Category: Quail Hunting

Forecasting Quail

The prior was a good one for quail, but the Texas Quail Forecast 2022 is not as bright. Unfortunately, it was hot and dry and not want quail or quail hunters would have dialed up, given the option. September 2021 through March 2022  proved to be one of the driest stretches in Texas on record.

Measurable precipitation was absent from most of the state until late April. In South Texas, a good year of production and grass growth in 2021 was insulation from the worst these conditions, but up north in the Panhandle there was little cushion.

Texas Quail Forecast 2022: Coming in Hot!

The common refrain was, “hot and dry,” resulting in little early season breeding activity. Pushing into May and June scattered, intermittent showers and runs of cooler days sparked calling and the first reports of nests and broods on the ground, but the unrelenting heat that followed limited any meaningful gains.

Long stretches (>30 days) of 100-degree days became the norm and July was the hottest July on record in Texas since 1895, and the fifth driest. With few exceptions the trajectory for Texas bobwhite populations was set early on, difficult to alter, and the continuation of a multi-year stretch of below average abundance that began in 2018.

Quail by the Numbers

In late summer, range conditions ran the gamut, but a consistent thread was a decline in habitat quality as we moved into late summer. Outside a handful of counties in South Texas bobwhites were few and far in-between. The lack of birds was most apparent in the Rolling Plains where, for the second year in a row, the region set an all-time low for abundance; the 0.86 bobwhites per route was well below our 15-year mean of 12.10 and lower than the 1.50 bobwhites per route observed in 2021.

This downward trend was similar for the other northern regions, including the High Plains and Cross Timbers. However, the lone bright spot again this year was the South Texas Plains, the only bobwhite region in the state to see an increase in recorded abundance. With a grain of salt, the number of bobwhites observed per route was up from 3.10 to 5.26, but still below the 15-year mean of 9.01. These numbers will provide some comfort to Texas hunters, but the statewide outlook again points to tough sledding in 2022.

Finally, it is unknown how widespread rainfall throughout August and September will impact bird populations. It’s likely this late season moisture will improve opportunities for late season nesting, but how well those broods will fair and what their contributions will be to fall populations remains unknown. With that said, we welcome any new recruits to help springboard bobwhites into the new year.

Texas Quail Forecast 2022: Rolling Plains

 

There’s little solace for bobwhite hunters heading to the Rolling Plains this year as populations contracted for a fourth straight year. When paired with long-term changes in habitat, the impacts of inconsistent annual precipitation have clearly driven populations downward. Some areas along the Canadian River welcomed rainfall earlier in the year and in those areas bobwhite numbers and range conditions are encouraging , but exceptional heat likely dampened reproductive activity elsewhere.

Most late season reports reference single birds, pairs, and small coveys (e.g., 6-8 birds), with chick sightings at a premium. There has also been a notable deterioration in habitat quality for most counties, even those areas where early season vegetation reports were optimistic. With close ties to nesting habitat and insect production, worsening cover conditions (e.g., grasses, forbs) only exacerbated the impacts of the drought.

As such, below average hunting conditions across the Rolling Plains region are expected. There are certain to be scattered pockets of good hunting, but the overall quail hunting forecast is less promising.

Texas Quail Forecast 2022: South Texas

If there was an enigma these past few years it’s been South Texas. Despite survey numbers indicating below average abundance in 2021, the on-the-ground reports were more encouraging. Hunting exceeded expectations with hunters moving upwards of 10-20 coveys per day, and as many as 30 into the late season (e.g., Duval, Jim Hogg, McMullen counties).

Only interrupted by a mid-January cold front, many went home with well worked dogs. This level of production was insulation for populations heading into 2022 and it turned out to be needed. Early season rainfall led to an early season hatch in some regions (e.g., Sand Sheet) and counties (e.g., Webb, Dimmit, Maverick), but drought conditions settled in early and led to a deterioration in habitat conditions.

An increase in wildfires highlighted the difficulties, with temperatures soaring throughout the summer. There were exceptions, and bright spots included Bee, Duval, Live Oak, and McMullen counties, which all seemed to have benefited from good production this year. Of those, Bee and Live Oak represented two of the top three bobwhite survey routes for South Texas (Willacy rounding out the top tier).

State officials observed a bump from 3.10 bobwhites per route in 2021 to 5.26 in 2022, and while still below their 15-year mean of 9.01, seems hopeful for the upcoming season. To that end, late summer rainfall may benefit South Texas with its longer nesting season and should improve the outlook in the coming months. Average quail hunting conditions across the region are expected, with certain ranches engaged in active quail management outperforming our forecast as usual.

