BobWhite Quail: January 2005 Archives
This summer will mark the 13th year of the Bobwhite Brigade Wildlife Leadership Camp. The original camp (held at Krooked River Lodge north of Abilene) has been cloned to include 5 other camps (South Tx Bobwhite, East Tx Feathered Forces, 2 Buckskin Brigades, and the newest Bass Brigade). Applications are now available for youths interested in attending this summer's camps. See www.texasbrigades.org for application forms and more details.
There's plenty of opportunities for adults as well. If you're interested in the best 5-day shortcourse on quail management available anywhere, sign up as a "Covey Leader." And it doesn't cost you a penny (if you don't count lost sleep!). You'll eat like a king and hunt with good dogs. Applications available at the website.
Tuition for cadets is $300; we're always seeking sponsors for cadets, so if time precludes your personal involvement, but you want to help out, consider making a tax-deductible donation to sponsor a cadet from your area.
But we especially need your assistance in identifying and recruiting top-notch cadets (youths 13-17 years old). The camps typically have 10 girls and 20 guys, but I hope to have 15 of each at this year's Rolling Plains Bobwhite Brigade. If you have a potential cadet that might be shrugging their shoulders and thinking "why would I attend a 5-day camp where all they study about is a dumb little bird", let me know and I'll have some of our past cadets contact them. It's a great learning opportunity.
If some of you are interested in the Covey Leader role, let me know and I'll have some of our past Covey Leaders chat with you (or perhaps they'll post a reply here).
As I clean quail, I always dissect out the crop contents to see what the birds have dined on for their last meal, if anything. Yesterday (Jan. 2), I cleaned 18 birds taken from my lease in Coke County. Greens were the order of the day, followed by seeds of broomweed. One quail had a dozen or so mesquite beans in it.
During a recent trip to Hollis, OK over the holidays, most of the birds there had consumed "quail pea" (trailing wild bean). Some crops I looked at from quail in Clay County included seeds of chittam, hackberry, and a lot of seeds of green ash (these resemble broken toothpicks).
Check out the website below for images of key seeds found in quail crops. I'm always interested in expanding this photo library, so as you come across seeds that aren't represented, send me some samples and I'll get them photographed and posted. Mandy Currie, a student worker for me, uses a magnifier lamp and a digital camera as a quick way to getting some useful seed photographs.
