| Grassland Evaluation Contest Study Guide | Sixth Edition: December 2009 |
| Wildlife Habitat | |
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Wildlife Habitat: Bobwhite Quail & Cottontail Rabbit
Bobwhite quail are best managed on a twenty to forty acre basis. The area is small enough to work with and large enough for a covey of quail. The most obvious quail management is to protect what is there now - shrubby and woody cover around edges, in draws and other idle areas which usually occur on a farm. FOOD MANAGEMENT: Food must be available and adjacent to escape cover. Birds should be able to walk through quality cover to their feeding grounds. Food must be abundant, high quality, and available so that it can be utilized. The bobwhite quail diet will vary throughout its population range. In grain producing areas, soybeans are used most frequently followed by corn, weed seeds, and milo. In other areas quail will rely heavily on weed seed and cereal grain crop residues when available. Fall tillage of crop stubble will eliminate an important food source that can improve winter survival. No-till cropping systems are beneficial, providing more numerous seeds, insects, and cover. A quail management plan should always incorporate the following important sources of food: 1) grain crop residue or annual grain food plots and 2) native weed seeds, grasses, and shrub/tree fruits.
IMPORTANT QUAIL FOOD PLANTS INCLUDE: COVER MANAGEMENT: Cover can often be improved simply by restricting livestock access with fencing to allow natural plant growth. Maintain patches of dense brushy cover around all fields, and in travel lanes or scattered across fields larger than 20 acres. ESCAPE COVER: can be provided by thickets of dense shrubs (dogwoods, plum, or blackberries) and loosely constructed areas of brush at least 1500 ft2 in size (30’ x 50’). Escape cover located next to food production areas are best. Avoid tightly stacked brush or dozer piles which may be more attractive to foxes and raccoons and less usable by rabbits and quail. Consider an independent patch of shrubs/brush as suitable escape cover if it is at least 30’ wide, 1500 ft2 in area, and you or a hunting dog would not want to go through it. NESTING COVER: is usually provided by unmowed or ungrazed to moderately grazed grassland, idle crop fields, or weedy field borders. Quail prefer sparse, clumpy grasslands with at least 25% bare ground for ease of movement, 6-18” high vertical structure, and residual dry litter to create a nest. Native warm-season grasses and redtop, timothy, and orchardgrass are desirable grasses when managed for openness at ground level and correct vertical structure. 25-50% bare ground along with a diversity of forbs would create ideal nesting habitat. Nesting areas may be maintained by grazing, burning, or disking every few years. ROOSTING COVER: provides concealment from above and thermal protection from heat and sun. Quail roost in vegetation that is rather open or clumpy, away from dense or tangled escape cover. Fields of annual forbs like ragweed and croton, or grasses like big and little bluestem or broomsedge are good roosting areas. SUMMARY: Bobwhite quail are primarily seed eaters except for the first few weeks after hatching. They do eat insects when they are abundant and easy prey, but seeds remain the staple food for most of the year. Escape cover is critical and must be located next to feeding areas. To be effective, cover must be protected from livestock at all times unless vegetative growth needs to be modified using short periods of grazing. BOBWHITE QUAIL LIFE CYCLE APRIL: Covey breakup occurs. Whistling and pairing begins. MAY: Nesting gets underway. Early attempts are often unsuccessful due to hay cutting, predators, etc. JUNE: Nesting peak is around June 15th. Heavy rainfall and floods at this time can have a detrimental impact on quail populations. JULY: The second hatching peak is usually in mid to late July, due to second attempts at nesting. Heavy rains or drought can play a role in hatch success. AUGUST: Late hatches occur, particularly if there were excessive rains in June or July. From 10-20% of the fall population are usually late hatch birds. SEPT: Birds from July hatches become mature enough to enter the fall shuffle. OCT: The quail begin to become habitat selective. They often leave poor (marginal) habitat to find a better conditions. NOV: Winter coveys formed. Exception: If the percentage of late hatched birds (Aug-Sept) is high, then weak covey units are formed and hunting is poor. DEC: A generally fair month for quail, unless ice & snow is deep. JAN: Severe weather becomes a factor. Quail will select and concentrate in the best habitat where food sources are rapidly depleted. (Hand-feeding quail not recommended) DEC: A generally fair month for quail, unless ice and snow is deep. JAN: Peak fat reserves are reached about mid-month. Severe weather becomes a factor. Quail will select and concentrate in the best habitat where food sources are rapidly depleted. Handfeeding quail not recommended. FEB: Severe weather still a factor. Extended periods of ice or snow cover are most harmful. Population losses at this point for any reason are most harmful (poaching, predator, starvation, etc.). MAR: Food, cover, and fat reserves at lowest point of the year - adverse weather can still be a factor. Covey breakup begins at the end of the month. COVER SELECTION:
FOOD SELECTION:
The average Missouri farm has ample room for rabbit management. Under good conditions, the home range of a cottontail is often less than five acres. Rabbits need well-distributed escape cover, an ample year-round food supply, and a safe place for nesting and development of young. Although rabbits drink during hot, dry spells, they can also obtain water from the succulent plants they eat. FOOD MANAGEMENT: Bluegrass is sought for food nearly year-round, although not heavily during the summer. Preferred summer foods include white clover, annual lespedezas, and crabgrass. Newly sprouted wheat and waste grain from corn and milo are important during fall and winter. Annual cheat grass and other winter annuals are important food during early spring. High quality foods must be next to good cover for rabbits. IMPORTANT RABBIT FOOD PLANTS INCLUDE: Waste grain crop residues, asters, Kentucky Bluegrass, chess, cinquefoil, clovers, crabgrass, dandelion, fall panic grass, fleabanes, horse nettle, knotweed, annual lespedezas, nodding foxtail, plantains, poison ivy, ragweeds, sedges, smartweeds, wild strawberry, sumacs, tall thistle, tick trefoils, and timothy COVER MANAGEMENT: Dense, well distributed protective cover is the most critical element in good rabbit habitat. Live shrub thickets or downed brushy structure located in the right place bring the quickest response of all management practices. Rabbits often take over a downed woody structure the night after construction. Some trees like pin or shingle oak will remain alive for several years when hinge-cut at the stump. This can be done by cutting mostly through the trunk and felling the top over, still attached to the stump. The live twigs and limbs of hinge-cut trees can provide both food and cover for several years. When creating artificial brush structures, place them close to existing natural woody cover such as briars, fencerows, or woodland edges. Fencing woodlots, gullies, and pond areas to exclude livestock can improve existing cover and allow grass and shrubs to thrive. By protecting fencerows or field borders from grazing and felling the larger trees, resulting shrubby growth will be low and dense. Allow sprouts, briars, and brush to grow on odd or idle areas of at least ¼ acre to provide excellent nesting, loafing, and roosting sites for wildlife. SUMMARY: A rabbit management plan including as many of the following items as possible will be most successful: 1) Dense shrub thickets, briar patches, downed woody structure and woodlands protected from grazing 2) Cereal grain crops (oats, wheat, rye, barley), 3) Annual grain crops (corn, milo, soybeans), 4) Green browse (light to moderately grazed native warm-season and cool-season grasses with ample forbs and legumes), 5) Weedy areas (crabgrass, foxtail, ragweed).
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