I used to raise quail

[Milton C Starr]

I found this old photo of one of my birds that I raised I just thought I would share . When I was about 15 or 16 I worked for my neighbor on his quail farm . He taught me how to run things so he didnt have to be there :rotf: . Needless to say raising quail , you have to keep a eye on them pretty regularly .

The first 3 days is the hardest part when we got them some still had the shells on their heads . We pretty much would stay with them the first 3 days straight .

[Buddy Harrison]

That must have been a strong flying strain of quail if you had to chain him to that board to keep him from flying off.

[Reggie Bishop]

If I had a dollar for everyone of those I have missed I could buy a nice Parker! The wild variety that is!

[Jerry Harlow]

... some still had the shells on their heads.

That explains why as a teenager in the 60s I could not kill them. Almost all of the ones I shot at seemed to have a shell on their heads.

[Milton C Starr]

If I had a dollar for everyone of those I have missed I could buy a nice Parker! The wild variety that is!

haha they are the wild variety that is what our motto was anyhow :whistle:

Farming pretty much destroys most of the quail habit here .
Our plantation was 3,800 acres until a farmer bought it , bulldozed everything and planted corn .

[Milton C Starr]

That explains why as a teenager in the 60s I could not kill them. Almost all of the ones I shot at seemed to have a shell on their heads.

Not much meat on them when they are that size :rotf:

we occasionally had them get loose and they would breed out in the woods and some survived as you can see them in the autumn still about .

[Milton C Starr]

That must have been a strong flying strain of quail if you had to chain him to that board to keep him from flying off.

That wasnt a full grown one either , they can get much larger depends on their diet .

Usually they dont get to the point of laying eggs but we put them on vitamins and they ended up getting quite larger than they had previous seasons and we had so many birds left over they started to lay eggs . We had flight pens full of quail eggs that season .

[Buddy Harrison]

Thanks Milton for your post. This is why I love the PGCA and this post in particular. In addition to getting interesting information, occasionally you can have a little fun with it.

[Milton C Starr]

Thanks Milton for your post. This is why I love the PGCA and this post in particular. In addition to getting interesting information, occasionally you can have a little fun with it.

As 15 year old kid I was proud of the birds I raised .
Then after that I eventually went to work for the plantation itself driving the horse carriage and I got to handle and shoot some fine shotguns like that 20g Purdey .

[Buddy Harrison]

I am envious of your plantation experiences. I too grew up when quail were plentiful and had good dogs at that time. What joyous days afield we had. As a high schooler my whole year was aimed at November 20 (the opening day of quail season in Georgia at that time). Maybe in another life we can relive those days.

[Milton C Starr]

I am envious of your plantation experiences. I too grew up when quail were plentiful and had good dogs at that time. What joyous days afield we had. As a high schooler my whole year was aimed at November 20 (the opening day of quail season in Georgia at that time). Maybe in another life we can relive those days.

some people try to carry the tradition on as best as they can but its a hard thing to keep alive . One thing I will say that I appreciate about the experience is it taught me my love for horses . There was about 9 of them I worked with and I seen them more as coworkers and partners than animals .

Hurricane Michael devastated our quail habit last year and im not sure if it can recover .

[Buddy Harrison]

Just seems that quail can't catch a break. The game little guys have to contend not only with weather and disease but everything that wants to eat them; foxes, owls, cats, coyotes, hawks, raccoons, possums, fire ants, snakes, and on and on. On the positive side, there are several research organizations that seem to be serious about coming up with answers regarding how to increase our little friends numbers. We can only hope a solution is found, and quick.

[charlie cleveland]

i for one hope they come up with something to restore the quail...charlie

[Stan Hillis]

In my part of GA we had good wild quail hunting up into 1990, in selected locations. Pretty much gone, now. We stumble into a covey occasionally while woodcock hunting.

A close friend who owns about 1100 acres near me has managed it for quail for the last 8-10 years. He has a few coveys of wild birds, but releases 2300 each year, in coveys, in late August. By Thanksgiving those birds are so wild they often won't hold for a point. I hunt with him two or three times a season, and am always impressed by how wild they have gotten. Some even survive, nest and raise. I've seen the little ones in the late spring/early summer, ofttimes.

That pair of 16s would be right at home down he'ah. Nice job, Brian.

SRH

[Milton C Starr]

i for one hope they come up with something to restore the quail...charlie

We lost so many pine trees from the hurricane which destroyed their habitat and now they are having to cut even more pines because of beetles .

My neighbor lost 50 acres of 15 yr old pines and he didnt replant them he got a offer to grow trees for the Fender guitar company . I cant remember what the tree is called but its suppose to grow 10 ft or so a year .

[Milton C Starr]

Just seems that quail can't catch a break. The game little guys have to contend not only with weather and disease but everything that wants to eat them; foxes, owls, cats, coyotes, hawks, raccoons, possums, fire ants, snakes, and on and on. On the positive side, there are several research organizations that seem to be serious about coming up with answers regarding how to increase our little friends numbers. We can only hope a solution is found, and quick.

In my experience hawks were the number 1 killer of our quail .
I think another problem quail hunting faces is its not easy to get new hunters involved with it because of the cost .

[John Dallas]

I think folks need to rethink the relation between predator and prey.. If there are too many predators, and they overeat the prey, and the number of prey declines, naturally the predators will also be diminished. Back and forth. Look a changes/reductions in habitat