Texas Quail Forecast: Everyone Else

Dry conditions put the Gulf Prairies in a position to be successful early, but the availability of cover resources and insects decreased as we moved deeper into the summer and made successful nesting and brooding less likely. There is little recent evidence to suggest otherwise, as surveys by state officials fell below average for a fifth year in a row.

The High Plains took the brunt of the drought and with herbaceous cover at a premium, the region is unfortunately mirroring a landscape we became familiar with in 2011. As for the Cross Timbers, there were plenty of anomalies when it came to bobwhite observations, with state officials reporting coveys in areas not typically seen. However, that will be a footnote in a year where below average abundance and hunting opportunities are again expected in the region.

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Texas Quail Season Forecast 2017-18

The 2016 Texas quail season served as a renaissance reminder of how good hunting can be when all the right elements converge. Specifically, weather and habitat aligned to create a “super boom” year for quail production that led to exceptional hunts the likes of which had not been seen in many years.

Quail enthusiasts are hoping some of that magic will carry over this fall when the season gets under way Saturday, Oct. 28. For that to happen, a sizable percentage of last year’s birds will have to carry over as well, according to wildlife biologists with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department,

Texas Bobwhite Production Good

This year’s quail production, although not as robust as last year’s, is expected to be adequate to sustain populations in areas having suitable habitat. Heading into 2017, average amounts of late winter and spring rainfall set up sufficient nesting cover, winter forage and enough insects to trigger nesting. A lack of timely rainfall during the summer, however, may have hurt chick survival.

“Portions of South Texas and the Rolling Plains regions were in moderate drought during mid-summer, which may have negatively impacted brood survival,” said Robert Perez, quail program leader with TPWD. “Hunters will likely see more adult bobwhites in the bag compared to more productive years.”

Looking at Quail Surveys

TPWD projections are based on annual statewide quail surveys that were initiated in 1978 to monitor quail populations. This index uses randomly selected, 20-mile roadside survey lines to determine annual quail population trends by ecological region. This trend information helps determine relative quail populations among the regions of Texas.

Comparisons can be made between the mean (average) number of quail observed per route this year and the long term mean (LTM) for quail seen within an ecological region. The quail survey was not designed to predict relative abundance for any area smaller than the ecological region.

A regional breakdown of this year’s TPWD quail index survey, including highlights and prospects, is available online.

Texas Quail Hunting

Quail hunting season runs through Feb. 25, 2018. The daily bag limit for quail is 15, with 45 in possession. Legal shooting hours for all non-migratory game birds are 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset. The bag limit is the maximum number that may be killed during the legal shooting hours in one day.

How far do bobwhite quail travel? What is their range? Most quail move less than a half-mile in either direction, although quail have been documented to move several miles. One of the quail’s most noted moves comes as summer turns to fall, when successful broods year’s hatch begin to disperse and form into coveys. This movement is known as the “fall shuffle.”

During the fall shuffle, bobs are looking for long-term food sources and suitable cover. Ideally, these resources are close to one another. This is important for the winter survival of quail, as maintaining a close distance between food and cover, when herbaceous cover is lacking, greatly increases their chances of seeing the next year.

Moving Towards Winter Cover

The habitat required by quail varies throughout the year. Their breeding and chick-rearing habitat does not look the same as their wintering grounds. In the fall, woody cover is a must for environmental protection as well as structural protection from predators. Brushy cover also provides quail coveys with areas that can be used for loafing, just hanging out, during the times when they are not actively feeding.

These areas are called covey headquarters. To qualify, at least from a quail’s perspective, a covey headquarters must provide canopy cover with an open understory. This protects quail from weather and avian predators but allows them to move around. Species that serve as homes for quail consists of lotebush, skunkbush (frangrant sumac) or even shin oak.

They Can Move Out

Many hunters and land managers know that bobwhite quail can move from their summer range come fall. This larger movement does create opportunities for additional mortality, especially within juveniles. The trick — rather, key — to keeping quail is maintaining good habitat for them.

If quail can not find adequate winter habitat near their summer sites they will go and find it. It may be somewhere else on your property or it could be neighboring lands. Quail are not migratory birds, but they will move to find the good wintering habitat, habitat necessary for survival.

In fact, quail researchers have had to use aircraft to locate the birds fitted with radio transmitters in many cases, with birds ranging 20-30 miles in some instances!

Fall Surveys in Quail Range

Have the quail moved out or have they stayed put? Conducting annual fall covey counts for quail on your property will help determine the answer to that question. They will help you identify areas quail are using and also allow you to estimate quail covey size on your property.

