Quail season opens Nov. 14; conditions limit success of roadside surveys

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After a mild summer with periodic, timely rainfall, biologists with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation are optimistic about the upcoming quail season, which opens Nov. 14, statewide.
            With a mild winter void of long-lasting snow and ice storms, the quail population was expected to have good carryover into the 2009 nesting season. Weather during the nesting season for the most part was favorable, and reports have been positive, with more quail being observed than have been in years. Above-average rainfall led to lush vegetation, which can be good for quail reproductive success but challenging for conducting roadside survey counts. This year, composite results from roadside surveys conducted during August and October show a decrease from surveys done in 2008 and remain below the long-term average.
            Each year, Wildlife Department employees run 83 routes in every county in the state except Oklahoma and Tulsa counties. Each route is 20 miles, and some larger counties like Beaver, Ellis, LeFlore, McCurtain, Osage, Pittsburg, and Roger Mills, have two routes. The survey provides an index of annual population fluctuations.  Observers count the number of quail observed and classify the size of the young birds in broods to provide an index of quail abundance (number seen/20 mile route) and reproductive success.
            To conduct the surveys, biologists drive county roads and record the number of quail they see. Spotting quail in dry years with sparse vegetation is much easier than spotting them in years when the vegetation is green, thick and abundant. Not only is it harder to see quail in lush vegetation, counts are also made more difficult by the fact that quail may not use roadside ditches as much when so much other cover is readily available.
            Additionally, during the October survey period, survey conditions were generally poor with much of the state receiving precipitation nearly everyday and many of the remaining survey days being heavily overcast.
            “These factors may have contributed to lower numbers of quail being seen on roadside surveys,” said Doug Schoeling, upland game biologist for the Wildlife Department.
            The full survey report is available online at wildlifedepartment.com.
            According to Schoeling, the true test of how well the quail did this nesting season will come when the season opens and hunters take to the field with their dogs.
            Quail season opens Nov. 14 and runs through Feb. 15. Opportunities for public quail hunting exist statewide, but perhaps none offer better chances than hunting quail on wildlife management areas in western Oklahoma.
            To hunt quail, hunters need a hunting license and, if their hunting license was purchased prior to July 1, a fishing and hunting legacy permit. Licenses purchased after July 1 have the cost of the legacy permit included in the purchase price.
            For more information about quail hunting, log on to the Wildlife Department's Web site at wildlifedepartment.com.
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