Loblolly Longleaf Slash Shortleaf

Sugarberry

Sweetgum

Yellow Poplar

Honey Locust

Black Locust

Remarks Fall food highly ranked as a food source (nuts buds catkins) Summer fruit important because of long ripening period and frequency of good seed years Good for fencerows and field edges Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit persists on tree into winter months Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit is important but remains on the tree for only a short period after ripshyening Good fall color Nuts provide a food source from late summer to the next spring Shagbark and mockernut are preferred mast proshyducers for wildlife Wildlife use only a small percent of the annual bitternut crop Quail eat residue left by squirrels Produces food in early spring Imporshytant because of its widespread occurshyrence Good food source in mid spring early summer Quail and turkey eat fallen fruit Oaks rate at the top in value to wildlife On drier sites a good balance of speshycies in the white and red oak groups will help maintain a consistent level of mast production Quail peck at pieces of acorns left by squirrels and other animals These acorn fragments are often very abundant Ripened fruit are available to wildlife for a long period in the fall because they fall a few at a time over a long period Seeds are especially good quail food for wildlife Longleaf pine shortleaf is excellent Pine types with associated hardwoods provide food sources for many wildlife species Small berries are an important food source for many summer and wintering birds as well as quail Produces abundant small seeds A preferred quail food in late fall Widespread on well-drained sites A prolific seed bearer Seed will persist on cone and can be used by many types of birds and some mammals through winter months Fallen pods are a favorite deer food as are small trees and stump sprouts

Birds and rodents feed on pods Seeds are good food source for quail

Southern pines (longleaf shortleaf loblolly or slash) vary in their ability to produce quail The variation is due to the understory and soil Very sparse pine forests with a good understory are better for quail than dense pines which often have little or no suitable groundcover for quail Hardshywood sprouts small trees gallberries broomshysedge wiregrass or other vegetation are examples of pine understories

Southern pines of suitable size are resistent to properly managed fire Timber managers periodishycally burn pine understories to prevent hardwoods from growing large enough to compete with the pines Fires can remove excess pine needles and allow certain plants to grow while inhibiting others Many plants that thrive after a fire are good for quail

Avoid burning large areas Large burned areas are less desirable for quail than those which leave scattered unburned patches of habitat valuable for nesting feeding and protection Sometimes you can burn with spot fires under conditions which leave patches of cover Or you can divide the woods into a mosaic of smaller sections with fishyrebreaks Burn a third of these sections each year at winters end (See Figure 3)

Figure 3 Fire is a useful tool to manage vegetation under pines

Rake around or otherwise protect isolated mast (seed and fruit) bearing trees in pine stands likeshywise avoid burning forest edges if they contain choice thickets or other desirable plants

In the Coastal Plain wiregrass habitats are parshyticularly interesting Many quail hunting purists beshylieve longleaf pine and wiregrass are the finest quail lands of them all although wiregrass provides no food for quail Wiregrass will carry a fire nearly any time of year Maintain wiregrass by burning Harshyrowing and herbicides may permanently destroy

12

wiregrass Recommendations for establishing wiregrass are not known although it sometimes sets seed following hot summer fires If youre planning a food patch or other soil disturbance you may want to avoid a wiregrass area Vast unishyform areas of wiregrass may have few quail due to a scarcity of suitable cover for hiding and esshycape (See Figure 4)

Figure 5 This pine woods has no vegetation to support quail

Figure 4 Longleaf Pine and Wiregrass Habitat

Choosing the right time to burn pinelands is critshyical Early winter burns deprive quail for a tong time Burns just before spring greenup allow cover to re-grow shortly after a fire But fires after March 15 may destroy turkeys nests Often ideal condishytions for a winter or early spring fire develop after a cold front brings a soaking rain of at least an inch A few days of steady reliable wind from the north or west will usually follow The litter should be wet right down to the soil (check it) As the litter dries from the top there is an increasing layer of flammable material above moist litter Flash fuels like dry grasses may burn readily after only a short drying period-especially if its windy When there is enough dry material to carry a fire check the wind and humidity Humidity should be between 30 percent and 60 percent A wind speed of 5 to 15 miles per hour will help keep the heat cleared away from the pine tops and reduce the chance of scorching tree tops With no wind scorching is likely Fires may be set to back into the wind (backshyfire) burn at a right angle to the wind (flank fire) or run with the wind (headfire) Backfires are safest for beginners Set fires with a drip torch in strips or as spots Do not encircle areas with fire unless you intend to kill all trees and vegetation within Read Extension Bulletin 838 Prescribed Burnshying AManagement Tool before using fire in pineshylands(See Figures 56 and 7)

Figure 6 This pine woods has too much tall vegetation to be suitable for quail A controlled fire and thinning would help

Figure 7 This pine woods has been created by thinning and periodic fire to make good quail habitat

13

Forest Edges

Brushy forest edges are particularly important for quail Quail use the dense edge cover to travel and exploit foods on both sides of the edge The brushy edge is often good nesting and brood-rearshying habitat Broaden and improve the forest edge by thinning Leave mast-bearing trees and leave a few rows of grain unharvested in any adjoining fields along the expanded edge An expanded forshyest edge may have double or triple the value for quail of an unimproved forest edge (See Figure 8)

Plantings

Bare earth is the simplest environment with which to create food and cover Bare land needs everything and that takes work and money But with proper planning you can expect excellent reshysults Plan for both food and cover Food plantings work best where they adjoin existing cover such as fallow fields brushlands swamps stream botshytoms and forests Remember that quail travel litshytle therefore provide food and cover within a birds daily range of movement

Before edge expansion Narrow quail use zone

Lhigh quail use

After edge expansion Wide quail use zone

_----high quail use-------raquo

Figure 8 Expand forest edges to improve habitat for quail

Food Patches

There is no single best food for quail Think about what you want A fall grain patch to concentrate birds for hunting is a common goal A food patch planted in separate sections to offer a variety of foods and bordered by cover can help provide for quail throughout the year

Often suitable feeding areas are useless to quail because they lack nearby cover Clean agricultural fields and open grazed woodlots are examples Establish strips of cover by planting along field and forest borders if cover is lacking Develop hedgeshyrows of weeds and bushes between fields

Blend food and cover to make a multi-purpose quail habitat patch A good patch has a variety of plantings that will provide food and cover There are many plant materials to choose from (See Tashyble 4 page 15) Do a soil test before planting Follow the recommendations Your Georgia Coshyoperative Extension Service agent can process your soil sample for you Use the following ideas when designing your food patches

Site A relatively flat site free from erosion hazard with good sOiland surrounded by quail cover is a good site One half to one acre is a good size if your goal is to create an environment that is good for quail year round (There is no minishymum size limit) Many small patches of one-tenth to one-half acre are better than one big patch A few large patches are more convenient in forest habitat Avoid small areas if they are overhung by large trees Use a ripper bar to cut tree roots that extend into food patches

Border Enhance escape cover around the peshyrimeter of the patch with bicolor lespeshydeza multiflora rose wild plums hawthorns blackberries or other suitashyble plants A border 15 to 30 feet wide is sufficient

Interior Plant small patches of wheat or rye sorshyghum annuallespedezas corn clover cowpeas soybeans partridge pea milshylets or other foods of your choice in strips or patches Leave each segment fallow for several months or a year following each crop to benefit from annual weeds that will volunteer in Always aim to have some seeds some insects and some greens available during each month of the year

14

Table 4 Planting Specifications for Selected Quail Plants Planting Time to

Plant Soil pH Rate Dates Maturity Other Beggarweed Fertile Broadcast No later than 150-180 Use scarified seed s Ga only Florida moist sandy 10 Ibsacre June 1 days Seed available as food from Novshy

soils Feb Annual

Clover All except 60-65 Broadcast Sept 1shy Inoculate seed Use reseeding Crimson poor hulled- Oct 1 variety Winter annual

15 to 20 Ibsacre unhulledshy45-60 Ibsacre

Clover Moist clays 65-70 Broadcast 2-3 For winter Good for winter greens Inoculate White or loams Ibsacre Sept 1shy seed Use scarified seed

Oct 1 Perennial May die in summer

Corn Fertile 60-68 Space at 8shy March 15shy 80-100 Plant to mature before frost Use wellshy 10 in 361 June 1 days hand seeded full season varieties drained rows (ca 7

Ibsacre

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Broadcast 30shy Feb 1shy Seed generally avaitable after first Annual sand 35lbsacre March 1 frost Annual Will reseed Korean Kobe

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Plants 241 Nov 1-April 1 Use scarified seed Seeds available bicolor amp deep sands or apart in 36 to for plants in Sept Use a 0-20-20 fertilizer for thunbergii poorly drained 48 rows max seed production Perennial

Seed 36 March 1-April rows 12-14 15 for seed Ibsacre

Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 60 days Annual Browntop Ibsacre Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 75 days Proso Ibsacre Drill

15lbsacre Multi-flora Rose Upland soils 4-8 Winter- Excellent cover-may be a pest

apart during Propagate from cuttings during dormant midsummer season

Oats All 60 Broadcast or Aug 15shy Annual drill Oct 15 2-2V2 bushelacre

Pea Moist sites 60-65 Broadcast 15 March 1-April 150 days Seed available as food beginning in Partridge preferred but Ibsacre Nov Annual

will produce Rows 307 on all Ibsacre

Sesame Well-drained 65-70 Broadcast 10 After soil temp 8-100 S Ga Do not plant on same site 2 Ibsacre Drill reaches 75 days years in row due to wilt Annual 4-5 Ibs in 36 degrees F (ca rows July 1)

Sorghum All 58-62 36-44 rows March 15-July 95-130 Plant late and still have grain grain 2-8 between 1 days before frost Bird-resistant strains including plants have durable grain that may last all milo and Broadcast 30 winter wheat Ibsacre

Sunflower All but best Broadcast 5 June 1shy Annual on fertile soils Ibsacre June 30

Rows 361 121 apart in row Get further Winter-during info from dormant county agent season

Wheat Well-drained heavy

60 Drill 2 bushelsacre

N Ga Oct 15 thru Nov 1 S

180 days Available as food beginning about May Annual

Ga Nov 1 Wild Plum Plant 3shy Winter-during other shrubs 6 apart dormant

season

Carlton 1987 15

MANAGEMENT PLAN Put your ideas together with a management plan

Your land has its own soil vegetation topography land use and history all of which give the land its unique personality If youre like most landowners you appreciate many features of your land not just quail Only a few landowners manage their land primarily for quail Most want to identify parts of their land where changes can help quail at little cost This bulletin has described the land manshyagement practices you can use for manipulation of soil and vegetation to improve habitat and thereshyby make an environment which will hold more quail Use your judgement to integrate quail manageshyment into existing and future land uses Now how do you go about making a management plan

Map Topographic Features and Land Use

First make a land management plan to know what youve got Get a topographic map a soil map and an aerial photograph These may be availshyable from US Geological Survey ASCS office or Soil Conservation Service office Then make a map that shows the details of the land property boundshyaries roads trails fencerows power lines buildshyings agricultural fields fallow fields pastures and stands of trees according to species and size As you roam around your land start making notes of streams marshes ponds rocky outcrops sanshydhills animal burrows den trees nesting sites of unusual birds old house sites rare plants Indian artifact sites or any other special features that inshyterest you Identify features on the map with names or numbers Make notes on the ecological history and development of your forests or other habitats For example you might note dates and locations of previous fires or grazing beaver ponds soil erosion soil type timber harvest and areas of young seedlings

Identify Management Units

After your inventory is complete identify your maps habitat types (eg broomsedge fields mixed hardwood forest croplandsix-year-old planted pines etc) and special areas (eg stream bottom hardwood draw old house site)

Land Management Decisions Determine your primary goals for each forest

stand agricultural field and other management unit where your goals are primarily utilitarian Now look at all your management units and see if there is an opportunity to improve each one for quail withshyout unduly interfering with your other goals

Because there is no one best plan you need to look at the land think of the needs of the birds then be creative Make a grid chart like the one below to avoid overlooking possibilities List manshyagement units on one side and management opshytions on the other Then think about what you want for each site Each square in the grid represents an option Some are good and some are poor Table 5 shows when deficiencies are most likely to occur on lands managed for quail

ngThinni Burnin 2 Edge UFood t Cover ~ Tillingi Fertiliz E LimingampProtect CIS Mowini Grazin Ii Herbic

g enhancement planting planting

ing

ion g g ides

plusmnt ++=

m Figure 9 Quail Management Decision Grid

Table 5 Weak Links in Quail Habitat

Spril19 Summer Fall Winter

Escape Cover Insect Food Nesting Cover

Brood Rearing Habitat

Seeds

Stars indicate where quail management is most likely to be deficient

16

Land Design

Quail are the dessert in a beautiful landscape for many wildlife lovers Like visiting a fine restaushyrant a hunt on beautiful land is an event to reshymember So keep aesthetics in mind as you execute your management plan Here are three tips on designing land

1 Avoid fragmentation 2 Create visual variety 3 Increase edge habitat

Avoid Fragmentation

If a wildlife habitat is reduced in size fewer speshycies of animals are likely to live there For example a small woodlot isolated by bare fields is likely to have fewer species of wildlife than a similar sized tract of land that adjoins other wooded habitat If these die then it often takes awhile before new animals find it This is certainly true for quail They are not good travelers and may seldom use isoshylated pockets of good food and cover So plan if possible to connect the isolated woodlot to anshyother larger forest by a wooded travel way With a mechanism to allow re-population from the larger habitat the small woods becomes a part of a largshyer one

Remember the characteristics of good quail covshyer-bare ground and a roof of vegetation

Create Visual Variety

Use your eye to create an interesting landscape When you create openings in woodlands or plant field borders or mast-bearing trees you join Mothshyer Nature as landscape architect Mix native tree species to create variety Consider selecting trees for fall color or distinctive appearance When plantshying consider arrangements that look natural rather than set about in rows and squares

Some habitats may seem beautiful to the eye even though they have no demonstrated utilitarian benefit You may want to keep them as they are for aesthetic reasons

Increase Edge Habitat

Increase edge habitat by changing the shape of a field A square 40-acre field has a mile of edge But if the field borders are scalloped into an arshyrangement of points bays and crenulations doushyble the prime field edge habitat It is also much more interesting to walk and hunt where you can not see the whole field at once-where rounding each point or investigating each little bay presents a new chance for seeing wildlife at close range

In the same way breaking large fields into small ones increases edge When doing so avoid moshynotonous straight lines of habitat edge if you can

Crop fields have straight edges for practical reashysons-they are much more efficient to plow and plant If you are willing to trade off some agriculshytural efficiency you can also improve the aesthetic qualities of your cropland as quail habitat (See Figure 10)

-~ --shy

Figure 10A

Figure 10B

Figure 10A Land before quail management has large unbroken fields dense stands of trees and little nesting cover Figure 10B Land after 20 years of quail management has less productive fields now in trees Large fields have been broken up with strips of pines edge fields are left in grassy weedy growth as nesting cover and stands of dense pines have been thinned to stimulate growth of understory plilnta which is managed by occasional use of fire Drawings based on photos in Rosene 1969

17

MEASURING SUCCESS How does one measure success at quail manshy

agement Managing wild animal populations is not like managing a domesticated animal or a cultishyvated crop where progress is easy to observe and measure Quail exist amidst an infinite number of variables and other organisms that are beyond the landowners control The exact number of quail on your land is unknown and always changing

A beginner may expect a few simple manageshyment practices to produce regular successful hunts and heavy game bags Things may not work out that way It will probably take a few years to notice a change To observe this change keep written records to document what you see and keep recshyords of your hunting success Cooperate with your state wildlife agency by sharing your records with them Adapt the report forms on the following page to your needs

18

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

Table 2 Foods Eaten by Quail in Spring Summer and Early Fall in Longleaf-Slash Pine

Spring Summer Early fall 43a 35 14

Food Vol Freq Vol Freq Vol Freq Woody plant seed

Beautyberry 21 57 Blackberry 88 139 20 57 Blueberry and huckleberry 71 46 128 114 Maple 84 116 Oak 28 23 09 71 Red bay 04 23 Loblolly pine 10 23 Poison oak and poison ivy 29 57 09 143 Sumac 15 143 Wax-myrtle 26 70 Other lt 01 46

Subtotal 311 198 33 Legume seed

Butterfly pea 15 70 44 200 09 214 Bush lespedeza 05 70 lt01 57 Common and kobe lespedeza 16 46 31 86 lt01 142 Milkpea 02 163 04 171 lt01 142 Partridge pea 01 23 lt01 142 Pencil-flower 04 70 36 286 lt01 71 Rhynchosia lt01 46 01 57 Tephrosia 02 70 01 57 01 142 Tick-clover 01 46 71 214 Wildbean 09 71 Other lt 01 70

Subtotal 46 117 90 Grass seed

Bristlegrass 01 46 16 171 01 19 Panicum 170 395 21 428 424 857 Paspalum lt 01 93 39 314 80 500 Uniola lt01 23 lt01 28 Other lt 01 23 lt01 28

Subtotal 171 76 505 Spurge seed

Croton lt 01 23 29 171 19 19 Noseburn 36 86 05 71 Rush-foil 71 71 Spurge lt01 28 lt01 71 Stillingia 02 23 61 214

Subtotal 02 65 156 Sedge seed

Beak-rush lt01 23 lt01 57 lt01 71 Flatsedge 14 23 Nut-rush 17 209 104 571 05 214 Sedge 01 23

Subtotal 31 104 05 Other plant seed

Buttercup 30 46 Buttonweed lt 01 23 Geranium 08 23 Gold star-grass 01 23 08 28 09 71 Oxalis 27 70 lt01 28 Plantain 34 70 Serinea 45 46 Violet 08 93 Other lt 01 23 lt 01 57 lt01 71

Subtotal 153 08 09 Green plant leaves 144 488 20 200 lt 01 71 Animal matter

Ants 02 139 24 171 lt01 143 Beetles 59 395 47 314 42 285 True bugs 10 139 04 114 14 71 Grasshoppers 70 163 224 800 71 357 Leafhoppers lt01 46 01 28 Spiders 01 70

Other lt01 46 112 171 75 214 Subtotal 142 412 202

Number of Crops examined Reid and Goodrum 1979

8

I

Plant Succession and Quail

CDcO T shyo-

3 5 10 25 50 75 100

Time in Years

Figure 2 Plant Succession and Quail

- High Quail Use -- shy

I I

2

LAND IMPROVEMENT Control and manipulate plant succession to

maintain land with suitable food and cover for quail In more arid parts of the US the open or brushy habitats which quail require may exist naturally and require little management or maintenance This is not usually so in the Southeast Either set back plant succession or work to maintain existing vegshyetation or replace succession with plantings Difshyferent percentages of desirable and undesirable plants will survive on different sites Use your eye experience and knowledge in manipulating or maintaining the habitat There are three main opshytions

1 Manage open habitats by burning mowshying grazing herbicides or tilling (set back succession)

2 Manage woodlands by selective thinning and burning (set back or steer succession while maintaining important trees and unshyderstory vegetation)

3 Plant food and cover crops (replace natural succession)

Open Habitats and Edges

Open habitats include croplands fallow fields and fence rows open forest understory and passhytures These existing groundcover plants are the primary key to quail production on most quail lands

Groundcovers vary in their ability to produce food and cover for quail They all need a periodic setshyback of plant succession to prevent them from becoming forests Means of setback are fire grazshying mowing herbicides and tilling

9

Croplands and Their Edges

Corn sorghum soybeans wheat oats peashynuts sunflowers and other agricultural crops may provide excellent brood rearing habitat Recent reshysearch shows that quail broods use the middles of large fields as well as small ones Create suitshyable nesting habitat and escape cover along field edges by several means plantings (see Plantings page 14) leave uncultivated strips leave strips of grain unharvested or let fencerows grow up to bushes Bermuda grass ragweed and other weeds When fields are bare quail may avoid these strips however once crops are developing quail will use brushy and weedy strips for nesting and roosting habitat The width of a field border is up to you Fifteen feet is okay but twice as wide is better

Prescribed Burning

Fire in open or brushy habitats (and under cershytain kinds of pine forest) sets back plant successhysion and stimulates regrowth It provides many of the same benefits as harrowing but at less exshypense A prescribed fire is one set with a goal and a plan

Fire may favor grasses over annual weeds in some cases As with harrowing the time of year helps determine the kinds of plants that will prosshyper afterwards Burning temporarily destroys covshyer and makes quail more vulnerable to predation in the short term Often the best time to burn is late winter and early spring because these burns are followed by quick regrowth as the weather warms

Early winter burns deprive quail of cover for long periods which makes them especially vulnerable to predation by wintering hawks and owls Many of these predators will migrate back north before bud break

Summer burns are recommended at times parshyticularly as a means of controlling woody vegeshytation Summer burns however risk destroying quail nests and small chicks

How often should you burn The richer the soil the faster plants grow and the more often burning is necessary Vegetation on very poor soils may be slow to recover A mosaic of a one to four year old burned areas often works well to insure a mixshyture of food and cover Annual fires prevent blackshyberries runner oaks and certain other desirable plants from fruiting because they set fruit on stems which grew the year before Burns adjacent to existing cover allow a mix of open areas and cover A greater variety of plants results from a mosaic of burns than when large areas are given uniform treatment Some environments need burning more

often than others Exclude fire from choice thickshyets Rake debris away from tree trunks to protect desirable fruit bearing trees like oaks and cherries

Always contain prescribed fires within a manshymade or natural firebreak Get help from experishyenced personnel when conducting fires Bulletins on controlled fire are available from the county office of your University of Georgia Extension Sershyvice Burning permits and technical assistance are available from the Georgia Forestry Commission Also read the section on fire in pine understories on page 12

