Outdoors

TOM VENESKY

July 25, 2010

Benefits endless if Pa. can produce a quail comeback TOM VENESKY OUTDOORS

There is something missing from the almost 200,000 acres of grasslands and farm fields in the Central Susquehanna area.

Thanks to an apparently successful reintroduction program by the Pennsylvania Game Commission and Pheasants Forever, it’s not wild pheasants.

Nor is it deer, turkey and rabbits that are conspicuously absent from the pristine area encompassing Montour, Columbia and Northumberland counties.

What’s missing from the region is bobwhite quail – a small upland bird that is native to the state.

As I drove through the area on my way to the Montour Preserve last week, the region is reminiscent of the open spaces of South Dakota and other western states. I was surrounded by vast fields of warm-season grasses intermingled with active farm fields. The mere sight of such habitat gives one hope that wild pheasants will once again thrive again in at least this part of Pennsylvania.

At the same time, I couldn’t help but wonder: why not quail?

According to Wes Coltrane, a regional director for Quail Unlimited, the area that is hosting a wild pheasant comeback can do the same for the bobwhite.

Pheasants and quail share the same habitat, Coltrane said, adding that while hunting in Kansas he kicked out pheasants in one hedgerow and coveys of quail in the next.

It can happen here as well.

But the diminutive upland gamebird will need a little help, perhaps more than the wild pheasants.

Although quail are native to Pennsylvania, the state is at the northern fringe of the bobwhite’s range. That makes them susceptible to harsh winters and perhaps that is one reason why the quail’s numbers have plummeted so low in the state that earlier this year the PGC closed the bobwhite hunting season.

But with the vast amount of prime habitat in the Central Susquehanna area, there is no reason why coveys of wild quail couldn’t make it through a bad Pennsylvania winter.

And that leads to a second hurdle: numbers.

Other than the odd sighting here and there, we really don’t have any quail numbers to speak of.

“You can’t make them,” Coltrane said.

But you can trap and transfer them from other states, just as we did with the wild pheasants from Montana and South Dakota.

But unlike pheasants, Coltrane said quail need to be trapped and relocated as an entire covey. Making the hurdle even higher is the fact that most states aren’t willing to give up significant numbers of their quail coveys.

But there are things that can be done that might convince states with bountiful quail numbers – such as Texas and Oklahoma – to spare a few coveys and see how they do in Pennsylvania.

The biggest step is the creation of a Quail Unlimited chapter in Pennsylvania. So far there isn’t one, Coltrane said, but he added that he would be more than willing to help one get started.

“If you get a chapter going up there, that’s how things get started,” he said.

If a chapter did get off the ground in Pennsylvania, it could be the springboard needed to bring back the wild bobwhite quail. No doubt the Pheasants Forever chapters in the state have done wonders with that species, and I am willing to bet if the same energy and resources were spent on quail it would be a success as well.

And in the end, if it does all work and bobwhites inhabit Pennsylvania’s farmland once again, the benefits will be endless. Coltrane said quail hunting would catch on quickly with upland bird hunters in the state, and creating habitat for quail will benefit so many other species, from pheasants and rabbits to songbirds.

Still, even more important than having another upland bird to hunt is the benefit that wild quail will bring to the Pennsylvania landscape in general.

It’s a benefit that can be heard as much as seen.

Coltrane hears it regularly from his North Carolina home.

“If you sit on the front porch and listen to the bobwhites whistle, you know your land is in harmony with nature,” he said. “People need to be in touch with nature, and nothing emphasizes that more than the little bobwhite quail. We need to keep them in our world.”

To get the ball rolling, give Coltrane a call at 1-252-430-1224.

Tom Venesky covers the outdoors for The Times Leader. Reach him at tvenesky@timesleader.com

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