Raising the Pheasant/Quail Population...
01-18-2007 | 02:32 PM
#11
Fork Horn
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 112
Likes: 0
From: Arkansas/Missouri
RE: Raising the Pheasant/Quail Population...
Make sure that your fencrow's are so thick and whooly that you can't hardly get across them. The quail will hide in there to avoid the predators. Also make sure that Sumak is planted on your fencerows, quail love it. Sagegrass also helps for cover. If you're going to make the food plot make it something that will be thick. Something that can feed the birds but can also keep them hidden.
01-18-2007 | 04:57 PM
#12
Boone & Crockett
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 12,734
Likes: 5
From: Maine
RE: Raising the Pheasant/Quail Population...
I am currently raising pheasants right now and what I haveare bluewings. Here it is OK to raise them and release them without a permit. Without a permit makes itso that you can only shoot them during regular upland bird season. Some parts of the state here require a pheasant stamp before hunting. But, not in this area and the state used to release them here. They did not survive as there was no habitat for them and when someone sees a pheasants it gets shot regardless of the season. When getting pheasants or eggs here the farm they came from must be tested for a number of diseases so as not to bring them into the state. I have noticed that the manchurian pheasants appear to be alot wilder then the bluewing which is what I am currently trying to get. The pheasants I currently have roost in the pen at four to six feet off the groung at night and I currently have a fox trying to get at them. So they know what a fox is and will take to the air rather quickly. AlsoI think some of your questions can be answered at habitatnow if you was to check out the seeds for growing stuff for habitats. Quail here have a very low survial rate so not much help there for you. Also as others have suggested check your local state laws before hand and good luck. Here is a photo of a Hen and Rooster I currently have in a pen.
01-18-2007 | 09:38 PM
#13
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 698
Likes: 0
From:
RE: Raising the Pheasant/Quail Population...
Get with QU or Pheasants Forever since you have something to offer them
Read this also
http://www.doubleaquailplantation.com/palmetto_chapter_quail_unlimited.html
http://www.doubleaquailplantation.com/south_carolina_bob_white_quail_habitat_restoration .html
Read this also
http://www.doubleaquailplantation.com/palmetto_chapter_quail_unlimited.html
http://www.doubleaquailplantation.com/south_carolina_bob_white_quail_habitat_restoration .html
01-19-2007 | 07:42 AM
#14
Fork Horn
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 422
Likes: 0
From: Miami, Oklahoma
RE: Raising the Pheasant/Quail Population...
Best advice I've heard yet and you beat me to a lot of what I was going to say myself. 
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.
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.
01-19-2007 | 10:04 AM
#15
Thread Starter
Fork Horn
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 460
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From:
RE: Raising the Pheasant/Quail Population...
I am in PF and will be talking to a biologist that lives 1 mile from me about the cover and raising and releasing the birds. I am going to build a Surrogator look a like and try it this year and see how it works. If it works YEAH if not then I will junk the idea and next year put more money into habit that. As for some thick cover I will hopefully be planting some Sorghum this spring. It is an awesome pheasant habitat in my area.
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