tw, I have to disagree with you on the elimination of bugs being the end of the quail. Bugs are a necessity for chicks growth, they need that protein. I still see hen turkeys with their young out in the fields getting grasshoppers and bugs. The one problem is habitat for quail and pheasants is gone. The MAIN REASON is like I stated before, the Game Commision does not care about small game, there is no revenue in small game in the Eastern U.S. and these people don't care.
We had portions of land supposidly put aside, CRP, for wildlife, mainly birds in quite a few states, but here in the east still no birds.
What we as sportsman have to do is find somebody in our own state that is going to be running for Congress, or that is already in there that cares about sportmans needs and push these points across to them.
I don't know how other states hire Game Commisoners, game wardens or whatever you want to call them , but here in Pa. they have to have a college degree. Never did before, and it seems the hunting and fishing was better. Now they need the big money because of their education, and now the cost of licenses is getting way up there to pay for them and not for wildlife funding. To give an example, in Leheigh County, Pa. they stocked 1500 pheasants in 2004, in 2005 they cut the number in half, why, who knows. That was for 2 Game Commision game lands. Who knows if they stock any open land that the farmers let people hunt, don't think so anymore.
So the whole thing does boil down to preserve shooting, not a nice thing. There is some farm land near me, that I have permission to hunt, but there is nothing there, so I think I will have to buy some birds and train the pup there. Almost the same thing as a preserve, except the cost is less, but it still doesn't come close to wild bird hunting. David

David