westtex75, you said it best, and you've been around long enough to see things these younger hunters have not. Thanks for your input. To me it carries PLENTY of weight.

I am sick and tired of people blaming cattle for every thing from global warming to boobs on 12yo girls!!!! My family has ranched the ranch I live on since 1937.. My Great Grandfather was a huge quail hunter. Still have his Parker 28 ga and old dog whistle. Cattle and quail went hand in hand on this ranch and thousand of other ranches in this state!!! If cattle where so detrimental there wouldnt have been a quail left in the entire western and southern part of the state of Texas since the turn of the century.. In east TX where they planted costal bermuda grass for cattle well yes they killed the quail habbitat, but it wasnt cattle, it was the farmer that spriged the coastal!!!!!! Cows arent to blame.. Buffalo came through this country and flat tore the ground up, but the quail survived. Skunks, fox, bobcats, and Coyote are more to blame than cattle. Proof is in the pudding. Look what Delta Waterfowl has done with predatore controle in the pot hole region.

Bart hit the nail on the head when he said conditions have to be near perfect for quail to survive and reproduce. Don't forget these birds only survive about two seasons under the best of conditions. Two years and they need near perfect conditions during that two year window. What are the odds? It is a testment to this great bird that we have any at all to hunt.
There is no single answer. Lost a great quail hunting place in Mississippi when the farmers turned a 10000 acre soybean farm into a giant cotton patch. Two years after the switch, 20 birds coveys became 4-5 bird coveys. Well timed rain seems to be the major factor in west texas. I remarked to a farmer in Kansas one year that I had never seen so many Red-tailed hawks. He went on to tell me how the biologist had done a study that indicated that a hawk averages 1 quail per week. Remember guys every day is open season if you are a predator. These predators are good. Once had a covey flush wildly, gain a little altitude and peel back over our heads only to have a hawk grap my folded up bird before it hit the ground. Coyotes are bird dogs on steroids that hunt just as well at night as in the day. Ever seen a house cat catch a bird around your house? Just imagine how good a hunter the bobcat is! And then to top it off, we start chasing them in Oct and don't stop till Feb.
The next time you take a bob or blue out of your dogs mouth, take a moment before you slam him in your vest and think about what a marvel these great birds are. No one out there is looking out for these birds except for us bird hunting fanatics. Most of the states wildlife resourses and manpower go into building a better deer herd. Look on the viewing list for this very forum and you will see 40-50 viewing deer hunting discusions and 10 looking in our direction.

Wow up there Jeff. Not saying the cows themselves are to blame. Telling you what happened right here in my own county. In east texas cows and quail could not co-exist. In order to have cows here you have to change the habitat. There is no proein in our grasses. You have to cut hay and plant things that are non native to make it work. You can't compare that to what you have in west texas. I've seen cows standing fat and pretty eating only what the god lord gives them out west. In fact, I believe that if a place it is not over grazed cattle actually help the quail out there. Can't compare small east texas farms to a west texas ranch.