But What About Our Ruffed Grouse…?

[John Allen]

One of the few places in the mid south that you can still find a few quail is on the Tennessee Kentucky border. There is a community of Menonites there that still farm with horses and shoot anything that gets after their chickens. They farm with limited use of pesticides and still have overgrown fence rows. I have a friend who has permission to hunt some of their land and he and his dogs can still find a few wild coveys. What we are fighting is a combination of habitat loss,modern farming practice, and too many predators.

[Steve Hodges]

Dean, your turkey decline must have been a sudden event. According to the Vt Fish and Game last years season, 2023, was the second highest on record for Vermont. Is the decline just in your area or the whole state of Vt? We had a minor decline in this springs turkey harvest compared to the past five years. It is attributed to the very bad nesting conditions we experienced last spring and summer with very poor poult survival. Or kill is usually comprised of 25% jakes and 75% toms. This years kill was 14% jakes, a sign that we were missing last years poults.

[Double Lab]

Originally Posted by John Allen

One of the few places in the mid south that you can still find a few quail is on the Tennessee Kentucky border. There is a community of Menonites there that still farm with horses and shoot anything that gets after their chickens. They farm with limited use of pesticides and still have overgrown fence rows. I have a friend who has permission to hunt some of their land and he and his dogs can still find a few wild coveys. What we are fighting is a combination of habitat loss,modern farming practice, and too many predators.

Bingo! That has been my experience here in Maryland. Our eastern shore used to be plentiful with wild coveys of quail and then in the late 80's the farming practices changed over night and within a few years the quail were gone. Our DNR also transplanted wild turkeys here and I'm sure they didn't help things as they exploded in numbers and would kill and eat anything, including quail eggs and chicks Change sucks..