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Are people turning to waterfowl hunting now that game birds are having a damper on population. Do you think wild quail and pheasant will be around for our kids to hunt?

In states that are taking management steps now, and have in the past they will be. Some places that traditionally had great upland hunting will lose it completely. Just like steelhead rivers on the west coat.

The wild quail that were in this area when I was a kid are long gone.
Fire ants and house cats they say. Guess that goes along with destruction of habitat too being so close to Atlanta.

Yes. I sure did.

Years ago I heard a knowledgeable biologist speak of the feral cat issue. He explained there were approximately 50 million feral cats in the US....but there could be more! If each cat only kills 20 young animals (baby rabbits, pheasants, quail, ducks etc) per year that would amount to somewhere around ONE BILLION wildlife animals killed by cats alone annually.
I've been killing every one that crosses my path ever since I heard that speech.

I kill (or attempt to kill) every cat I see

FlintRiverFowler wrote:Fire ants

This one has me perplexed, really never heard of it. Care to elaborate?

DeadEye_Dan wrote:I kill (or attempt to kill) every cat I see

Even ones that save children or climb mountains?

waterfowlman wrote:Years ago I heard a knowledgeable biologist speak of the feral cat issue. He explained there were approximately 50 million feral cats in the US....but there could be more! If each cat only kills 20 young animals (baby rabbits, pheasants, quail, ducks etc) per year that would amount to somewhere around ONE BILLION wildlife animals killed by cats alone annually.
I've been killing every one that crosses my path ever since I heard that speech.

And if this is true (and I don't doubt that it is), I wonder why there hasn't been a bigger push by state agencies to shoot feral cats on sight.

sws002 wrote:

FlintRiverFowler wrote:Fire ants

This one has me perplexed, really never heard of it. Care to elaborate?

I've seen them go after upland and waterfowl eggs before..... and they aren't broken. Freshly laid and health eggs.

GadwallGetter530 wrote:

sws002 wrote:

FlintRiverFowler wrote:Fire ants

This one has me perplexed, really never heard of it. Care to elaborate?

I've seen them go after upland and waterfowl eggs before..... and they aren't broken. Freshly laid and health eggs.

Okay now you really have to elaborate! What do you mean "go after"? Are those fuckers capable of penetrating an egg?

Our pheasant population has been on life support for the past 10 years. I don't see it improving any time in the future unless drastic measures are takin to save the wild birds. Valley quail and turkeys on the other hand are doin just fine. Populations are even improving.

GadwallGetter530 wrote:Our pheasant population has been on life support for the past 10 years. I don't see it improving any time in the future unless drastic measures are takin to save the wild birds. Valley quail and turkeys on the other hand are doin just fine. Populations are even improving.

What's crazy, is it doesn't take much to maintain a healthy pheasant population, they are very hardy birds. Western Nebraska (Sandhills) is loaded with them, and I attribute it entirely to the fact that the land out there is much more pasture than it is crop land. Corn and soybeans are good food, but they don't provide any cover come winter and they don't provide the food needed for the chicks.

sws002 wrote:

GadwallGetter530 wrote:

sws002 wrote:

FlintRiverFowler wrote:Fire ants

This one has me perplexed, really never heard of it. Care to elaborate?

I've seen them go after upland and waterfowl eggs before..... and they aren't broken. Freshly laid and health eggs.

Okay now you really have to elaborate! What do you mean "go after"? Are those fuckers capable of penetrating an egg?

You know what. Im not totally sure. I wouldn't doubt it. Especially on thin quail eggs.

I think next to predator management, land access will be the key to sportsman heading afield in the near future. It is beginning to be a "who you know" sport. Even up here in ND land is being posted by exponential numbers every year and those that know the farmers are the ones having successful seasons.

sws002 wrote:

GadwallGetter530 wrote:Our pheasant population has been on life support for the past 10 years. I don't see it improving any time in the future unless drastic measures are takin to save the wild birds. Valley quail and turkeys on the other hand are doin just fine. Populations are even improving.

What's crazy, is it doesn't take much to maintain a healthy pheasant population, they are very hardy birds. Western Nebraska (Sandhills) is loaded with them, and I attribute it entirely to the fact that the land out there is much more pasture than it is crop land. Corn and soybeans are good food, but they don't provide any cover come winter and they don't provide the food needed for the chicks.

We have lots of great upland habitat in this state. From private gun clubs to thousands of acres of premo state and federal land..... I've bitch about this subject in the past. Its not the lack of habitat in this state that brought our population down. We actually have more natural habitat now then we did 30 years ago when everything was farmed for rice. Now alot of land owners are putting a percentage of their ground into upland and marsh ground.

3geese4me wrote:I think next to predator management, land access will be the key to sportsman heading afield in the near future. It is beginning to be a "who you know" sport. Even up here in ND land is being posted by exponential numbers every year and those that know the farmers are the ones having successful seasons.

x1289^10

3geese4me wrote:I think next to predator management, land access will be the key to sportsman heading afield in the near future. It is beginning to be a "who you know" sport. Even up here in ND land is being posted by exponential numbers every year and those that know the farmers are the ones having successful seasons.

