Now that Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have merged, the organization is focusing more on bobs. I remember attending a state PF meeting several years ago that included an excellent presentation on quail. One of the PF guys in Nebraska bought a small farm, I think maybe 160 acres. There were 2 coveys on the farm. By taking advantage of every PF, state, and federal conservation program available, he increased that to 10 coveys.

Compared to pheasant habitat work, doing the same for quail isn't as easy. I'll never forget one remark the presenter made: "Good pheasant habitat is not necessarily good quail habitat. But good quail habitat is always good pheasant habitat."

When the Conservation Reserve Program began in 1985, we still had fairly decent quail numbers in southern Iowa. Basically, the bottom two tiers of counties. Lots of small fields, brushy edges, etc. A fair amount of timber and pastures. CRP resulted in increased pheasant numbers as small corn and soybean fields were replaced with grass. But it didn't work out so well for quail. In some places, you had to do some looking to find any of those small crop fields. And eventually, pheasant numbers took a nose dive as well. A whole lot of tall grass, pasture, and timber. Not nearly as much corn and soybeans.