Restoring Quail Habitat One HAT at a Time
Jim Willis – Wildlife Habitat Federa;on
“The world will li?le note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what we did here.” -‐Abraham Lincoln, Ge#ysburg Address
“WHF has been the difference in my ability to maintain and enhance our quail popula;on on my wife's family's ranch despite the worst drought since the 50's.WHF stepped into the picture and did the job that I could get no one else to do. In the 2011-‐2012 season we had our best quail season ever. We hunt half days. We had many 8, 9, and 10 covey half days, several 12 and 13 covey half days and a record half day of seventeen coveys that contained 170 birds that three of us counted on the flushes. This was on 1200 acres where WHF has done the most work. That half day was a record for that pasture.” -‐Quotes from note to TPWD from Eliot Tucker.
• Res$ng and not overgrazing • Plant in well packed seedbeds • Be willing to “fail-‐fast fix-‐fast” • Be pa$ent – Na$ves sleep, creep, leap • Harvest or graze only top half of the plant • Best stands are a mixture of local eco-‐types mixed with cul$vars
Objec$ve: $5 million over the next 5 years to expand our current HAT program to 225,000 acres.
Upland Game Bird Strategic Plan • Objec;ve 4 – By 2013, establish two quail landowner coopera;ves in important quail eco-‐regions • Strategy 4.1 -‐ Work with Joint Ventures to develop landscape level decision support tools to iden$fy priority areas for quail and grassland bird management and habitat on private lands.
OPJV Focus Areas
• Strategy 4.2 – Use the Wildlife Habitat Federa$on and Western Navarro Bobwhite Restora$on Ini$a$ves as models for landowner coopera$ves on private lands.
OPJV – Popula;on Objec;ves & Focus Areas
Grassland Bird Monitoring
Habitat & Treatment Tracking
WHF -‐Habitat Ac;on Teams