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Georgia
Bobwhites
Past, Present, Future
By Reggie Thackston and James Tomberlin |
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
20
May | June 2013
N
orthern
bobwhites (Colinus
virginianus) hold
a special place in
Georgia’s outdoor culture and
wildlife heritage.
Georgia has been a premiere quail-hunting
destination for more than 100 years, and
in 1970, Georgia lawmakers designated
the bobwhite the state gamebird.
However, due to extensive changes in
Georgia’s landscape over the last 75-plus
years the bobwhite population has declined drastically. Consequently, so has the
number of quail hunters. The good news
is there is growing interest and increasing
effort focused on restoring habitat for bobwhites and numerous other ‘early succession’ wildlife species that depend on
grasses, forbs, and shrubs.
Let’s look at the early days, where we
are today, and where we’re headed relative
to bobwhite restoration and hunting in the
Peach State.
Georgia Forestry Today
The Early Days
When the first Europeans to Georgia ventured inland, they encountered magnificent forests with great ecological diversity.
Included were large, open-canopy pine
forests maintained by frequent fire. These
fires, set by lightning strikes and native
Americans, created and maintained extensive landscapes of pine savanna best described as a prairie of grasses, wildflowers,
and shrubs under the trees. The most notable was an estimated 21 million acres of
forests dominated by longleaf pine.
Bobwhites and many other early succession species occurred extensively across
this landscape, but likely not in great
abundance locally, except perhaps in association with native American agriculture.
However, as settlements moved inland, gaps were cut in these forests, and
settlers began implementing what we
would consider very crude agriculture.
This resulted in small crop fields with
weedy borders and hedgerows—lots of idle
land with native grasses, weeds, briars,
shrubs, and bugs; i.e., excellent bobwhite
habitat!
Settlers frequently burned the woodlands between the fields, and used the
forests for lumber, fuel wood, grazing, and
turpentine. Also, crop harvesting methods
were inefficient, resulting in waste grain
available for wildlife. Mid-sized mammals
such as raccoons, opossums, foxes, and
bobcats were trapped or hunted, likely reducing quail predation.
So, the accidental byproducts of early
homesteading created an ideal bobwhite
environment, and bobwhite populations
exploded across the state. Through the
mid-1900s, from mountain valleys to the
coast, good to excellent quail hunting
could be had on the back 40 of the average
Georgia farm.
But during the latter half of the 20th
century, the bobwhite population began to
spiral downward as agriculture and forestry
practices intensified, urban/suburban development greatly expanded, and prescribed fire was suppressed across the
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A spinoff of Georgia’s BQI has been numerous quota youth quail hunts voluntarily hosted by participating landowners.
landscape. In 1962-63, surveys by the
Georgia Department of Natural Resources’
Wildlife Resources Division estimated
there were 135,000 quail hunters who harvested more than 4.5 million quail. By
2008-09, the estimates had dropped to
22,423 hunters harvesting 808,036 bobwhites, of which 97 percent were penreared birds!
U.S. Geological Survey Breeding Bird
Surveys (www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs) show
that Georgia’s bobwhite population has declined by 5.5 percent per year since 1966,
reflecting an overall decline of approxi-
mately 90 percent. In much of Georgia,
bobwhite densities have fallen below the
level needed to attract and maintain
hunter interest. In some landscapes, particularly in the northern half of the state,
viable bobwhite populations are no longer
apparent. Also in serious decline are a
number of other wildlife species that, like
bobwhites, need early succession habitats.
The bobwhite is a barometer for an
Georgia’s bobwhite restoration program is supported solely through the
proceeds from vehicle license plate
sales, grants, and direct donations.
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May | June 2013
ecological problem that also affects state
and local economies through the loss of
quail hunting and other wildlife-associated
recreation.
Wild Quail Plantations
Wild quail plantations in Georgia are clustered primarily around Albany and
Thomasville, and cover about 400,000
acres. Many were established in the late
1800s through the mid-1900s when bob-
Bobwhites Today
Georgia’s current bobwhite culture is primarily comprised of three parts: the shooting preserve industry; private wild quail
plantations; and, evolving wild quail
restoration efforts through the transition
of Georgia’s Bobwhite Quail Initiative,
guided in part by the National Bobwhite
Conservation Initiative.
Shooting Preserves
Georgia has approximately 150 commercial shooting preserves that use pen-reared
birds to provide bobwhite shooting to
thousands of residents and non-residents.
These preserves have a huge economic and
environmental impact. Collectively, they
also provide thousands of acres of open
space that benefit many wildlife species.
Additionally, preserves help maintain interest in quail hunting and bird dogs, and
expose many youth and adults to the sport
who might not otherwise have the opportunity.
Georgia’s future bobwhite restoration
efforts will be largely focused on habitat restoration within focal landscapes
selected through a detailed habitat prioritization process under the National
Bobwhite Conservation Initiative.
