Some further thots on dwindling populations or no birds ..
One has to wonder exactly what the common thread is/was. About the only thing that comes to mind as possibly plausable is the use of pestcides, not necessarily DDT either, rather anything that eleminates bugs in general. Quail need bugs and W. TX birds eat grasshoppers, among other things. Today, we do not see large populatons of grasshoppers and that is inclusive of ranches where there was never anything but land/cattle business. Cattle, btw, are probably not good for game management, but that kinda thinking can bend feelers & is not altogether popular. Moisture at the right time can make or break hatches. Two years ago would seem to validate that .. birds were everywhere.
Today feral hogs are everywhere, rain or not. They hunt truffles in Europe with pigs don't they? Think a feral hog can smell an egg on the ground vs. a truffle that is buried below the forest floor?
Feeders are responsible, IMHO, for a great deal of bird predation. I hold the opinion that supplimental game feeding should be done only in brushy areas and or areas where the birds can feed with some protective cover in the form of cactus, brush, Mesquite, etc. Some folks running managed places, hunters, and deer hunters in particular seem to always place feeders where they are easy to get to and in clearings & also within clear sight of their blinds. Owls are anything but stupid; some appreciate the blind placement as much as the deer corn or maise/millet attracting the coveys. The same may be said for a number of other critters that find the birds tasty as well.
Agriculture has had to have some impact in the south, I would think, but the extinction of the bird populations in parts of the south even on places like some of the old large plantations that have remained essentially 'the same' tell us that something is not the same. What? People population densities, varmint proliferation, insecticides in wide use so not so many bugs anymore for the birds to eat? I don't know and apparently neither does anyone else. It has been the topic of discussion as long as I can remember and was being cussed and discussed by the bird hunters when I was a youngster. Good populations of wild birds are hard to find anymore. I have heard just about everything blamed in one way or another except for global warming. In the 70's that same group was forecasting an approaching ice age, but I don't think they are bird hunters or I would have heard that [take your pick] as the primary cause for bird decline. Fire ants get a lot of conversation, but there are bird issues in areas in the west where they are absent.
I know & know of people who have hunted wild birds with a passion their whole lives and then when their health and legs gave out, switched to pen raised birds to be able to continue to see their dogs work and get some shooting in. I think of one individual in particular who also switched to a M42 and shot from a golf cart toward his last days. He was a passionate and caring guy who also happened to be a world class shot and it gave him some real satisfaction to shoot a handful of pen-raised birds from time to time and I think it is great that he could do so. Today there are some specialized suppliers of assorted game birds that will fly hard and fast when flushed and that have never seen a human from the time they were hatched until they are loosed in the field. Not all preserves use them, but some do.
Wild birds are just that and they are found in fewer places today than even twenty-five years ago. One can hope that the 'key' to re-establishing birds to their former areas will be found, but for right now pen raised birds may be all that can be had in many areas of the country and I think it is both silly and unfair to decry their use, be it for dog training, a bit of shooting satisfaction or simply supplying someone with a taste for quail a box of cleaned birds.
Sorry for the long ramble, but I would hope that we don't get into the 'my way or the hiway' mentality over birds. Is there a dif? Sure! So?
A hen pheasant is better on the table, but they may not be taken legally in the wild that I know of. They flush & fly as hard as a rooster. I enjoy shooting a few each year in a preserve environment, it is the only opportunity I generally get.
I can still hunt wild birds in W. TX, when they are there. This year will be skinnier than last in many areas, just OK in others and better in those areas that got the rains. That's what it looks like right now anyway.
Happy trails either way, but pay attention and stay safe. Good dogs and solid friends are both valuable & hard to come by.
