Present low quail populations reflect a change in farming practices during the past twenty years. Earlier, quail were produced simply as a by-product of a "small field, small-grain agriculture". In order to maintain quail numbers even at a minimum nowadays, specific habitat practices must be carried out on private land.

A management plant directed at quail must include practices which will produce a maximum amount of nutritous seeds, fruits and berries adjacent to good nesting and winter cover.

The first step in quail management on any tract of land is to make a specific plan for that particular acreage. A large scale map showing all land use activities can be used to show existing habitat and to indicate the areas where specific practices are to be applied. A small sketch map is an alternative and will often serve the purpose, however.

A 40-acre unit is a good working base. It is small enough to work with and it is large enough to support a covey of quail if conditions are right. In very favorable circumstances, intensive management may provide an additional covey headquarters and evenutally a higher number of birds.

GENERAL HABITAT

During one season or another, bobwhites utilize every plant succession stage from recently disturbed ground to the mature oak-hickory forest. Early plant successional stages are the most important, however. Habitat quality will usually begin to decline about five to eight years following soil disturbance. The result is that dense woody growth replaces sun-loving food-producing annuals as well as the perennial grasses which are used for nesting. Good interspersion of habitat types is essential due to the low mobility of quail.

COVER MANAGEMENT

One of the most ovbious and sound quail management practices available is that of protecting what is there now. This especially applies to the maintenance of natural shrubby and woody cover of edges, draws and other "waste areas" which usually occur around a farm. In terms of quail management, such vegetative growth is not classed as waste. It becomes, however, an important part of managed units in the quail management plan.

NATURAL VEGETATION: Cover can often be improved simply by fencing livestock out of the places where cover is needed. This allows natural plant growth to develop. With a little extra effort, however, some desirable plants can be planted or encouraged to grow.

When examining an area to be managed for quail, locate the ranges of known quail coveys. Habitat considerations should include the main types of vegetation and the kinds of cover present. Often, the sumac, briar, and trees present in a known covey range are also found in smaller amounts, outside the used range. Small fence corners, ditch banks, roadsides, or woods edges may have a few scattered stands of sassafras, wild plum, or tick trefoil. If the farmer agrees to leave these plants alone, they can be a start toward a new covey range. It is often possible to increase these plants through disking and protection. Light disking every two to three years will allow a variety of other native plants to develop. Amazing increases in quail food and cover usually occur in a short time if not grazed. There are usally several small areas on farms whcih can be treated in this manner to quickly provide more improved quail cover units. The brushy-woody areas become important "base units" when planning for more bobwhite quail. A clean, barren farm is a dull, lifeless unit in terms of whistling birds and whirring coveys.

Every effort should be made to maintain scattered patches and travel lanes of dense, brushy, woody cover throughout each forty acres. Such growth is required by birds during prolonged snowy and low-temperature periods in winter. These also allow the birds to find security when predation threatens. Several such cover areas must be considered in sound quail management planning.

WOODLOT MANAGEMENT: Livestock should be excluded from woodlands to prevent the trampling and destruction of understory vegetation which result in regeneration plants as well as food and cover for wildlife. In woodlands or edges where elm, locust, hickorys, maples, and similar trees are crowded, the cutting of occasional trees will permit growth of more valuable species such as ash, sassafras, sumac, plum and herbaceous plants.

Protect the low branched cedar trees, these provide excellent wintering areas for quail during heavy, prolonged snowfall.

Woodland edges often contain poorly-formed tree supporting climbing vines. When such trees are "hinged-felled", (but the vine is not cut) the vines interlace the living limbs and create a "living brushpile". Grass and weeds growing around the whole mass will then produce an excellent escape haven for bobwhites and other wildlife species.

ESCAPE COVER: The limbs from trimming, pruning, firewood cutting, and thinning of brush or timber should be piles where the brushpile will not interfere with farm work. Do not make a tight brushpile — pile crisscross and loose. These brushpiles provide fine winter cover for birds. Planting vines of various kinds around brushpiles, in fence corners, or in stands of low-growing shrubs will produce some of the most durable, dependable, and highly used winter quail cover that can be found in Missouri. The honeysuckle-and-brush cover combination is of most value in northern counties where winter weather can be very unfavorable for quail.