Georgia Forestry Today
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Native grass-forb-shrub field borders and field corners adjacent to pine stands that are thinned and frequently prescribe
burned provide critical habitat for bobwhites, rabbits, certain songbirds and a variety of other wildlife.
whites were abundant across Georgia.
Northern industrialists traveling south
were attracted to the excellent quail hunting. Properties were acquired, consolidated, and placed into intensive bobwhite
management. Even today, these lands
boast some of the highest wild bobwhite
densities ever documented.
This interest in sustaining high-density bobwhite populations led to a landmark effort in science-based wildlife
management when in 1924 Herbert Stoddard was hired to head the Cooperative
Quail Study Investigation. That work resulted in his 1931 publication, The Bobwhite Quail, Its Habits, Preservation and
Increase. This book is still considered the
‘bobwhite bible,’ and Stoddard's legacy exists through Tall Timbers Research Station
and Land Conservancy (www.ttrs.org), a
national leader in research of intensive
bobwhite management and fire ecology.
Wild quail plantations prove there is
no mystery to the quail decline and that
when quality habitat is provided at the
landscape scale, bobwhites respond. Like
shooting preserves, plantations also provide strong economic stimulus to sur24
rounding communities and provide an
array of ecosystem services, such as open
space, carbon sequestration, and improved
air and water quality.
Wild Bobwhite Restoration
Responding to the bobwhite decline, in
1998 a grassroots effort spurred by key
members of Georgia’s General Assembly
and the Board of Natural Resources led to
the Wildlife Resources Division’s Bobwhite
Quail Initiative. BQI provides landowners,
called cooperators, with technical guidance
and has provided financial incentives for
specific habitat practices (e.g., field borders, hedgerows, fallow corners, conservation tillage, and thinning and burning pine
stands) to benefit bobwhites and other
early succession wildlife. To maximize program efficiency and success, BQI initially
focused on 15 counties in the Upper
Coastal Plain.
Public interest in BQI has been high
from the beginning, and the program continues to enjoy strong support. Since 1999,
BQI biologists have worked with hundreds
of landowners on more than 600,000
acres, developing plans to integrate bob-
white management into working farms
and forests. Intensive monitoring and research funded through BQI has shown
that bobwhites and certain song birds respond favorably to habitat practices applied with the appropriate intensity and at
the appropriate scale.
Georgia has also increased its emphasis on bobwhite management on stateowned lands. A number of wildlife
management areas have bobwhite manage-
May | June 2013
ment objectives; most notably, DiLane,
Silver Lake, Chickasawhatchee, and River
Creek WMAs. Intensive management at
DiLane has resulted in about 200 wild coveys on 5,000 acres of managed uplands.
BQI has provided public education
about the bobwhite decline and youth
hunting opportunities through quota quail
hunts held on cooperator farms. BQI has
also been used as a match to secure more
than $400,000 in outside funding for
habitat restoration by working with conservation partners like Quail Forever, the
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation,
and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The bottom line: BQI has shown that
bobwhite populations can be increased and
sustained on working farms and forests
through coordinated management applied
at the appropriate scale and focused within
the proper landscape context. Healthy
bobwhite populations are no longer an accidental byproduct of agriculture and
forestry. They occur only through planned
management.
The Future?
Based on years of research coupled with
the knowledge and experience gained
through 13 years of implementing BQI,
Georgia bobwhite restoration efforts are
being expanded to parts of more than 68
Upper Coastal Plain counties. The counties were selected through a landscape
analysis guided by Tall Timbers Research
Station working with the Wildlife Resources Division as part of the National
Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (www.
bringbackbobwhites.org). NBCI is a 25state plan for bobwhite habitat and population restoration.
The Wildlife Resources Division has
developed an NBCI implementation plan
that transitions BQI into these priority
restoration landscapes. The intent is to
work intensively with interested landowners on private lands and suitable public
lands within the landscapes to target management programs, funding, technical assistance, research and monitoring efforts.
Georgia’s NBCI presents bobwhite
Georgia Forestry Today
enthusiasts with a clear vision and road
map to make a real difference for bobwhites and other grassland-dependent
wildlife. However, public support is
needed to:
• Promote and fund Georgia’s implementation plan.
•
Continue and increase funding for
federal, state, and non-governmental
organization programs and practices
that help bobwhite habitat.
•
Support an increased emphasis on
managing public lands habitat (especially timber thinning and frequent
prescribed fire) to benefit bobwhites
and other early succession species.
Please note, too, that Wildlife Resources
Division bobwhite restoration efforts are
funded solely through the sale of an automobile license plate. If you want to support bobwhite restoration, buy or renew a
BQI tag, or make a direct donation to
BQI! v
Learn more at
www.georgiawildlife.com /conservation/quail.
Reggie Thackston is Private Lands program manager and bobwhite project
leader for the Georgia DNR’s Wildlife
Resources Division. James Tomberlin is
a senior wildlife biologist overseeing
BQI implementation.
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