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Quail

timberjack86 said:
Wow! First I've heard of this. I got a few buddies that go out to some of the wmas every year and bring back coolers full of venison. Deboned of course. Is anyone else experiencing a decline?
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I am in Western KY close enough I can spit on the TN, line and they are damn sure not declining here!
 
timberjack86 said:
Wow! First I've heard of this. I got a few buddies that go out to some of the wmas every year and bring back coolers full of venison. Deboned of course. Is anyone else experiencing a decline?
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Hard to say what areas are affected but the property I hunt is in the dead center of the outbreak. Our levels are 50%.
 
fairchaser said:
Hard to say what areas are affected but the property I hunt is in the dead center of the outbreak. Our levels are 50%.
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And it will be very interesting, from a scientific perspective, to see where that trend leads. Do populations level off at a lower level or do they continue to decline? Other parts of the country with high CWD rates have not continued to decline over long periods of time, but each situation could be unique.
 
BSK said:
And it will be very interesting, from a scientific perspective, to see where that trend leads. Do populations level off at a lower level or do they continue to decline? Other parts of the country with high CWD rates have not continued to decline over long periods of time, but each situation could be unique.
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That's exactly what I'm wondering. Does it reach a stasis or continue to increase? So far, CWD has increased the infection rate. We now have it in fawns all the way up and the prions are in every old dical site. Many have been covered up but they've tested around the ones that remain. I think nature will have to find its own cure if one is out there.
 
fairchaser said:
That's exactly what I'm wondering. Does it reach a stasis or continue to increase? So far, CWD has increased the infection rate. We now have it in fawns all the way up and the prions are in every old dical site. Many have been covered up but they've tested around the ones that remain. I think nature will have to find its own cure if one is out there.
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I've said this all along. The only "cure" for CWD is Nature itself. The only way CWD gets "worked out" is through Natural Selection. However, even Natural Selection will work very, very slowly on this problem because of its nature.
 
fairchaser said:
That's exactly what I'm wondering. Does it reach a stasis or continue to increase? So far, CWD has increased the infection rate. We now have it in fawns all the way up and the prions are in every old dical site. Many have been covered up but they've tested around the ones that remain. I think nature will have to find its own cure if one is out there.
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I wonder how much is from CWD and how much is from the TWRA saying "let's kill all the deer in CWD zones"? I see lots of studies posted on the internet (who knows what is or isn't true on the internet) but when you go to outdoor forums that talk about deer hunting, you are about the person who isn't part of a study or something of that sort that talks about population decline. Not saying you are wrong, but you would think if CWD was causing problems everywhere it is, it would not only be talked about but screamed about. Kind of like covid, how do you know what it true and what isn't?
 
Headhunter said:
I wonder how much is from CWD and how much is from the TWRA saying "let's kill all the deer in CWD zones"? I see lots of studies posted on the internet (who knows what is or isn't true on the internet) but when you go to outdoor forums that talk about deer hunting, you are about the person who isn't part of a study or something of that sort that talks about population decline. Not saying you are wrong, but you would think if CWD was causing problems everywhere it is, it would not only be talked about but screamed about. Kind of like covid, how do you know what it true and what isn't?
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Ames keeps careful records and the club killed 100 deer last season which is less than half the deer killed in years before CWD was discovered. Yet, deer sightings are significantly lower even among the management that live on the plantation and observe deer daily. The biggest reason why you don't hear people screaming is the deer die in various ways. Some will get hit by cars, some by hunters, some will appear to die naturally but they will die and the contributing cause might be CWD. Dying deer are generally hidden from the public view when it happens this way and it does happen unfortunately.
 
TheLBLman said:
We talking about quail or deer here?
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Deer and turkey seem to be all that matters anymore. I think it is because most of the younger generation have never hunted anything else. IMO, they sure missed out. It's hard to take even a close-ranging bird dog afield during deer season anymore without someone threatening to shoot it. That's why I've raised my own birds and hunt them on private property.
 
casjoker said:
How much land do you need to support a couple of decent coveys? I have always heard 150-200 to actually get resident birds to stick. I have 50 and would love to get some qual everything around me is plowed fields so I don't think they would make it. I put up a couple of decent coveys in Kyker Bottoms WMA about 10 years ago not sure if they are still there or not.
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I think it's all relative as BSK pointed out. We don't do as much predator hunting. We have a 350 acre family farm and it's not uncommon for me to jump 2-3 coveys when we rabbit hunt or when I decide to do some walking. I would say we might have 4-8 small to medium sized coveys on the whole place. It would be hard for me to get an accurate number without the help of a few others.
 
Planting today in Stewart county I flushed 3 different groups of adult and flight capable juveniles totaling approximately 40 birds. I was planting in standing milo that had headed out and was being browsed by deer and turkey. This ground was surrounded by grown over clear it. Lots of habitat and good food sources is the answer. There is no shortage of deer, turkey, coons, skunks, armadillos or birds of prey on this property
 
TN wildlife summer 2022 has a one page article on Savanna & Quail with useful links. I think the magazine comes free with license.

I agree habitat is the global problem and once deer freezers are full this year will be doing some clearing/strip planting on small land in Marshall & Giles Counties.

Will trap coon this year too (after Christmas - 28FEB). Someone has to...
 
Decent number of quail around here. Not like what old timers talk about, but enough that I'd shoot a few if I had a good dog.
 

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