While cover is often inadequate, the manager must bear in mind that too much cover can be as bad as too little! Extensive areas of solid cover will not permit growth of needed food-bearing plants. Even in northern Missouri, where quail require heave cover for protection from witner weather and predation, a good pattern of cover, scattered throughout the farm, is generally sufficient. In areas with less severe winter weather, the need for dense cover is not as great. Normally, undisturbed herbaceous, grassy-woody growth is sufficient for the birds.

Important: The best cover management tool is to protect and improve what is growing naturally within the management unit. Care should be taken to not destroy valuable food and cover plants already present. The sketch map should note all existing cover and food areas.

NESTING COVER: The quail hen needs a nesting location which already has protective cover at the time of nesting. If good nesting cover is not present, it is a relatively simple matter to provide it. In small odd areas or field borders, (protected from livestock) strips ten to twenty feet wide may be plowed, disked, fertilized, and seeded to grasses which will ultimately provide good nesting cover. Some good grasses for quail are: redtop, timothy, orchard grass, perennial rye grass, and mixtures of some native warm season grasses.

ROOSTING COVER: Quail prefer roosting cover which provides concealment from above. The roost is usually located in rather open, "clumpy" vegetation away from the dense or tangled escape cover. The birds rely on their concealment color and remaining still to avoid detection.

NATIVE WARM SEASON GRASSES: Native grasses (Big bluestem, Indian grass, etc.) have recently received an increased amount of attention from both stockment and wildlife managers. Missouri wildlife, including quail, evolved within a warm season grass ecosystem.

The value of native warm season grasses for wildlife lies with its structure and the time of year when new growth occurs. The tall, stiff, upright stems and elevated leaves effectively reduce wind speed, modify humidity and transpiration extremes, and soften raindrop impact.

The native grass plants hold little moisture during winter months and thereby reduce the humidity at or near ground level (compared to the cool season grasses, e.g. fescue, bluegrass). The dark colors of the dry grass tend to add warmth by absorbing the sun's rays. This, coupled with a lower humidity, reduces the deadly wind-chill factor.

A good stand of native grass will reduce a 9 mph wind at 3 feet above the grass to a velocity of .1 mph at one-half the foliage height. These favorable characteristics persist throughout the winter months. The plant form is able to hold up even under heavy snow and ice.

The "clumpiness" of native grasses, will allow free movement beneath the protective cover. Smaller birds are able to climb into the clump to escape drowning rains. To ground nesting birds, these traits provide more favorable reproduction conditions than do most of the cool season grasses.

Since native grass grows during the summer, other positive characteristics will be noted, also. The ground level temperature of a native grass field will be 20 degree F. cooler and the humidity will be nearly 30% higher in June when compared to a corn field. These conditions — cool and moisture — are critical for the survival of newly hatched birds during early summer.

Native grasses are attractive to insects, which are an important source of protein for laying hens and growing chicks. Another advantage is that fewer birds nests are destroyed during haying operations, due to the later haying date — usually mid-July.

FOOD MANAGEMENT

A variety of good foods must be available in or near escape cover. Birds should be able to walk under good cover (not compelled to fly) to their feeding grounds. Simply an abundance of food is not enough, it must be high protein food and available when needed

The bobwhite quail diet will vary a great deal over the state. In the grain producing areas of north Missouri, soybeans are used the most followed by corn, weed seed, and milo. South Missouri quail will rely more heavily upon weed seed and occasionally some small-grain crop residues where available.

