There is a 30,000 acre block adjoining me on my east, much of that is prime habitat, Wade Plantation, managed for wild quail intensively for the last thirty years or so. Millions spent on creating and maintaining ideal successional habitat, predator control and supplemental feeding, etc. At one point about ten years ago their records showed a high of 6.7 coveys pointed and flushed per hour of hunting. That is an almost unbelievable statistic, but true. Then, with no apparent change in any of the contributing factors, the population went into a rapid decline, to the point that now, they are lucky to find 6 or 7 coveys in a whole afternoon. Usually much less. They have nearly given up trying to figure it out. Same thing's happening in Texas. Rapid decline on hundreds of thousands of acres. No habitat change there, but lots of parasites found in the dead quail.
That small acreage problem is the main reason the BQI program never worked like it should. I've got maybe 6 or 7 coveys of survivors on my land that seem to hold their own, year after year. Bumped two of the coveys last week. They have my highest admiration.
SRH