Grazing

Cattle goats and sheep can maintain areas of short vegetation which can be very desirable when interspersed with cover Overgrown windrows of branches and trunks left after logging brushy ditch banks and dense thickets of briars are good kinds of cover which farm animals wont overuse if pickings are better in the open field Brief periods of intensive grazing act as fire harrowing or mowshying which will setback plant succession If grazing continues too long however it may be detrimental Cattle are quick to remove desirable quail plants such as legumes Watch especially the edges of woodlots When they begin to open up damage has been done Grazing is usually a spring and summer management tool

Mowing

Mowing functions much like grazing and it has the added advantage of being very selective Mow at anytime of year to suppress unwanted growth as needed Avoid mowing nesting and brood rearshying cover from May to September

Herbicides

Herbicides are available in a great variety of forshymulations for spraying on foliage treating tree trunks or treating soil (to set back plant successhysion) Get professional advice before using these materials

Tilling Fallow fields

Harrowing tends to inhibit some grasses and hardwood sprouts and make way for annual weeds that produce seeds insects and greens for quail Use a tractor to drag a disc harrow over old fields and open forest understories

The time of harrowing is important Try harrowshying small plots at different times throughout the year and note what weeds grow Note which plots quail use at different time of year Results will vary with the season and locality Harrow between early

10

fall and early spring before greenup to stimulate blackberries and desirable weeds such as ragshyweeds Florida beggarweed partridge pea large seeded grasses and other annuals Fall harrowing offers the advantage of supplementing natural growth with wheat or other fall planted grain Early spring harrowing allows quail to use the cover all winter Spring and summer harrowing may inshycrease Florida beggarweed and cranesbill gerashynium July harrowing on certain sites in South Georgia may produce solid stands of Florida pulshysey which makes an excellent environment for inshysect production The best seed production will occur during the first and second years after harshyrowing When broomsedge increases and seed bearing annuals decline its usually time to harrow again A rotation is often best A field or field edge should have harrowed portions in various stages of regrowth

Broomsedge Fields

Abandoned agricultural fields often revert to relshyatively uniform stands of broomsedge-a perennial grass that often grows in clumps two to four feet tall Broomsedge fields can be excellent roosting and nesting habitat but they can be poor producshyers of seeds insects and diversity Increase plant diversity by periodically harrowing strips and patches in the field Avoid harrowing sections alshyready covered with desirable vegetation Time of harrowing will affect the outcome (Refer to preshyvious section on tilling fallow fields) Try a threeshyyear rotation so each year there is a mixture of 1shy2 and 3-year-old cover

Pastures

Pastures are often excellent for insect producshytion but dense grasses are inhospitable for very small quail chicks Manage pasture edges for nestshying habitat and escape cover the same as for agshyricultural fields

Mow pastures by starting in the middle and cirshycling out to the edges This will keep the birds in the cover and drive them to the edge of the field If you begin mowing at the edge and finishing in the center of the field quail trapped in the middle will be vulnerable to attack by hawks egrets and other predators

Woodlands and Edges Thinning

Only a fixed amount of sunlight strikes a given piece of land Decide which small plants and trees will get that light to grow and produce Quail cover foods or wood products

Improve a dense woods for quail by harvesting some trees The extra light on the ground will allow food and cover plants to thrive This also gives quail a safer refuge from which to feed on seeds and fruits that fall from the trees

When choosing trees for removal you must inevshyitably make trade-offs among timber value growth potential and value to quail and other wildlife There is no one proper way to thin woodlands A wildlife enthusiast often prefers a variety of trees to a pure stand or monoculture Oaks pines elms sweetshygums sugar-berries black cherries persimmons dogwoods and blackgums all produce fruits and seeds used by quail (See Table 3 page 12) Durshying any year certain of them will have good seed production

There is no set rule as to the number of trees to remove when thinning Heavier thinning will put more light on the ground and will stimulate unshydergrowth This undergrowth may be excellent or poor for quail depending on the soil and previous history of the site Gain experience by thinning a few acres Wait a year or two for the response before thinning large areas Keep in mind that quail are often unable to use a forest habitat with too sparse an understory because they are vulnerable to predation Consider too that certain old natural forests have become increasingly rare If you have a special woods treasure it as it is

Get an accurate measure of the volume and professional help before selling any trees The Unishyversity of Georgia Extension Service has bulletins on timber harvest to help you

11

Table 3 Trees with Value for Quail Pine Understory Fires

Species Beech American Cherry Black

Dogwood

Gum Black

Hickory Bitternut Mockernut Shagbark Pignut

Red Maple

Mulberry Red

Oak

Persimmon Common

Pine Loblolly Longleaf Slash Shortleaf

Sugarberry

Sweetgum

Yellow Poplar

Honey Locust

Black Locust

Remarks Fall food highly ranked as a food source (nuts buds catkins) Summer fruit important because of long ripening period and frequency of good seed years Good for fencerows and field edges Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit persists on tree into winter months Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit is important but remains on the tree for only a short period after ripshyening Good fall color Nuts provide a food source from late summer to the next spring Shagbark and mockernut are preferred mast proshyducers for wildlife Wildlife use only a small percent of the annual bitternut crop Quail eat residue left by squirrels Produces food in early spring Imporshytant because of its widespread occurshyrence Good food source in mid spring early summer Quail and turkey eat fallen fruit Oaks rate at the top in value to wildlife On drier sites a good balance of speshycies in the white and red oak groups will help maintain a consistent level of mast production Quail peck at pieces of acorns left by squirrels and other animals These acorn fragments are often very abundant Ripened fruit are available to wildlife for a long period in the fall because they fall a few at a time over a long period Seeds are especially good quail food for wildlife Longleaf pine shortleaf is excellent Pine types with associated hardwoods provide food sources for many wildlife species Small berries are an important food source for many summer and wintering birds as well as quail Produces abundant small seeds A preferred quail food in late fall Widespread on well-drained sites A prolific seed bearer Seed will persist on cone and can be used by many types of birds and some mammals through winter months Fallen pods are a favorite deer food as are small trees and stump sprouts

Birds and rodents feed on pods Seeds are good food source for quail

Southern pines (longleaf shortleaf loblolly or slash) vary in their ability to produce quail The variation is due to the understory and soil Very sparse pine forests with a good understory are better for quail than dense pines which often have little or no suitable groundcover for quail Hardshywood sprouts small trees gallberries broomshysedge wiregrass or other vegetation are examples of pine understories

Southern pines of suitable size are resistent to properly managed fire Timber managers periodishycally burn pine understories to prevent hardwoods from growing large enough to compete with the pines Fires can remove excess pine needles and allow certain plants to grow while inhibiting others Many plants that thrive after a fire are good for quail

Avoid burning large areas Large burned areas are less desirable for quail than those which leave scattered unburned patches of habitat valuable for nesting feeding and protection Sometimes you can burn with spot fires under conditions which leave patches of cover Or you can divide the woods into a mosaic of smaller sections with fishyrebreaks Burn a third of these sections each year at winters end (See Figure 3)

Figure 3 Fire is a useful tool to manage vegetation under pines

Rake around or otherwise protect isolated mast (seed and fruit) bearing trees in pine stands likeshywise avoid burning forest edges if they contain choice thickets or other desirable plants

In the Coastal Plain wiregrass habitats are parshyticularly interesting Many quail hunting purists beshylieve longleaf pine and wiregrass are the finest quail lands of them all although wiregrass provides no food for quail Wiregrass will carry a fire nearly any time of year Maintain wiregrass by burning Harshyrowing and herbicides may permanently destroy

12

wiregrass Recommendations for establishing wiregrass are not known although it sometimes sets seed following hot summer fires If youre planning a food patch or other soil disturbance you may want to avoid a wiregrass area Vast unishyform areas of wiregrass may have few quail due to a scarcity of suitable cover for hiding and esshycape (See Figure 4)

Figure 5 This pine woods has no vegetation to support quail

Figure 4 Longleaf Pine and Wiregrass Habitat

Choosing the right time to burn pinelands is critshyical Early winter burns deprive quail for a tong time Burns just before spring greenup allow cover to re-grow shortly after a fire But fires after March 15 may destroy turkeys nests Often ideal condishytions for a winter or early spring fire develop after a cold front brings a soaking rain of at least an inch A few days of steady reliable wind from the north or west will usually follow The litter should be wet right down to the soil (check it) As the litter dries from the top there is an increasing layer of flammable material above moist litter Flash fuels like dry grasses may burn readily after only a short drying period-especially if its windy When there is enough dry material to carry a fire check the wind and humidity Humidity should be between 30 percent and 60 percent A wind speed of 5 to 15 miles per hour will help keep the heat cleared away from the pine tops and reduce the chance of scorching tree tops With no wind scorching is likely Fires may be set to back into the wind (backshyfire) burn at a right angle to the wind (flank fire) or run with the wind (headfire) Backfires are safest for beginners Set fires with a drip torch in strips or as spots Do not encircle areas with fire unless you intend to kill all trees and vegetation within Read Extension Bulletin 838 Prescribed Burnshying AManagement Tool before using fire in pineshylands(See Figures 56 and 7)

Figure 6 This pine woods has too much tall vegetation to be suitable for quail A controlled fire and thinning would help

Figure 7 This pine woods has been created by thinning and periodic fire to make good quail habitat

13

Forest Edges

Brushy forest edges are particularly important for quail Quail use the dense edge cover to travel and exploit foods on both sides of the edge The brushy edge is often good nesting and brood-rearshying habitat Broaden and improve the forest edge by thinning Leave mast-bearing trees and leave a few rows of grain unharvested in any adjoining fields along the expanded edge An expanded forshyest edge may have double or triple the value for quail of an unimproved forest edge (See Figure 8)

Plantings

Bare earth is the simplest environment with which to create food and cover Bare land needs everything and that takes work and money But with proper planning you can expect excellent reshysults Plan for both food and cover Food plantings work best where they adjoin existing cover such as fallow fields brushlands swamps stream botshytoms and forests Remember that quail travel litshytle therefore provide food and cover within a birds daily range of movement

Before edge expansion Narrow quail use zone

Lhigh quail use

After edge expansion Wide quail use zone

_----high quail use-------raquo

Figure 8 Expand forest edges to improve habitat for quail

Food Patches

There is no single best food for quail Think about what you want A fall grain patch to concentrate birds for hunting is a common goal A food patch planted in separate sections to offer a variety of foods and bordered by cover can help provide for quail throughout the year

Often suitable feeding areas are useless to quail because they lack nearby cover Clean agricultural fields and open grazed woodlots are examples Establish strips of cover by planting along field and forest borders if cover is lacking Develop hedgeshyrows of weeds and bushes between fields

Blend food and cover to make a multi-purpose quail habitat patch A good patch has a variety of plantings that will provide food and cover There are many plant materials to choose from (See Tashyble 4 page 15) Do a soil test before planting Follow the recommendations Your Georgia Coshyoperative Extension Service agent can process your soil sample for you Use the following ideas when designing your food patches

Site A relatively flat site free from erosion hazard with good sOiland surrounded by quail cover is a good site One half to one acre is a good size if your goal is to create an environment that is good for quail year round (There is no minishymum size limit) Many small patches of one-tenth to one-half acre are better than one big patch A few large patches are more convenient in forest habitat Avoid small areas if they are overhung by large trees Use a ripper bar to cut tree roots that extend into food patches

Border Enhance escape cover around the peshyrimeter of the patch with bicolor lespeshydeza multiflora rose wild plums hawthorns blackberries or other suitashyble plants A border 15 to 30 feet wide is sufficient

Interior Plant small patches of wheat or rye sorshyghum annuallespedezas corn clover cowpeas soybeans partridge pea milshylets or other foods of your choice in strips or patches Leave each segment fallow for several months or a year following each crop to benefit from annual weeds that will volunteer in Always aim to have some seeds some insects and some greens available during each month of the year

14

Table 4 Planting Specifications for Selected Quail Plants Planting Time to

Plant Soil pH Rate Dates Maturity Other Beggarweed Fertile Broadcast No later than 150-180 Use scarified seed s Ga only Florida moist sandy 10 Ibsacre June 1 days Seed available as food from Novshy

soils Feb Annual

Clover All except 60-65 Broadcast Sept 1shy Inoculate seed Use reseeding Crimson poor hulled- Oct 1 variety Winter annual

15 to 20 Ibsacre unhulledshy45-60 Ibsacre

Clover Moist clays 65-70 Broadcast 2-3 For winter Good for winter greens Inoculate White or loams Ibsacre Sept 1shy seed Use scarified seed

Oct 1 Perennial May die in summer

Corn Fertile 60-68 Space at 8shy March 15shy 80-100 Plant to mature before frost Use wellshy 10 in 361 June 1 days hand seeded full season varieties drained rows (ca 7

Ibsacre

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Broadcast 30shy Feb 1shy Seed generally avaitable after first Annual sand 35lbsacre March 1 frost Annual Will reseed Korean Kobe

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Plants 241 Nov 1-April 1 Use scarified seed Seeds available bicolor amp deep sands or apart in 36 to for plants in Sept Use a 0-20-20 fertilizer for thunbergii poorly drained 48 rows max seed production Perennial

Seed 36 March 1-April rows 12-14 15 for seed Ibsacre

Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 60 days Annual Browntop Ibsacre Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 75 days Proso Ibsacre Drill

15lbsacre Multi-flora Rose Upland soils 4-8 Winter- Excellent cover-may be a pest

apart during Propagate from cuttings during dormant midsummer season

Oats All 60 Broadcast or Aug 15shy Annual drill Oct 15 2-2V2 bushelacre

Pea Moist sites 60-65 Broadcast 15 March 1-April 150 days Seed available as food beginning in Partridge preferred but Ibsacre Nov Annual

will produce Rows 307 on all Ibsacre

Sesame Well-drained 65-70 Broadcast 10 After soil temp 8-100 S Ga Do not plant on same site 2 Ibsacre Drill reaches 75 days years in row due to wilt Annual 4-5 Ibs in 36 degrees F (ca rows July 1)

Sorghum All 58-62 36-44 rows March 15-July 95-130 Plant late and still have grain grain 2-8 between 1 days before frost Bird-resistant strains including plants have durable grain that may last all milo and Broadcast 30 winter wheat Ibsacre

Sunflower All but best Broadcast 5 June 1shy Annual on fertile soils Ibsacre June 30

Rows 361 121 apart in row Get further Winter-during info from dormant county agent season

Wheat Well-drained heavy

60 Drill 2 bushelsacre

N Ga Oct 15 thru Nov 1 S

180 days Available as food beginning about May Annual

Ga Nov 1 Wild Plum Plant 3shy Winter-during other shrubs 6 apart dormant

season

Carlton 1987 15

MANAGEMENT PLAN Put your ideas together with a management plan

Your land has its own soil vegetation topography land use and history all of which give the land its unique personality If youre like most landowners you appreciate many features of your land not just quail Only a few landowners manage their land primarily for quail Most want to identify parts of their land where changes can help quail at little cost This bulletin has described the land manshyagement practices you can use for manipulation of soil and vegetation to improve habitat and thereshyby make an environment which will hold more quail Use your judgement to integrate quail manageshyment into existing and future land uses Now how do you go about making a management plan

Map Topographic Features and Land Use

First make a land management plan to know what youve got Get a topographic map a soil map and an aerial photograph These may be availshyable from US Geological Survey ASCS office or Soil Conservation Service office Then make a map that shows the details of the land property boundshyaries roads trails fencerows power lines buildshyings agricultural fields fallow fields pastures and stands of trees according to species and size As you roam around your land start making notes of streams marshes ponds rocky outcrops sanshydhills animal burrows den trees nesting sites of unusual birds old house sites rare plants Indian artifact sites or any other special features that inshyterest you Identify features on the map with names or numbers Make notes on the ecological history and development of your forests or other habitats For example you might note dates and locations of previous fires or grazing beaver ponds soil erosion soil type timber harvest and areas of young seedlings

Identify Management Units

After your inventory is complete identify your maps habitat types (eg broomsedge fields mixed hardwood forest croplandsix-year-old planted pines etc) and special areas (eg stream bottom hardwood draw old house site)

Land Management Decisions Determine your primary goals for each forest

stand agricultural field and other management unit where your goals are primarily utilitarian Now look at all your management units and see if there is an opportunity to improve each one for quail withshyout unduly interfering with your other goals

Because there is no one best plan you need to look at the land think of the needs of the birds then be creative Make a grid chart like the one below to avoid overlooking possibilities List manshyagement units on one side and management opshytions on the other Then think about what you want for each site Each square in the grid represents an option Some are good and some are poor Table 5 shows when deficiencies are most likely to occur on lands managed for quail

ngThinni Burnin 2 Edge UFood t Cover ~ Tillingi Fertiliz E LimingampProtect CIS Mowini Grazin Ii Herbic

g enhancement planting planting

ing

ion g g ides

plusmnt ++=

m Figure 9 Quail Management Decision Grid

Table 5 Weak Links in Quail Habitat

Spril19 Summer Fall Winter

Escape Cover Insect Food Nesting Cover

Brood Rearing Habitat

Seeds

Stars indicate where quail management is most likely to be deficient

16

Land Design

Quail are the dessert in a beautiful landscape for many wildlife lovers Like visiting a fine restaushyrant a hunt on beautiful land is an event to reshymember So keep aesthetics in mind as you execute your management plan Here are three tips on designing land

1 Avoid fragmentation 2 Create visual variety 3 Increase edge habitat

Avoid Fragmentation

If a wildlife habitat is reduced in size fewer speshycies of animals are likely to live there For example a small woodlot isolated by bare fields is likely to have fewer species of wildlife than a similar sized tract of land that adjoins other wooded habitat If these die then it often takes awhile before new animals find it This is certainly true for quail They are not good travelers and may seldom use isoshylated pockets of good food and cover So plan if possible to connect the isolated woodlot to anshyother larger forest by a wooded travel way With a mechanism to allow re-population from the larger habitat the small woods becomes a part of a largshyer one

Remember the characteristics of good quail covshyer-bare ground and a roof of vegetation

Create Visual Variety

Use your eye to create an interesting landscape When you create openings in woodlands or plant field borders or mast-bearing trees you join Mothshyer Nature as landscape architect Mix native tree species to create variety Consider selecting trees for fall color or distinctive appearance When plantshying consider arrangements that look natural rather than set about in rows and squares

Some habitats may seem beautiful to the eye even though they have no demonstrated utilitarian benefit You may want to keep them as they are for aesthetic reasons

Increase Edge Habitat

Increase edge habitat by changing the shape of a field A square 40-acre field has a mile of edge But if the field borders are scalloped into an arshyrangement of points bays and crenulations doushyble the prime field edge habitat It is also much more interesting to walk and hunt where you can not see the whole field at once-where rounding each point or investigating each little bay presents a new chance for seeing wildlife at close range

In the same way breaking large fields into small ones increases edge When doing so avoid moshynotonous straight lines of habitat edge if you can

Crop fields have straight edges for practical reashysons-they are much more efficient to plow and plant If you are willing to trade off some agriculshytural efficiency you can also improve the aesthetic qualities of your cropland as quail habitat (See Figure 10)

-~ --shy

Figure 10A

Figure 10B

Figure 10A Land before quail management has large unbroken fields dense stands of trees and little nesting cover Figure 10B Land after 20 years of quail management has less productive fields now in trees Large fields have been broken up with strips of pines edge fields are left in grassy weedy growth as nesting cover and stands of dense pines have been thinned to stimulate growth of understory plilnta which is managed by occasional use of fire Drawings based on photos in Rosene 1969

17

MEASURING SUCCESS How does one measure success at quail manshy

agement Managing wild animal populations is not like managing a domesticated animal or a cultishyvated crop where progress is easy to observe and measure Quail exist amidst an infinite number of variables and other organisms that are beyond the landowners control The exact number of quail on your land is unknown and always changing

A beginner may expect a few simple manageshyment practices to produce regular successful hunts and heavy game bags Things may not work out that way It will probably take a few years to notice a change To observe this change keep written records to document what you see and keep recshyords of your hunting success Cooperate with your state wildlife agency by sharing your records with them Adapt the report forms on the following page to your needs

18

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

I

Plant Succession and Quail

CDcO T shyo-

3 5 10 25 50 75 100

Time in Years

Figure 2 Plant Succession and Quail

- High Quail Use -- shy

I I

2

LAND IMPROVEMENT Control and manipulate plant succession to

maintain land with suitable food and cover for quail In more arid parts of the US the open or brushy habitats which quail require may exist naturally and require little management or maintenance This is not usually so in the Southeast Either set back plant succession or work to maintain existing vegshyetation or replace succession with plantings Difshyferent percentages of desirable and undesirable plants will survive on different sites Use your eye experience and knowledge in manipulating or maintaining the habitat There are three main opshytions

1 Manage open habitats by burning mowshying grazing herbicides or tilling (set back succession)

2 Manage woodlands by selective thinning and burning (set back or steer succession while maintaining important trees and unshyderstory vegetation)

3 Plant food and cover crops (replace natural succession)

Open Habitats and Edges

Open habitats include croplands fallow fields and fence rows open forest understory and passhytures These existing groundcover plants are the primary key to quail production on most quail lands

Groundcovers vary in their ability to produce food and cover for quail They all need a periodic setshyback of plant succession to prevent them from becoming forests Means of setback are fire grazshying mowing herbicides and tilling

9

Croplands and Their Edges

Corn sorghum soybeans wheat oats peashynuts sunflowers and other agricultural crops may provide excellent brood rearing habitat Recent reshysearch shows that quail broods use the middles of large fields as well as small ones Create suitshyable nesting habitat and escape cover along field edges by several means plantings (see Plantings page 14) leave uncultivated strips leave strips of grain unharvested or let fencerows grow up to bushes Bermuda grass ragweed and other weeds When fields are bare quail may avoid these strips however once crops are developing quail will use brushy and weedy strips for nesting and roosting habitat The width of a field border is up to you Fifteen feet is okay but twice as wide is better

Prescribed Burning

Fire in open or brushy habitats (and under cershytain kinds of pine forest) sets back plant successhysion and stimulates regrowth It provides many of the same benefits as harrowing but at less exshypense A prescribed fire is one set with a goal and a plan