Early food habit studies list the twelve principal fall quail foods in order of importance as:

  1. Korean lespedeza
  2. Common ragweed
  3. Corn
  4. Crotons
  5. Yellow foxtail
  6. Wheat
  7. Lanceleaf ragweed
  8. Sumacs
  9. Sassafras
  10. Beggartick
  11. Sorghum
  12. Acorns

Food is primarily available from three sources: 1) crop residues (waste grain and legumes); 2) native weed seeds, grasses, shrub and tree fruits; and 3) special plantings of grain, herbaceous vegetation and food-bearing shrubs.

CROP RESIDUES: In the past, crop residues of annual small-grains and legumes were abundant and quail commonly preferred them to wild native foods. Intensified cropping, fall plowing, plus heavy grazing has seriously reduced this once important source of quail foods.

There are several practices which can greatly increase quail food production in cropped fields. Most management techniques are compatible with modern farming and the cost is small compared to the benefits to wildlife. Some of these techniques are:

  1. Omit the last cultivation and herbicide application along all or part of the outer three rows of the corn or milo field. Native food-producing plants (weeds) will develop and produce seed.
  2. Leave the corn or milo standing in these partially-cultivated outer rows. Break down the stalks in fall so that the hanging corn is readily available to the birds during the winter.
  3. During a mid-June cultivation of corn, sow a light mixture of German millet, soybeans and cowpeas on the outer three corn rows. Do not cultivate these outer rows and allow the corn and other foods to remain unharvested for winter use.
  4. If the corn field is not to be grazed, the three outer rows can be sown to a standard food plot mixture at the time of the last cultivation. The corn may then be harvested, while leaving the food-patch to provide standing grain above ice and snow during the winter months. If grazing is necessary, fence off some corner plots with electric wires or temporary fence.
  5. In many small-grain or legume fields, corner near winter cover can be left unharvested to provide quail food.
  6. Contour strip cropping consists of a series of alternate strips of a close growing crop and an intertilled crop. The contour strips combined with crop rotations, stubble mulching, and cover cropping will help reduce soil erosion. Crops such as corn or milo next to wheat will provide some food and cover when the crops are harvested. A four year program of corn, soybeans, wheat, and clover is a recommended rotation. Soil types should dictate what crops are suitable, however.
  7. Native warm-season grass strips can be established on contours between crops where soil is subject to erosion. These permanent grass strips will serve as travel lanes and nesting areas for wildlife as well as avoid the need for an expensive terrace system.

NATIVE FOODS: Quail eat some plant material and insects in season, but rely principally upon fruits or seeds. Seeds of annual weeds provide about 80% of the bird's diet; those of perennial plants (mainly in the tree group), about 20%. High seed production in the food species favored by quail is a must if high quail numbers are desired.

In many locations, native annual quail food can be increased quickly and simply by disking and fertilizing narrow strips near cover along fencerows, woodlots, field borders, and other waste areas. Disturbing the soil and fertilizing it encourages volunteer growth of native annual food-bearing plants, especially those favored by quail. The application of 13-13-13 or equivalent fertilizer at the rate of 800 pounds per acre will increase the quantity and quality of the food. Spring or fall-disked and fertilized strips can also be seeded with Kobe, Korean, or Summit lespedeza, all are excellent quail foods. These plots must be protected from grazing, cutting and burning.

The so-called "waste area" or abandoned field, if fenced and allowed to grow undisturbed, will usually grow up with perennial grasses and shrubs. These may provide good cover but will produce little food. Some of these protected areas, which are no longer needed for cover, should be disked and fertilized every three or four years. This will encourage the growth of annual weeds which provide native quail foods. These areas, if large enough, are also excellent sites for planting annual food plots. Where no other method of increasing quail food can be followed, disking and fertilizing should not be overlooked.

SPECIAL QUAIL FOOD PLANTINGS: When a maximum number of quail is desired, crop residues and native plants may be inadequate, especially in south Missouri where vast areas of pasture have replace grain crops. To overcome the food shortages, part of the answer may lie in plantings of special food sources which are well-distributed throughout the quail habitat. Special plantings may include clumps of fruit and seed producing shrubs, also.

