ORIGINAL: North Texan

Releasingquail isn't very practical. Within 3 weeks of release, survival rates of released quail will be 0 or almost zero. Pen raised birds are heavier and slower. Even the wild ones suffer about an 80% mortality rate each year.

Predator control also doesn't do a lot for quail. You may be able to remove predators now, but the presence of quail will cause other predators you cannot remove to move in on them, like hawks and other raptors.

Your best option is to provide enough cover the quail can escape predators. If you can get plum thickets, lotebush, skunkbush, or some other kind of bushy shrub growing about as far apart as you can throw a softball, you can at least give the birds a fighting chance.

Quail also prefer to nest in clumps of bunchgrass, like little bluestem and switchgrass. Predators know this and will check clumps for nests. If you've just got a good clump here or there, the predators will find all the nests. Increase the number of clumps per acre, and you will decrease nest failure.

Food plots and supplemental feeding for quail is no substitute for good land management. Food plots and supplemental feeding concentrate the quail, and the predators will focus on these areas and catch most or all of the quail.

If you ever get the chance, read Fred Guthery's book, Beef, Brush, and Bobwhites.