Stan, if they ever figure out the quail issue Id be happy as a pig in... well you know. I spent 20 years and more money than I want to admit to spending, trying to get quail established back onto my lands. Had three separate stable populations and a decent fourth one started. There was no herbicide or pesticide reason for their collapse because on three locations the nearest heavy farming exposure to them would have been 1/2 to 3/4 a mile. Every area suffered complete population collapse they year after the State DNR introduced turkeys into the area. Dont know if the turkeys directly went after the quail, brought a parasite with them or just out competed them.
Turkeys are a big, flashy, easily seen bird which the DNR treats like a big game animal. Its a money maker for them. Personally I wish they never introduced them onto my lands. There were no turkeys on our land going back for more than a hundred years that we know of. A rare Black Bear about 80 years ago but never turkeys. Quail in excellent numbers, rabbits and deer once they were introduced in the early 1930s. Until then we had no deer at all. Now its deer, turkeys and nothing else.
I tried almost everything. Some things worked for a while and some things were a waste of time and money. I did conclude the State DNR quail expert may have read a lot of books and papers but did not have a clue what he was doing and could only parrot information given to him. If deer and turkeys were not such hearty critters, with a little DNR careful management, they be extinct in 20 years.