Fire may favor grasses over annual weeds in some cases As with harrowing the time of year helps determine the kinds of plants that will prosshyper afterwards Burning temporarily destroys covshyer and makes quail more vulnerable to predation in the short term Often the best time to burn is late winter and early spring because these burns are followed by quick regrowth as the weather warms

Early winter burns deprive quail of cover for long periods which makes them especially vulnerable to predation by wintering hawks and owls Many of these predators will migrate back north before bud break

Summer burns are recommended at times parshyticularly as a means of controlling woody vegeshytation Summer burns however risk destroying quail nests and small chicks

How often should you burn The richer the soil the faster plants grow and the more often burning is necessary Vegetation on very poor soils may be slow to recover A mosaic of a one to four year old burned areas often works well to insure a mixshyture of food and cover Annual fires prevent blackshyberries runner oaks and certain other desirable plants from fruiting because they set fruit on stems which grew the year before Burns adjacent to existing cover allow a mix of open areas and cover A greater variety of plants results from a mosaic of burns than when large areas are given uniform treatment Some environments need burning more

often than others Exclude fire from choice thickshyets Rake debris away from tree trunks to protect desirable fruit bearing trees like oaks and cherries

Always contain prescribed fires within a manshymade or natural firebreak Get help from experishyenced personnel when conducting fires Bulletins on controlled fire are available from the county office of your University of Georgia Extension Sershyvice Burning permits and technical assistance are available from the Georgia Forestry Commission Also read the section on fire in pine understories on page 12

Grazing

Cattle goats and sheep can maintain areas of short vegetation which can be very desirable when interspersed with cover Overgrown windrows of branches and trunks left after logging brushy ditch banks and dense thickets of briars are good kinds of cover which farm animals wont overuse if pickings are better in the open field Brief periods of intensive grazing act as fire harrowing or mowshying which will setback plant succession If grazing continues too long however it may be detrimental Cattle are quick to remove desirable quail plants such as legumes Watch especially the edges of woodlots When they begin to open up damage has been done Grazing is usually a spring and summer management tool

Mowing

Mowing functions much like grazing and it has the added advantage of being very selective Mow at anytime of year to suppress unwanted growth as needed Avoid mowing nesting and brood rearshying cover from May to September

Herbicides

Herbicides are available in a great variety of forshymulations for spraying on foliage treating tree trunks or treating soil (to set back plant successhysion) Get professional advice before using these materials

Tilling Fallow fields

Harrowing tends to inhibit some grasses and hardwood sprouts and make way for annual weeds that produce seeds insects and greens for quail Use a tractor to drag a disc harrow over old fields and open forest understories

The time of harrowing is important Try harrowshying small plots at different times throughout the year and note what weeds grow Note which plots quail use at different time of year Results will vary with the season and locality Harrow between early

10

fall and early spring before greenup to stimulate blackberries and desirable weeds such as ragshyweeds Florida beggarweed partridge pea large seeded grasses and other annuals Fall harrowing offers the advantage of supplementing natural growth with wheat or other fall planted grain Early spring harrowing allows quail to use the cover all winter Spring and summer harrowing may inshycrease Florida beggarweed and cranesbill gerashynium July harrowing on certain sites in South Georgia may produce solid stands of Florida pulshysey which makes an excellent environment for inshysect production The best seed production will occur during the first and second years after harshyrowing When broomsedge increases and seed bearing annuals decline its usually time to harrow again A rotation is often best A field or field edge should have harrowed portions in various stages of regrowth

Broomsedge Fields

Abandoned agricultural fields often revert to relshyatively uniform stands of broomsedge-a perennial grass that often grows in clumps two to four feet tall Broomsedge fields can be excellent roosting and nesting habitat but they can be poor producshyers of seeds insects and diversity Increase plant diversity by periodically harrowing strips and patches in the field Avoid harrowing sections alshyready covered with desirable vegetation Time of harrowing will affect the outcome (Refer to preshyvious section on tilling fallow fields) Try a threeshyyear rotation so each year there is a mixture of 1shy2 and 3-year-old cover

Pastures

Pastures are often excellent for insect producshytion but dense grasses are inhospitable for very small quail chicks Manage pasture edges for nestshying habitat and escape cover the same as for agshyricultural fields

Mow pastures by starting in the middle and cirshycling out to the edges This will keep the birds in the cover and drive them to the edge of the field If you begin mowing at the edge and finishing in the center of the field quail trapped in the middle will be vulnerable to attack by hawks egrets and other predators

Woodlands and Edges Thinning

Only a fixed amount of sunlight strikes a given piece of land Decide which small plants and trees will get that light to grow and produce Quail cover foods or wood products

Improve a dense woods for quail by harvesting some trees The extra light on the ground will allow food and cover plants to thrive This also gives quail a safer refuge from which to feed on seeds and fruits that fall from the trees

When choosing trees for removal you must inevshyitably make trade-offs among timber value growth potential and value to quail and other wildlife There is no one proper way to thin woodlands A wildlife enthusiast often prefers a variety of trees to a pure stand or monoculture Oaks pines elms sweetshygums sugar-berries black cherries persimmons dogwoods and blackgums all produce fruits and seeds used by quail (See Table 3 page 12) Durshying any year certain of them will have good seed production

There is no set rule as to the number of trees to remove when thinning Heavier thinning will put more light on the ground and will stimulate unshydergrowth This undergrowth may be excellent or poor for quail depending on the soil and previous history of the site Gain experience by thinning a few acres Wait a year or two for the response before thinning large areas Keep in mind that quail are often unable to use a forest habitat with too sparse an understory because they are vulnerable to predation Consider too that certain old natural forests have become increasingly rare If you have a special woods treasure it as it is

Get an accurate measure of the volume and professional help before selling any trees The Unishyversity of Georgia Extension Service has bulletins on timber harvest to help you

11

Table 3 Trees with Value for Quail Pine Understory Fires

Species Beech American Cherry Black

Dogwood

Gum Black

Hickory Bitternut Mockernut Shagbark Pignut

Red Maple

Mulberry Red

Oak

Persimmon Common

Pine Loblolly Longleaf Slash Shortleaf

Sugarberry

Sweetgum

Yellow Poplar

Honey Locust

Black Locust

Remarks Fall food highly ranked as a food source (nuts buds catkins) Summer fruit important because of long ripening period and frequency of good seed years Good for fencerows and field edges Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit persists on tree into winter months Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit is important but remains on the tree for only a short period after ripshyening Good fall color Nuts provide a food source from late summer to the next spring Shagbark and mockernut are preferred mast proshyducers for wildlife Wildlife use only a small percent of the annual bitternut crop Quail eat residue left by squirrels Produces food in early spring Imporshytant because of its widespread occurshyrence Good food source in mid spring early summer Quail and turkey eat fallen fruit Oaks rate at the top in value to wildlife On drier sites a good balance of speshycies in the white and red oak groups will help maintain a consistent level of mast production Quail peck at pieces of acorns left by squirrels and other animals These acorn fragments are often very abundant Ripened fruit are available to wildlife for a long period in the fall because they fall a few at a time over a long period Seeds are especially good quail food for wildlife Longleaf pine shortleaf is excellent Pine types with associated hardwoods provide food sources for many wildlife species Small berries are an important food source for many summer and wintering birds as well as quail Produces abundant small seeds A preferred quail food in late fall Widespread on well-drained sites A prolific seed bearer Seed will persist on cone and can be used by many types of birds and some mammals through winter months Fallen pods are a favorite deer food as are small trees and stump sprouts

Birds and rodents feed on pods Seeds are good food source for quail

Southern pines (longleaf shortleaf loblolly or slash) vary in their ability to produce quail The variation is due to the understory and soil Very sparse pine forests with a good understory are better for quail than dense pines which often have little or no suitable groundcover for quail Hardshywood sprouts small trees gallberries broomshysedge wiregrass or other vegetation are examples of pine understories

Southern pines of suitable size are resistent to properly managed fire Timber managers periodishycally burn pine understories to prevent hardwoods from growing large enough to compete with the pines Fires can remove excess pine needles and allow certain plants to grow while inhibiting others Many plants that thrive after a fire are good for quail

Avoid burning large areas Large burned areas are less desirable for quail than those which leave scattered unburned patches of habitat valuable for nesting feeding and protection Sometimes you can burn with spot fires under conditions which leave patches of cover Or you can divide the woods into a mosaic of smaller sections with fishyrebreaks Burn a third of these sections each year at winters end (See Figure 3)

Figure 3 Fire is a useful tool to manage vegetation under pines

Rake around or otherwise protect isolated mast (seed and fruit) bearing trees in pine stands likeshywise avoid burning forest edges if they contain choice thickets or other desirable plants

In the Coastal Plain wiregrass habitats are parshyticularly interesting Many quail hunting purists beshylieve longleaf pine and wiregrass are the finest quail lands of them all although wiregrass provides no food for quail Wiregrass will carry a fire nearly any time of year Maintain wiregrass by burning Harshyrowing and herbicides may permanently destroy

12

wiregrass Recommendations for establishing wiregrass are not known although it sometimes sets seed following hot summer fires If youre planning a food patch or other soil disturbance you may want to avoid a wiregrass area Vast unishyform areas of wiregrass may have few quail due to a scarcity of suitable cover for hiding and esshycape (See Figure 4)

Figure 5 This pine woods has no vegetation to support quail

Figure 4 Longleaf Pine and Wiregrass Habitat

Choosing the right time to burn pinelands is critshyical Early winter burns deprive quail for a tong time Burns just before spring greenup allow cover to re-grow shortly after a fire But fires after March 15 may destroy turkeys nests Often ideal condishytions for a winter or early spring fire develop after a cold front brings a soaking rain of at least an inch A few days of steady reliable wind from the north or west will usually follow The litter should be wet right down to the soil (check it) As the litter dries from the top there is an increasing layer of flammable material above moist litter Flash fuels like dry grasses may burn readily after only a short drying period-especially if its windy When there is enough dry material to carry a fire check the wind and humidity Humidity should be between 30 percent and 60 percent A wind speed of 5 to 15 miles per hour will help keep the heat cleared away from the pine tops and reduce the chance of scorching tree tops With no wind scorching is likely Fires may be set to back into the wind (backshyfire) burn at a right angle to the wind (flank fire) or run with the wind (headfire) Backfires are safest for beginners Set fires with a drip torch in strips or as spots Do not encircle areas with fire unless you intend to kill all trees and vegetation within Read Extension Bulletin 838 Prescribed Burnshying AManagement Tool before using fire in pineshylands(See Figures 56 and 7)

Figure 6 This pine woods has too much tall vegetation to be suitable for quail A controlled fire and thinning would help

Figure 7 This pine woods has been created by thinning and periodic fire to make good quail habitat

13

Forest Edges

Brushy forest edges are particularly important for quail Quail use the dense edge cover to travel and exploit foods on both sides of the edge The brushy edge is often good nesting and brood-rearshying habitat Broaden and improve the forest edge by thinning Leave mast-bearing trees and leave a few rows of grain unharvested in any adjoining fields along the expanded edge An expanded forshyest edge may have double or triple the value for quail of an unimproved forest edge (See Figure 8)

Plantings

Bare earth is the simplest environment with which to create food and cover Bare land needs everything and that takes work and money But with proper planning you can expect excellent reshysults Plan for both food and cover Food plantings work best where they adjoin existing cover such as fallow fields brushlands swamps stream botshytoms and forests Remember that quail travel litshytle therefore provide food and cover within a birds daily range of movement

Before edge expansion Narrow quail use zone

Lhigh quail use

After edge expansion Wide quail use zone

_----high quail use-------raquo

Figure 8 Expand forest edges to improve habitat for quail

Food Patches

There is no single best food for quail Think about what you want A fall grain patch to concentrate birds for hunting is a common goal A food patch planted in separate sections to offer a variety of foods and bordered by cover can help provide for quail throughout the year

Often suitable feeding areas are useless to quail because they lack nearby cover Clean agricultural fields and open grazed woodlots are examples Establish strips of cover by planting along field and forest borders if cover is lacking Develop hedgeshyrows of weeds and bushes between fields

Blend food and cover to make a multi-purpose quail habitat patch A good patch has a variety of plantings that will provide food and cover There are many plant materials to choose from (See Tashyble 4 page 15) Do a soil test before planting Follow the recommendations Your Georgia Coshyoperative Extension Service agent can process your soil sample for you Use the following ideas when designing your food patches

Site A relatively flat site free from erosion hazard with good sOiland surrounded by quail cover is a good site One half to one acre is a good size if your goal is to create an environment that is good for quail year round (There is no minishymum size limit) Many small patches of one-tenth to one-half acre are better than one big patch A few large patches are more convenient in forest habitat Avoid small areas if they are overhung by large trees Use a ripper bar to cut tree roots that extend into food patches

Border Enhance escape cover around the peshyrimeter of the patch with bicolor lespeshydeza multiflora rose wild plums hawthorns blackberries or other suitashyble plants A border 15 to 30 feet wide is sufficient

Interior Plant small patches of wheat or rye sorshyghum annuallespedezas corn clover cowpeas soybeans partridge pea milshylets or other foods of your choice in strips or patches Leave each segment fallow for several months or a year following each crop to benefit from annual weeds that will volunteer in Always aim to have some seeds some insects and some greens available during each month of the year

14

Table 4 Planting Specifications for Selected Quail Plants Planting Time to

Plant Soil pH Rate Dates Maturity Other Beggarweed Fertile Broadcast No later than 150-180 Use scarified seed s Ga only Florida moist sandy 10 Ibsacre June 1 days Seed available as food from Novshy

soils Feb Annual

Clover All except 60-65 Broadcast Sept 1shy Inoculate seed Use reseeding Crimson poor hulled- Oct 1 variety Winter annual

15 to 20 Ibsacre unhulledshy45-60 Ibsacre

Clover Moist clays 65-70 Broadcast 2-3 For winter Good for winter greens Inoculate White or loams Ibsacre Sept 1shy seed Use scarified seed

Oct 1 Perennial May die in summer

Corn Fertile 60-68 Space at 8shy March 15shy 80-100 Plant to mature before frost Use wellshy 10 in 361 June 1 days hand seeded full season varieties drained rows (ca 7

Ibsacre

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Broadcast 30shy Feb 1shy Seed generally avaitable after first Annual sand 35lbsacre March 1 frost Annual Will reseed Korean Kobe

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Plants 241 Nov 1-April 1 Use scarified seed Seeds available bicolor amp deep sands or apart in 36 to for plants in Sept Use a 0-20-20 fertilizer for thunbergii poorly drained 48 rows max seed production Perennial

Seed 36 March 1-April rows 12-14 15 for seed Ibsacre

Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 60 days Annual Browntop Ibsacre Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 75 days Proso Ibsacre Drill

15lbsacre Multi-flora Rose Upland soils 4-8 Winter- Excellent cover-may be a pest

apart during Propagate from cuttings during dormant midsummer season

Oats All 60 Broadcast or Aug 15shy Annual drill Oct 15 2-2V2 bushelacre

Pea Moist sites 60-65 Broadcast 15 March 1-April 150 days Seed available as food beginning in Partridge preferred but Ibsacre Nov Annual

will produce Rows 307 on all Ibsacre

Sesame Well-drained 65-70 Broadcast 10 After soil temp 8-100 S Ga Do not plant on same site 2 Ibsacre Drill reaches 75 days years in row due to wilt Annual 4-5 Ibs in 36 degrees F (ca rows July 1)

Sorghum All 58-62 36-44 rows March 15-July 95-130 Plant late and still have grain grain 2-8 between 1 days before frost Bird-resistant strains including plants have durable grain that may last all milo and Broadcast 30 winter wheat Ibsacre

Sunflower All but best Broadcast 5 June 1shy Annual on fertile soils Ibsacre June 30

Rows 361 121 apart in row Get further Winter-during info from dormant county agent season

Wheat Well-drained heavy

60 Drill 2 bushelsacre

N Ga Oct 15 thru Nov 1 S

180 days Available as food beginning about May Annual

Ga Nov 1 Wild Plum Plant 3shy Winter-during other shrubs 6 apart dormant

season

Carlton 1987 15

MANAGEMENT PLAN Put your ideas together with a management plan

Your land has its own soil vegetation topography land use and history all of which give the land its unique personality If youre like most landowners you appreciate many features of your land not just quail Only a few landowners manage their land primarily for quail Most want to identify parts of their land where changes can help quail at little cost This bulletin has described the land manshyagement practices you can use for manipulation of soil and vegetation to improve habitat and thereshyby make an environment which will hold more quail Use your judgement to integrate quail manageshyment into existing and future land uses Now how do you go about making a management plan

Map Topographic Features and Land Use

First make a land management plan to know what youve got Get a topographic map a soil map and an aerial photograph These may be availshyable from US Geological Survey ASCS office or Soil Conservation Service office Then make a map that shows the details of the land property boundshyaries roads trails fencerows power lines buildshyings agricultural fields fallow fields pastures and stands of trees according to species and size As you roam around your land start making notes of streams marshes ponds rocky outcrops sanshydhills animal burrows den trees nesting sites of unusual birds old house sites rare plants Indian artifact sites or any other special features that inshyterest you Identify features on the map with names or numbers Make notes on the ecological history and development of your forests or other habitats For example you might note dates and locations of previous fires or grazing beaver ponds soil erosion soil type timber harvest and areas of young seedlings

Identify Management Units

After your inventory is complete identify your maps habitat types (eg broomsedge fields mixed hardwood forest croplandsix-year-old planted pines etc) and special areas (eg stream bottom hardwood draw old house site)

Land Management Decisions Determine your primary goals for each forest

stand agricultural field and other management unit where your goals are primarily utilitarian Now look at all your management units and see if there is an opportunity to improve each one for quail withshyout unduly interfering with your other goals

Because there is no one best plan you need to look at the land think of the needs of the birds then be creative Make a grid chart like the one below to avoid overlooking possibilities List manshyagement units on one side and management opshytions on the other Then think about what you want for each site Each square in the grid represents an option Some are good and some are poor Table 5 shows when deficiencies are most likely to occur on lands managed for quail

ngThinni Burnin 2 Edge UFood t Cover ~ Tillingi Fertiliz E LimingampProtect CIS Mowini Grazin Ii Herbic

g enhancement planting planting

ing

ion g g ides

plusmnt ++=

m Figure 9 Quail Management Decision Grid

Table 5 Weak Links in Quail Habitat

Spril19 Summer Fall Winter

Escape Cover Insect Food Nesting Cover

Brood Rearing Habitat

Seeds

Stars indicate where quail management is most likely to be deficient

16

Land Design

Quail are the dessert in a beautiful landscape for many wildlife lovers Like visiting a fine restaushyrant a hunt on beautiful land is an event to reshymember So keep aesthetics in mind as you execute your management plan Here are three tips on designing land

1 Avoid fragmentation 2 Create visual variety 3 Increase edge habitat

Avoid Fragmentation

If a wildlife habitat is reduced in size fewer speshycies of animals are likely to live there For example a small woodlot isolated by bare fields is likely to have fewer species of wildlife than a similar sized tract of land that adjoins other wooded habitat If these die then it often takes awhile before new animals find it This is certainly true for quail They are not good travelers and may seldom use isoshylated pockets of good food and cover So plan if possible to connect the isolated woodlot to anshyother larger forest by a wooded travel way With a mechanism to allow re-population from the larger habitat the small woods becomes a part of a largshyer one

Remember the characteristics of good quail covshyer-bare ground and a roof of vegetation

Create Visual Variety

Use your eye to create an interesting landscape When you create openings in woodlands or plant field borders or mast-bearing trees you join Mothshyer Nature as landscape architect Mix native tree species to create variety Consider selecting trees for fall color or distinctive appearance When plantshying consider arrangements that look natural rather than set about in rows and squares

Some habitats may seem beautiful to the eye even though they have no demonstrated utilitarian benefit You may want to keep them as they are for aesthetic reasons

Increase Edge Habitat

Increase edge habitat by changing the shape of a field A square 40-acre field has a mile of edge But if the field borders are scalloped into an arshyrangement of points bays and crenulations doushyble the prime field edge habitat It is also much more interesting to walk and hunt where you can not see the whole field at once-where rounding each point or investigating each little bay presents a new chance for seeing wildlife at close range

In the same way breaking large fields into small ones increases edge When doing so avoid moshynotonous straight lines of habitat edge if you can

Crop fields have straight edges for practical reashysons-they are much more efficient to plow and plant If you are willing to trade off some agriculshytural efficiency you can also improve the aesthetic qualities of your cropland as quail habitat (See Figure 10)

-~ --shy

Figure 10A

Figure 10B

Figure 10A Land before quail management has large unbroken fields dense stands of trees and little nesting cover Figure 10B Land after 20 years of quail management has less productive fields now in trees Large fields have been broken up with strips of pines edge fields are left in grassy weedy growth as nesting cover and stands of dense pines have been thinned to stimulate growth of understory plilnta which is managed by occasional use of fire Drawings based on photos in Rosene 1969

17

MEASURING SUCCESS How does one measure success at quail manshy

agement Managing wild animal populations is not like managing a domesticated animal or a cultishyvated crop where progress is easy to observe and measure Quail exist amidst an infinite number of variables and other organisms that are beyond the landowners control The exact number of quail on your land is unknown and always changing

A beginner may expect a few simple manageshyment practices to produce regular successful hunts and heavy game bags Things may not work out that way It will probably take a few years to notice a change To observe this change keep written records to document what you see and keep recshyords of your hunting success Cooperate with your state wildlife agency by sharing your records with them Adapt the report forms on the following page to your needs

18

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

Croplands and Their Edges

Corn sorghum soybeans wheat oats peashynuts sunflowers and other agricultural crops may provide excellent brood rearing habitat Recent reshysearch shows that quail broods use the middles of large fields as well as small ones Create suitshyable nesting habitat and escape cover along field edges by several means plantings (see Plantings page 14) leave uncultivated strips leave strips of grain unharvested or let fencerows grow up to bushes Bermuda grass ragweed and other weeds When fields are bare quail may avoid these strips however once crops are developing quail will use brushy and weedy strips for nesting and roosting habitat The width of a field border is up to you Fifteen feet is okay but twice as wide is better

