When I came to Southernmost Illinois it was either 12 0r 14 per day with a two day in possession. On most days when I got out of class by noon, I could be in birds in less than an hour and could (if I wanted to) fill a day limit by sundown. Thats with two fully broke pointers.

My how times have changed. Big D is correct. Ag practices have changed so much due to land prices and crop prices that many farmers now till fence row (if there is one) to fence row.

Ditch bank to ditch bank.

My State has been grappling with the "quail issue" for some time. When I was teaching I had a class partner with the local Conservation Dept. folks to do quail covey counts in a nearby area where landowners had signed on for funding for some quail friendly practices. Our covey counts took place both within the areas where these practices occurred and without. It was stunning to see the difference in the number of coveys. Although not all of the folks who signed on to the funded practices were farmers, I was encouraged that many were. If the farmers care enough and get support to help, maybe there's hope.

This past year a fellow PGCA member invited me to hunt on a farm in a nearby county that had offered a quail hunt as part of a fundraising auction aimed at supporting wounded veterans. Although our hunt happened to fall on a drenchingly (my word) wet day, we saw some of the best North Missouri bird cover I've seen in the past 30 years of hunting. We found birds, and I got invited back by the landowner for another hunt later in the season. Oh my gosh(!) what a difference a shift in practice on a piece of ground can make for wildlife.

It can happen IF we want it to happen.

Often wonder about the effects of all the invasive plants that now fill our woods and fields. Autumn Olive, multiflora rose, tree of heaven, Japanese stilt grass, kudzu, garlic mustard, and the list goes on..........

Lets do it this way:

Good quail management amounts to finding the limiting factors and fixing them. The quail's life is made up of many things but the three top are, as always, food (over the course of a year) cover (the right kind) and water.

I can go further but it will take a bit. I am willing to identify all the aspects as they relate to the bird's survival and population if ya all would like but it will take several posts.

Just offering.....

Everyone mentions water, but I guess in the NE US we never think about lack of water. Literally ponds, lakes, rivulets and streams everywhere. On a tangential thought about cover: it's my totally uneducated feeling that the death of all the ash trees has helped the ruffed grouse somewhat. There is surely more second growth in some of my frequent haunts that were maturing too much. More sunlight, more ground cover is good.

I wondered about the same habitat boost from the Gypsy moth invasion. Even if all the trees were not killed, there would be more sunlight reaching the forest floor. Anyone see any more grouse in those areas hit by the moths?

Hasn't helped the Appalachian part of Ohio, Garry.