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Hey Bob White! Bob White!

Joined
Nov 27, 2021
Messages
2,618
Location
Lebanon, TN
šŸ˜ƒ

Wanted to wait until I heard it twice before posting. Was sitting in my rocker on the front porch praying and reading the Word yesterday, and I heard it. "Hey Bob White! Bob White!"

Big 'ol grin popped up on my face. I started whistling back and forth with it for a few minutes.

And then, this morning, i heard it again!!

Sure was a pretty sound to this 'ol boys ears.

That is all.

šŸ˜ƒ
 
When I moved to my current house 30 years ago, there was a covey that frequented my back yard. Always put o bit of joy in my heart seeing them scurrying around and visiting the bird feeder to pick up seeds other birds had knocked to the ground. The feral cats were hell on them and their numbers dwindled. Went for years without hearing or seeing them. Last year, I heard one calling from across the field behind the house. Last week, I heard one calling from a woodsy patch maybe 50 yards from my back porch. Feral cat numbers have dropped dramatically so maybe there's hope they'll return.
 
. . . . . so maybe there's hope they'll return.
I've experienced this "hope" many times over the past 30 yrs or so.

Go a year or two without hearing any quail, not seeing any, then one shows up, a pair successfully nests, then a covey is around for a year or two. Then nothing for the next year or two.

During this time, we've improved the habitat for quail.
But over these same decades, the sounds & sightings have become less frequent.

Whatever is preventing quail from thriving in the areas I'm referring,
it is neither a loss nor a lack of good contiguous quail habitat.
 
When we moved here 12 years ago the neighbor (who's property runs behind ours) had a vineyard there. 6 150' runs of various grapes. Used to see/hear the Bob White in them all the time.... running up and down the rows. Few years later, he took them all out. Within a year the BW were gone. Haven't heard one since.
 
Wish we had wild birds! I hear em every now and then, been several years since I stepped in a covey deer hunting. My thing is TWRA and NWTF brought turkeys back when everybody said it couldn't be done, why the crap can't they bring back quail? Makes no sense to me. I even hunt with a biologist for quail forever and he says it can't be done. I need someone to dumb it down for me and tell me why. I know jest predators, pesticides and habit loss, but I don't think they care cause no one will come to TN to shoot quail like out west so it's not priority.
 
Wish we had wild birds! I hear em every now and then, been several years since I stepped in a covey deer hunting. My thing is TWRA and NWTF brought turkeys back when everybody said it couldn't be done, why the crap can't they bring back quail? Makes no sense to me. I even hunt with a biologist for quail forever and he says it can't be done. I need someone to dumb it down for me and tell me why. I know jest predators, pesticides and habit loss, but I don't think they care cause no one will come to TN to shoot quail like out west so it's not priority.
Fescue, bushhogs and trees. If we cut down 80% of the timber, got rid of 90% of the bushhogs and eradicated fescue the quail would come back. That was the world of the 1870's to 1940's in the South. That world isn't coming back.
 
Fescue, bushhogs and trees. If we cut down 80% of the timber, got rid of 90% of the bushhogs and eradicated fescue the quail would come back. That was the world of the 1870's to 1940's in the South. That world isn't coming back.
Yep. Quail don't happen by accident but they can certainly happen on purpose.
 
Fescue, bushhogs and trees. If we cut down 80% of the timber, got rid of 90% of the bushhogs and eradicated fescue the quail would come back. That was the world of the 1870's to 1940's in the South. That world isn't coming back.
Of this list, I would consider the introduction of fescue as the #1 longtime reason for quail numbers to have initially declined, on a generally speaking statewide basis. Johnson grass isn't far behind fescue as a significant reason, as both these invasive grasses have displaced most of the native TN grasses for which quail were adapted.

But in some areas the #1 reason may have been pesticides & herbicides, and/or a loss of good contiguous quail habitat, all of which has made it easier for various predators to kill quail, as a domino effect of steady population decline.

But there have been many instances (over the past couple decades) where large acreage contiguous habitat has been created ideally for quail, i.e no fescue, no Johnson grass, no farm chemicals, YET, there has still been a massive "failure to thrive" with the quail. Add to this the quail being highly protected in terms of not being hunted by human hunters.

In fact, compared to times past, on a statewide basis, there is relatively zero quail hunting occurring now in TN. In the 1950's & 60's, almost seemed like every other home, even in towns, had a "bird" dog, typically a "Pointer" or a "Setter", and their owners actually hunted & killed quail annually with those dogs.

Strange as it may sound, human hunting has had almost nothing to do with the long-term downward spiral of TN's quail since the 1960's. Less quail every decade, and we're now left with a tiny remnant population bordering on extinction in many areas.

That said, there is one detriment to quail that has simultaneously increased in population every decade in TN, almost in lock-step to the quail's steady decrease in population. The number of raptor predators preying on birds (all birds, not just quail) has skyrocketed in TN, as well as most of the Southeastern U.S. The specific raptors likely most responsible for preying on quail have been small hawks, like the Coopers, as well as owls.

