JDW, reintroduction in some form is the only method available when the birds are already gone. Put and take is a short term deal, but it beats no birds at all for people in those areas. A sustainable population of reproducing birds would be the ideal, but even in areas that continue to have wild birds there are vast swings in the numbers from year to year and I would say a trend toward decline. Quail do not lend themselves to management in the wild and they are enigmatic at best. They can be pen raised however and thankfully so for those that would use them for whatever purpose.

Pheasant were never native to the Americas so we must remind ourselves that all of them were planted at some point in time. They have done well in many areas and like wild quail there are places where native populations of birds get augmented with released birds that were pen raised the previous year. Large managed operations here [TX] can be several thousand acres and not fenced. It is hunting any way you care to look at it. Their pen raised birds are raised in flight pens, for all intents & purposes large arenas like the big top, but with chicken wire rooves rather than canvas. Pen raised birds all have bands, wild birds do not. No hens are taken on those operations, ever. Banded birds make up 60% of the bag in the operation I am familiar with and their season runs coincident with the regular pheasant season. This is not the same thing as a game preserve, rather this is another type of operation, but one that also uses pen raised birds.

The wild quail question has bugged a lot of people for a long time. I don't see that changing any time soon.