Prescribed Burning

Fire in open or brushy habitats (and under cershytain kinds of pine forest) sets back plant successhysion and stimulates regrowth It provides many of the same benefits as harrowing but at less exshypense A prescribed fire is one set with a goal and a plan

Fire may favor grasses over annual weeds in some cases As with harrowing the time of year helps determine the kinds of plants that will prosshyper afterwards Burning temporarily destroys covshyer and makes quail more vulnerable to predation in the short term Often the best time to burn is late winter and early spring because these burns are followed by quick regrowth as the weather warms

Early winter burns deprive quail of cover for long periods which makes them especially vulnerable to predation by wintering hawks and owls Many of these predators will migrate back north before bud break

Summer burns are recommended at times parshyticularly as a means of controlling woody vegeshytation Summer burns however risk destroying quail nests and small chicks

How often should you burn The richer the soil the faster plants grow and the more often burning is necessary Vegetation on very poor soils may be slow to recover A mosaic of a one to four year old burned areas often works well to insure a mixshyture of food and cover Annual fires prevent blackshyberries runner oaks and certain other desirable plants from fruiting because they set fruit on stems which grew the year before Burns adjacent to existing cover allow a mix of open areas and cover A greater variety of plants results from a mosaic of burns than when large areas are given uniform treatment Some environments need burning more

often than others Exclude fire from choice thickshyets Rake debris away from tree trunks to protect desirable fruit bearing trees like oaks and cherries

Always contain prescribed fires within a manshymade or natural firebreak Get help from experishyenced personnel when conducting fires Bulletins on controlled fire are available from the county office of your University of Georgia Extension Sershyvice Burning permits and technical assistance are available from the Georgia Forestry Commission Also read the section on fire in pine understories on page 12

Grazing

Cattle goats and sheep can maintain areas of short vegetation which can be very desirable when interspersed with cover Overgrown windrows of branches and trunks left after logging brushy ditch banks and dense thickets of briars are good kinds of cover which farm animals wont overuse if pickings are better in the open field Brief periods of intensive grazing act as fire harrowing or mowshying which will setback plant succession If grazing continues too long however it may be detrimental Cattle are quick to remove desirable quail plants such as legumes Watch especially the edges of woodlots When they begin to open up damage has been done Grazing is usually a spring and summer management tool

Mowing

Mowing functions much like grazing and it has the added advantage of being very selective Mow at anytime of year to suppress unwanted growth as needed Avoid mowing nesting and brood rearshying cover from May to September

Herbicides

Herbicides are available in a great variety of forshymulations for spraying on foliage treating tree trunks or treating soil (to set back plant successhysion) Get professional advice before using these materials

Tilling Fallow fields

Harrowing tends to inhibit some grasses and hardwood sprouts and make way for annual weeds that produce seeds insects and greens for quail Use a tractor to drag a disc harrow over old fields and open forest understories

The time of harrowing is important Try harrowshying small plots at different times throughout the year and note what weeds grow Note which plots quail use at different time of year Results will vary with the season and locality Harrow between early

10

fall and early spring before greenup to stimulate blackberries and desirable weeds such as ragshyweeds Florida beggarweed partridge pea large seeded grasses and other annuals Fall harrowing offers the advantage of supplementing natural growth with wheat or other fall planted grain Early spring harrowing allows quail to use the cover all winter Spring and summer harrowing may inshycrease Florida beggarweed and cranesbill gerashynium July harrowing on certain sites in South Georgia may produce solid stands of Florida pulshysey which makes an excellent environment for inshysect production The best seed production will occur during the first and second years after harshyrowing When broomsedge increases and seed bearing annuals decline its usually time to harrow again A rotation is often best A field or field edge should have harrowed portions in various stages of regrowth

Broomsedge Fields

Abandoned agricultural fields often revert to relshyatively uniform stands of broomsedge-a perennial grass that often grows in clumps two to four feet tall Broomsedge fields can be excellent roosting and nesting habitat but they can be poor producshyers of seeds insects and diversity Increase plant diversity by periodically harrowing strips and patches in the field Avoid harrowing sections alshyready covered with desirable vegetation Time of harrowing will affect the outcome (Refer to preshyvious section on tilling fallow fields) Try a threeshyyear rotation so each year there is a mixture of 1shy2 and 3-year-old cover

Pastures

Pastures are often excellent for insect producshytion but dense grasses are inhospitable for very small quail chicks Manage pasture edges for nestshying habitat and escape cover the same as for agshyricultural fields

Mow pastures by starting in the middle and cirshycling out to the edges This will keep the birds in the cover and drive them to the edge of the field If you begin mowing at the edge and finishing in the center of the field quail trapped in the middle will be vulnerable to attack by hawks egrets and other predators

Woodlands and Edges Thinning

Only a fixed amount of sunlight strikes a given piece of land Decide which small plants and trees will get that light to grow and produce Quail cover foods or wood products

Improve a dense woods for quail by harvesting some trees The extra light on the ground will allow food and cover plants to thrive This also gives quail a safer refuge from which to feed on seeds and fruits that fall from the trees

When choosing trees for removal you must inevshyitably make trade-offs among timber value growth potential and value to quail and other wildlife There is no one proper way to thin woodlands A wildlife enthusiast often prefers a variety of trees to a pure stand or monoculture Oaks pines elms sweetshygums sugar-berries black cherries persimmons dogwoods and blackgums all produce fruits and seeds used by quail (See Table 3 page 12) Durshying any year certain of them will have good seed production

There is no set rule as to the number of trees to remove when thinning Heavier thinning will put more light on the ground and will stimulate unshydergrowth This undergrowth may be excellent or poor for quail depending on the soil and previous history of the site Gain experience by thinning a few acres Wait a year or two for the response before thinning large areas Keep in mind that quail are often unable to use a forest habitat with too sparse an understory because they are vulnerable to predation Consider too that certain old natural forests have become increasingly rare If you have a special woods treasure it as it is

Get an accurate measure of the volume and professional help before selling any trees The Unishyversity of Georgia Extension Service has bulletins on timber harvest to help you

11

Table 3 Trees with Value for Quail Pine Understory Fires

Species Beech American Cherry Black

Dogwood

Gum Black

Hickory Bitternut Mockernut Shagbark Pignut

Red Maple

Mulberry Red

Oak

Persimmon Common

Pine Loblolly Longleaf Slash Shortleaf

Sugarberry

Sweetgum

Yellow Poplar

Honey Locust

Black Locust

Remarks Fall food highly ranked as a food source (nuts buds catkins) Summer fruit important because of long ripening period and frequency of good seed years Good for fencerows and field edges Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit persists on tree into winter months Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit is important but remains on the tree for only a short period after ripshyening Good fall color Nuts provide a food source from late summer to the next spring Shagbark and mockernut are preferred mast proshyducers for wildlife Wildlife use only a small percent of the annual bitternut crop Quail eat residue left by squirrels Produces food in early spring Imporshytant because of its widespread occurshyrence Good food source in mid spring early summer Quail and turkey eat fallen fruit Oaks rate at the top in value to wildlife On drier sites a good balance of speshycies in the white and red oak groups will help maintain a consistent level of mast production Quail peck at pieces of acorns left by squirrels and other animals These acorn fragments are often very abundant Ripened fruit are available to wildlife for a long period in the fall because they fall a few at a time over a long period Seeds are especially good quail food for wildlife Longleaf pine shortleaf is excellent Pine types with associated hardwoods provide food sources for many wildlife species Small berries are an important food source for many summer and wintering birds as well as quail Produces abundant small seeds A preferred quail food in late fall Widespread on well-drained sites A prolific seed bearer Seed will persist on cone and can be used by many types of birds and some mammals through winter months Fallen pods are a favorite deer food as are small trees and stump sprouts

Birds and rodents feed on pods Seeds are good food source for quail

Southern pines (longleaf shortleaf loblolly or slash) vary in their ability to produce quail The variation is due to the understory and soil Very sparse pine forests with a good understory are better for quail than dense pines which often have little or no suitable groundcover for quail Hardshywood sprouts small trees gallberries broomshysedge wiregrass or other vegetation are examples of pine understories

Southern pines of suitable size are resistent to properly managed fire Timber managers periodishycally burn pine understories to prevent hardwoods from growing large enough to compete with the pines Fires can remove excess pine needles and allow certain plants to grow while inhibiting others Many plants that thrive after a fire are good for quail

Avoid burning large areas Large burned areas are less desirable for quail than those which leave scattered unburned patches of habitat valuable for nesting feeding and protection Sometimes you can burn with spot fires under conditions which leave patches of cover Or you can divide the woods into a mosaic of smaller sections with fishyrebreaks Burn a third of these sections each year at winters end (See Figure 3)

Figure 3 Fire is a useful tool to manage vegetation under pines

Rake around or otherwise protect isolated mast (seed and fruit) bearing trees in pine stands likeshywise avoid burning forest edges if they contain choice thickets or other desirable plants

In the Coastal Plain wiregrass habitats are parshyticularly interesting Many quail hunting purists beshylieve longleaf pine and wiregrass are the finest quail lands of them all although wiregrass provides no food for quail Wiregrass will carry a fire nearly any time of year Maintain wiregrass by burning Harshyrowing and herbicides may permanently destroy

12

wiregrass Recommendations for establishing wiregrass are not known although it sometimes sets seed following hot summer fires If youre planning a food patch or other soil disturbance you may want to avoid a wiregrass area Vast unishyform areas of wiregrass may have few quail due to a scarcity of suitable cover for hiding and esshycape (See Figure 4)

Figure 5 This pine woods has no vegetation to support quail

Figure 4 Longleaf Pine and Wiregrass Habitat

Choosing the right time to burn pinelands is critshyical Early winter burns deprive quail for a tong time Burns just before spring greenup allow cover to re-grow shortly after a fire But fires after March 15 may destroy turkeys nests Often ideal condishytions for a winter or early spring fire develop after a cold front brings a soaking rain of at least an inch A few days of steady reliable wind from the north or west will usually follow The litter should be wet right down to the soil (check it) As the litter dries from the top there is an increasing layer of flammable material above moist litter Flash fuels like dry grasses may burn readily after only a short drying period-especially if its windy When there is enough dry material to carry a fire check the wind and humidity Humidity should be between 30 percent and 60 percent A wind speed of 5 to 15 miles per hour will help keep the heat cleared away from the pine tops and reduce the chance of scorching tree tops With no wind scorching is likely Fires may be set to back into the wind (backshyfire) burn at a right angle to the wind (flank fire) or run with the wind (headfire) Backfires are safest for beginners Set fires with a drip torch in strips or as spots Do not encircle areas with fire unless you intend to kill all trees and vegetation within Read Extension Bulletin 838 Prescribed Burnshying AManagement Tool before using fire in pineshylands(See Figures 56 and 7)

Figure 6 This pine woods has too much tall vegetation to be suitable for quail A controlled fire and thinning would help

Figure 7 This pine woods has been created by thinning and periodic fire to make good quail habitat

13

Forest Edges

Brushy forest edges are particularly important for quail Quail use the dense edge cover to travel and exploit foods on both sides of the edge The brushy edge is often good nesting and brood-rearshying habitat Broaden and improve the forest edge by thinning Leave mast-bearing trees and leave a few rows of grain unharvested in any adjoining fields along the expanded edge An expanded forshyest edge may have double or triple the value for quail of an unimproved forest edge (See Figure 8)

Plantings

Bare earth is the simplest environment with which to create food and cover Bare land needs everything and that takes work and money But with proper planning you can expect excellent reshysults Plan for both food and cover Food plantings work best where they adjoin existing cover such as fallow fields brushlands swamps stream botshytoms and forests Remember that quail travel litshytle therefore provide food and cover within a birds daily range of movement

Before edge expansion Narrow quail use zone

Lhigh quail use

After edge expansion Wide quail use zone

_----high quail use-------raquo

Figure 8 Expand forest edges to improve habitat for quail

Food Patches

There is no single best food for quail Think about what you want A fall grain patch to concentrate birds for hunting is a common goal A food patch planted in separate sections to offer a variety of foods and bordered by cover can help provide for quail throughout the year

Often suitable feeding areas are useless to quail because they lack nearby cover Clean agricultural fields and open grazed woodlots are examples Establish strips of cover by planting along field and forest borders if cover is lacking Develop hedgeshyrows of weeds and bushes between fields

Blend food and cover to make a multi-purpose quail habitat patch A good patch has a variety of plantings that will provide food and cover There are many plant materials to choose from (See Tashyble 4 page 15) Do a soil test before planting Follow the recommendations Your Georgia Coshyoperative Extension Service agent can process your soil sample for you Use the following ideas when designing your food patches

Site A relatively flat site free from erosion hazard with good sOiland surrounded by quail cover is a good site One half to one acre is a good size if your goal is to create an environment that is good for quail year round (There is no minishymum size limit) Many small patches of one-tenth to one-half acre are better than one big patch A few large patches are more convenient in forest habitat Avoid small areas if they are overhung by large trees Use a ripper bar to cut tree roots that extend into food patches

Border Enhance escape cover around the peshyrimeter of the patch with bicolor lespeshydeza multiflora rose wild plums hawthorns blackberries or other suitashyble plants A border 15 to 30 feet wide is sufficient

Interior Plant small patches of wheat or rye sorshyghum annuallespedezas corn clover cowpeas soybeans partridge pea milshylets or other foods of your choice in strips or patches Leave each segment fallow for several months or a year following each crop to benefit from annual weeds that will volunteer in Always aim to have some seeds some insects and some greens available during each month of the year

14

Table 4 Planting Specifications for Selected Quail Plants Planting Time to

Plant Soil pH Rate Dates Maturity Other Beggarweed Fertile Broadcast No later than 150-180 Use scarified seed s Ga only Florida moist sandy 10 Ibsacre June 1 days Seed available as food from Novshy

soils Feb Annual

Clover All except 60-65 Broadcast Sept 1shy Inoculate seed Use reseeding Crimson poor hulled- Oct 1 variety Winter annual

15 to 20 Ibsacre unhulledshy45-60 Ibsacre

Clover Moist clays 65-70 Broadcast 2-3 For winter Good for winter greens Inoculate White or loams Ibsacre Sept 1shy seed Use scarified seed

Oct 1 Perennial May die in summer

Corn Fertile 60-68 Space at 8shy March 15shy 80-100 Plant to mature before frost Use wellshy 10 in 361 June 1 days hand seeded full season varieties drained rows (ca 7

Ibsacre

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Broadcast 30shy Feb 1shy Seed generally avaitable after first Annual sand 35lbsacre March 1 frost Annual Will reseed Korean Kobe

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Plants 241 Nov 1-April 1 Use scarified seed Seeds available bicolor amp deep sands or apart in 36 to for plants in Sept Use a 0-20-20 fertilizer for thunbergii poorly drained 48 rows max seed production Perennial

Seed 36 March 1-April rows 12-14 15 for seed Ibsacre

Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 60 days Annual Browntop Ibsacre Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 75 days Proso Ibsacre Drill

15lbsacre Multi-flora Rose Upland soils 4-8 Winter- Excellent cover-may be a pest

apart during Propagate from cuttings during dormant midsummer season

Oats All 60 Broadcast or Aug 15shy Annual drill Oct 15 2-2V2 bushelacre

Pea Moist sites 60-65 Broadcast 15 March 1-April 150 days Seed available as food beginning in Partridge preferred but Ibsacre Nov Annual

will produce Rows 307 on all Ibsacre

Sesame Well-drained 65-70 Broadcast 10 After soil temp 8-100 S Ga Do not plant on same site 2 Ibsacre Drill reaches 75 days years in row due to wilt Annual 4-5 Ibs in 36 degrees F (ca rows July 1)

Sorghum All 58-62 36-44 rows March 15-July 95-130 Plant late and still have grain grain 2-8 between 1 days before frost Bird-resistant strains including plants have durable grain that may last all milo and Broadcast 30 winter wheat Ibsacre

Sunflower All but best Broadcast 5 June 1shy Annual on fertile soils Ibsacre June 30

Rows 361 121 apart in row Get further Winter-during info from dormant county agent season

Wheat Well-drained heavy

60 Drill 2 bushelsacre

N Ga Oct 15 thru Nov 1 S

180 days Available as food beginning about May Annual

Ga Nov 1 Wild Plum Plant 3shy Winter-during other shrubs 6 apart dormant

season

Carlton 1987 15

MANAGEMENT PLAN Put your ideas together with a management plan

Your land has its own soil vegetation topography land use and history all of which give the land its unique personality If youre like most landowners you appreciate many features of your land not just quail Only a few landowners manage their land primarily for quail Most want to identify parts of their land where changes can help quail at little cost This bulletin has described the land manshyagement practices you can use for manipulation of soil and vegetation to improve habitat and thereshyby make an environment which will hold more quail Use your judgement to integrate quail manageshyment into existing and future land uses Now how do you go about making a management plan

Map Topographic Features and Land Use

First make a land management plan to know what youve got Get a topographic map a soil map and an aerial photograph These may be availshyable from US Geological Survey ASCS office or Soil Conservation Service office Then make a map that shows the details of the land property boundshyaries roads trails fencerows power lines buildshyings agricultural fields fallow fields pastures and stands of trees according to species and size As you roam around your land start making notes of streams marshes ponds rocky outcrops sanshydhills animal burrows den trees nesting sites of unusual birds old house sites rare plants Indian artifact sites or any other special features that inshyterest you Identify features on the map with names or numbers Make notes on the ecological history and development of your forests or other habitats For example you might note dates and locations of previous fires or grazing beaver ponds soil erosion soil type timber harvest and areas of young seedlings

Identify Management Units

After your inventory is complete identify your maps habitat types (eg broomsedge fields mixed hardwood forest croplandsix-year-old planted pines etc) and special areas (eg stream bottom hardwood draw old house site)

Land Management Decisions Determine your primary goals for each forest

stand agricultural field and other management unit where your goals are primarily utilitarian Now look at all your management units and see if there is an opportunity to improve each one for quail withshyout unduly interfering with your other goals

Because there is no one best plan you need to look at the land think of the needs of the birds then be creative Make a grid chart like the one below to avoid overlooking possibilities List manshyagement units on one side and management opshytions on the other Then think about what you want for each site Each square in the grid represents an option Some are good and some are poor Table 5 shows when deficiencies are most likely to occur on lands managed for quail

ngThinni Burnin 2 Edge UFood t Cover ~ Tillingi Fertiliz E LimingampProtect CIS Mowini Grazin Ii Herbic

g enhancement planting planting

ing

ion g g ides

plusmnt ++=

m Figure 9 Quail Management Decision Grid

Table 5 Weak Links in Quail Habitat

Spril19 Summer Fall Winter

Escape Cover Insect Food Nesting Cover

Brood Rearing Habitat

Seeds

Stars indicate where quail management is most likely to be deficient

16

Land Design

Quail are the dessert in a beautiful landscape for many wildlife lovers Like visiting a fine restaushyrant a hunt on beautiful land is an event to reshymember So keep aesthetics in mind as you execute your management plan Here are three tips on designing land

1 Avoid fragmentation 2 Create visual variety 3 Increase edge habitat

Avoid Fragmentation

If a wildlife habitat is reduced in size fewer speshycies of animals are likely to live there For example a small woodlot isolated by bare fields is likely to have fewer species of wildlife than a similar sized tract of land that adjoins other wooded habitat If these die then it often takes awhile before new animals find it This is certainly true for quail They are not good travelers and may seldom use isoshylated pockets of good food and cover So plan if possible to connect the isolated woodlot to anshyother larger forest by a wooded travel way With a mechanism to allow re-population from the larger habitat the small woods becomes a part of a largshyer one

Remember the characteristics of good quail covshyer-bare ground and a roof of vegetation

Create Visual Variety

Use your eye to create an interesting landscape When you create openings in woodlands or plant field borders or mast-bearing trees you join Mothshyer Nature as landscape architect Mix native tree species to create variety Consider selecting trees for fall color or distinctive appearance When plantshying consider arrangements that look natural rather than set about in rows and squares

Some habitats may seem beautiful to the eye even though they have no demonstrated utilitarian benefit You may want to keep them as they are for aesthetic reasons

Increase Edge Habitat

Increase edge habitat by changing the shape of a field A square 40-acre field has a mile of edge But if the field borders are scalloped into an arshyrangement of points bays and crenulations doushyble the prime field edge habitat It is also much more interesting to walk and hunt where you can not see the whole field at once-where rounding each point or investigating each little bay presents a new chance for seeing wildlife at close range

In the same way breaking large fields into small ones increases edge When doing so avoid moshynotonous straight lines of habitat edge if you can

Crop fields have straight edges for practical reashysons-they are much more efficient to plow and plant If you are willing to trade off some agriculshytural efficiency you can also improve the aesthetic qualities of your cropland as quail habitat (See Figure 10)

-~ --shy

Figure 10A

Figure 10B

Figure 10A Land before quail management has large unbroken fields dense stands of trees and little nesting cover Figure 10B Land after 20 years of quail management has less productive fields now in trees Large fields have been broken up with strips of pines edge fields are left in grassy weedy growth as nesting cover and stands of dense pines have been thinned to stimulate growth of understory plilnta which is managed by occasional use of fire Drawings based on photos in Rosene 1969

17

MEASURING SUCCESS How does one measure success at quail manshy

agement Managing wild animal populations is not like managing a domesticated animal or a cultishyvated crop where progress is easy to observe and measure Quail exist amidst an infinite number of variables and other organisms that are beyond the landowners control The exact number of quail on your land is unknown and always changing

A beginner may expect a few simple manageshyment practices to produce regular successful hunts and heavy game bags Things may not work out that way It will probably take a few years to notice a change To observe this change keep written records to document what you see and keep recshyords of your hunting success Cooperate with your state wildlife agency by sharing your records with them Adapt the report forms on the following page to your needs

