Quail death oddity

Just got home from my ¼ section in Dickens county after 2 months of deer hunting and thought I'd share a strange observation. My quail population is down around 70% as my last year coveys of 15 to 20 are now 5 to 8. I have 4 feeders equally dispersed in which I have corn and Milo for the deer and quail. While cruising my perimeter Saturday I came across 2 dead hens lying on my dirt trail within 15 ft of each about 600' from any feeder.. They were recent deaths as rigamortus had not set in. Was puzzled how this could happen. I looked for evidence of trauma. One had a hole in the crop with a piece of corn sticking out. It seems statistically impossible for 2 to die at the same place at the same time. If it were a predator they should have been consumed. Unfortunately I don't have the bodies and left them at the site. With the numbers being down every where this was something I didn't appreciate Any thoughts.

You should have taken the dead quail to Dr. Rollins at the Rolling Plains Quail Research Center.

68rustbucket In hind sight I wish I had taken some where for assessment!!!!!!!!!!!!

Something in your corn might be killing them -------- its' the only thing that makes sense.

Any chance they were shot on your neighbor's place and flew onto your side of the fence before dying?

Sounds like they were shot and not found.

Really no one north of me. I have never seen anyone small game hunting in 7 years.Worried about corn but was not close to feeders at about 600 ft away. They were laying in the middle my dirt ATV trail 3 ft from my barb wire fence on my north boundry. Area is completely open to north with 600 acres of crp. I almost wonder if they could have flown into the barb wire but that's a stretch for 2. Wish I was thinking better and had taken them for assessment. My numbers are low enough and to see this is distressing. Especially it being hens. I hope it's not the corn or milo !!!!!!!!
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I hunted Plainview this weekend for pheasants and didn't see any quail

If think about they are slowly loosing their habitat

We've got a total of 42 square miles of ranch and some years I'll see coveys every 100 to 200 yards with 30 to 50 per covey, haven't seen a single bird in the last two months. Turkeys are damn near gone also! We don't hunt the big ranch. No habitat loss here. It's the same all over the county.

Quail are fragile.

As a species they seem to have so few chances to survive for any length of time in huntable numbers.
In the Rolling Plains, everything that lives in their habitat wants to eat them and we do too.
Hawks, owls. coyotes, snakes, feral hogs, bobcats...
And, of course they - as we know - are subject to all sorts of disease and parasitic attacks.

In good years, we have them. In dry years.....not so much.

Let's enjoy what we get.

If eyeworms, then flying into fence may not be a much of a stretch. Especially since 2 were found.

2 and 3 years ago, when bird numbers were high, we started checking the birds we shot for eye worms. More than 1/2 had eye worms. I would think either shot or casualties from poor sighting conditions.

check aflotoxin levels in feed