This information will give you the advantage when it comes hunting season. But it’s just as important to know where quail aren’t on a property. If there are areas devoid of quail then this could signal potential areas for restoring quail habitat. A little management can pay big, quick benefits.

Counting Quail

Each summer the bobwhite quail population in Texas is surveyed. After recent roadside quail counts, researchers at the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch confirmed what they have expected all summer: Quail numbers are booming in the Texas Rolling Plains.

“Once the roadside counts were in, our 2016 estimate is an average of 512 birds for a 20-mile route,” says Dale Rollins, executive director for the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch (RPQRR) near Roby. “That’s about ten times the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) counts for the same area.”

By contrast, Rollins conceded that their routes and counting methodology varies somewhat from Texas Parks & Wildlife census protocols but each method points to the same conclusion: the bobwhite quail has made an astounding comeback since their historically low numbers earlier this decade.

Estimating the Quail Population

In the Rolling Plains ecoregion, TPWD recorded 50.2 birds on their 20 mile census routes. These numbers, according to the department’s annual quail forecast is the highest number of quail recorded since 1971.

Rollins credits the ranch’s adherence to sound quail management practices as a reason for the increase. While abundant rainfall has helped their cause, he says that the increase can’t entirely be credited to more moisture.

“We’re perhaps 30% below the ecoregion mean,” says Rollins. “As of September 30th, we’re sitting at 17.7 inches or rainfall at the ranch. We’ve made the best of what rain we’ve received.”

Early in the year, researchers at the ranch indicated that quail numbers would indeed be higher. According to Lloyd LaCoste, RPQRR ranch manager, helicopter and call counts this past spring showed numbers to be appreciably higher than in the past. Each spring, data is taken using the exact same methodology so that data collection efforts are consistent from year to year.

Other Quail Population Techniques

“We conduct spring call counts at 25 “mile markers” spread across the ranch,” says LaCoste. “We count the number of “bobwhite” whistles that we hear as well as the number of individuals calling.”

LaCoste says that they also count scaled quail calls and their numbers recorded as well. Counts are conducted twice weekly at each mile marker for 5 minutes. “Typically we hear about 10 whistles per cock per stop. This year our number of whistles per cock per stop was higher than normal and we had the highest number of birds that we have recorded calling.

March helicopter surveys for bobwhites showed an increase as well. In 2013, only two coveys were detected. By contrast, in the spring of 2015, 32 coveys were detected from the helicopter counts and by spring of 2016, 199 coveys were recorded.

Long-term Health of Quail Population

Rollins says it’s too early to tell if this numbers will mean a long term rebound for the species. Right now he says that ranchers and quail hunters can enjoy the bounty and try to take the current population momentum into the ensuing years.

“Our next hurdle is a steep one: can we “insulate” (sustain) our current bumper crop?” he says. “History is not on our side. But then, think what the historical paradigm was for ice chests. Used to, the chests would only keep ice for a day, perhaps. Now the are some that can store ice for five days. Can we borrow from such success on the quail front?”

Bobwhite quail are an interesting bird that many of us grew up hunting in Texas. These upland-dwelling, ground-nesting gamebirds have taken it on the chin, so to speak, in recent years, but some folks around Texas are calling it the best quail year ever. Now, we all have a chance to learn even more about bobwhite quail.

Thew Texas Wildlife Associatin (TWA) and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension are inviting everyone to join them for their next Wildlife for Lunch webinar discussing bobwhite hunting and management. The webinar will take place on Thursday, October 20, 2016, from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm CDT and the session is being touted as “Coffee Shop Quail Talk: Myths and Misconceptions.”

This presentation will cover common myths and misconceptions related to quail ecology, management and conservation to include: impacts of fire ants, feral hogs, turkey, roadrunners, mesomammals, disease and parasites. It will also discuss ecology facts such as: double brooding, life span, reproductive strategy and potential and also impacts of hunting at multiple scales. The speaker will be Robert Perez, quail biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

There is no cost for the coffee shop quail talk and interested persons can participate anywhere with a computer, smartphone, or tablet as long as they have internet access.

To sign up, simply point your browser right here on the day of the webinar and click to join the Wildlife for Lunch webinar. Each web based seminar is fully interactive and allows you to engage the experts, make comments, and ask questions during the course of the presentation.

Bobwhite quail: You either got ’em or you don’t. It’s that simple. Fortunately, the Rolling Plains and South Texas Plains of Texas have them this year!

