Bob White Quail

[Magicman]

My sawmill is now located at a saw site in an open pasture near a mixed cutover and heavily timbered area.  I stopped to open a gate while driving back yesterday morning.  What I heard was music to my ears.  An old Bob White whistling.  That was the first one that I have heard in years.  Maybe they can make a comeback.  I hope so.

[fishpharmer]

I almost forgot what they sound like.  I used to have a few coveys hang around here. 

Does anyone consistently see many wild bob white anywhere?

[Norm]

We used to but it's been years since I heard one.

[fuzzybear]

   Years ago I used to raise them.  We had over 100 pairs. When the chicks were old enough we would "forget" to close the pen and let them out. The woods were crawling with them again.
   Since I came north it's just too cold for them.  But I do miss their whistle.

[Tom]

We have a covy that hangs around the driveway.  It might have six birds in it.  We used to have them all over the place.  I think the foxes, coyotes, hawks and feral cats have about done them in.  An artilcle I was reading the other day said that wild hogs were death on ground nesting birds like Quail and Turkey too.

[WDH]

I have a few on my property.  I love to hear them calling.  I manage some of my pine plantations to select for quail habitat.  It warms my heart to kick up a covey.  It also scares the DanG out of me when they explode  .

[D Hagens]

 Hey guys, I've never seen one of these. Does anyone have a pic?

[Chuck White]

About 30 years ago when I was stationed at Oklahoma City, OK, I went hunting for them.
The quail population where we went was big!  Birds every where we went, we found birds.
They would take off and scare the crap out of me and by the time I was ready to shoot they were actually out of range.
Never got one, but as time went on, I had less shells to carry. 

[fishpharmer]

When I was a kid I brought mama twelve of prettiest quail killed with a single barrel .410.
She said "Son, they are beautiful, did you kill them on the wing?"

I said "can they fly?"

  

[fishpharmer]

D. Hagens, think small wild fast flying chicken.  Makes a living very much like a free range chicken.  They taste better than chicken.

http://www.dnr.sc.gov/news/Yr2005/oct3105/oct31piccode2.html

[Texas Ranger]

Fireants got them in Texas.

[D Hagens]

D. Hagens, think small wild fast flying chicken.  Makes a living very much like a free range chicken.  They taste better than chicken.

http://www.dnr.sc.gov/news/Yr2005/oct3105/oct31piccode2.html

 Thanks fishpharmer, they look pretty tasty

[Tom]

They will scare the daylights out of you when you walk up a covey.  I don't know if I ran across a slow covey or if youth beset me, but I was 16 and had just been allowed to use Granddaddy's 12 gauge autoloader all by myself.  We were at the old tomato fields, south of Yeehaw Junction and I walked up a single.  Time was in slow motion.  The bird got up off of my left foot, flew away and to the left, then back to the right.  It was a going-away-crossing shot and I made it.  There was nothing but a tuft of feathers floating in the air about ten feet in front of me.

The next time, I walked up a covey of several birds and they were flying away.  I brought the gun to my shoulder, picked out a bird and, remembering what had happened before, waited.  It seemed that I had stood there forever and finally the end of my barrel covered the bird.  I shot and it dropped, deader'n a hammer.  Uncle Pete said, "Good shot Tommy". 

That gave me a different perspective of the speed of a quail, or was it the speed of me?  That bird had one shot through the heart and none others I could find.  Perhaps the adrenalin of a sixteen year-old had a lot to do with it too.

Today, women look at my head of pure white hair and always have some positive thing to say about it, like, "I'd give a million dollars for hair like that."  Granddaddy had white hair too and some folks think it is a genetic, family trait.  It isn't.  It's the trait of a Quail hunter who walks up his birds.  We have hearts that can skip a beat and keep on ticking too.

[WDH]

I wondered what turned your hair white....

[Magicman]

Driving home this afternoon, one crossed the highway in front of me.  It ran across my lane and then flew.  It was very small and I suspect that it was a "this years" chick.  This was about 10 miles West of the one I heard whistling last week. 

[chain]

A decade ago we set out to manage for quail-ruffed grouse habitat in our upland forest. Edge feathering, small clear-cuts, allowing natural forbs-legumes to re-establish in log yards; also, thinning large pine saw-timber for native grass development, small watering holes, grading out log trails, creating thickets. The only operation we didn't do was ..prescribed burning. To date no quail or ruffed grouse heard or observed.

I do know of a nearby 1200 acre property that was clear-cut; chippers took everything that would chip, this area developed excellent quail habitat,  several coveys reported for at least five years after the cut. No burn there, but we failed in our endeavors, just don't know why.

[Tom]

The general rule of thumb is that wildlife like Deer, quail and turkey like edges.  Edges are fence lines and growth on the sides of clearcuts, roadways, etc.  Perhaps the "small" clear-cuts were too small and only creating "holes" in the forest- instead of "edges".

It would certainly make a good study and answers would benefit you later on.

[chain]

I use to hunt quail quite often and could spot a likely looking covey habitat fairly well. But there were, in years past, quail that were found in cut-over woods; one of the largest coveys I ever saw in the woods came scrambling down to a water hole at dusk one deer season past.

We have fence lines, a creek; possibly the cover is too thick, may be the burn is the answer.

[WDH]

Yes, they need fire to promote the right food plants.

[Tom]

A little fire makes them taste better too.  Man!  There's not much that will make me turn my nose up like raw bird.