Are you among those who feel that predators are the main reason for the decline in quail??? Whether fiction or fact, you can deter a predator's attention from quail by making it harder for the predators to find quail and their nests. A few simple quail management techniques should help. A Missouri CRP study found that most quail nest depredation was from snakes. Prescribed burning every three years, with a goal of creating 30-50% bare ground, destroys the layer of grass thatch used by many of the mice and snakes in CRP fields. Those hordes of mice attract all sorts of
predators, including snakes, to your CRP fields, which may find an occasional quail or quail egg to munch on. Notice the rodent tunnels after burning an old CRP field with layers of thatch. You will not find these tunnels in a managed field with at least 30% bare ground.
Wanton killing of predators will not solve the depredation of quail. We kill off the coyotes and they are replaced by red fox, a more skilled nest predator. We kill off the bobcats and lose a predator of opossums and raccoons. We kill off the red-tailed hawks and lose a predator of snakes. Furbearer trapping needs to occur on a wide scale to impact the predator population. Trapping only your farm will have a temporary impact on predators. The best option is to manage the habitat to make it harder for the predators to find quail and their nests.
For more information on the latest predator research on quail, visit
USDA/NRCS
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If you look down the fence lines and ditches, there are probably trails under the trees used by rabbits, predators, and other animals. You can deter predators from using these travel lanes by dropping the trees in the fence line or ditch and leaving them where they fall. The tangle created by this habitat management technique puts a stop to the predator trail AND it creates more low cover for your quail. Some predators will still hunt this area, but you have slowed the conduit of predators into adjacent fields. The biggest avian predators of quail are probably great horned owls and the occasional Cooper's hawk. They hunt from tree perches. By knocking down trees in fence lines and ditches, you can limit the amount of territory that these predators can hunt. Avoid building large brush piles, these can
harbor nest predators. Use a chainsaw when knocking down trees -- do not use a bulldozer. Preserve oaks and other valuable wildlife food and lumber trees. Keep brush piles small and loose.