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Medicated feed for treating parasitic infections in Texas’ wild quail awaits approval

By Matt Williams|Special contributor 7:49 PM on Mar 2, 2019 A half-dozen hunting seasons have passed since wildlife researchers sniffed out a solid connection between parasites and the mysterious vanishing act of bobwhite quail that occurred across the rolling plains of West Texas in 2010. The finding has since led…

JeffreySorelleAugust 30, 2019

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Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch Honored with Lone Star Land Steward Award

ROBY, Tx- The Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch has been honored with a prestigious Lone Star Land Steward Award from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). TPWD’s Lone Star Land Steward Awards program recognizes private landowners for excellence in habitat management and wildlife conservation. The awards also seek to…

JeffreySorelleMay 21, 2019

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RPQRR hosts field trial

The Region 7 American Shooting Dog Championship was held recently on the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch—it was a hotly contested affair. When the smoke cleared two big running pointers with wide reaching races and bird work bested the field of 22. Tapped for the top spot was Chupacabra with…

JeffreySorelleApril 2, 2019

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And they’re off!

RPQRR’s latest effort in translocating wild-trapped bobwhites to sites further east kicks off tomorrow. Tarleton St. graduate student John Palarski and his trapping crew scoured west and south Texas three weeks ago and successfully trapped a total of 167 quail. Special thanks to our “Quail Donors” (who will remain anonymous)…

JeffreySorelleApril 2, 2019

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Hot off the Press: RPQRF’s 2018 Annual Report

We are pleased to release our 2018 Annual Report, available here. Inside you’ll find a comprehensive review of our work over the last year, including our long-term data sets for counting and tracking quail populations. The report also contains our latest information on quail survival, nesting success, and how small mammals, arthropods and raptor…

JeffreySorelleMarch 26, 2019

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Erath County translocation project update

We’re having some success catching bobwhites for our Erath County translocation project! These birds from south Texas are now residents of Erath County. We are putting VHF transmitters on (mostly) hens to monitor reproduction during the coming breeding season. We will continue trapping throughout west and south Texas for the…

JeffreySorelleMarch 5, 2019

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Commentaries on weather (from February 2019 issue)

Several readers commented on the rainfall graphs discussed last month; here are their comments (sometimes abridged for brevity). JO (reporting from eastern panhandle): I recognized your charts and results except 2010. The fall of 2010 was warm and I thought the crop was a bust and we gave up hunting.…

JeffreySorelleMarch 4, 2019

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Helicopter count confirms low abundance

Last Thursday’s helicopter count was about what I expected . . . sad. Each Mar and Nov we fly the same 52 miles’ worth of transects. We counted only 5 coveys (all bobwhites). Only one covey had more than 8 birds . . . it had 11. Thus, it was…

JeffreySorelleMarch 4, 2019

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When it rains, we’ll have quail . . . right?

No one questions the importance of rainfall for bobwhite and scaled quail in west Texas. Studies in south Texas conclude that 94% of the variation in age ratios (a measure of productivity) is determined by April-August rainfall. Our data from RPQRR (2008-18) also suggest a strong relationship where Apr-Aug rainfall…

JeffreySorelleFebruary 1, 2019

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Quail heads needed for eyeworm surveillance

I hope you have saved some quail heads for our 2018-19 eyeworm surveillance effort. Quail heads can be dropped off at the following locations, or shipped directly to RPQRR. See our website for additional information. If you wish to participate, save us 10-30 heads from your county (and a corresponding…

JeffreySorelleFebruary 1, 2019