Bobwhite quail require grassland habitat with clump-forming grasses (such as native warm-season grasses, orchardgrass, redtop/timothy mix) interspersed with bare ground and seed-producing plants. Good grass cover and food must also be located near shrubby cover to hold quail. Landowners should try to provide shrubby cover and diverse grassland habitat on each 40-acre contract. Landowners wanting to go the extra mile for bobwhite quail should provide each requirement on 10 to 15-acre tracts.
Interseeding Legume and Native Wildflowers
Legume and native wildflower interseeding is an acceptable
native legumes make excellent additions to a CRp field after performing MCM
cost-share practice through the Farm Service Agency if used in conjunction with prescribed burning, strip disking, or chemical applications. Interseeding provides a food source and increases insect diversity. Insects are an important food source for bobwhite quail. Use a minimum of ¼ pound per acre when interseeding native forbs, preferably with a minimum of 5 to 10 species. Check with NRCS or MDC staff for a list of acceptable species. Excellent non-native legumes include annual lespedeza, alfalfa, red clover, and ladino clover. The following legumes may not be used: birdsfoot trefoil, serecia lespedeza, sweet clover, and crown vetch. Habitat Hint: Interseed native wildflowers in late winter or after a mid-contract management practice to achieve the best results.
Food Plots
Provide a food source and open habitat for quail and other
Food plots should be a supplement to managing your vegetation, not the only practice used on a farm.
wildlife by adding a food plot to your CRP plan. Food plots cannot make up more than 10 percent of a single field or the total CRP contract acres and should be well distributed across a field with the contour. A food plot shall be a minimum of ¼ acre in size and no more than 5 acres in size according to CRP rules. Consider planting a minimum of ¼ acre of food plot for every 40 acres of contract area. If your primary interest is deer or turkey, make the food plot at least 1 acre in size. Good choices for food plots include forage sorghum, milo, corn, wheat, millet, soybeans, and sunflowers. Habitat Hint: A good strategy is to plant grain on one-half of the food plot and let annual weeds grow on the other half. Rotate these every year if possible and remember it is always best to plant a food plot by shrubby cover for quail.
Shrub Plantings “Covey Headquarters”
Adequate shrubby cover is often the limiting factor on a farm as
shrubs such as dogwood, plum, sumac and blackberries are an excellent way to diversify the farm
far as quail are concerned, especially in Saline County where the ground is so productive. Provide heavy escape and loafing cover for quail. Consider planting shrub islands or “covey headquarters” (77 shrubs on a 5 x 5 foot spacing) or 2 to 4 row shrub shelterbelts where possible. Ideally, 20% of each field should be available as good shrubby cover. Good shrub species include wild plum, gray and roughleaf dogwood, indigo bush, hazelnut, elderberry and blackberry. If you have existing shrub thickets, spray any grass that is growing underneath the shrubs in spring before the shrubs leaf out or after the leaves drop in the fall with glyphosate. Habitat Hint Shrub plantings should be scattered throughout the field and located close to food plots and diverse grassland habitat. As a rule of thumb, shrub plantings should be no more than a softball throw apart.
Edge Development/Edge Feathering
Edgefeathering can be used to improve woody vegetation surrounding CRP fields for bobwhite quail. Edge feathering is a good substitute for planting shrubs around the edge of a field and tends to be more popular than shrub plantings in Saline County. Mature trees and hedgerows along the edges of CRP fields should be cut down and left lie. Cut all woody vegetation 30 to 50 feet back from the edge. This is not a cost sharable practice through CRP; however, cost share is available through other sources such as Quail Unlimited and Quail Forever. Habitat Hint: Before cutting trees, spray invasive cool-season grasses in the area where trees will be dropped and treat stumps of undesirable species with an approved herbicide.
WHERE TO GET SOME HELP
Contact your local USDA Service Center or Missouri Department of Conservation Private Land Conservationist or Wildlife Management Biologist for additional information on cost share and how you can improve your property for grassland wildlife like bobwhite quail.
Need some help with establishing grasses, food plots and shrubs or prescribed burning, disking or spraying? Visit the Missouri Department of Conservation public website at http://www.mdc.mo.gov/landown or contact your local Private Land Conservationist for a list of habitat contractors who can assist you with these and many other habitat improvement practices.
