Managing for rabbit/quail
 

Hi, I from Northeast Arkansas and I have seen several rabbits and a few quail on my place. I like hunting both, but have never done much as far as conservation for these small game. Right now my place is 80% wooded with a small food plot and a lot of brush, briars and brushpiles. I know the rabbits love the brush and so do the quail, there is also a pond on my place as a water source.

What is something that I can plant on in my food plot that will attract and benfit quail and rabbits along with deer. Im thinking clover/chicory mix maybe. I planted some brassicas last fall in half of it and noticed rabbits in it early on but by winter I rarely seen them in it.

I am in the process of getting rid of a lot of the many, many coons and feral cats as I know these can wreck havoc on them along with coyotes.

And I am also doing a little prescribed burning in small areas all along my place as well as creating more brush piles.

Does anyone feed quail like a bird feed mix or should I just stick to plantings?

Any advice you give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

RE: Managing for rabbit/quail
 

I'm in the same boat that you are, except that this year will be the first that I put in a food plot. The feedback I've received is to do what you're doing. I've read several articles that indicate feeding does not at all help native quail populations. Native growth seems to be the best way to improve rabbit and quail habitat, and killing those coyotes and feral dogs and cats.

RE: Managing for rabbit/quail
 

IT is nothing to plant, but right after Christmas I go out and get all the Christmas trees I can and put them along fence rows and make piles with them. The rabbits love it.

RE: Managing for rabbit/quail
 

Parrot Head hit the nail on the head. Create brush piles then plant clover.

Dan O.

RE: Managing for rabbit/quail
 

Well, it seems Im on the right path. What kind of native grasses could I consider? It seems the rabbits are fairly strong but the quail Im afraid I won't have enough native grassland. Oh well, time will tell I guess.

RE: Managing for rabbit/quail
 

goldenrod is a grass for the quail,it gives them good places to hide in the winter

RE: Managing for rabbit/quail
 

Plant Switchgrass for excellent nesting cover and cover from predators. Also, rotate fallow strips of native vegeatation in 3 year cycle; one fresh disked for new growth, one in second year growth and one in third.Each Spring, you mow and disk the 3 year old strip. The new growth of Forbes (weeds) in the fresh earth and insect life in the year 2 and 3 strips will draw the quail to your property. Good luck!

RE: Managing for rabbit/quail
 

Brushpiles and more brushpiles. Also some type of tall grass for them to hide in. Our place has big bluestem. This stuff gets five feet tall.

RE: Managing for rabbit/quail
 

add cover...i just recently did a research paper on constructing brush piles...pm me if you want links to the sources i used..alot of good reading. they are pretty good things to have and pretty simple to build...but theres a right way to do it...PM me if you want the links

RE: Managing for rabbit/quail
 

after a couple PMs ill post the links...i wasnt gunna bother if there wasnt a demand..no sense in it if noone cared lol...but here they are..these top 3 are my favorite and where i got almost all my info..the rest are others ive found as well

http://www.agnr.umd.edu/MCE/Publicat...ion.cfm?ID=564
http://fw.ky.gov/pdf/brushpiles.pdf
http://www.in.nrcs.usda.gov/technica...e_Jobsheet.pdf
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/nreos/forest/pdf/www/www18.pdf
http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/lib/p...cottontail.pdf
http://birdwatching.com/tips/brushpile.html

there ya go guys......i am building a couple soon on a guys property for my project...thought it would be an easy enough project....