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Thread: Quail Habitat Restoration

  1. #1
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    Default Quail Habitat Restoration

    In the planning phase of some quail habitat restoration for this coming spring. I have app a 2 acre field adjacent to planted pines and another 30+ acre overgrown field full of grasses and brier patches.

    I intend to plant sorghum and dove proso millet in the 2 acre field bordered and stripped with rows of alamo switchgrass and weeping lovegrass. Thinking I can continue to plant the sorghum/millet mixture every spring and leave the grasses for year round cover and additional feed. If all goes well, I will branch out from there.

    Anyone have any more suggestions? Any does or don'ts? Better planting options?

    I am currently releasing birds on a weekly basis for training purposes and have seen a steady number surviving in this years browntop millet stands. They also have a johnny house to return to, which I plan on building another over the winter/spring of this year.
    "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." John 15:12

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  2. #2
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    South Carolina bobwhite initiative will come out and look at the property and make suggestions at no cost.
    They did it at our place last year
    Houndsmen are born, not made

    Quote Originally Posted by 2thDoc View Post
    I STAND WITH DUCK CUTTER!
    Quote Originally Posted by JABIII View Post
    I knew it wasn't real because no dogbox...

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Duck cutter View Post
    South Carolina bobwhite initiative will come out and look at the property and make suggestions at no cost.
    They did it at our place last year
    Thanks. I will reach out to them this week.
    "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." John 15:12

    "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Duck cutter View Post
    South Carolina bobwhite initiative will come out and look at the property and make suggestions at no cost.
    They did it at our place last year
    I bet my taxes paid for your quail consult...



    But seriously, MM I’m excited to see how this turns out.
    Last edited by Buckin Bronco; 10-25-2017 at 11:54 AM.
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  5. #5
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    Wes - They came out and looked at my place also. I got a lot of good info from them.

  6. #6
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    We have 3ish coveys on our place just north of Columbia.
    It's fun too see them.
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  7. #7
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    I heard an interesting seminar about planting a pollinator mix for quail this past weekend. The turkey folks and quail folks were in agreement. One thing i found interesting is the need for cover every 50 feet (maybe fifty yards) i forget which one exactly. So leaving a strip unmowed is helpful in fields

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Buckin Bronco View Post
    I bet my taxes went paid for your quail consult...



    But seriously, MM I’m excited to see how this turns out.
    My taxes paid for it too, so it really wasn't free
    Houndsmen are born, not made

    Quote Originally Posted by 2thDoc View Post
    I STAND WITH DUCK CUTTER!
    Quote Originally Posted by JABIII View Post
    I knew it wasn't real because no dogbox...

  9. #9
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    i hate you people

    sometimes
    Ugh. Stupid people piss me off.

  10. #10
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    Ugh. Stupid people piss me off.

  11. #11
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    I think it depends on how much money you want to spend per acre or per bird.

    Thin the pines heavily and build 3 ac "brood" patches inside the stand in a pattern you can easily hunt. Spray hardwood sprouts.

    Break up that 30 ac old field with several 3 ac "brood" patches arranged in a pattern you can easily hunt.
    Plant partridge pea and ragweed inside the patches. Use some of those strips of grasses you mentioned.
    Plant wax myrtles if you don't have some naturally occurring for Hard Cover. You can also manage the briars in spots for this too.
    You don't have to plant sorghum if you design a feed trail that runs your hunt course. Feed the sorghum at a rate you think is necessary once or twice a month.
    Trap predators.

    There is so much more you can do but it will depend on your budget and/or what you deem a quail is worth. Good Luck! It's nice to see more people getting interested in habitat enhancement.

  12. #12
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    The worst predators you will have for quail are the rabbits. They seem to enjoy the same habitat so chances are you will have some rabbits after your birds. The best thing to do is call me after Thanksgiving and we can exterminate them with the help of some well trained beagles. Good luck and keep up the habitat enhancement. Cover is a must.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Blakeley View Post
    I think it depends on how much money you want to spend per acre or per bird.

    Thin the pines heavily and build 3 ac "brood" patches inside the stand in a pattern you can easily hunt. Spray hardwood sprouts.

    Break up that 30 ac old field with several 3 ac "brood" patches arranged in a pattern you can easily hunt.
    Plant partridge pea and ragweed inside the patches. Use some of those strips of grasses you mentioned.
    Plant wax myrtles if you don't have some naturally occurring for Hard Cover. You can also manage the briars in spots for this too.
    You don't have to plant sorghum if you design a feed trail that runs your hunt course. Feed the sorghum at a rate you think is necessary once or twice a month.
    Trap predators.

    There is so much more you can do but it will depend on your budget and/or what you deem a quail is worth. Good Luck! It's nice to see more people getting interested in habitat enhancement.
    Thank you for all of that. Unfortunately, the pines can not be touched, still on the young side anyways. And the 30 acre field is not technically ours, I'm just allowed to use it for dog training as it adjoins our land.

    If all goes well next year, I will continue to do as much as I can to improve it. There's a small chance that I could get permission to work that field and I have some more suitable areas on other parts of the property as well. Just one step at a time with my budget.

    Right now the quail are worth $3.25 a bird, but watching my 4 month old gwp figure it all out, hard to put a dollar amount on that.
    "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." John 15:12

    "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14

  14. #14
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    Where are you finding $3.25 Quail?


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  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Quackhead22 View Post
    Where are you finding $3.25 Quail?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Scared to tell you because then you might buy up all of my supply! Haha
    "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." John 15:12

    "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14

  16. #16
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    Haha all I can find is $3.50 and $4.00 but Backwoods is close enough to me I can justify the extra .75


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Conservation means the wise use of the earth and its resources for the lasting good of men. -Gifford Pinchot

    The beauty of the second amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it. -Thomas Jefferson


    The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.

  17. #17
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    I'm no expert but I can add a few things. Lovegrass is great for quail and they will hold in it all day. Not a fan at all of partridge pea, we've gotten rid of all we could. If you can burn, best time to get rid of gums is burning right when they get the first sign of green on them.

    Trap, foxes and bobcats are your main problem. If you have a "feral" house cat anywhere around there, better hunt him down with extreme prejudice.
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    I'll shoot over a kids head in a blind or long gun one on a turkey in a heart beat. You want to kill stuff around me you gonna earn it.

  18. #18
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    When we hunted McBee last year I asked the manager what they were planting. They used a mixture of sorghum, benne, and some Egyptian Wheat if I remember. They also planted some millet. The biggest thing I noticed were big brood areas of ragweed. They were very thick. Pines were thinned and burned. Along with the acres of ragweed were huge blackberry patches so thick you could not get though. Quail need a place to raise their young and escape from predators. If you want to have birds, those would be my top priorities. Food plots would be secondary.

  19. #19
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    Planted food strips for quail is very overrated! Make sure you have Escape cover as well as loafing cover such as wax myrtles like Blakely mentioned. Brood habitat is critical as well Partridge pea and Ragweed is the only way to go. When it comes to grasses stick to the native varieties such as Bluestem and Indian grass among others. Stay away from non-native species such as sorriso lespedeza and lovegrass.
    \"I never saw a wild thing feel sorry for itself. A small bird will drop dead frozen from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.\" <br />D.H. LAWRENCE

  20. #20
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    Also if you intend to hunt there can be such a thing as too much Escape cover like impenetrable blackberries! Also feed trails are the way to go on your hunt course to hold your birds and keep them in food. If they run out of food they are gone.
    \"I never saw a wild thing feel sorry for itself. A small bird will drop dead frozen from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.\" <br />D.H. LAWRENCE

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