By Brad Haire
University of Georgia

The distinctive call of the bobwhite quail now resounds more
widely at a project farm established to boost its habitat.

The Wolf Creek Project was started by the University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The
project’s aim is to increase populations of bobwhite quail, one
of Georgia’s most famous game birds, on an intensively managed,
working farm, said Randy Hudson, the project director. Hudson
coordinates the UGA Center for Emerging Crops and Technologies,
too.

Covey count

“Old-timers can remember when there were up to 100 quail coveys
on this farm in any given year,” Hudson said. “When the project
started, only three coveys were on the farm.”

That was about one quail for each 70 acres. Now, the 2,200-acre
farm in Turner County, Ga., has 56 coveys, or about one quail
per 4 acres.

“Our ultimate goal is to average one quail per 2 acres,” Hudson
said, “or reach a population of at least 1,000, or about 90
coveys.”

From the 1950s through the ’70s, large coveys of bobwhite quail
roamed throughout south Georgia. The area was considered the hub
of quail hunting in the United States.

Over the past 50 years, however, the state’s quail numbers have
dropped by as much as 90 percent in some places, Hudson said.
South Georgia is still quail-hunting territory. But most of the
quail are pen-raised and released for hunting.

Quail-friendly farming

Modern farming practices have added greatly to the decline in
Georgia’s quail numbers, he said.

Bigger farms, larger fields and equipment and nonselective pest
management have all hurt quail habitat and food supplies.

“Bobwhite quail prefer to nest and raise their broods in
transition areas around fields and woodlands,” he said. “Harsh
or strong woodlands directly joining agricultural fields are not
good quail habitats.”

Scientists from UGA, the Georgia Department of Natural
Resources, Georgia Forestry Commission and U.S. Department of
Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service conduct
studies here in cooperation with Georgia Power, Monsanto and the
Georgia Chapter of Quail Unlimited. They’re trying to find the
best ways to farm cotton, peanuts, corn and forest lands and
help quail thrive.

In growing row crops, they focus on farm practices that cause
quail little harm. They use conservation tillage. And they
control insects, weeds and other pests with materials that don’t
harm birds.

They planted native bunch grasses along waterways. They planted
longleaf pines in the nonproductive crop areas and allowed those
places to grow into natural quail habitats.

Ragweed, which grows naturally in Georgia, can provide an
excellent quail refuge. It provides cover from predators and a
place for young quail to find a host of small beetles and
grasshoppers to eat.

A farmer who increases the quail population on his farm could
help improve the farm’s bottom line, Hudson said.

“A huntable population of quail adds value to the farm by
offering the opportunity to sell quail hunting leases,” he
said.

Rural Georgia could benefit, too.

“At one time hunters came from all over the world to hunt wild
quail in Georgia,” he said. “It’s our hope to see this happen
again.”

Anyone interested in preserving or improving quail habitats
should attend the Wolf Creek Quail Management Field Day Oct. 12.
For more information or to register, call (229) 386-3416. Or go
to the Web page (www.ugatiftonconference.org).