Developing quail habitat on farmland

Excerpt

FARMS throughout the southeastern United States today are fewer in number, generally larger in size, and more cleanly maintained than ever before. The result: Destruction of wildlife habitat by the elimination of fence rows, corners, and woody coverts (5). This has led to the increasing frustration among hunters of bobwhite quail and other farm game species over the diminishing number of farms open to hunting and the apparent scarcity of farm game.

Wildlife agencies in the region face the problem of providing enough opportunity for farm game hunters, who comprise a majority of those people buying hunting licenses. Tennessee sportsmen, for example, through public meetings and hearings in the early 1970s, urged the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency to put more emphasis on managing farm game species.

The habitat factor

Quail, like most farm game species, respond dramatically to changes in habitat. That is why wildlife managers strive to improve quail populations through habitat management. Quail stocking long ago proved ineffective. Wildlife agencies abandoned this management technique years ago.

Because most potential farm game habitat is privately owned, any effort by a public conservation agency to influence land management must involve the cooperation of thousands of private …