Quail habitat

[Odell]

So my new place is 30 minutes south of the Dalles OR. We are on 500 acres of mostly wheat fields. The gully’s are full of quail and the occasional rooster or chukar.

Around the house and the barn i see between 50-100 quail a day. They seem to be doing good. Can i help them do better? Anything to put out that they like?


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[Rainier10]

I was told to build “quail condos”. Make boxes out of pallets and brush them in a bit. It’s supposed to give them shelter from predators snd raptors.

The next one was most important.

No joke I was told to shoot every raptor I saw. I would NOT suggest doing that.

I haven’t done the pallets for quail condos either.

[JimmyHoffa]

Cat traps.

[Bango skank]

I was told to build “quail condos”. Make boxes out of pallets and brush them in a bit. It’s supposed to give them shelter from predators snd raptors.

The next one was most important.

No joke I was told to shoot every raptor I saw. I would NOT suggest doing that.

I haven’t done the pallets for quail condos either.

I regularly see quail running around close to town, but just a couple weeks ago got quail on cam on my property for the first time. i have several pallets in the barn.  Maybe ill try this. theyre neat critters, id like to have them hang around

Maybe ill try the pallet condo i mean, not shooting raptors

[Henrydog]

My house backs up to a old apple orchard.  I have several coveys I watch every morning.  They love brush piles.

[Bows4huntn]

My house backs up to a old apple orchard.  I have several coveys I watch every morning.  They love brush piles.

This!

[AL WORRELLS KID]

If you have ever watched a pair of Coyote's working a fence row, the one waiting in ambush as it's mate herds the birds into range, it's easy to understand how important having the right amount of cover around is.
 Ever since Farmers started plowing as much field as they could, instead of leaving cover for the birds, we have seen a steady decrease in Upland numbers.
In this video I was surprised to hear that Coyotes were not the number one predator of Quail, but it was Male Raccoons that were seen the most taking Quail on their Trail Cam's. 
Doug

[HillHound]

The hawks do a number on them during the winter in my back yard. I have a pond they hang around for water that I keep a small pond heater in to keep part of it from freezing over for the fish. The local birds of prey seem to have made it a favorite meal spot with maiting pairs killing and eating the quail together much like the coyotes.r. Even had a bald eagle kill one of the neighbors cats and after half an hour left nothing but a tail attached to the spine and some fur. Quail are getting hit from above and on the ground.

[Rainier10]

I’ve heard that skunks and badgers do a number on them when they are still just eggs in the nest.

[3dvapor]

They seem to do good with russian olive trees.   I always find huge coveys among and under them.  They provide excellent cover.

[lewy]

 

[wildweeds]

I second the quail condos, a coworker asked me about what to do on his recreation property a few years ago in twisp. I forwarded him information from Idaho. He stacked some brush and boom he had quail take up residence. Hes got a pretty good sized resident covey now. He is going to try and get a milo food plot planted this year. 3 things, water,feed,cover. Condos,shelter belts,guzzlers, and some type feed = success

[rainshadow1]

Brush. Piles of limbs and branches. Tree sections. I've been doing some adjusting to my property during the lockdown here, and as soon as a pile of slash reached the size of a 55gallon drum or bigger, boom! there's quail in it! It's getting on to nesting season, and they're dying to find tangled brush piles! I went through the burn pile with the kids and separated out the bigger branches to cut up for the fire pit, within two days I had several pairs in my new woodpile. Had to move it with the tractor, they busted out. Within a couple days they were back! I cut down a large main fork of a maple tree to put a huge "swurfer" swing in it, drug it over by the burn area, I had quail in it the same day.

Save your pruning and clearing and pile it in the good habitat areas. They'll use it instantly.

[Fl0und3rz]

Around here, they seem to like large brushy, thorny bushes.  I don't know what the bushes are. Some are natural, some are landscaped, but both types are 8-15 feet high or around, dense, and both have significant cover close to the ground. The natural is deciduous. The landscaped were not. Both were close to roads.

Had a hawk swoop down a grab one right in front of me on a road two winters ago.

[DOUBLELUNG]

For the long term, plant shelterbelts consisting of conifer roosting cover and seed and fruit bearing trees and shrubs.  Your local NRCS office and ODFW private lands habitat program personnel in the wildlife division should be able to provide info.  Be specific about what your goals are, as they tend to default to native plants restoration if you go with generic "habitat improvement".  If you are specific about what you want, i.e., "increase quail", "increase game", "increase upland birds" you'll do better and get better.  Pheasants Forever, Quail Unlimited and NWTF also have programs and technical staff to assist landowners, and most of them have plenty of knowledge for all upland game birds.  They can also help avoid pitfalls with plantings that are beneficial for game but may be regulated as noxious weeds in your local area - Russian olive and chufa are two that come to mind.  There are likely cost share programs you might be interested in where your labor counts as your cost share and they provide the supplies or cover those costs. 

Annual crop strips (wheat, millet, oats) next to dense hiding cover, water-adjacent to cover, etc.  The key to increasing upland bird numbers is providing food, water and cover in a pattern where they are in the open as little as possible. 

Almost anything you do will increase mule deer too, a nice bonus.  Leave the raptors alone but active control of raccoons, skunks, fox (if any) and especially feral cats will help.  IF coons, skunks, fox and/or feral cats are around, I would not hammer coyotes extremely aggressively they do a better job of suppressing those superior ground nesting bird predators than they impact game birds.  If you get resident bobcats you might consider controlling them, they do a good job on the smaller predators but are really good at hunting game birds.