You know, I would argue predator management is actually a small, small part of it. Coyotes, coons, skunks, quail and turkeys co-existed for thousands of years before we got here, and I just simply don't believe we can put a large enough dent in the predator population to really affect anything. Don't get me wrong, it can't hurt, but I think habitat loss is where the real issues lie. Even if there are coyotes and hawks out the ass, as long as there are ample places to hide, there will always be birds.

However, the most frightening thing is the "who you know" aspect. Hunting has become such big business, and he with the deepest pockets wins. The lease right next to ours this year had several guys who pay between $1-3000 a seat, and they only hunt once or twice a year. It is quickly becoming an exclusively pay to play game, and it makes me wonder what it will take for the bottom to fall out of it.

sws002 wrote:

FlintRiverFowler wrote:Fire ants

This one has me perplexed, really never heard of it. Care to elaborate?

From what I was told was that the chicks would hatch out and eat them and they would live, bite them from the inside and kill them.
A bed of fire ants can take down a full grown cow.

FlintRiverFowler wrote:

sws002 wrote:

FlintRiverFowler wrote:Fire ants

This one has me perplexed, really never heard of it. Care to elaborate?

From what I was told was that the chicks would hatch out and eat them and they would live, bite them from the inside and kill them.
A bed of fire ants can take down a full grown cow.

Well that makes sense, but F that noise! Fire ants are real assholes!

sws002 wrote:

FlintRiverFowler wrote:Fire ants

This one has me perplexed, really never heard of it. Care to elaborate?

I've always heard the same for our quail here.

I think people are starting to bring back pheasants and quail. You only miss them when their gone as the quote goes.

sws002 wrote:

3geese4me wrote:I think next to predator management, land access will be the key to sportsman heading afield in the near future. It is beginning to be a "who you know" sport. Even up here in ND land is being posted by exponential numbers every year and those that know the farmers are the ones having successful seasons.

You know, I would argue predator management is actually a small, small part of it. Coyotes, coons, skunks, quail and turkeys co-existed for thousands of years before we got here, and I just simply don't believe we can put a large enough dent in the predator population to really affect anything. Don't get me wrong, it can't hurt, but I think habitat loss is where the real issues lie. Even if there are coyotes and hawks out the ass, as long as there are ample places to hide, there will always be birds.

However, the most frightening thing is the "who you know" aspect. Hunting has become such big business, and he with the deepest pockets wins. The lease right next to ours this year had several guys who pay between $1-3000 a seat, and they only hunt once or twice a year. It is quickly becoming an exclusively pay to play game, and it makes me wonder what it will take for the bottom to fall out of it.

I agree that when habitat is lost and predators and prey are condensed to a smaller area than of those years of past, that creates a huge problem. I think wild populations near urban developments are declining because the developments are pushing the animals into tighter and tighter confines and making it easier to be preyed on. Essentially creating ambush points, however, I think the farther you get from urban developments the more you will see wild game birds flourish under ideal conditions.

I believe a lot of it has to do with food, namely protein in the form of bugs. We do a lot to control bug populations, especially in the spring when young birds need them.

Also, when it comes to pheasants, they're not native birds living in natural habitat. They're imported and thrive where agriculture has created a new kind of habitat. As farming practices have evolved, so has that habitat. It stands to reason that cleaner, more efficient farming leaves less for the birds, in terms of both cover and feed.

banknote wrote:I believe a lot of it has to do with food, namely protein in the form of bugs. We do a lot to control bug populations, especially in the spring when young birds need them.

Also, when it comes to pheasants, they're not native birds living in natural habitat. They're imported and thrive where agriculture has created a new kind of habitat. As farming practices have evolved, so has that habitat. It stands to reason that cleaner, more efficient farming leaves less for the birds, in terms of both cover and feed.

Interesting perspective I hadn't thought of before.

Hey gaddy, I guess no one listens to you.

Gotta pick between turkeys and quail. Can't have both.

I agree with the predator thing, the more you remove, the stronger they come back, that's just basic ecology.

To steal one from Rick, "bigger plows and more cows" is the drain in most cases, especially for upland birds.

It seems on your guys' side of the country that is probably very accurate about the insect control. I don't doubt it is part of the issue around here (clean farming), but regardless, it seems we are still more plagued by lack of habitat than anything else.

bill herian wrote:Gotta pick between turkeys and quail. Can't have both.

I don't buy this either. I will revert back to the argument that those two animals co-existed for eons without us. Not to mention, even with the expanding turkey populations, they still don't tend to occupy the same habitat.

ducks~n~bucks wrote::lol: Hey gaddy, I guess no one listens to you.

I've grown accustom to disappointment .............. I've been preaching that bug fact for years.