Quail hunting in Texas comes and goes with bird populations. Although having areas where suitable habitat exist is paramount, precipitation plays a key role in the annual boom-bust cycle when it comes to annual quail production, especially in semi-arid regions such as the Rolling Plains and South Texas.

Quail Population Sets Record in Rolling Plains

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) biologists conduct quail surveys in Texas each year in late summer. The census has been done since 1978, but it was this year that produced the highest average in the Rolling Plains of Texas, 50.2 birds per survey line.

TPWD personnel count birds by driving 20 mile routes in early morning, when bobwhite quail are most visible. The long term average for the Rolling Plains Region is 20.16, and the previous record was 49.25, in 1987. So it’s been a while, but good news for quail and quail hunters.

But it always wasn’t so rosy. During an extended drought, the Rolling Plains quail survey counted a record low of 2.91 birds per census line in 2013. That’s just a few years ago! Fast-forward to today, after two growing seasons that provided excellent rainfall, and quail numbers in the Rolling Plains have gone from worst to first. Quail are a boom-bust species, so the boom is on.

South Texas Quail Hunting Still Good

Most of South Texas had great quail hunting last season with good outings reported right up to the end of the season. Spring-summer nesting was reported across the region but field observations of broods were mixed this year. Weather conditions were variable along with nesting and brooding activity in the later summer months.

Despite differences in production, the sheer number of quail surviving from last year coupled with even minimal reproduction will likely make for an another good quail year. The average number of bobwhites observed per route was 14 compared to 21 last year. This suggests a slightly below average hunting season for South Texas as a whole, but I wouldn’t sit at home.

The Chaparral and the Daughtrey Wildlife Management Areas provide public quail hunting opportunities. Staff surveys on the Chaparral WMA recorded above average numbers of bobwhite on the area again this year. Buy an APH permit and go!

Texas Quail: Hunting for Birds Elsewhere

TPWD surveys indicate that bobwhite numbers have fallen below average in the Gulf Prairies where only 3.8 bobwhites were observed per route in 2016 compared to 14.9 last year. Although there was good carryover of adult birds along the coast, bobwhite nesting was likely adversely affected by too much rainfall in this region.

Despite a lower estimated population in this region, field reports suggest there are huntable populations of quail on well-drained sites. Hunters should focus on the central and lower coast in native prairie habitats.

The High Plains and Edwards Plateau of Texas reported a general, continued increase quail numbers. Although there are certainly areas within each region of Texas where some quail hunting opportunity remains, this survey is not designed to detect changes in localized populations, especially in fragmented landscapes.

Does corn high in aflatoxin impact bobwhite quail populations? Quail have been on the decline for years, with wide speculation regarding what the ultimate problem/s may be. Many researchers point to a number of changing parameters with quail’s environment, but aflatoxin is often mentioned.

The Impact of Aflatoxin on Quail

“In trying to identify reasons behind the decline in quail populations in Texas, we determined it would be worthwhile to study whether aflatoxins, which are fungal toxins that contaminate grain, might be a concern,” said Dr. Susan Cooper, AgriLife Research wildlife ecologist at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Uvalde.

“We wondered whether eating grain-based feed supplements for wildlife, especially deer corn, might possibly expose quail to chronic low levels of aflatoxin poisoning, thereby affecting their reproductive ability.”

“We knew that experimental doses of even small amounts of aflatoxins may cause liver damage and immunosuppression,” Cooper explained. “So the objective of this study was to determine whether consumption of aflatoxins in feed at those levels likely to be encountered as a result of wild quail eating supplemental feed provided for quail, deer or livestock, would result in a reduction in their reproductive output.”

Corn with Aflatoxin Fed to Quail

Cooper said the results of the study showed intermittent consumption of aflatoxin-contaminated feed had no measurable effect on the body weight, feed consumption and visible health of either species of quail. “The reproductive output, measured by number of eggs produced, egg weight and yolk weight, was also unaffected,” she said. “Thus, in the short term, it appears that chronic low-level exposure to aflatoxins has no measurable deleterious effects on the health and productivity of quail.”

Cooper said as a result of the study it was possible to conclude that aflatoxins in supplemental feed are unlikely to be a factor contributing to the long-term population decline of northern bobwhite and scaled quail through reduced health or egg production. However, she cautioned that feed should be kept dry to avoid potential contamination with higher levels of aflatoxin that may be harmful.

”This project also does not address any long-term effects of aflatoxin consumption that may become evident when wild bobwhite quail are exposed to nutritional or environmental stresses,” she said.