THE ANNUAL FOOD PLOT:

Size and Location: Livestock must be excluded if the food plot is o be of any value to wildlife. (Caution: After frost or drought, the milo in the mixture may be poisonous to livestock). If an ungrazed area is not available, locate the food plot so that it can be fenced with minimum expense.

Food plots must be located where wildlife using them will have escape cover close by. Good locations will be next to brushy draws, corners or shrubby fence rows, edges of wooded areas, odd areas not used for agricultural purposes, and along travel lanes large enough to afford cover. Heavy cover, such as brush piles, can be added next to the fenced-in area. As a rule, there should be from four to six brush piles of at least fifteen feet in diameter surrounding a quarter-acre food plot.

The minimum size of a food plot is a quarter-acre (approximately 105 ft. by 105 ft.). Anything less than this will not provide enough grain for the long winter months. A more practical program would include one-half acre plots on rotation.

Ideally, a one acre area is set aside for the food plot. Each year, plant half of this (one-half acre). The following year, plant the other half and allow the first half to grow annual weeds. This rotation will provide native seeds, bare ground for dusting, standing grain for food, and make better use of the fertilizer.

Seed Mixture: A mixture of grain will provide desirable plant diversity. If only one grain is available to be planted, milo will give the best results. Four pounds of milo per quarter acre plot should be sufficient.

The seed mixture proved most suitable statewide is: (per 1/4 acre)

Seed Amount
Milo 2 lbs.
Soybeans 2 lbs.
German Millet 1/2 lb.

Too much seed will increase competition between plants and cause "damp-off" of the milo. The result of sowing too much seed will be a reduction in the amount of grain produced at maturity. Ragweed and other seed producing weeds should also be encouraged both in and around the food plot.

Planting Method and Time: If the results of a soil test are not available, at least 200 lbs. of 13-13-13 fertilizer or its equivalent should be applied to the quarter-acre plot. A firm seedbed, free of live grass, is a must. Generally, the planting date will be around the first week in June. Apply agricultural limestone to bring the soil pH to around 6.5 for best results.

The seed mixture can be hand broadcast and then it should be covered lightly.

KOREAN LESPEDEZA:

Korean Lespedeza and its varieties are well adapted and useful in quail management programs across Missouri.

Korean seeds are produced in clusters at the tip of the branches while Kobe lespedeza (another good variety) sets seed directly along the stem. Korean seed is maintained longer where Kobe has a tendency to shatter early. Once established, lespedeza will reseed itself and maintain a stand for many years.

As a wildlife food, Korean lespedeza is excellent. It is useful in quail management operations since it is adapted to waste edges and to food patches planted on a rotation basis. Korean excels as seed and browse food for deer, turkey, and rabbits, also.

The Summit variety of Korean lespedeza is more resistant to disease and is used in many areas. Unfortunately, this variety sets less seed after late haying than does regular Korean. Regular Korean still appears to be the better form for use in wildlife plantings.

WATER

The daily water requirements of quail are usually met through the moisture derived from green plants, food, insects, dew and snow. Under normal conditions, surface water is not required although it is readily used by the birds.

Surface water of streams and ponds become increasingly important during periodic drought periods. During the more severe drought years, quail production and fall coveys are often confined to those areas near open water.

The development of good cover near existing water sources should be considered throughout each forty acre unit of a project area. Pond water serves many purposes from watering farm stock and quail, to bird-dogs during the hunting season. These ponds should be deep enough to insure a source of water during the long dry summer months.

SUMMATION

Quail management, like farm management, is an ever-changing process. Through time, both plant stages and cover types change. If an annual bird crop is expected, periodic attention must be directed to its annual production. Quail are no longer the by-product of a farming operation — quail production requires planning ahead!!

The Important Items to Consider Are:

Cover

  1. Brush piles
  2. Travel lanes
  3. Shrubby fence rows
  4. Odd areas

Food

  1. Native seed producing annuals — weeds!
  2. Annual grain food plot — milo, corn, millet, soybeans, etc.
  3. Korean lespedeza
  4. Crop residues
  5. Strip cropping

Water

  1. Cover near ponds