New to TD, was wondering what happenned to all the quail in S Louisiana?

Small, patchy farms with brush and hedgerows have been replaced by huge, clean farms. Insecticides probably don't help either. It's the same in AL. My dad was a big quail hunter when I was young, but he quit and sold his dogs due to not having any quail to hunt anymore.

Egrets eat the babies around here (south AL). And they are a protected species. I've seen hundreds of baby quail run from under a brush pile and get eaten by egrets following a farm implement of some sort

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Small, patchy farms with brush and hedgerows have been replaced by huge, clean farms.

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This right here. Even the smaller farms are a problem, because they keep the fencerows clean.

The lack of burning in pineywoods hurt too, but the return of fire is helping some. I've seen where NRCS has worked with landowners in Texas to bring quail back through grazing management. Would be cool to see that here as well.

Fireants and loss of native grasslands

Fire ants have a much smaller effect than you think.

There are fire ants in quail country.

Habitat destruction and the planting of short leaf pines that can’t be/aren’t burned

loss of habitat and changes in land use practices... and predators mammalian and avian....



actually armadillos probably a much larger threat than fire ants....

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actually armadillos probably a much larger threat than fire ants....

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this is very true, many more quail eggs are lost to predators before they are born than to adult birds. Adults birds the main predator is a few birds of prey.

Do you have bird dogs or just asking a general question about quail?

Yep woodcock are the upland game now in Louisiana...