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Originally posted by ThisLadyHunts View PostI’d be curious to know if anyone here has been able to successfully re-establish quail as a part of your habitat efforts?
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Originally posted by ThisLadyHunts View PostI’d be curious to know if anyone here has been able to successfully re-establish quail as a part of your habitat efforts?
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Originally posted by ThisLadyHunts View PostI’d be curious to know if anyone here has been able to successfully re-establish quail as a part of your habitat efforts?
My place is broken up into four management areas that have been put on annual rotations for various habitat improvement practices. Currently the state forestry service is about to burn management area 2. Other TSI techniques I employ are timber crushing with my dozer, hack/squirt, and hinge cutting. Here in Oklahoma fellow TBHer Booner Sooner, turned me onto using a hatchet to pierce the cambium on the 12/3/6/9 o'clock positions instead of doing a full 360 cut with a saw when employing the girdling technique. Keep in mind this is effective because of the size of most of our trees, so it may be different in your area! It also allows you to move quicker as a one man crew. My go-to mixture for my squirt applications are as follows:
50% Garlon 3A
40% Water
10% Arsenal AC
My go-to place for herbicides is a company called Keystone Pest Solutions and they will ship it straight to your door!
I employ these techniques to maintain a basal area of 40-50 leaving plenty of open canopy to foster new growth. Tree planting is not something I do to a great extent because of the time it takes to produce a product.
For my old field management I practice fire and use of a heavy disc to invigorate the natural seed bed to maintain the early succession needed for browse and fawning cover. Proper old field management will yield 3000-3500lbs of forage per acre while the bare under story of closed canopy woodlands will only produce 500lbs. When you take into account that a 150lb deer will eat 8k lbs of food a year it is easy to see how employing habitat management techniques to your place will increase your carrying capacity
Great thread! Nothing like working your own placeLast edited by Darton; 02-27-2021, 10:09 AM.
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Originally posted by Darton View PostI have made an order every year for 50, out of OKC, and turned them loose on my place for the last three years. Currently I am confident that I have 4 coveys maybe 5 that seem to be doing very well. My predator control, trapping, efforts were initially put into practice to bring up my fawn recruitment numbers, but I think is also aids the quail in establishing themselves. This will be my first year in not stocking to see if my numbers remain stable! The first quarter of the year usually yields 20-40 bobcats and coyotes through trapping so only time will tell if this venture will prove to be successful, but so far it appears to be working.
My place is broken up into four management areas that have been put on annual rotations for various habitat improvement practices. Currently the state forestry service is about to burn management area 2. Other TSI techniques I employ are timber crushing with my dozer, hack/squirt, and hinge cutting. Here in Oklahoma fellow TBHer Booner Sooner, turned me onto using a hatchet to pierce the cambium on the 12/3/6/9 o'clock positions instead of doing a full 360 cut with a saw when employing the girdling technique. Keep in mind this is effective because of the size of most of our trees, so it may be different in your area! It also allows you to move quicker as a one man crew. My go-to mixture for my squirt applications are as follows:
50% Garlon 3A
40% Water
10% Arsenal AC
My go-to place for herbicides is a company called Keystone Pest Solutions and they will ship it straight to your door!
I employ these techniques to maintain a basal area of 40-50 leaving plenty of open canopy to foster new growth. Tree planting is not something I do to a great extent because of the time it takes to produce a product.
For my old field management I practice fire and use of a heavy disc to invigorate the natural seed bed to maintain the early succession needed for browse and fawning cover. Proper old field management will yield 3000-3500lbs of forage per acre while the bare under story of closed canopy woodlands will only produce 500lbs. When you take into account that a 150lb deer will eat 8k lbs of food a year it is easy to see how employing habitat management techniques to your place will increase your carrying capacity
Great thread! Nothing like working your own place
Wow! Thanks for the detailed information! You’ve practically handed me a primer on habitat improvement.
We tried the reintroduction of quail on our place, but only once. We purchased either 25 or 50 pair from someone out of San Saba who raises game birds for stocking local hunting preserves. However, due to their lack of instinct development, we knew it would be a crap shoot as to whether or not they survived. Most all of them became fodder for predators within 24 hours. Merde!
We’ve considered trying it again but weren’t sure if we’d be throwing good money after bad, and then, as it usually goes in life, we became overtaken by events...yada, yada.
Thank you for taking the time to write a detailed response. If you ever find yourself in Central Texas, I’d love to show you our place.
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Originally posted by ThisLadyHunts View PostWow! Thanks for the detailed information! You’ve practically handed me a primer on habitat improvement.
We tried the reintroduction of quail on our place, but only once. We purchased either 25 or 50 pair from someone out of San Saba who raises game birds for stocking local hunting preserves. However, due to their lack of instinct development, we knew it would be a crap shoot as to whether or not they survived. Most all of them became fodder for predators within 24 hours. Merde!
We’ve considered trying it again but weren’t sure if we’d be throwing good money after bad, and then, as it usually goes in life, we became overtaken by events...yada, yada.
Thank you for taking the time to write a detailed response. If you ever find yourself in Central Texas, I’d love to show you our place.
Originally posted by Calrob View PostI have 20 acres on one end of my place that is 100% untouched by humans. Its not enough but the deer pile up in it. The rest of the place we keep cactus free, we leave mesquites though. Deer seem to mostly want a safe place to bed and browse.
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Originally posted by ThisLadyHunts View PostWow! Thanks for the detailed information! You’ve practically handed me a primer on habitat improvement.
We tried the reintroduction of quail on our place, but only once. We purchased either 25 or 50 pair from someone out of San Saba who raises game birds for stocking local hunting preserves. However, due to their lack of instinct development, we knew it would be a crap shoot as to whether or not they survived. Most all of them became fodder for predators within 24 hours. Merde!
We’ve considered trying it again but weren’t sure if we’d be throwing good money after bad, and then, as it usually goes in life, we became overtaken by events...yada, yada.
Thank you for taking the time to write a detailed response. If you ever find yourself in Central Texas, I’d love to show you our place.
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Originally posted by armadillophil View PostHired a skid steer with a tree saw to clear about 3 acres. Making a 1 acre plot and rest will burn next couple years for native grass/ forb
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Looks great Phil! Is the lone big tree in picture 2 the proposed ambush site
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Hill country we cut about 2/3 of the cedar off the place. Left some on the hills for cover but really helped the oak trees and grasses.
South Texas we use a roller chopper with a seed box in areas with good deer brush. In areas with just mesquite or poor brush we go thru with a root plow on a dozer. Also with a seed box. Also dig a lot of tanks close to protein pens. Use a stacker on a dozer to clean up areas around big bull mesquites. I think habitat management is a lost art in south Texas. Everyone just leaves the brush and all the Forbes and grasses are a thing of the past. Their habitat management consists of protein feeders and more protein feeders.Last edited by stx; 04-27-2021, 07:51 AM.
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