Bobwhite focus of Arkansas TV Program

Bringing the bobwhite quail will be the topic of Thursday night’s Outdoor Hotline on the Arkansas Educational Television Network.

A crew of experts take calls beginning at 7 p.m. on Jan. 11 on the show to address the programs available to row crop farmers that both improve habitat and at the same time expand landowners’ bottom line.

“We’ll be focusing on bobwhites,” said Steve “Wildman” Wilson, AGFC public affairs coordinator. “Bird hunters and landowners can call in their questions and comments about quail and quail habitat,” Wilson explained.

Calls can be made to 800-662-2386, or questions can be e-mailed to outdoors@aetn.org.

Arkansas: Quail and Songbird Habitat Workshop

Improving the bobwhite quail population in Arkansas has long been a goal of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and now private landowners can play a part in the effort, the commission says.

Private landowners will be the target audience at the “Quail and Songbird Habitat Workshop” on Jan. 26-27 at the Winthrop Rockefeller Center in Morrilton.

Experts from AGFC, Arkansas Forestry Commission, The Nature Conservancy, University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service and Audubon Arkansas will offer instruction on how to manage land so quail and songbirds benefit.

Quail-hunting opportunities are there!

To those of us that are interested in quail hunting and management, it is a wide spread fact that quail numbers are down across the nation. However, that doesn’t mean that the opportunity to hunt wild birds in nonexistent. There is a nice article in today’s (1/11/07) Houston Chronicle that discusses this very topic. The article mentions that parts of Texas and Oklahoma have outstanding populations of scaled quail, that provide ample hunting opportunity to the general public. Here is an excerpt from the article:

“Overall quail production was poor,” said Steve DeMaso, Upland Bird Program Leader for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “The widespread drought really hurt, but some areas — especially portions of South Texas — got late summer rains that encouraged a late hatch. The coastal region south of Corpus Christi probably fared best.”

DeMaso said that despite the fluctuating quail population, Texas hunters typically harvest 25 to 30 percent of the available birds in a given season. In a boom year, the harvest might be as high as 3 million quail; in a bust year, the harvest might drop to 750,000.

Good for Quail Too!

Pheasant Fest’s Farm Bill Forum Attracts Top U.S. Policy Makers

Pheasants Forever (PF) announces the National Pheasant Fest 2007 Farm Bill Forum. At 10AM on Saturday, January 20th, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn. will participate in a panel discussion about the 2007 Federal Farm Bill. This is expected to be the first public appearance together for the two most influential people shaping the next Farm Bill. The Forum will be held in seminar rooms 7 & 8 on the lower level of HyVee Hall in the Iowa Events Center as part of National Pheasant Fest 2007 presented by Cabela’s.

Quail Forever Represented at National Pheasant Fest

The 2007 National Pheasant Fest presented by Cabela’s will welcome bird enthusiasts from all over the world. While pheasants will be the main focus of Pheasant Fest, quail will not be lost in the field. There will be a variety of seminars and a sampling of exhibitors dedicated to quail at this year’s Fest. A complete list of seminars, presenters, and exhibitors is now available at www.NationalPheasantFest.org.

Quail students can go back to school with “Bobwhite Quail 101 – The Life and Times of Mr. Bob,” presented by Quail Forever(QF) biologist Elsa Gallagher. Gallagher joined QF last July after having worked for the Missouri Department of Conservation the last six years. Most recently, she was the Department’s upland wildlife coordinator and quail program leader. During her Pheasant Fest seminar, Gallagher will talk about bobwhite quail biology and quail habitat needs. She will also answer questions and debunk common myths about quail.

Bye bye, birdie: Weather, growth lead to decline in quail numbers

By Mike Belt -The Lawrence Journal-World

In the 1950s when Dennis Domer was a boy growing up in Nemaha County, he didn’t have to walk far from his house to hunt quail.

“In about a mile or so there would be eight covey of quail or more,” said Domer, a rural Lawrence resident. “I never even had a dog. I just walked them up.”

But by the 1970s, the landscape had changed.

“I couldn’t go back there to hunt anymore because it would be like going to the moon,” he said. “That was such a great quail area.”

Landscape changes due to urban sprawl, modern farming practices and adverse weather patterns are among the big factors that have taken a toll on quail, hunters and wild game, experts say.

North State Membership Drive Brings California Hunters and Conservationists Together

The recently organized North State Chapter of Quail Unlimited held it’s first sporting clays shoot August 26, 2006, at the Clear Creek Sports Club. “We planned it as a membership drive and a way to tell the community that Quail Unlimited is now in town and doing business,” said cochairman Ric Van Griethuysen.

“We signed up 22 members, and it gave us a news story for the local papers,” added Chairman Bill Frech. We invited people we would like to have on our committees and made some new friends and contacts for the future. Frech plans to get committees organized, and set a date for their banquet this spring.

Quail Unlimited’s Texas Council Steps Up – Texas Style

Another first in the battle for the recovery of the Northern Bobwhite Quail became reality as the Texas Council of Quail Unlimited (QU) provided a major donation of $10,000 for the Northern Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI). The donation will be immediately matched by the State of Texas, Texas Parks and Wildlife, doubling the impact of QU members throughout the lone star state to $20,000. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first state council to meet the overall challenge QU accepts to restore the quail through the NBCI, a landscape-scale restoration and population recovery plan in the US” stated Rocky Evans, President of Quail Unlimited. “As we have recently seen, quail recovery is beginning; our efforts and those of every state agency and QU members are seeing the fruits of their untold hours of hard work, fund raising and volunteer efforts over the years. Our Texas chapters and their state council are to be recognized and highly commended for the herculean efforts to reach out to the entire country as well as their home state of Texas in supporting the NBCI program” Evans strongly emphasized.

2007 Missouri Quail Academy–Applications Open for Students and Teachers in Missouri

Jef Hodges, Great Plains Regional Director of Quail Unlimited, announced the 2007 Missouri Quail Academy today, open to all Missouri students and teachers interested in quail management practices and natural resource conservation. “This joint effort between Quail Unlimited, the Missouri Department of Conservation and the University of Central Missouri is an exceptional opportunity for advanced conservation participation and exposure to students and teachers alike” states Hodges. “The 5 day academy is provided at no charge to students or teachers and teachers may earn up to 2 hours of college credit for their participation” Hodges emphasized.

Quail Workshop to be Held in Ammon, NC

Elizabethtown, NC (January 05, 2007)—Producers, farmers, landowners and resource professionals are invited to attend a free workshop on water and land management to be held January 25 at the Community Center in Ammon. “Wildlife and Water Quality on NC Farms II” will feature topics on establishing and maintaining cropland field borders, landscape influence on the success of local habitat management, protecting water quality on farms, insects and buffers, agricultural cost share programs and using prescribed fire. The workshop will feature a field tour and classroom presentations. Lunch will be provided.

“Wildlife and Water Quality on NC Farms II” is being cosponsored by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and Quail Unlimited.

Preregistration is required by January 17, 2007. To preregister, contact Benjy Strope at (910) 866 – 4636 or email him at Cure_tour@yahoo.com. Attendance is limited to the first 50 preregistrants.