Being born, raised, and residing in east Texas, and remembering the days when we had wild birds, I would love nothing more than to be involved in the restoration of quail back to this part of the world. I have read and studied everything I can get my hands on and am aware of the many factors suspected of having led to/caused the decline/extinction of quail in this region. I have spent lots of time talking with "old timers" in my area and I always ask them about the good old days. Specifically......I ask them what was different. They always come up with a few things, but the thing that comes up over and over again is that back in the 60's & 70's everyone here had a small "truck patch" of some sort. Corn, peas, beans, watermelons, etc. Bermuda grass was here, and there was no "native grass" . There was probably more pastures left ragged over the winter and allowed to grow up with broomsedge bluestem,.

It is my opinion that west Texas is and always has been "natural" quail country, and that east Texas had quail as a direct result of the ways in which we utilized our land during the first 3/4 of the 1900's.

This has me wondering..........if THE main difference in then and now is that there are no longer areas being regularly disked? I realize that beans, corn etc. was probable eaten by quail some, but I suspect that they benefited most from disturbance, succession, forb production, insects, bare ground, and dusting areas. I would love to hear your thoughts on this matter.

Quail are an eastern bird. East Texas is natural quail country.

one limiting factor that we usually have in abundance is RAIN

Alabama and Mississippi have birds, why doesn't east Tx? La, I don't know about.

Does AL and MS have huntable populations of wild birds?

I have known my land for 61 years. I am 67. 1956 my dad bought his first piece of farm land in 1956 from Walter A Moreland . The land was very over grown and had lots of quail. My dad like lots of new land owners started clearing trees and brush to make pasture land. And the quail lost their habitat. Predators and more plentiful.

I, too, grew up in deep east TX. Quail were plentiful and everyone had dogs when I was young. Habitat changes and fire ants are the main factors I hear for the disappearance of quail. They were gone so quickly I tend to lean towards fire ants or disease as the reason. I'm just guessing.

Certainly habitat changes have occurred - the two major ones being the disappearance of home gardens and clearing of fence rows.

Some restoration efforts are taking place, but I would love to see a major push to that end.

Left Miss. for Tx because of bird populations. I hear Miss. has some improvement. La is a wash as for hunting quail.

Not much in a hay field, creek bottom or pine forest for quail. Would be impossible to get enough landowners to let their hay fields grow back into native grasses to get the quail to rebound in East TX. IMO, Quail are gone for good in East TX. And fire ants have very little to do with it.

I believe back in the hey-day quail were most populous in East Texas compared to other regions of the state (I'll try to find the article I read that in). There are huntable populations of quail in western LA on public land in the pine forests, albeit they are probably in patches. I had a long discussion with a biologist over there and he pointed me in the right direction - just haven't had the time to check it out.

In your opinion, how many contiguous acres of PRIMO quail habitat would be necessary to have a wild bird population?

They all went the way of the dodo over about a two year period. I don't have the answer as to the reason, but that doesn't point to habitat loss as the sole reason.

^^^^^^^^^^ Sadly, I agree.

I doubt we will see 'good' populations of Wild Turkey either.

When I moved to Deep East Texas in the mid 80's there were a few quail, but they were already on their way out. I believe habitat change is more the reason than anything else.

Yes, "Fire Ants" are more widely spread than ever and they DO contribute to the problem, but I'd wager Feral Hogs are more damaging to ground nesting birds than ants.

Then consider the high population of other animals that seek out and eat the eggs of ground nesting birds.

Where I live the list is long:

Feral Hogs
Coyote
Fox
Raccoon
Possum
Skunks
Bobcat
Snakes

And that's just on the "A" list. There are other animals that will raid a nest too.

Yes, other States have these predators too, but we have them in great numbers. When combined with habitat change and the fact that most land holdings are small farms and ranches with little to no interest in Wildlife, you have an inhospitable environment for Quail (or Turkey for that matter).

I don't believe we will see any widespread success bringing either of them back.

Quail and Turkey had their time here... no going back

It makes me wonder if before Europeans came along and created widespread farming if the quail population wasn't much smaller and we aren't just returning to those smaller populations. So perhaps what we have now is more "natural".

I have thought that very thing.

I thought the same in the past but there is one key - the natives understood and valued the use of fire which helped maintain early succession habitats. Every one now days is scared to death of fire.

If you read Cabeza de Vaca's account of his time in Texas and an account of the expedition of Hernando de Soto you realize the native population was pretty thin, and not all of them were involved in farming.

Well not to dis pear we here at Poetry Shooting Club have quail, very flighty quail, quail you will miss, fast quail. so give a call make a time and come shoot some quail in the face.

How does one explain why east Texas WMAs have no quail.

Hogs and no predator control

And I hoping that in my lifetime....quail hunting would never degrade to the level of "Pigman the series".

Actually I wish hunting/hunters across the board would be a little more respectful of the game we pursue and how we present ourselves.

It has changed markedly (not all of it good) since I started 50 years ago.

Although I am "from" and "in" East TX, I have never set foot on an east TX WMA. Do they have proper quail habitat? I am planning to groom my property (currently 650 acres) into the most primo quail habitat possible. I realize this is very small scale, but I want to conduct my own little experiment. Sort of a "build it and they will come" thing. Honestly, I don't think there are any wild quail close enough to come. I have been working closely with our biologist, conducting prespcribed burns, and native grass restoration projects for the past 8 or so years. It seems that Texas parks and wildlife is beginning to take interest in quail restoration. I would like to have my property ready if there are ever any restocking efforts. The way I see it, even if I never get wild quail back, creating quail habitat will improve things for deer and turkey.
In the grand scheme, it really hasn't been that long ago since we had wild birds. I still have hope. However, it may be more than habitat. If so, we may need to provide optimal habitat and have the facts prove to us that wild quail "STILL" cannot thrive. If this is the case, we then can hypothesize that the acreage size is not adequate or that there is truly something else at play!
s140.photobucket.com/user/pharmvet/media/image.jpg1_138.jpg.html][/URL]

Aren't you allowed to bring in birds without state approval?

A couple of years ago I had a small covey near my home. We raise cattle on a small 100+ ac farm. I made sure my dog stayed away when we went by the area I had jumped them several times. I had seen one pair near my sons house the next year, but I have not seen or heard them in over a year. We did not release any, and as far as I know no one else had. I miss seeing and hearing quail that we had back in the 70's.