The bobwhite quail is the most important game bird in Texas. Texas landowners, managers, and hunters spend more time and effort per acre to produce these feathered rocket ships than any other game bird. Not only Texas sportsmen, but sportsmen all over the United States, endear northern bobwhite quail. The presence and abundance of bobwhites in Texas are responsible for bringing many out-of-state hunters into our woods and fields in search of the tiny targets. They also represent economic impacts not only to private landowners, but also to rural communities through ecotourism and positively affect rural real estate values.
Since 1981, bobwhite quail numbers throughout Texas have shown a steady decline. The decline has been blamed on everything from fire ants and feral hogs to coastal Bermuda grass. Those may certainly be part of the equation but there is more to it than that. Habitat fragmentation, loss of native habitat, eye worms and drought conditions has also played major roles in the overall decline.
Last year I noted a small increase in overall quail encounters while conducting helicopter surveys counting deer. Now this is not any type of scientific quail survey method by any means but it does represent anecdotal evidence, or an indices if you will, of the recent increases.
In 2011 I found a grand total of THREE covies of quail while conducting deer surveys throughout San Saba County. By 2013, the number increased to twenty-one and this year, the overall covies encountered numbered forty-six! So this anecdotal data does show a marked and vastly improved quail population among those progressive deer ranches surveyed. Now I don't know if this means we are out of the woods yet or not, but this is definitely the most quail I have seen in our great county in more than ten years and I do know that is a great thing.
If you get up early in the mornings or stay out until sunset this fall, you may be rewarded with the beloved and well-known call of these little packets of energy. Everyone knows and recognizes their call so if you are fortunate enough to hear it, please take a deep breath and take it all in and enjoy the moment. I know every time I hear the call I stop and listen. The sound brings back so many good childhood memories of not only hunts gone by but also of a mighty, yet fragile, game bird of Texas that I sincerely appreciate and miss.
