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July 22, 2016
LoneOStar Outdoor News
LSONews.com
Building quail Continued from page 1
vention. “It just takes rain.” “I’ve heard that one, especially over the last two year,” Reyna said. “But we lost half our quail in 1996 from historic ranges, and studies in 2003 and 2010 showed their range dropped significantly again.” “It just takes good habitat.” To meet the needs of 60 kcal/day, a “It’s partially true, but you still need quail to raise quail,” Reyna said. bobwhite quail must eat: In his time at the Denton university where he is executive director of UNT Grasshoppers Quail, Reyna has visited more than 300 ranches in Texas, and has come up with four main areas to consider to Kernels of corn achieve what he termed “making quail great again.” Milo seeds 1. Balance the predators “One ranch killed just about every Wheat seeds coyote, skunk and bobcat,” Reyna said. “It caused the predators to change, the Ragweed seeds wood rats, ravens and other secondary predators thrived. You may want to Grass seeds keep some of the apex predators (coyotes and bobcats) around.” 2. Provide ample cover “There needs to be escape cover, usually woody cover,” Reyna said. “It is often 40 degrees cooler in there. Also, you need brooding cover with forbs for diversity of insects, nesting cover (usually little bluestem). You need 300-500 clumps of grass per acre for quail.” 3. Connectivity Reyna has spent years studying quail corridors. “The quail need to be able to move across the ranch and from ranch to ranch. Rotational grazing is the best way to accomplish this.” In the spring and fall, collect data (call counts and habitat evaluation) in 800-meter circles that don’t overlap. Quail don’t migrate far, generally staying in a 30- to 125-acre range. 4. Food “Quail mainly eat insects,” Reyna said. “Do the windshield test on your ranch. If your windshield keeps collecting bugs, you have enough insects. But from October until April, quail are out looking for food. They need 60 kcal/day to stay healthy. Supplemental feeding by mowing circles or routes through the ranch and using these to broadcast feed into the adjoining cover can help reach the goal of one quail per acre on your ranch. A good supplemental feed appears to be cracked corn mixed with milo.”
How much food does a quail need?
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