Of course, it's not just the hawks & owls preying on quail, as coyotes & bobcats also get them. I don't believe coyotes kill as much "game" as most think, but they do kill some, do break up some nests. Coyotes are just one more thing to add to the list of items preventing quail from thriving as they did prior to the 1960's (when coyotes didn't exist in TN, and when hawks were relatively rare).
 
Of this list, I would consider the introduction of fescue as the #1 longtime reason for quail numbers to have initially declined, on a generally speaking statewide basis. Johnson grass isn't far behind fescue as a significant reason, as both these invasive grasses have displaced most of the native TN grasses for which quail were adapted.

But in some areas the #1 reason may have been pesticides & herbicides, and/or a loss of good contiguous quail habitat, all of which has made it easier for various predators to kill quail, as a domino effect of steady population decline.

But there have been many instances (over the past couple decades) where large acreage contiguous habitat has been created ideally for quail, i.e no fescue, no Johnson grass, no farm chemicals, YET, there has still been a massive "failure to thrive" with the quail. Add to this the quail being highly protected in terms of not being hunted by human hunters.

In fact, compared to times past, on a statewide basis, there is relatively zero quail hunting occurring now in TN. In the 1950's & 60's, almost seemed like every other home, even in towns, had a "bird" dog, typically a "Pointer" or a "Setter", and their owners actually hunted & killed quail annually with those dogs.

Strange as it may sound, human hunting has had almost nothing to do with the long-term downward spiral of TN's quail since the 1960's. Less quail every decade, and we're now left with a tiny remnant population bordering on extinction in many areas.

That said, there is one detriment to quail that has simultaneously increased in population every decade in TN, almost in lock-step to the quail's steady decrease in population. The number of raptor predators preying on birds (all birds, not just quail) has skyrocketed in TN, as well as most of the Southeastern U.S. The specific raptors likely most responsible for preying on quail have been small hawks, like the Coopers, as well as owls.

Of course, it's not just the hawks & owls preying on quail, as coyotes & bobcats also get them. I don't believe coyotes kill as much "game" as most think, but they do kill some, do break up some nests. Coyotes are just one more thing to add to the list of items preventing quail from thriving as they did prior to the 1960's (when coyotes didn't exist in TN, and when hawks were relatively rare).
I grew up in south Georgia. In High school my after school job was training horses and bird dogs. The training ground for the dogs was River Bend Plantation in Brooks County. They would release more quail for hunting than there were wild birds. Most plantation bird hunting is a raise, release, and then guide a hunt over the released birds scenario. Not sure if plantation hunters realize they are hunting birds that were pen raised.

My question is this, did releasing penned quail into a hunting situation have a detrimental effect on the wild population?

Not sure if that was an issue in TN, releasing pen raised birds for hunting, but I would be interested in hearing what those of you native to the state have experienced.
 
Of this list, I would consider the introduction of fescue as the #1 longtime reason for quail numbers to have initially declined, on a generally speaking statewide basis. Johnson grass isn't far behind fescue as a significant reason, as both these invasive grasses have displaced most of the native TN grasses for which quail were adapted.

But in some areas the #1 reason may have been pesticides & herbicides, and/or a loss of good contiguous quail habitat, all of which has made it easier for various predators to kill quail, as a domino effect of steady population decline.

But there have been many instances (over the past couple decades) where large acreage contiguous habitat has been created ideally for quail, i.e no fescue, no Johnson grass, no farm chemicals, YET, there has still been a massive "failure to thrive" with the quail. Add to this the quail being highly protected in terms of not being hunted by human hunters.

In fact, compared to times past, on a statewide basis, there is relatively zero quail hunting occurring now in TN. In the 1950's & 60's, almost seemed like every other home, even in towns, had a "bird" dog, typically a "Pointer" or a "Setter", and their owners actually hunted & killed quail annually with those dogs.

Strange as it may sound, human hunting has had almost nothing to do with the long-term downward spiral of TN's quail since the 1960's. Less quail every decade, and we're now left with a tiny remnant population bordering on extinction in many areas.

That said, there is one detriment to quail that has simultaneously increased in population every decade in TN, almost in lock-step to the quail's steady decrease in population. The number of raptor predators preying on birds (all birds, not just quail) has skyrocketed in TN, as well as most of the Southeastern U.S. The specific raptors likely most responsible for preying on quail have been small hawks, like the Coopers, as well as owls.

Of course, it's not just the hawks & owls preying on quail, as coyotes & bobcats also get them. I don't believe coyotes kill as much "game" as most think, but they do kill some, do break up some nests. Coyotes are just one more thing to add to the list of items preventing quail from thriving as they did prior to the 1960's (when coyotes didn't exist in TN, and when hawks were relatively rare).
Quail hunting was still a thing as late as the early 80's, we had dogs and I loved it above all other hunting. It was tough and getting tougher as the 80's went on but the drought of the late 80's sealed the tomb.
 

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