Does anybody know if the habitat in North GA is suitable for starting a quail population? I'm tired of not being able to shoot

[driggs5454]

Does anybody know if the habitat in North GA is suitable for starting a quail population? I'm tired of not being able to shoot upland birds around my house. Also, does anybody have any tips for starting my population from scratch.

[Del in KS]

Unless you just gotta have wild birds the cheapest and easiest is to grow pen raised birds. If you do it right they will fly and are good sport to hunt.

[NNMountaineer]

Quail are very habitat specific and I would first start by consulting with a game biologist to see if your land is suitable for quail. If your land is suitable it will still require a strict management regime to allow you to sustain a huntable quail population, which would most likely require a decent cash $ input.

[TheEasternShoreHunter]

It will be a good challenge but one of the more important things to do is hunt the Foxes or their main predator.

[sayerbefiddlin]

I have a friend who bought an old farm with chicken houses and started a quail farm. Over the years he let them out on the property and some have taken residence around the fence rows. He also has a pond which helps. He kills a lot of predators including armadillos and hawks which seems to take up most of his time. Its a hearty endevour for sure but if you love quail none of this should slow you down.

[Beekeeper]

Driggs,

NNMountaineer is correct about the habitata requirements. Research done under the Georgia Bobwhite Quail initiative has shown that quail need large contiguous blocks of suitable habitat for successful reproduction of wild birds. you can modify habitat on smaller tracts and may be able to maintain a few quail buy probably not a huntable population.
Habitat fragmentation and a change in traditional farming patterns are the largest single factors for the decline of southern quail populations. Click on the link below for the BQI in Georgia. The site also has info and links concerning habitat requirements for quail.

http://georgiawildlife.dnr.state.ga.us/content/displaycontent.asp?txtDocument=108

[ETangler]

Ellijay

[rudyglove27]

Agreed with NNMountaineer answer above and A + 1 for you sir!!!