18

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

fall and early spring before greenup to stimulate blackberries and desirable weeds such as ragshyweeds Florida beggarweed partridge pea large seeded grasses and other annuals Fall harrowing offers the advantage of supplementing natural growth with wheat or other fall planted grain Early spring harrowing allows quail to use the cover all winter Spring and summer harrowing may inshycrease Florida beggarweed and cranesbill gerashynium July harrowing on certain sites in South Georgia may produce solid stands of Florida pulshysey which makes an excellent environment for inshysect production The best seed production will occur during the first and second years after harshyrowing When broomsedge increases and seed bearing annuals decline its usually time to harrow again A rotation is often best A field or field edge should have harrowed portions in various stages of regrowth

Broomsedge Fields

Abandoned agricultural fields often revert to relshyatively uniform stands of broomsedge-a perennial grass that often grows in clumps two to four feet tall Broomsedge fields can be excellent roosting and nesting habitat but they can be poor producshyers of seeds insects and diversity Increase plant diversity by periodically harrowing strips and patches in the field Avoid harrowing sections alshyready covered with desirable vegetation Time of harrowing will affect the outcome (Refer to preshyvious section on tilling fallow fields) Try a threeshyyear rotation so each year there is a mixture of 1shy2 and 3-year-old cover

Pastures

Pastures are often excellent for insect producshytion but dense grasses are inhospitable for very small quail chicks Manage pasture edges for nestshying habitat and escape cover the same as for agshyricultural fields

Mow pastures by starting in the middle and cirshycling out to the edges This will keep the birds in the cover and drive them to the edge of the field If you begin mowing at the edge and finishing in the center of the field quail trapped in the middle will be vulnerable to attack by hawks egrets and other predators

Woodlands and Edges Thinning

Only a fixed amount of sunlight strikes a given piece of land Decide which small plants and trees will get that light to grow and produce Quail cover foods or wood products

Improve a dense woods for quail by harvesting some trees The extra light on the ground will allow food and cover plants to thrive This also gives quail a safer refuge from which to feed on seeds and fruits that fall from the trees

When choosing trees for removal you must inevshyitably make trade-offs among timber value growth potential and value to quail and other wildlife There is no one proper way to thin woodlands A wildlife enthusiast often prefers a variety of trees to a pure stand or monoculture Oaks pines elms sweetshygums sugar-berries black cherries persimmons dogwoods and blackgums all produce fruits and seeds used by quail (See Table 3 page 12) Durshying any year certain of them will have good seed production

There is no set rule as to the number of trees to remove when thinning Heavier thinning will put more light on the ground and will stimulate unshydergrowth This undergrowth may be excellent or poor for quail depending on the soil and previous history of the site Gain experience by thinning a few acres Wait a year or two for the response before thinning large areas Keep in mind that quail are often unable to use a forest habitat with too sparse an understory because they are vulnerable to predation Consider too that certain old natural forests have become increasingly rare If you have a special woods treasure it as it is

Get an accurate measure of the volume and professional help before selling any trees The Unishyversity of Georgia Extension Service has bulletins on timber harvest to help you

11

Table 3 Trees with Value for Quail Pine Understory Fires

Species Beech American Cherry Black

Dogwood

Gum Black

Hickory Bitternut Mockernut Shagbark Pignut

Red Maple

Mulberry Red

Oak

Persimmon Common

Pine Loblolly Longleaf Slash Shortleaf

Sugarberry

Sweetgum

Yellow Poplar

Honey Locust

Black Locust

Remarks Fall food highly ranked as a food source (nuts buds catkins) Summer fruit important because of long ripening period and frequency of good seed years Good for fencerows and field edges Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit persists on tree into winter months Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit is important but remains on the tree for only a short period after ripshyening Good fall color Nuts provide a food source from late summer to the next spring Shagbark and mockernut are preferred mast proshyducers for wildlife Wildlife use only a small percent of the annual bitternut crop Quail eat residue left by squirrels Produces food in early spring Imporshytant because of its widespread occurshyrence Good food source in mid spring early summer Quail and turkey eat fallen fruit Oaks rate at the top in value to wildlife On drier sites a good balance of speshycies in the white and red oak groups will help maintain a consistent level of mast production Quail peck at pieces of acorns left by squirrels and other animals These acorn fragments are often very abundant Ripened fruit are available to wildlife for a long period in the fall because they fall a few at a time over a long period Seeds are especially good quail food for wildlife Longleaf pine shortleaf is excellent Pine types with associated hardwoods provide food sources for many wildlife species Small berries are an important food source for many summer and wintering birds as well as quail Produces abundant small seeds A preferred quail food in late fall Widespread on well-drained sites A prolific seed bearer Seed will persist on cone and can be used by many types of birds and some mammals through winter months Fallen pods are a favorite deer food as are small trees and stump sprouts

Birds and rodents feed on pods Seeds are good food source for quail

Southern pines (longleaf shortleaf loblolly or slash) vary in their ability to produce quail The variation is due to the understory and soil Very sparse pine forests with a good understory are better for quail than dense pines which often have little or no suitable groundcover for quail Hardshywood sprouts small trees gallberries broomshysedge wiregrass or other vegetation are examples of pine understories

Southern pines of suitable size are resistent to properly managed fire Timber managers periodishycally burn pine understories to prevent hardwoods from growing large enough to compete with the pines Fires can remove excess pine needles and allow certain plants to grow while inhibiting others Many plants that thrive after a fire are good for quail

Avoid burning large areas Large burned areas are less desirable for quail than those which leave scattered unburned patches of habitat valuable for nesting feeding and protection Sometimes you can burn with spot fires under conditions which leave patches of cover Or you can divide the woods into a mosaic of smaller sections with fishyrebreaks Burn a third of these sections each year at winters end (See Figure 3)

Figure 3 Fire is a useful tool to manage vegetation under pines

Rake around or otherwise protect isolated mast (seed and fruit) bearing trees in pine stands likeshywise avoid burning forest edges if they contain choice thickets or other desirable plants

In the Coastal Plain wiregrass habitats are parshyticularly interesting Many quail hunting purists beshylieve longleaf pine and wiregrass are the finest quail lands of them all although wiregrass provides no food for quail Wiregrass will carry a fire nearly any time of year Maintain wiregrass by burning Harshyrowing and herbicides may permanently destroy

12

wiregrass Recommendations for establishing wiregrass are not known although it sometimes sets seed following hot summer fires If youre planning a food patch or other soil disturbance you may want to avoid a wiregrass area Vast unishyform areas of wiregrass may have few quail due to a scarcity of suitable cover for hiding and esshycape (See Figure 4)

Figure 5 This pine woods has no vegetation to support quail

Figure 4 Longleaf Pine and Wiregrass Habitat

Choosing the right time to burn pinelands is critshyical Early winter burns deprive quail for a tong time Burns just before spring greenup allow cover to re-grow shortly after a fire But fires after March 15 may destroy turkeys nests Often ideal condishytions for a winter or early spring fire develop after a cold front brings a soaking rain of at least an inch A few days of steady reliable wind from the north or west will usually follow The litter should be wet right down to the soil (check it) As the litter dries from the top there is an increasing layer of flammable material above moist litter Flash fuels like dry grasses may burn readily after only a short drying period-especially if its windy When there is enough dry material to carry a fire check the wind and humidity Humidity should be between 30 percent and 60 percent A wind speed of 5 to 15 miles per hour will help keep the heat cleared away from the pine tops and reduce the chance of scorching tree tops With no wind scorching is likely Fires may be set to back into the wind (backshyfire) burn at a right angle to the wind (flank fire) or run with the wind (headfire) Backfires are safest for beginners Set fires with a drip torch in strips or as spots Do not encircle areas with fire unless you intend to kill all trees and vegetation within Read Extension Bulletin 838 Prescribed Burnshying AManagement Tool before using fire in pineshylands(See Figures 56 and 7)

Figure 6 This pine woods has too much tall vegetation to be suitable for quail A controlled fire and thinning would help

Figure 7 This pine woods has been created by thinning and periodic fire to make good quail habitat

13

Forest Edges

Brushy forest edges are particularly important for quail Quail use the dense edge cover to travel and exploit foods on both sides of the edge The brushy edge is often good nesting and brood-rearshying habitat Broaden and improve the forest edge by thinning Leave mast-bearing trees and leave a few rows of grain unharvested in any adjoining fields along the expanded edge An expanded forshyest edge may have double or triple the value for quail of an unimproved forest edge (See Figure 8)

Plantings

Bare earth is the simplest environment with which to create food and cover Bare land needs everything and that takes work and money But with proper planning you can expect excellent reshysults Plan for both food and cover Food plantings work best where they adjoin existing cover such as fallow fields brushlands swamps stream botshytoms and forests Remember that quail travel litshytle therefore provide food and cover within a birds daily range of movement

Before edge expansion Narrow quail use zone

Lhigh quail use

After edge expansion Wide quail use zone

_----high quail use-------raquo

Figure 8 Expand forest edges to improve habitat for quail

Food Patches

There is no single best food for quail Think about what you want A fall grain patch to concentrate birds for hunting is a common goal A food patch planted in separate sections to offer a variety of foods and bordered by cover can help provide for quail throughout the year

Often suitable feeding areas are useless to quail because they lack nearby cover Clean agricultural fields and open grazed woodlots are examples Establish strips of cover by planting along field and forest borders if cover is lacking Develop hedgeshyrows of weeds and bushes between fields

Blend food and cover to make a multi-purpose quail habitat patch A good patch has a variety of plantings that will provide food and cover There are many plant materials to choose from (See Tashyble 4 page 15) Do a soil test before planting Follow the recommendations Your Georgia Coshyoperative Extension Service agent can process your soil sample for you Use the following ideas when designing your food patches

Site A relatively flat site free from erosion hazard with good sOiland surrounded by quail cover is a good site One half to one acre is a good size if your goal is to create an environment that is good for quail year round (There is no minishymum size limit) Many small patches of one-tenth to one-half acre are better than one big patch A few large patches are more convenient in forest habitat Avoid small areas if they are overhung by large trees Use a ripper bar to cut tree roots that extend into food patches

Border Enhance escape cover around the peshyrimeter of the patch with bicolor lespeshydeza multiflora rose wild plums hawthorns blackberries or other suitashyble plants A border 15 to 30 feet wide is sufficient

Interior Plant small patches of wheat or rye sorshyghum annuallespedezas corn clover cowpeas soybeans partridge pea milshylets or other foods of your choice in strips or patches Leave each segment fallow for several months or a year following each crop to benefit from annual weeds that will volunteer in Always aim to have some seeds some insects and some greens available during each month of the year

14

Table 4 Planting Specifications for Selected Quail Plants Planting Time to

Plant Soil pH Rate Dates Maturity Other Beggarweed Fertile Broadcast No later than 150-180 Use scarified seed s Ga only Florida moist sandy 10 Ibsacre June 1 days Seed available as food from Novshy

soils Feb Annual

Clover All except 60-65 Broadcast Sept 1shy Inoculate seed Use reseeding Crimson poor hulled- Oct 1 variety Winter annual

15 to 20 Ibsacre unhulledshy45-60 Ibsacre

Clover Moist clays 65-70 Broadcast 2-3 For winter Good for winter greens Inoculate White or loams Ibsacre Sept 1shy seed Use scarified seed

Oct 1 Perennial May die in summer

Corn Fertile 60-68 Space at 8shy March 15shy 80-100 Plant to mature before frost Use wellshy 10 in 361 June 1 days hand seeded full season varieties drained rows (ca 7

Ibsacre

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Broadcast 30shy Feb 1shy Seed generally avaitable after first Annual sand 35lbsacre March 1 frost Annual Will reseed Korean Kobe

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Plants 241 Nov 1-April 1 Use scarified seed Seeds available bicolor amp deep sands or apart in 36 to for plants in Sept Use a 0-20-20 fertilizer for thunbergii poorly drained 48 rows max seed production Perennial

Seed 36 March 1-April rows 12-14 15 for seed Ibsacre

Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 60 days Annual Browntop Ibsacre Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 75 days Proso Ibsacre Drill

15lbsacre Multi-flora Rose Upland soils 4-8 Winter- Excellent cover-may be a pest

apart during Propagate from cuttings during dormant midsummer season

Oats All 60 Broadcast or Aug 15shy Annual drill Oct 15 2-2V2 bushelacre

Pea Moist sites 60-65 Broadcast 15 March 1-April 150 days Seed available as food beginning in Partridge preferred but Ibsacre Nov Annual

will produce Rows 307 on all Ibsacre

Sesame Well-drained 65-70 Broadcast 10 After soil temp 8-100 S Ga Do not plant on same site 2 Ibsacre Drill reaches 75 days years in row due to wilt Annual 4-5 Ibs in 36 degrees F (ca rows July 1)

Sorghum All 58-62 36-44 rows March 15-July 95-130 Plant late and still have grain grain 2-8 between 1 days before frost Bird-resistant strains including plants have durable grain that may last all milo and Broadcast 30 winter wheat Ibsacre

Sunflower All but best Broadcast 5 June 1shy Annual on fertile soils Ibsacre June 30

Rows 361 121 apart in row Get further Winter-during info from dormant county agent season

Wheat Well-drained heavy

60 Drill 2 bushelsacre

N Ga Oct 15 thru Nov 1 S

180 days Available as food beginning about May Annual

Ga Nov 1 Wild Plum Plant 3shy Winter-during other shrubs 6 apart dormant

season

Carlton 1987 15

MANAGEMENT PLAN Put your ideas together with a management plan

Your land has its own soil vegetation topography land use and history all of which give the land its unique personality If youre like most landowners you appreciate many features of your land not just quail Only a few landowners manage their land primarily for quail Most want to identify parts of their land where changes can help quail at little cost This bulletin has described the land manshyagement practices you can use for manipulation of soil and vegetation to improve habitat and thereshyby make an environment which will hold more quail Use your judgement to integrate quail manageshyment into existing and future land uses Now how do you go about making a management plan

Map Topographic Features and Land Use

First make a land management plan to know what youve got Get a topographic map a soil map and an aerial photograph These may be availshyable from US Geological Survey ASCS office or Soil Conservation Service office Then make a map that shows the details of the land property boundshyaries roads trails fencerows power lines buildshyings agricultural fields fallow fields pastures and stands of trees according to species and size As you roam around your land start making notes of streams marshes ponds rocky outcrops sanshydhills animal burrows den trees nesting sites of unusual birds old house sites rare plants Indian artifact sites or any other special features that inshyterest you Identify features on the map with names or numbers Make notes on the ecological history and development of your forests or other habitats For example you might note dates and locations of previous fires or grazing beaver ponds soil erosion soil type timber harvest and areas of young seedlings

Identify Management Units

After your inventory is complete identify your maps habitat types (eg broomsedge fields mixed hardwood forest croplandsix-year-old planted pines etc) and special areas (eg stream bottom hardwood draw old house site)

Land Management Decisions Determine your primary goals for each forest

stand agricultural field and other management unit where your goals are primarily utilitarian Now look at all your management units and see if there is an opportunity to improve each one for quail withshyout unduly interfering with your other goals

Because there is no one best plan you need to look at the land think of the needs of the birds then be creative Make a grid chart like the one below to avoid overlooking possibilities List manshyagement units on one side and management opshytions on the other Then think about what you want for each site Each square in the grid represents an option Some are good and some are poor Table 5 shows when deficiencies are most likely to occur on lands managed for quail

ngThinni Burnin 2 Edge UFood t Cover ~ Tillingi Fertiliz E LimingampProtect CIS Mowini Grazin Ii Herbic

g enhancement planting planting

ing

ion g g ides

plusmnt ++=

m Figure 9 Quail Management Decision Grid

Table 5 Weak Links in Quail Habitat

Spril19 Summer Fall Winter

Escape Cover Insect Food Nesting Cover

Brood Rearing Habitat

Seeds

Stars indicate where quail management is most likely to be deficient

16

Land Design

Quail are the dessert in a beautiful landscape for many wildlife lovers Like visiting a fine restaushyrant a hunt on beautiful land is an event to reshymember So keep aesthetics in mind as you execute your management plan Here are three tips on designing land

1 Avoid fragmentation 2 Create visual variety 3 Increase edge habitat

Avoid Fragmentation

If a wildlife habitat is reduced in size fewer speshycies of animals are likely to live there For example a small woodlot isolated by bare fields is likely to have fewer species of wildlife than a similar sized tract of land that adjoins other wooded habitat If these die then it often takes awhile before new animals find it This is certainly true for quail They are not good travelers and may seldom use isoshylated pockets of good food and cover So plan if possible to connect the isolated woodlot to anshyother larger forest by a wooded travel way With a mechanism to allow re-population from the larger habitat the small woods becomes a part of a largshyer one

Remember the characteristics of good quail covshyer-bare ground and a roof of vegetation

Create Visual Variety

Use your eye to create an interesting landscape When you create openings in woodlands or plant field borders or mast-bearing trees you join Mothshyer Nature as landscape architect Mix native tree species to create variety Consider selecting trees for fall color or distinctive appearance When plantshying consider arrangements that look natural rather than set about in rows and squares

Some habitats may seem beautiful to the eye even though they have no demonstrated utilitarian benefit You may want to keep them as they are for aesthetic reasons

Increase Edge Habitat

Increase edge habitat by changing the shape of a field A square 40-acre field has a mile of edge But if the field borders are scalloped into an arshyrangement of points bays and crenulations doushyble the prime field edge habitat It is also much more interesting to walk and hunt where you can not see the whole field at once-where rounding each point or investigating each little bay presents a new chance for seeing wildlife at close range

In the same way breaking large fields into small ones increases edge When doing so avoid moshynotonous straight lines of habitat edge if you can

Crop fields have straight edges for practical reashysons-they are much more efficient to plow and plant If you are willing to trade off some agriculshytural efficiency you can also improve the aesthetic qualities of your cropland as quail habitat (See Figure 10)

-~ --shy

Figure 10A

Figure 10B

Figure 10A Land before quail management has large unbroken fields dense stands of trees and little nesting cover Figure 10B Land after 20 years of quail management has less productive fields now in trees Large fields have been broken up with strips of pines edge fields are left in grassy weedy growth as nesting cover and stands of dense pines have been thinned to stimulate growth of understory plilnta which is managed by occasional use of fire Drawings based on photos in Rosene 1969

17

MEASURING SUCCESS How does one measure success at quail manshy

agement Managing wild animal populations is not like managing a domesticated animal or a cultishyvated crop where progress is easy to observe and measure Quail exist amidst an infinite number of variables and other organisms that are beyond the landowners control The exact number of quail on your land is unknown and always changing

A beginner may expect a few simple manageshyment practices to produce regular successful hunts and heavy game bags Things may not work out that way It will probably take a few years to notice a change To observe this change keep written records to document what you see and keep recshyords of your hunting success Cooperate with your state wildlife agency by sharing your records with them Adapt the report forms on the following page to your needs

18

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

Table 3 Trees with Value for Quail Pine Understory Fires

Species Beech American Cherry Black

Dogwood

Gum Black

Hickory Bitternut Mockernut Shagbark Pignut

Red Maple

Mulberry Red

Oak

Persimmon Common

Pine Loblolly Longleaf Slash Shortleaf

Sugarberry

Sweetgum

Yellow Poplar

Honey Locust

Black Locust

Remarks Fall food highly ranked as a food source (nuts buds catkins) Summer fruit important because of long ripening period and frequency of good seed years Good for fencerows and field edges Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit persists on tree into winter months Quail eat fallen fruit Fruit is important but remains on the tree for only a short period after ripshyening Good fall color Nuts provide a food source from late summer to the next spring Shagbark and mockernut are preferred mast proshyducers for wildlife Wildlife use only a small percent of the annual bitternut crop Quail eat residue left by squirrels Produces food in early spring Imporshytant because of its widespread occurshyrence Good food source in mid spring early summer Quail and turkey eat fallen fruit Oaks rate at the top in value to wildlife On drier sites a good balance of speshycies in the white and red oak groups will help maintain a consistent level of mast production Quail peck at pieces of acorns left by squirrels and other animals These acorn fragments are often very abundant Ripened fruit are available to wildlife for a long period in the fall because they fall a few at a time over a long period Seeds are especially good quail food for wildlife Longleaf pine shortleaf is excellent Pine types with associated hardwoods provide food sources for many wildlife species Small berries are an important food source for many summer and wintering birds as well as quail Produces abundant small seeds A preferred quail food in late fall Widespread on well-drained sites A prolific seed bearer Seed will persist on cone and can be used by many types of birds and some mammals through winter months Fallen pods are a favorite deer food as are small trees and stump sprouts

Birds and rodents feed on pods Seeds are good food source for quail

Southern pines (longleaf shortleaf loblolly or slash) vary in their ability to produce quail The variation is due to the understory and soil Very sparse pine forests with a good understory are better for quail than dense pines which often have little or no suitable groundcover for quail Hardshywood sprouts small trees gallberries broomshysedge wiregrass or other vegetation are examples of pine understories

Southern pines of suitable size are resistent to properly managed fire Timber managers periodishycally burn pine understories to prevent hardwoods from growing large enough to compete with the pines Fires can remove excess pine needles and allow certain plants to grow while inhibiting others Many plants that thrive after a fire are good for quail

Avoid burning large areas Large burned areas are less desirable for quail than those which leave scattered unburned patches of habitat valuable for nesting feeding and protection Sometimes you can burn with spot fires under conditions which leave patches of cover Or you can divide the woods into a mosaic of smaller sections with fishyrebreaks Burn a third of these sections each year at winters end (See Figure 3)

Figure 3 Fire is a useful tool to manage vegetation under pines

Rake around or otherwise protect isolated mast (seed and fruit) bearing trees in pine stands likeshywise avoid burning forest edges if they contain choice thickets or other desirable plants

In the Coastal Plain wiregrass habitats are parshyticularly interesting Many quail hunting purists beshylieve longleaf pine and wiregrass are the finest quail lands of them all although wiregrass provides no food for quail Wiregrass will carry a fire nearly any time of year Maintain wiregrass by burning Harshyrowing and herbicides may permanently destroy

12

wiregrass Recommendations for establishing wiregrass are not known although it sometimes sets seed following hot summer fires If youre planning a food patch or other soil disturbance you may want to avoid a wiregrass area Vast unishyform areas of wiregrass may have few quail due to a scarcity of suitable cover for hiding and esshycape (See Figure 4)

Figure 5 This pine woods has no vegetation to support quail

Figure 4 Longleaf Pine and Wiregrass Habitat

Choosing the right time to burn pinelands is critshyical Early winter burns deprive quail for a tong time Burns just before spring greenup allow cover to re-grow shortly after a fire But fires after March 15 may destroy turkeys nests Often ideal condishytions for a winter or early spring fire develop after a cold front brings a soaking rain of at least an inch A few days of steady reliable wind from the north or west will usually follow The litter should be wet right down to the soil (check it) As the litter dries from the top there is an increasing layer of flammable material above moist litter Flash fuels like dry grasses may burn readily after only a short drying period-especially if its windy When there is enough dry material to carry a fire check the wind and humidity Humidity should be between 30 percent and 60 percent A wind speed of 5 to 15 miles per hour will help keep the heat cleared away from the pine tops and reduce the chance of scorching tree tops With no wind scorching is likely Fires may be set to back into the wind (backshyfire) burn at a right angle to the wind (flank fire) or run with the wind (headfire) Backfires are safest for beginners Set fires with a drip torch in strips or as spots Do not encircle areas with fire unless you intend to kill all trees and vegetation within Read Extension Bulletin 838 Prescribed Burnshying AManagement Tool before using fire in pineshylands(See Figures 56 and 7)

Figure 6 This pine woods has too much tall vegetation to be suitable for quail A controlled fire and thinning would help

Figure 7 This pine woods has been created by thinning and periodic fire to make good quail habitat

13

Forest Edges

Brushy forest edges are particularly important for quail Quail use the dense edge cover to travel and exploit foods on both sides of the edge The brushy edge is often good nesting and brood-rearshying habitat Broaden and improve the forest edge by thinning Leave mast-bearing trees and leave a few rows of grain unharvested in any adjoining fields along the expanded edge An expanded forshyest edge may have double or triple the value for quail of an unimproved forest edge (See Figure 8)

Plantings

Bare earth is the simplest environment with which to create food and cover Bare land needs everything and that takes work and money But with proper planning you can expect excellent reshysults Plan for both food and cover Food plantings work best where they adjoin existing cover such as fallow fields brushlands swamps stream botshytoms and forests Remember that quail travel litshytle therefore provide food and cover within a birds daily range of movement

Before edge expansion Narrow quail use zone

Lhigh quail use

After edge expansion Wide quail use zone

_----high quail use-------raquo

Figure 8 Expand forest edges to improve habitat for quail

Food Patches

There is no single best food for quail Think about what you want A fall grain patch to concentrate birds for hunting is a common goal A food patch planted in separate sections to offer a variety of foods and bordered by cover can help provide for quail throughout the year

Often suitable feeding areas are useless to quail because they lack nearby cover Clean agricultural fields and open grazed woodlots are examples Establish strips of cover by planting along field and forest borders if cover is lacking Develop hedgeshyrows of weeds and bushes between fields

Blend food and cover to make a multi-purpose quail habitat patch A good patch has a variety of plantings that will provide food and cover There are many plant materials to choose from (See Tashyble 4 page 15) Do a soil test before planting Follow the recommendations Your Georgia Coshyoperative Extension Service agent can process your soil sample for you Use the following ideas when designing your food patches

Site A relatively flat site free from erosion hazard with good sOiland surrounded by quail cover is a good site One half to one acre is a good size if your goal is to create an environment that is good for quail year round (There is no minishymum size limit) Many small patches of one-tenth to one-half acre are better than one big patch A few large patches are more convenient in forest habitat Avoid small areas if they are overhung by large trees Use a ripper bar to cut tree roots that extend into food patches

Border Enhance escape cover around the peshyrimeter of the patch with bicolor lespeshydeza multiflora rose wild plums hawthorns blackberries or other suitashyble plants A border 15 to 30 feet wide is sufficient

Interior Plant small patches of wheat or rye sorshyghum annuallespedezas corn clover cowpeas soybeans partridge pea milshylets or other foods of your choice in strips or patches Leave each segment fallow for several months or a year following each crop to benefit from annual weeds that will volunteer in Always aim to have some seeds some insects and some greens available during each month of the year

14

Table 4 Planting Specifications for Selected Quail Plants Planting Time to

Plant Soil pH Rate Dates Maturity Other Beggarweed Fertile Broadcast No later than 150-180 Use scarified seed s Ga only Florida moist sandy 10 Ibsacre June 1 days Seed available as food from Novshy

soils Feb Annual

Clover All except 60-65 Broadcast Sept 1shy Inoculate seed Use reseeding Crimson poor hulled- Oct 1 variety Winter annual

15 to 20 Ibsacre unhulledshy45-60 Ibsacre

Clover Moist clays 65-70 Broadcast 2-3 For winter Good for winter greens Inoculate White or loams Ibsacre Sept 1shy seed Use scarified seed

Oct 1 Perennial May die in summer

Corn Fertile 60-68 Space at 8shy March 15shy 80-100 Plant to mature before frost Use wellshy 10 in 361 June 1 days hand seeded full season varieties drained rows (ca 7

Ibsacre

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Broadcast 30shy Feb 1shy Seed generally avaitable after first Annual sand 35lbsacre March 1 frost Annual Will reseed Korean Kobe

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Plants 241 Nov 1-April 1 Use scarified seed Seeds available bicolor amp deep sands or apart in 36 to for plants in Sept Use a 0-20-20 fertilizer for thunbergii poorly drained 48 rows max seed production Perennial

Seed 36 March 1-April rows 12-14 15 for seed Ibsacre

Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 60 days Annual Browntop Ibsacre Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 75 days Proso Ibsacre Drill

15lbsacre Multi-flora Rose Upland soils 4-8 Winter- Excellent cover-may be a pest

apart during Propagate from cuttings during dormant midsummer season

Oats All 60 Broadcast or Aug 15shy Annual drill Oct 15 2-2V2 bushelacre

Pea Moist sites 60-65 Broadcast 15 March 1-April 150 days Seed available as food beginning in Partridge preferred but Ibsacre Nov Annual

will produce Rows 307 on all Ibsacre

Sesame Well-drained 65-70 Broadcast 10 After soil temp 8-100 S Ga Do not plant on same site 2 Ibsacre Drill reaches 75 days years in row due to wilt Annual 4-5 Ibs in 36 degrees F (ca rows July 1)

Sorghum All 58-62 36-44 rows March 15-July 95-130 Plant late and still have grain grain 2-8 between 1 days before frost Bird-resistant strains including plants have durable grain that may last all milo and Broadcast 30 winter wheat Ibsacre

Sunflower All but best Broadcast 5 June 1shy Annual on fertile soils Ibsacre June 30

Rows 361 121 apart in row Get further Winter-during info from dormant county agent season

Wheat Well-drained heavy

60 Drill 2 bushelsacre

N Ga Oct 15 thru Nov 1 S

180 days Available as food beginning about May Annual

Ga Nov 1 Wild Plum Plant 3shy Winter-during other shrubs 6 apart dormant

season

Carlton 1987 15

MANAGEMENT PLAN Put your ideas together with a management plan

Your land has its own soil vegetation topography land use and history all of which give the land its unique personality If youre like most landowners you appreciate many features of your land not just quail Only a few landowners manage their land primarily for quail Most want to identify parts of their land where changes can help quail at little cost This bulletin has described the land manshyagement practices you can use for manipulation of soil and vegetation to improve habitat and thereshyby make an environment which will hold more quail Use your judgement to integrate quail manageshyment into existing and future land uses Now how do you go about making a management plan

Map Topographic Features and Land Use

First make a land management plan to know what youve got Get a topographic map a soil map and an aerial photograph These may be availshyable from US Geological Survey ASCS office or Soil Conservation Service office Then make a map that shows the details of the land property boundshyaries roads trails fencerows power lines buildshyings agricultural fields fallow fields pastures and stands of trees according to species and size As you roam around your land start making notes of streams marshes ponds rocky outcrops sanshydhills animal burrows den trees nesting sites of unusual birds old house sites rare plants Indian artifact sites or any other special features that inshyterest you Identify features on the map with names or numbers Make notes on the ecological history and development of your forests or other habitats For example you might note dates and locations of previous fires or grazing beaver ponds soil erosion soil type timber harvest and areas of young seedlings

Identify Management Units

After your inventory is complete identify your maps habitat types (eg broomsedge fields mixed hardwood forest croplandsix-year-old planted pines etc) and special areas (eg stream bottom hardwood draw old house site)

Land Management Decisions Determine your primary goals for each forest

stand agricultural field and other management unit where your goals are primarily utilitarian Now look at all your management units and see if there is an opportunity to improve each one for quail withshyout unduly interfering with your other goals

Because there is no one best plan you need to look at the land think of the needs of the birds then be creative Make a grid chart like the one below to avoid overlooking possibilities List manshyagement units on one side and management opshytions on the other Then think about what you want for each site Each square in the grid represents an option Some are good and some are poor Table 5 shows when deficiencies are most likely to occur on lands managed for quail

ngThinni Burnin 2 Edge UFood t Cover ~ Tillingi Fertiliz E LimingampProtect CIS Mowini Grazin Ii Herbic

g enhancement planting planting

ing

ion g g ides

plusmnt ++=

m Figure 9 Quail Management Decision Grid

Table 5 Weak Links in Quail Habitat

Spril19 Summer Fall Winter

Escape Cover Insect Food Nesting Cover

Brood Rearing Habitat

Seeds

Stars indicate where quail management is most likely to be deficient

16

Land Design

Quail are the dessert in a beautiful landscape for many wildlife lovers Like visiting a fine restaushyrant a hunt on beautiful land is an event to reshymember So keep aesthetics in mind as you execute your management plan Here are three tips on designing land

1 Avoid fragmentation 2 Create visual variety 3 Increase edge habitat

Avoid Fragmentation

If a wildlife habitat is reduced in size fewer speshycies of animals are likely to live there For example a small woodlot isolated by bare fields is likely to have fewer species of wildlife than a similar sized tract of land that adjoins other wooded habitat If these die then it often takes awhile before new animals find it This is certainly true for quail They are not good travelers and may seldom use isoshylated pockets of good food and cover So plan if possible to connect the isolated woodlot to anshyother larger forest by a wooded travel way With a mechanism to allow re-population from the larger habitat the small woods becomes a part of a largshyer one

Remember the characteristics of good quail covshyer-bare ground and a roof of vegetation

Create Visual Variety

Use your eye to create an interesting landscape When you create openings in woodlands or plant field borders or mast-bearing trees you join Mothshyer Nature as landscape architect Mix native tree species to create variety Consider selecting trees for fall color or distinctive appearance When plantshying consider arrangements that look natural rather than set about in rows and squares

Some habitats may seem beautiful to the eye even though they have no demonstrated utilitarian benefit You may want to keep them as they are for aesthetic reasons

Increase Edge Habitat

Increase edge habitat by changing the shape of a field A square 40-acre field has a mile of edge But if the field borders are scalloped into an arshyrangement of points bays and crenulations doushyble the prime field edge habitat It is also much more interesting to walk and hunt where you can not see the whole field at once-where rounding each point or investigating each little bay presents a new chance for seeing wildlife at close range

In the same way breaking large fields into small ones increases edge When doing so avoid moshynotonous straight lines of habitat edge if you can

Crop fields have straight edges for practical reashysons-they are much more efficient to plow and plant If you are willing to trade off some agriculshytural efficiency you can also improve the aesthetic qualities of your cropland as quail habitat (See Figure 10)

-~ --shy

Figure 10A

Figure 10B

Figure 10A Land before quail management has large unbroken fields dense stands of trees and little nesting cover Figure 10B Land after 20 years of quail management has less productive fields now in trees Large fields have been broken up with strips of pines edge fields are left in grassy weedy growth as nesting cover and stands of dense pines have been thinned to stimulate growth of understory plilnta which is managed by occasional use of fire Drawings based on photos in Rosene 1969

17

MEASURING SUCCESS How does one measure success at quail manshy

agement Managing wild animal populations is not like managing a domesticated animal or a cultishyvated crop where progress is easy to observe and measure Quail exist amidst an infinite number of variables and other organisms that are beyond the landowners control The exact number of quail on your land is unknown and always changing

A beginner may expect a few simple manageshyment practices to produce regular successful hunts and heavy game bags Things may not work out that way It will probably take a few years to notice a change To observe this change keep written records to document what you see and keep recshyords of your hunting success Cooperate with your state wildlife agency by sharing your records with them Adapt the report forms on the following page to your needs

18

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

wiregrass Recommendations for establishing wiregrass are not known although it sometimes sets seed following hot summer fires If youre planning a food patch or other soil disturbance you may want to avoid a wiregrass area Vast unishyform areas of wiregrass may have few quail due to a scarcity of suitable cover for hiding and esshycape (See Figure 4)

Figure 5 This pine woods has no vegetation to support quail

Figure 4 Longleaf Pine and Wiregrass Habitat

Choosing the right time to burn pinelands is critshyical Early winter burns deprive quail for a tong time Burns just before spring greenup allow cover to re-grow shortly after a fire But fires after March 15 may destroy turkeys nests Often ideal condishytions for a winter or early spring fire develop after a cold front brings a soaking rain of at least an inch A few days of steady reliable wind from the north or west will usually follow The litter should be wet right down to the soil (check it) As the litter dries from the top there is an increasing layer of flammable material above moist litter Flash fuels like dry grasses may burn readily after only a short drying period-especially if its windy When there is enough dry material to carry a fire check the wind and humidity Humidity should be between 30 percent and 60 percent A wind speed of 5 to 15 miles per hour will help keep the heat cleared away from the pine tops and reduce the chance of scorching tree tops With no wind scorching is likely Fires may be set to back into the wind (backshyfire) burn at a right angle to the wind (flank fire) or run with the wind (headfire) Backfires are safest for beginners Set fires with a drip torch in strips or as spots Do not encircle areas with fire unless you intend to kill all trees and vegetation within Read Extension Bulletin 838 Prescribed Burnshying AManagement Tool before using fire in pineshylands(See Figures 56 and 7)

Figure 6 This pine woods has too much tall vegetation to be suitable for quail A controlled fire and thinning would help

Figure 7 This pine woods has been created by thinning and periodic fire to make good quail habitat

13

Forest Edges

Brushy forest edges are particularly important for quail Quail use the dense edge cover to travel and exploit foods on both sides of the edge The brushy edge is often good nesting and brood-rearshying habitat Broaden and improve the forest edge by thinning Leave mast-bearing trees and leave a few rows of grain unharvested in any adjoining fields along the expanded edge An expanded forshyest edge may have double or triple the value for quail of an unimproved forest edge (See Figure 8)

Plantings

Bare earth is the simplest environment with which to create food and cover Bare land needs everything and that takes work and money But with proper planning you can expect excellent reshysults Plan for both food and cover Food plantings work best where they adjoin existing cover such as fallow fields brushlands swamps stream botshytoms and forests Remember that quail travel litshytle therefore provide food and cover within a birds daily range of movement

Before edge expansion Narrow quail use zone

Lhigh quail use

After edge expansion Wide quail use zone

_----high quail use-------raquo

Figure 8 Expand forest edges to improve habitat for quail

Food Patches

There is no single best food for quail Think about what you want A fall grain patch to concentrate birds for hunting is a common goal A food patch planted in separate sections to offer a variety of foods and bordered by cover can help provide for quail throughout the year

Often suitable feeding areas are useless to quail because they lack nearby cover Clean agricultural fields and open grazed woodlots are examples Establish strips of cover by planting along field and forest borders if cover is lacking Develop hedgeshyrows of weeds and bushes between fields

Blend food and cover to make a multi-purpose quail habitat patch A good patch has a variety of plantings that will provide food and cover There are many plant materials to choose from (See Tashyble 4 page 15) Do a soil test before planting Follow the recommendations Your Georgia Coshyoperative Extension Service agent can process your soil sample for you Use the following ideas when designing your food patches

Site A relatively flat site free from erosion hazard with good sOiland surrounded by quail cover is a good site One half to one acre is a good size if your goal is to create an environment that is good for quail year round (There is no minishymum size limit) Many small patches of one-tenth to one-half acre are better than one big patch A few large patches are more convenient in forest habitat Avoid small areas if they are overhung by large trees Use a ripper bar to cut tree roots that extend into food patches

Border Enhance escape cover around the peshyrimeter of the patch with bicolor lespeshydeza multiflora rose wild plums hawthorns blackberries or other suitashyble plants A border 15 to 30 feet wide is sufficient

Interior Plant small patches of wheat or rye sorshyghum annuallespedezas corn clover cowpeas soybeans partridge pea milshylets or other foods of your choice in strips or patches Leave each segment fallow for several months or a year following each crop to benefit from annual weeds that will volunteer in Always aim to have some seeds some insects and some greens available during each month of the year

14

Table 4 Planting Specifications for Selected Quail Plants Planting Time to

Plant Soil pH Rate Dates Maturity Other Beggarweed Fertile Broadcast No later than 150-180 Use scarified seed s Ga only Florida moist sandy 10 Ibsacre June 1 days Seed available as food from Novshy

soils Feb Annual

Clover All except 60-65 Broadcast Sept 1shy Inoculate seed Use reseeding Crimson poor hulled- Oct 1 variety Winter annual

15 to 20 Ibsacre unhulledshy45-60 Ibsacre

Clover Moist clays 65-70 Broadcast 2-3 For winter Good for winter greens Inoculate White or loams Ibsacre Sept 1shy seed Use scarified seed

Oct 1 Perennial May die in summer

Corn Fertile 60-68 Space at 8shy March 15shy 80-100 Plant to mature before frost Use wellshy 10 in 361 June 1 days hand seeded full season varieties drained rows (ca 7

Ibsacre

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Broadcast 30shy Feb 1shy Seed generally avaitable after first Annual sand 35lbsacre March 1 frost Annual Will reseed Korean Kobe

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Plants 241 Nov 1-April 1 Use scarified seed Seeds available bicolor amp deep sands or apart in 36 to for plants in Sept Use a 0-20-20 fertilizer for thunbergii poorly drained 48 rows max seed production Perennial

Seed 36 March 1-April rows 12-14 15 for seed Ibsacre

Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 60 days Annual Browntop Ibsacre Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 75 days Proso Ibsacre Drill

15lbsacre Multi-flora Rose Upland soils 4-8 Winter- Excellent cover-may be a pest

apart during Propagate from cuttings during dormant midsummer season

Oats All 60 Broadcast or Aug 15shy Annual drill Oct 15 2-2V2 bushelacre

Pea Moist sites 60-65 Broadcast 15 March 1-April 150 days Seed available as food beginning in Partridge preferred but Ibsacre Nov Annual

will produce Rows 307 on all Ibsacre

Sesame Well-drained 65-70 Broadcast 10 After soil temp 8-100 S Ga Do not plant on same site 2 Ibsacre Drill reaches 75 days years in row due to wilt Annual 4-5 Ibs in 36 degrees F (ca rows July 1)

Sorghum All 58-62 36-44 rows March 15-July 95-130 Plant late and still have grain grain 2-8 between 1 days before frost Bird-resistant strains including plants have durable grain that may last all milo and Broadcast 30 winter wheat Ibsacre

Sunflower All but best Broadcast 5 June 1shy Annual on fertile soils Ibsacre June 30

Rows 361 121 apart in row Get further Winter-during info from dormant county agent season

Wheat Well-drained heavy

60 Drill 2 bushelsacre

N Ga Oct 15 thru Nov 1 S

180 days Available as food beginning about May Annual

Ga Nov 1 Wild Plum Plant 3shy Winter-during other shrubs 6 apart dormant

season

Carlton 1987 15

MANAGEMENT PLAN Put your ideas together with a management plan

Your land has its own soil vegetation topography land use and history all of which give the land its unique personality If youre like most landowners you appreciate many features of your land not just quail Only a few landowners manage their land primarily for quail Most want to identify parts of their land where changes can help quail at little cost This bulletin has described the land manshyagement practices you can use for manipulation of soil and vegetation to improve habitat and thereshyby make an environment which will hold more quail Use your judgement to integrate quail manageshyment into existing and future land uses Now how do you go about making a management plan

Map Topographic Features and Land Use

First make a land management plan to know what youve got Get a topographic map a soil map and an aerial photograph These may be availshyable from US Geological Survey ASCS office or Soil Conservation Service office Then make a map that shows the details of the land property boundshyaries roads trails fencerows power lines buildshyings agricultural fields fallow fields pastures and stands of trees according to species and size As you roam around your land start making notes of streams marshes ponds rocky outcrops sanshydhills animal burrows den trees nesting sites of unusual birds old house sites rare plants Indian artifact sites or any other special features that inshyterest you Identify features on the map with names or numbers Make notes on the ecological history and development of your forests or other habitats For example you might note dates and locations of previous fires or grazing beaver ponds soil erosion soil type timber harvest and areas of young seedlings

Identify Management Units

After your inventory is complete identify your maps habitat types (eg broomsedge fields mixed hardwood forest croplandsix-year-old planted pines etc) and special areas (eg stream bottom hardwood draw old house site)

Land Management Decisions Determine your primary goals for each forest

stand agricultural field and other management unit where your goals are primarily utilitarian Now look at all your management units and see if there is an opportunity to improve each one for quail withshyout unduly interfering with your other goals

Because there is no one best plan you need to look at the land think of the needs of the birds then be creative Make a grid chart like the one below to avoid overlooking possibilities List manshyagement units on one side and management opshytions on the other Then think about what you want for each site Each square in the grid represents an option Some are good and some are poor Table 5 shows when deficiencies are most likely to occur on lands managed for quail

ngThinni Burnin 2 Edge UFood t Cover ~ Tillingi Fertiliz E LimingampProtect CIS Mowini Grazin Ii Herbic

g enhancement planting planting

ing

ion g g ides

plusmnt ++=

m Figure 9 Quail Management Decision Grid

Table 5 Weak Links in Quail Habitat

Spril19 Summer Fall Winter

Escape Cover Insect Food Nesting Cover

Brood Rearing Habitat

Seeds

Stars indicate where quail management is most likely to be deficient

16

Land Design

Quail are the dessert in a beautiful landscape for many wildlife lovers Like visiting a fine restaushyrant a hunt on beautiful land is an event to reshymember So keep aesthetics in mind as you execute your management plan Here are three tips on designing land

1 Avoid fragmentation 2 Create visual variety 3 Increase edge habitat

Avoid Fragmentation

If a wildlife habitat is reduced in size fewer speshycies of animals are likely to live there For example a small woodlot isolated by bare fields is likely to have fewer species of wildlife than a similar sized tract of land that adjoins other wooded habitat If these die then it often takes awhile before new animals find it This is certainly true for quail They are not good travelers and may seldom use isoshylated pockets of good food and cover So plan if possible to connect the isolated woodlot to anshyother larger forest by a wooded travel way With a mechanism to allow re-population from the larger habitat the small woods becomes a part of a largshyer one

Remember the characteristics of good quail covshyer-bare ground and a roof of vegetation

Create Visual Variety

Use your eye to create an interesting landscape When you create openings in woodlands or plant field borders or mast-bearing trees you join Mothshyer Nature as landscape architect Mix native tree species to create variety Consider selecting trees for fall color or distinctive appearance When plantshying consider arrangements that look natural rather than set about in rows and squares

Some habitats may seem beautiful to the eye even though they have no demonstrated utilitarian benefit You may want to keep them as they are for aesthetic reasons

Increase Edge Habitat

Increase edge habitat by changing the shape of a field A square 40-acre field has a mile of edge But if the field borders are scalloped into an arshyrangement of points bays and crenulations doushyble the prime field edge habitat It is also much more interesting to walk and hunt where you can not see the whole field at once-where rounding each point or investigating each little bay presents a new chance for seeing wildlife at close range

In the same way breaking large fields into small ones increases edge When doing so avoid moshynotonous straight lines of habitat edge if you can

Crop fields have straight edges for practical reashysons-they are much more efficient to plow and plant If you are willing to trade off some agriculshytural efficiency you can also improve the aesthetic qualities of your cropland as quail habitat (See Figure 10)

-~ --shy

Figure 10A

Figure 10B

Figure 10A Land before quail management has large unbroken fields dense stands of trees and little nesting cover Figure 10B Land after 20 years of quail management has less productive fields now in trees Large fields have been broken up with strips of pines edge fields are left in grassy weedy growth as nesting cover and stands of dense pines have been thinned to stimulate growth of understory plilnta which is managed by occasional use of fire Drawings based on photos in Rosene 1969

17

MEASURING SUCCESS How does one measure success at quail manshy

agement Managing wild animal populations is not like managing a domesticated animal or a cultishyvated crop where progress is easy to observe and measure Quail exist amidst an infinite number of variables and other organisms that are beyond the landowners control The exact number of quail on your land is unknown and always changing

A beginner may expect a few simple manageshyment practices to produce regular successful hunts and heavy game bags Things may not work out that way It will probably take a few years to notice a change To observe this change keep written records to document what you see and keep recshyords of your hunting success Cooperate with your state wildlife agency by sharing your records with them Adapt the report forms on the following page to your needs

18

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

Forest Edges

Brushy forest edges are particularly important for quail Quail use the dense edge cover to travel and exploit foods on both sides of the edge The brushy edge is often good nesting and brood-rearshying habitat Broaden and improve the forest edge by thinning Leave mast-bearing trees and leave a few rows of grain unharvested in any adjoining fields along the expanded edge An expanded forshyest edge may have double or triple the value for quail of an unimproved forest edge (See Figure 8)

Plantings

Bare earth is the simplest environment with which to create food and cover Bare land needs everything and that takes work and money But with proper planning you can expect excellent reshysults Plan for both food and cover Food plantings work best where they adjoin existing cover such as fallow fields brushlands swamps stream botshytoms and forests Remember that quail travel litshytle therefore provide food and cover within a birds daily range of movement

Before edge expansion Narrow quail use zone

Lhigh quail use

After edge expansion Wide quail use zone

_----high quail use-------raquo

Figure 8 Expand forest edges to improve habitat for quail

Food Patches

There is no single best food for quail Think about what you want A fall grain patch to concentrate birds for hunting is a common goal A food patch planted in separate sections to offer a variety of foods and bordered by cover can help provide for quail throughout the year

Often suitable feeding areas are useless to quail because they lack nearby cover Clean agricultural fields and open grazed woodlots are examples Establish strips of cover by planting along field and forest borders if cover is lacking Develop hedgeshyrows of weeds and bushes between fields

Blend food and cover to make a multi-purpose quail habitat patch A good patch has a variety of plantings that will provide food and cover There are many plant materials to choose from (See Tashyble 4 page 15) Do a soil test before planting Follow the recommendations Your Georgia Coshyoperative Extension Service agent can process your soil sample for you Use the following ideas when designing your food patches

Site A relatively flat site free from erosion hazard with good sOiland surrounded by quail cover is a good site One half to one acre is a good size if your goal is to create an environment that is good for quail year round (There is no minishymum size limit) Many small patches of one-tenth to one-half acre are better than one big patch A few large patches are more convenient in forest habitat Avoid small areas if they are overhung by large trees Use a ripper bar to cut tree roots that extend into food patches

Border Enhance escape cover around the peshyrimeter of the patch with bicolor lespeshydeza multiflora rose wild plums hawthorns blackberries or other suitashyble plants A border 15 to 30 feet wide is sufficient

Interior Plant small patches of wheat or rye sorshyghum annuallespedezas corn clover cowpeas soybeans partridge pea milshylets or other foods of your choice in strips or patches Leave each segment fallow for several months or a year following each crop to benefit from annual weeds that will volunteer in Always aim to have some seeds some insects and some greens available during each month of the year

14

Table 4 Planting Specifications for Selected Quail Plants Planting Time to

Plant Soil pH Rate Dates Maturity Other Beggarweed Fertile Broadcast No later than 150-180 Use scarified seed s Ga only Florida moist sandy 10 Ibsacre June 1 days Seed available as food from Novshy

soils Feb Annual

Clover All except 60-65 Broadcast Sept 1shy Inoculate seed Use reseeding Crimson poor hulled- Oct 1 variety Winter annual

15 to 20 Ibsacre unhulledshy45-60 Ibsacre

Clover Moist clays 65-70 Broadcast 2-3 For winter Good for winter greens Inoculate White or loams Ibsacre Sept 1shy seed Use scarified seed

Oct 1 Perennial May die in summer

Corn Fertile 60-68 Space at 8shy March 15shy 80-100 Plant to mature before frost Use wellshy 10 in 361 June 1 days hand seeded full season varieties drained rows (ca 7

Ibsacre

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Broadcast 30shy Feb 1shy Seed generally avaitable after first Annual sand 35lbsacre March 1 frost Annual Will reseed Korean Kobe

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Plants 241 Nov 1-April 1 Use scarified seed Seeds available bicolor amp deep sands or apart in 36 to for plants in Sept Use a 0-20-20 fertilizer for thunbergii poorly drained 48 rows max seed production Perennial

Seed 36 March 1-April rows 12-14 15 for seed Ibsacre

Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 60 days Annual Browntop Ibsacre Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 75 days Proso Ibsacre Drill

15lbsacre Multi-flora Rose Upland soils 4-8 Winter- Excellent cover-may be a pest

apart during Propagate from cuttings during dormant midsummer season

Oats All 60 Broadcast or Aug 15shy Annual drill Oct 15 2-2V2 bushelacre

Pea Moist sites 60-65 Broadcast 15 March 1-April 150 days Seed available as food beginning in Partridge preferred but Ibsacre Nov Annual

will produce Rows 307 on all Ibsacre

Sesame Well-drained 65-70 Broadcast 10 After soil temp 8-100 S Ga Do not plant on same site 2 Ibsacre Drill reaches 75 days years in row due to wilt Annual 4-5 Ibs in 36 degrees F (ca rows July 1)

Sorghum All 58-62 36-44 rows March 15-July 95-130 Plant late and still have grain grain 2-8 between 1 days before frost Bird-resistant strains including plants have durable grain that may last all milo and Broadcast 30 winter wheat Ibsacre

Sunflower All but best Broadcast 5 June 1shy Annual on fertile soils Ibsacre June 30

Rows 361 121 apart in row Get further Winter-during info from dormant county agent season

Wheat Well-drained heavy

60 Drill 2 bushelsacre

N Ga Oct 15 thru Nov 1 S

180 days Available as food beginning about May Annual

Ga Nov 1 Wild Plum Plant 3shy Winter-during other shrubs 6 apart dormant

season

Carlton 1987 15

MANAGEMENT PLAN Put your ideas together with a management plan

Your land has its own soil vegetation topography land use and history all of which give the land its unique personality If youre like most landowners you appreciate many features of your land not just quail Only a few landowners manage their land primarily for quail Most want to identify parts of their land where changes can help quail at little cost This bulletin has described the land manshyagement practices you can use for manipulation of soil and vegetation to improve habitat and thereshyby make an environment which will hold more quail Use your judgement to integrate quail manageshyment into existing and future land uses Now how do you go about making a management plan

Map Topographic Features and Land Use

First make a land management plan to know what youve got Get a topographic map a soil map and an aerial photograph These may be availshyable from US Geological Survey ASCS office or Soil Conservation Service office Then make a map that shows the details of the land property boundshyaries roads trails fencerows power lines buildshyings agricultural fields fallow fields pastures and stands of trees according to species and size As you roam around your land start making notes of streams marshes ponds rocky outcrops sanshydhills animal burrows den trees nesting sites of unusual birds old house sites rare plants Indian artifact sites or any other special features that inshyterest you Identify features on the map with names or numbers Make notes on the ecological history and development of your forests or other habitats For example you might note dates and locations of previous fires or grazing beaver ponds soil erosion soil type timber harvest and areas of young seedlings

Identify Management Units

After your inventory is complete identify your maps habitat types (eg broomsedge fields mixed hardwood forest croplandsix-year-old planted pines etc) and special areas (eg stream bottom hardwood draw old house site)

Land Management Decisions Determine your primary goals for each forest

stand agricultural field and other management unit where your goals are primarily utilitarian Now look at all your management units and see if there is an opportunity to improve each one for quail withshyout unduly interfering with your other goals

Because there is no one best plan you need to look at the land think of the needs of the birds then be creative Make a grid chart like the one below to avoid overlooking possibilities List manshyagement units on one side and management opshytions on the other Then think about what you want for each site Each square in the grid represents an option Some are good and some are poor Table 5 shows when deficiencies are most likely to occur on lands managed for quail

ngThinni Burnin 2 Edge UFood t Cover ~ Tillingi Fertiliz E LimingampProtect CIS Mowini Grazin Ii Herbic

g enhancement planting planting

ing

ion g g ides

plusmnt ++=

m Figure 9 Quail Management Decision Grid

Table 5 Weak Links in Quail Habitat

Spril19 Summer Fall Winter

Escape Cover Insect Food Nesting Cover

Brood Rearing Habitat

Seeds

Stars indicate where quail management is most likely to be deficient

16

Land Design

Quail are the dessert in a beautiful landscape for many wildlife lovers Like visiting a fine restaushyrant a hunt on beautiful land is an event to reshymember So keep aesthetics in mind as you execute your management plan Here are three tips on designing land

1 Avoid fragmentation 2 Create visual variety 3 Increase edge habitat

Avoid Fragmentation

If a wildlife habitat is reduced in size fewer speshycies of animals are likely to live there For example a small woodlot isolated by bare fields is likely to have fewer species of wildlife than a similar sized tract of land that adjoins other wooded habitat If these die then it often takes awhile before new animals find it This is certainly true for quail They are not good travelers and may seldom use isoshylated pockets of good food and cover So plan if possible to connect the isolated woodlot to anshyother larger forest by a wooded travel way With a mechanism to allow re-population from the larger habitat the small woods becomes a part of a largshyer one

Remember the characteristics of good quail covshyer-bare ground and a roof of vegetation

Create Visual Variety

Use your eye to create an interesting landscape When you create openings in woodlands or plant field borders or mast-bearing trees you join Mothshyer Nature as landscape architect Mix native tree species to create variety Consider selecting trees for fall color or distinctive appearance When plantshying consider arrangements that look natural rather than set about in rows and squares

Some habitats may seem beautiful to the eye even though they have no demonstrated utilitarian benefit You may want to keep them as they are for aesthetic reasons

Increase Edge Habitat

Increase edge habitat by changing the shape of a field A square 40-acre field has a mile of edge But if the field borders are scalloped into an arshyrangement of points bays and crenulations doushyble the prime field edge habitat It is also much more interesting to walk and hunt where you can not see the whole field at once-where rounding each point or investigating each little bay presents a new chance for seeing wildlife at close range

In the same way breaking large fields into small ones increases edge When doing so avoid moshynotonous straight lines of habitat edge if you can

Crop fields have straight edges for practical reashysons-they are much more efficient to plow and plant If you are willing to trade off some agriculshytural efficiency you can also improve the aesthetic qualities of your cropland as quail habitat (See Figure 10)

-~ --shy

Figure 10A

Figure 10B

Figure 10A Land before quail management has large unbroken fields dense stands of trees and little nesting cover Figure 10B Land after 20 years of quail management has less productive fields now in trees Large fields have been broken up with strips of pines edge fields are left in grassy weedy growth as nesting cover and stands of dense pines have been thinned to stimulate growth of understory plilnta which is managed by occasional use of fire Drawings based on photos in Rosene 1969

17

MEASURING SUCCESS How does one measure success at quail manshy

agement Managing wild animal populations is not like managing a domesticated animal or a cultishyvated crop where progress is easy to observe and measure Quail exist amidst an infinite number of variables and other organisms that are beyond the landowners control The exact number of quail on your land is unknown and always changing

A beginner may expect a few simple manageshyment practices to produce regular successful hunts and heavy game bags Things may not work out that way It will probably take a few years to notice a change To observe this change keep written records to document what you see and keep recshyords of your hunting success Cooperate with your state wildlife agency by sharing your records with them Adapt the report forms on the following page to your needs

18

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

Table 4 Planting Specifications for Selected Quail Plants Planting Time to

Plant Soil pH Rate Dates Maturity Other Beggarweed Fertile Broadcast No later than 150-180 Use scarified seed s Ga only Florida moist sandy 10 Ibsacre June 1 days Seed available as food from Novshy

soils Feb Annual

Clover All except 60-65 Broadcast Sept 1shy Inoculate seed Use reseeding Crimson poor hulled- Oct 1 variety Winter annual

15 to 20 Ibsacre unhulledshy45-60 Ibsacre

Clover Moist clays 65-70 Broadcast 2-3 For winter Good for winter greens Inoculate White or loams Ibsacre Sept 1shy seed Use scarified seed

Oct 1 Perennial May die in summer

Corn Fertile 60-68 Space at 8shy March 15shy 80-100 Plant to mature before frost Use wellshy 10 in 361 June 1 days hand seeded full season varieties drained rows (ca 7

Ibsacre

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Broadcast 30shy Feb 1shy Seed generally avaitable after first Annual sand 35lbsacre March 1 frost Annual Will reseed Korean Kobe

Lespedeza All except 60-65 Plants 241 Nov 1-April 1 Use scarified seed Seeds available bicolor amp deep sands or apart in 36 to for plants in Sept Use a 0-20-20 fertilizer for thunbergii poorly drained 48 rows max seed production Perennial

Seed 36 March 1-April rows 12-14 15 for seed Ibsacre

Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 60 days Annual Browntop Ibsacre Millet Well-drained 60 Broadcast 20 April 1-July 1 75 days Proso Ibsacre Drill

15lbsacre Multi-flora Rose Upland soils 4-8 Winter- Excellent cover-may be a pest

apart during Propagate from cuttings during dormant midsummer season

Oats All 60 Broadcast or Aug 15shy Annual drill Oct 15 2-2V2 bushelacre

Pea Moist sites 60-65 Broadcast 15 March 1-April 150 days Seed available as food beginning in Partridge preferred but Ibsacre Nov Annual

will produce Rows 307 on all Ibsacre

Sesame Well-drained 65-70 Broadcast 10 After soil temp 8-100 S Ga Do not plant on same site 2 Ibsacre Drill reaches 75 days years in row due to wilt Annual 4-5 Ibs in 36 degrees F (ca rows July 1)

Sorghum All 58-62 36-44 rows March 15-July 95-130 Plant late and still have grain grain 2-8 between 1 days before frost Bird-resistant strains including plants have durable grain that may last all milo and Broadcast 30 winter wheat Ibsacre

Sunflower All but best Broadcast 5 June 1shy Annual on fertile soils Ibsacre June 30

Rows 361 121 apart in row Get further Winter-during info from dormant county agent season

Wheat Well-drained heavy

60 Drill 2 bushelsacre

N Ga Oct 15 thru Nov 1 S

180 days Available as food beginning about May Annual

Ga Nov 1 Wild Plum Plant 3shy Winter-during other shrubs 6 apart dormant

season

Carlton 1987 15

MANAGEMENT PLAN Put your ideas together with a management plan

Your land has its own soil vegetation topography land use and history all of which give the land its unique personality If youre like most landowners you appreciate many features of your land not just quail Only a few landowners manage their land primarily for quail Most want to identify parts of their land where changes can help quail at little cost This bulletin has described the land manshyagement practices you can use for manipulation of soil and vegetation to improve habitat and thereshyby make an environment which will hold more quail Use your judgement to integrate quail manageshyment into existing and future land uses Now how do you go about making a management plan

Map Topographic Features and Land Use

First make a land management plan to know what youve got Get a topographic map a soil map and an aerial photograph These may be availshyable from US Geological Survey ASCS office or Soil Conservation Service office Then make a map that shows the details of the land property boundshyaries roads trails fencerows power lines buildshyings agricultural fields fallow fields pastures and stands of trees according to species and size As you roam around your land start making notes of streams marshes ponds rocky outcrops sanshydhills animal burrows den trees nesting sites of unusual birds old house sites rare plants Indian artifact sites or any other special features that inshyterest you Identify features on the map with names or numbers Make notes on the ecological history and development of your forests or other habitats For example you might note dates and locations of previous fires or grazing beaver ponds soil erosion soil type timber harvest and areas of young seedlings

Identify Management Units

After your inventory is complete identify your maps habitat types (eg broomsedge fields mixed hardwood forest croplandsix-year-old planted pines etc) and special areas (eg stream bottom hardwood draw old house site)

Land Management Decisions Determine your primary goals for each forest

stand agricultural field and other management unit where your goals are primarily utilitarian Now look at all your management units and see if there is an opportunity to improve each one for quail withshyout unduly interfering with your other goals

Because there is no one best plan you need to look at the land think of the needs of the birds then be creative Make a grid chart like the one below to avoid overlooking possibilities List manshyagement units on one side and management opshytions on the other Then think about what you want for each site Each square in the grid represents an option Some are good and some are poor Table 5 shows when deficiencies are most likely to occur on lands managed for quail

ngThinni Burnin 2 Edge UFood t Cover ~ Tillingi Fertiliz E LimingampProtect CIS Mowini Grazin Ii Herbic

g enhancement planting planting

ing

ion g g ides

plusmnt ++=

m Figure 9 Quail Management Decision Grid

Table 5 Weak Links in Quail Habitat

Spril19 Summer Fall Winter

Escape Cover Insect Food Nesting Cover

Brood Rearing Habitat

Seeds

Stars indicate where quail management is most likely to be deficient

16

Land Design

Quail are the dessert in a beautiful landscape for many wildlife lovers Like visiting a fine restaushyrant a hunt on beautiful land is an event to reshymember So keep aesthetics in mind as you execute your management plan Here are three tips on designing land

1 Avoid fragmentation 2 Create visual variety 3 Increase edge habitat

Avoid Fragmentation

If a wildlife habitat is reduced in size fewer speshycies of animals are likely to live there For example a small woodlot isolated by bare fields is likely to have fewer species of wildlife than a similar sized tract of land that adjoins other wooded habitat If these die then it often takes awhile before new animals find it This is certainly true for quail They are not good travelers and may seldom use isoshylated pockets of good food and cover So plan if possible to connect the isolated woodlot to anshyother larger forest by a wooded travel way With a mechanism to allow re-population from the larger habitat the small woods becomes a part of a largshyer one

Remember the characteristics of good quail covshyer-bare ground and a roof of vegetation

Create Visual Variety

Use your eye to create an interesting landscape When you create openings in woodlands or plant field borders or mast-bearing trees you join Mothshyer Nature as landscape architect Mix native tree species to create variety Consider selecting trees for fall color or distinctive appearance When plantshying consider arrangements that look natural rather than set about in rows and squares

Some habitats may seem beautiful to the eye even though they have no demonstrated utilitarian benefit You may want to keep them as they are for aesthetic reasons

Increase Edge Habitat

Increase edge habitat by changing the shape of a field A square 40-acre field has a mile of edge But if the field borders are scalloped into an arshyrangement of points bays and crenulations doushyble the prime field edge habitat It is also much more interesting to walk and hunt where you can not see the whole field at once-where rounding each point or investigating each little bay presents a new chance for seeing wildlife at close range

In the same way breaking large fields into small ones increases edge When doing so avoid moshynotonous straight lines of habitat edge if you can

Crop fields have straight edges for practical reashysons-they are much more efficient to plow and plant If you are willing to trade off some agriculshytural efficiency you can also improve the aesthetic qualities of your cropland as quail habitat (See Figure 10)

-~ --shy

Figure 10A

Figure 10B

Figure 10A Land before quail management has large unbroken fields dense stands of trees and little nesting cover Figure 10B Land after 20 years of quail management has less productive fields now in trees Large fields have been broken up with strips of pines edge fields are left in grassy weedy growth as nesting cover and stands of dense pines have been thinned to stimulate growth of understory plilnta which is managed by occasional use of fire Drawings based on photos in Rosene 1969

17

MEASURING SUCCESS How does one measure success at quail manshy

agement Managing wild animal populations is not like managing a domesticated animal or a cultishyvated crop where progress is easy to observe and measure Quail exist amidst an infinite number of variables and other organisms that are beyond the landowners control The exact number of quail on your land is unknown and always changing

A beginner may expect a few simple manageshyment practices to produce regular successful hunts and heavy game bags Things may not work out that way It will probably take a few years to notice a change To observe this change keep written records to document what you see and keep recshyords of your hunting success Cooperate with your state wildlife agency by sharing your records with them Adapt the report forms on the following page to your needs

18

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

MANAGEMENT PLAN Put your ideas together with a management plan

Your land has its own soil vegetation topography land use and history all of which give the land its unique personality If youre like most landowners you appreciate many features of your land not just quail Only a few landowners manage their land primarily for quail Most want to identify parts of their land where changes can help quail at little cost This bulletin has described the land manshyagement practices you can use for manipulation of soil and vegetation to improve habitat and thereshyby make an environment which will hold more quail Use your judgement to integrate quail manageshyment into existing and future land uses Now how do you go about making a management plan

Map Topographic Features and Land Use

First make a land management plan to know what youve got Get a topographic map a soil map and an aerial photograph These may be availshyable from US Geological Survey ASCS office or Soil Conservation Service office Then make a map that shows the details of the land property boundshyaries roads trails fencerows power lines buildshyings agricultural fields fallow fields pastures and stands of trees according to species and size As you roam around your land start making notes of streams marshes ponds rocky outcrops sanshydhills animal burrows den trees nesting sites of unusual birds old house sites rare plants Indian artifact sites or any other special features that inshyterest you Identify features on the map with names or numbers Make notes on the ecological history and development of your forests or other habitats For example you might note dates and locations of previous fires or grazing beaver ponds soil erosion soil type timber harvest and areas of young seedlings

Identify Management Units

After your inventory is complete identify your maps habitat types (eg broomsedge fields mixed hardwood forest croplandsix-year-old planted pines etc) and special areas (eg stream bottom hardwood draw old house site)

Land Management Decisions Determine your primary goals for each forest

stand agricultural field and other management unit where your goals are primarily utilitarian Now look at all your management units and see if there is an opportunity to improve each one for quail withshyout unduly interfering with your other goals

Because there is no one best plan you need to look at the land think of the needs of the birds then be creative Make a grid chart like the one below to avoid overlooking possibilities List manshyagement units on one side and management opshytions on the other Then think about what you want for each site Each square in the grid represents an option Some are good and some are poor Table 5 shows when deficiencies are most likely to occur on lands managed for quail

ngThinni Burnin 2 Edge UFood t Cover ~ Tillingi Fertiliz E LimingampProtect CIS Mowini Grazin Ii Herbic

g enhancement planting planting

ing

ion g g ides

plusmnt ++=

m Figure 9 Quail Management Decision Grid

Table 5 Weak Links in Quail Habitat

Spril19 Summer Fall Winter

Escape Cover Insect Food Nesting Cover

Brood Rearing Habitat

Seeds

Stars indicate where quail management is most likely to be deficient

16

Land Design

Quail are the dessert in a beautiful landscape for many wildlife lovers Like visiting a fine restaushyrant a hunt on beautiful land is an event to reshymember So keep aesthetics in mind as you execute your management plan Here are three tips on designing land

1 Avoid fragmentation 2 Create visual variety 3 Increase edge habitat

Avoid Fragmentation

If a wildlife habitat is reduced in size fewer speshycies of animals are likely to live there For example a small woodlot isolated by bare fields is likely to have fewer species of wildlife than a similar sized tract of land that adjoins other wooded habitat If these die then it often takes awhile before new animals find it This is certainly true for quail They are not good travelers and may seldom use isoshylated pockets of good food and cover So plan if possible to connect the isolated woodlot to anshyother larger forest by a wooded travel way With a mechanism to allow re-population from the larger habitat the small woods becomes a part of a largshyer one

Remember the characteristics of good quail covshyer-bare ground and a roof of vegetation

Create Visual Variety

Use your eye to create an interesting landscape When you create openings in woodlands or plant field borders or mast-bearing trees you join Mothshyer Nature as landscape architect Mix native tree species to create variety Consider selecting trees for fall color or distinctive appearance When plantshying consider arrangements that look natural rather than set about in rows and squares

Some habitats may seem beautiful to the eye even though they have no demonstrated utilitarian benefit You may want to keep them as they are for aesthetic reasons

Increase Edge Habitat

Increase edge habitat by changing the shape of a field A square 40-acre field has a mile of edge But if the field borders are scalloped into an arshyrangement of points bays and crenulations doushyble the prime field edge habitat It is also much more interesting to walk and hunt where you can not see the whole field at once-where rounding each point or investigating each little bay presents a new chance for seeing wildlife at close range

In the same way breaking large fields into small ones increases edge When doing so avoid moshynotonous straight lines of habitat edge if you can

Crop fields have straight edges for practical reashysons-they are much more efficient to plow and plant If you are willing to trade off some agriculshytural efficiency you can also improve the aesthetic qualities of your cropland as quail habitat (See Figure 10)

-~ --shy

Figure 10A

Figure 10B

Figure 10A Land before quail management has large unbroken fields dense stands of trees and little nesting cover Figure 10B Land after 20 years of quail management has less productive fields now in trees Large fields have been broken up with strips of pines edge fields are left in grassy weedy growth as nesting cover and stands of dense pines have been thinned to stimulate growth of understory plilnta which is managed by occasional use of fire Drawings based on photos in Rosene 1969

17

MEASURING SUCCESS How does one measure success at quail manshy

agement Managing wild animal populations is not like managing a domesticated animal or a cultishyvated crop where progress is easy to observe and measure Quail exist amidst an infinite number of variables and other organisms that are beyond the landowners control The exact number of quail on your land is unknown and always changing

A beginner may expect a few simple manageshyment practices to produce regular successful hunts and heavy game bags Things may not work out that way It will probably take a few years to notice a change To observe this change keep written records to document what you see and keep recshyords of your hunting success Cooperate with your state wildlife agency by sharing your records with them Adapt the report forms on the following page to your needs

18

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

Land Design

Quail are the dessert in a beautiful landscape for many wildlife lovers Like visiting a fine restaushyrant a hunt on beautiful land is an event to reshymember So keep aesthetics in mind as you execute your management plan Here are three tips on designing land

1 Avoid fragmentation 2 Create visual variety 3 Increase edge habitat

Avoid Fragmentation

If a wildlife habitat is reduced in size fewer speshycies of animals are likely to live there For example a small woodlot isolated by bare fields is likely to have fewer species of wildlife than a similar sized tract of land that adjoins other wooded habitat If these die then it often takes awhile before new animals find it This is certainly true for quail They are not good travelers and may seldom use isoshylated pockets of good food and cover So plan if possible to connect the isolated woodlot to anshyother larger forest by a wooded travel way With a mechanism to allow re-population from the larger habitat the small woods becomes a part of a largshyer one

Remember the characteristics of good quail covshyer-bare ground and a roof of vegetation

Create Visual Variety

Use your eye to create an interesting landscape When you create openings in woodlands or plant field borders or mast-bearing trees you join Mothshyer Nature as landscape architect Mix native tree species to create variety Consider selecting trees for fall color or distinctive appearance When plantshying consider arrangements that look natural rather than set about in rows and squares

Some habitats may seem beautiful to the eye even though they have no demonstrated utilitarian benefit You may want to keep them as they are for aesthetic reasons

Increase Edge Habitat

Increase edge habitat by changing the shape of a field A square 40-acre field has a mile of edge But if the field borders are scalloped into an arshyrangement of points bays and crenulations doushyble the prime field edge habitat It is also much more interesting to walk and hunt where you can not see the whole field at once-where rounding each point or investigating each little bay presents a new chance for seeing wildlife at close range

In the same way breaking large fields into small ones increases edge When doing so avoid moshynotonous straight lines of habitat edge if you can

Crop fields have straight edges for practical reashysons-they are much more efficient to plow and plant If you are willing to trade off some agriculshytural efficiency you can also improve the aesthetic qualities of your cropland as quail habitat (See Figure 10)

-~ --shy

Figure 10A

Figure 10B

Figure 10A Land before quail management has large unbroken fields dense stands of trees and little nesting cover Figure 10B Land after 20 years of quail management has less productive fields now in trees Large fields have been broken up with strips of pines edge fields are left in grassy weedy growth as nesting cover and stands of dense pines have been thinned to stimulate growth of understory plilnta which is managed by occasional use of fire Drawings based on photos in Rosene 1969

17

MEASURING SUCCESS How does one measure success at quail manshy

agement Managing wild animal populations is not like managing a domesticated animal or a cultishyvated crop where progress is easy to observe and measure Quail exist amidst an infinite number of variables and other organisms that are beyond the landowners control The exact number of quail on your land is unknown and always changing

A beginner may expect a few simple manageshyment practices to produce regular successful hunts and heavy game bags Things may not work out that way It will probably take a few years to notice a change To observe this change keep written records to document what you see and keep recshyords of your hunting success Cooperate with your state wildlife agency by sharing your records with them Adapt the report forms on the following page to your needs

18

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

MEASURING SUCCESS How does one measure success at quail manshy

agement Managing wild animal populations is not like managing a domesticated animal or a cultishyvated crop where progress is easy to observe and measure Quail exist amidst an infinite number of variables and other organisms that are beyond the landowners control The exact number of quail on your land is unknown and always changing

A beginner may expect a few simple manageshyment practices to produce regular successful hunts and heavy game bags Things may not work out that way It will probably take a few years to notice a change To observe this change keep written records to document what you see and keep recshyords of your hunting success Cooperate with your state wildlife agency by sharing your records with them Adapt the report forms on the following page to your needs

18

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

Quail Hunt Report

Name _________ Location ________ Date ____ Acres Hunted _____

Number of Hunters ____

Coveys flushed ___ Approximate number of birds seen _

Quail killed __ Adult male __ Young male __

Adult female __ Young female __

Remarks on where birds were found _________________ --____

Remarks on food habits (open quail crops to see what quail have been eating) __________

Other remarks __________________________________

Adapted from Ron Simpson Georgia Department of Natural Resources 1976

Quail Observation Record Date Observer ________

Location _________________

Nest found ________ Number of eggs __ Brood observed __ Approximate age

_ (See chart below to estimate age of chicks)

Remarks __________________________________________

Estimating Age and Growth

bull 1 week or less-covered with downshycant fly-downy but may have wing feathers

bull 2 weeks-sparrow sized-can fly weakshyly

bull 3-4 weeks-between size of sparrow and up to almost half grown

bull 5-7 weeks-flying well-about half grown

bull 8-10 weeks-adult size but adult color and pattern undeveloped

bull 11-13 weeks-adult size-can distinshyguish sex by examining adult plumage developing on head

bull 14 weeks and up-appear as adults with clearly defined markings on head Full growth takes about 15 weeks

bull Adults-tiny buffy tips on wing coverts mean birds are under one year old Withshyout buffy tips birds are one year or more old

19

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

MORTALITY FACTORS Good quail hunting in the fall is primarily the

result of a good hatch earlier the same year After a good hatch survival is important Despite your best efforts at quail management many factors beshyyond your control reduce quail numbers Consider the following when trying to explain poor success

Weather Weather affects the hatchability of quail eggs

can cause nest desertion and affects the survival of the young In a study of quail reproduction and weather in Alabama Dan Speake and Arnold Haushygen found that good quail reproduction is favored by normal or higher than normal rainfall combined with lower than normal temperature The poorshyest seasons were very hot or hot-dry seasons However extremely cold wet weather also causes mortality to quail broods

Pesticides More research is needed but it is known that

pesticides applied in the course of farming opershyations do kill quail within a short time after applishycation For example parathion on cotton and lannate on peanuts have killed quail Quail may die after they feed on poisoned insects Chlorinated hydrocarbons can have a less obvious long term accumulated effect on reproduction Other pestishycides (eg zolone) may have little effect on quail

Predation Cotton rats certain snakes hawks cattle egrets

owls skunks opossums raccoons foxes house cats dogs and other predators will eat eggs young or adult birds Sometimes controlling one predator can increase another For example cotton rats may increase and destroy more quail nests if the preshydators that eat rats become scarce

Which predators are most important It varies In a 1973 study of nesting success by Ronald Simpson in South Georgia skunks rodents and opossums were the major nest predators Fire ants have been seen feeding on dead quail and eggs in unsuccessful quail nests but research shows that fire ants have a negligible impact on healthy quail Simpsons study showed that less than one percent of nest predation could be attributed to fire ants

Adult quail are sometimes taken by both mamshymals and predatory birds Some new studies sugshygest that certain predatory birds (Coopers hawks in particular) account for approximately two thirds of adult quail lost to predators Mammals account for the rest Many birds of prey are more numerous

than 20 years ago due to increased protection and decreasing use of certain pesticides Their impact on quail is under further study Preliminary data indicate that managing to improve escape cover avoidance of large clean burns and a delay of prescribed burning until spring greenup helps quail escape these and other predators during winter when cover is most limited

HUNTING REGULATIONS Every landowner can legally hunt quail during

the entire open season How many birds do you have How many do you want to shoot

Estimate the answer to the first question by orshyganizing drives Place observers 20 yards apart and walk through the area in swaths Count only birds in coveys and try to avoid recounting birds by noting where flushed birds settle Repeat this count on three different days in representative habitats before the season Average your results and multiply by two for the approximate number of quail on the land surveyed

Another way to estimate quail numbers is to figure that with good dogs you can find 40 percent of the birds present on an average day Keep track of birds found and multiply by 25

How many birds should you shoot Usually quail managers dont like to shoot quail from coveys with six birds or less Some quail managers set the harvest limit at between a fourth and a third of what the population numbers at the start of the season If your land is small and surrounded by other quail habitat which is underhunted then you can harvest a higher percentage Some birds from surrounding lands will arrive to take the place of birds removed Large coveys which appear late in the season are often formed by the regrouping of remnants of depleted coveys

A few landowners shoot all the quail they legally can because next years population usually deshypends more on weather and uncontrolled variables than by harvest the year before But leave an amshyple brood stock for next year

If you love quail and quail hunting you will measshyure success as memories rather than birds bagged From the clear whistle on a spring morning to a browned bird in the oven after a fall hunt quail add to a landowners enjoyment of his land If you feel this way you will want to stretch what quail you have to last the season Think of the days you will have to hunt the friends you will invite and how many quail you have to meet the needs Takshying only one or two birds from a covey rise and letting the singles go is one way to prolong your hunting If having a meal of quail for many guests is your goal then buy quail to supplement birds bagged

20

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

STOCKING AND FEEDING Why cant you just forget land management and

simply feed wild birds stock pen-raised birds or both Feeding and stocking are commonly pracshyticed They can work but often do not These pracshytices can be expensive-especially stocking

Stocking

Many private hunting preserves offer quail huntshying on a commercial basis However wild quail are too few to provide clients with quality hunting day after day week after week during a long season For example if a hunting preserve begins the huntshying season with a high quail population of 1 000 birds on 1000 acres about 350 birds are surplus available for harvest If each guest takes ten birds per day then 35 man days of hunting are available For example groups Of four are hosted on two day hunts then each hunt will consume about 80 birds After four such outings the best quail huntshying is over for the year Repeated hunting makes the birds become scarcer and warier as they learn to hide run and flush wild before hunters are within range

Paying customers may desire quality in the form of birds bagged Stocking is one way to provide it by simulating a natural experience Effective stocking is often done more or less as follows

On the morning of the hunt while the guide is greeting the hunters and readying the dogs an assistant puts groups of pen-raised birds in reshylease boxes He places the boxes in predetershymined places usually in patches of thick cover where they will not be seen by customers The birds walk out of the boxes on their own and the dogs find them when the hunting party arrives at the spot If the birds fly well they can closely reshysemble a wild covey but if single birds are followed and flushed again they may not fly well the second time Wildness and flying ability of released birds varies depending on how they were raised and cared for before release Cages with single birds as bait are often used to call back and recover leftover birds at days end (Note This practice is illegal without a permit)

Why not release birds before the season and let them become wild Because losses are great and therefore costs are high One way is to release birds prior to nesting and hope that they will nest In one experiment Tall Timbers Research Stations staff released radio-marked pen-raised hens in the spring to study their ability to produce young in the Wild Their average length of survival was 108 days The longest survivor lasted 50 days and none produced any young Meanwhile 29 wild birds were also radio marked for comparison Four

died during the study and the other 24 raised 145 chicks

Some landowners release quail well before the season to allow them to adapt and become wild In a study to evaluate such stocking Tall Timbers Research Station released several thousand marked quail 10 weeks before the season After weeks of intensive hunting hunters recovered 18 percent of the birds This is a good recovery for such a release and in this case these birds repshyresented one-half of the total kill The next year less than one percent more of the remaining reshyleased quail were recovered This loss raised the costs of the birds bagged to more than six times the purchase price-not counting handling costs Occasionally a high percentage of released birds may survive for weeks in an ideal habitat But reshyleasing quail before the season results in heavy losses

In addition to the problem of the short life span of released quail pen raised birds have been imshyplicated as disease carriers In a study by the Southern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study 67 percent of quail available for release from 27 sources harbored diseases or paraSites Take steps to obtain healthy birds when releasing quail or you can risk infecting wild stocks Vaccinate birds inshytended for release for avian pas at about four weeks of age

If you want to release birds in Georgia first purshychase a permit from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Mark released birds by banding or toe clipping then when you hunt you can learn your recovery rate of the released birds Toe clipping is not as good as bandshying as up to 30 percent of wild birds have some toe deformity

Feeding

Some landowners feed quail as a way of supshyplementing natural food Corn or other grain is scattered in places where quail feed or is placed in feeders Feeding quail year around unlike stocking can increase the number of quail that can live on a piece of land especially if foods are provided over a wide area during times of shortshyage Winter and spring feeding are most likely to payoff

Undesirable results may also occur including the following Food put out for quail may be eaten by rats deer rabbits raccoons and other animals Feeders may become sites for disease transmisshysion Predators may learn to hunt at the feeders and increase predation (If you do use feeders place each one in a brushy t~licket or pile brush around it so the feeding birds will have a chance

21

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

to escape predators attracted to the site) Theoshyretically artificial feeding should work but often it doesnt If you do add feeding to your manageshyment program keep good records of the amount and costs of food provided

Likewise keep records of numbers of birds seen and harvested before the feeding program begins and compare these with numbers afterwards Then it will be possible to evaluate the costs and benshyefits of feeding

REFERENCES

Many References were useful in preparing this bulletin The following were particularly useful

Carlton Robert L 1987 Selected Practices and Plantings for Wildlife Bulletin 773 Cooperative Exshytension Service University of Georgia 11 pp

Landers Larry J and A Sydney Johnson 1976 Bobwhite Quail Food Habits Tall Timbers Reshysearch Station Tallahassee Florida 89 pp

Landers Larry J and Brad S Mueller 1986 Bobshywhite Quail Managment Tall Timbers Research Station Quail Unlimited Tallahassee Florida 39 pp

Merck Lamar 1982 Prescribed Burning A Manshyagement Tool Bulletin 838 Cooperative Extension Service University of Georgia 18 pp

Reid Vincent H and Phil D Goodrum 1979 Winshyter Feeding Habits of Quail in Longleaf-5lash Pine Habitat United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Washington DC 39 pp

Rosene Walter 1969 The Bobwhite Quail Its Ufe and Management Rutgers University Press New Brunswick New Jersey 418 pp

Simpson Ronald C 1976 Certain Aspects of the Bobwhite Quails Ufe History and Population Dyshynamics in Southwest Georgia Georgia Departshyment of Natural Resources Game and Fish Division Atlanta Georgia 117 pp

Stoddard Herbert L 1978 The Bobwhite Quail Its Habits Preservation and Increase Charles Scribners Sons New York 559 pp

Speake Dan W and Arnold O Haugen 1960 Quail Reproduction and Weather in Alabama Proceedshyings of the 14th Annual Conference Southeast Association of Game and Fish Commissioners Bishyloxi Mississippi pp 85-97

Wilkins R Neal 1988 Expanding Your Quail Habshyitat The American Tree Farmer pg 10

22

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71

I785

When you have a question Call or visit your local office of The University of Georgias Cooperative Extension Service

Youll find a friendly well-trained staff ready to help you with informashytion advice and free publications covering agricululre and naruraI resources home economics 4-Hand youth development and resource development

Acknowledgements I am indebted to several wildlife biologists who assisted me by providing information

and by making helpful comments on the manuscript They are Sydney Johnson and Phillip Hale of The University of Georgia Brad Mueller and Larry Landers of Tall Timbers Research Station Ron Simpson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Edward Carlson of Atlanta Georgia and particularly Phyllis E Jackson for assistance in editing and orshyganization

By Jeffrey J Jackson

Extension Wildlife Specialist

The Cooperative Extension Service The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offers educational programs assistance and materials to all people without regard to race color national origin age sex or handicap status

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Forest Resources

Bulletin 1013 Reprinted December 1993 ----------~----

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work Acts of May 8 and June 301914 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the US Department of Agriculture cooperating

C Wayne Jordan Director

UPO 934474

94-71