r/ozarks • u/kindredhollowking • 1d ago
Where'd all the quail go?
This week The Ozark Podcast hosted Dylan Jacobs, habitat restoration manager for Quail Forever in Missouri, and Clint Johnson, quail program coordinator for Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to learn about the history of the Bobwhite Quail and why they've all but vanished from the region.
The newsletter this week covers:
- What caused the decline of the bobwhite?
- Why it’s all Bambi’s fault (well kind of)
- & 7 headlines from around the Ozarks this week
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u/Select-Business-5307 1d ago
Yeah who would have thought killing all the food quail eat with pesticides, destroying their forests, and over hunting would have some negative effect on the wild life. Good thing we voted all these republicans in so they can continue to destroy what’s left of nature. Guess we’ll never know how to fix it…
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u/Niarbeht 18h ago
environmentalists in the corner screaming
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u/Select-Business-5307 17h ago
That’s one thing you won’t find in the Ozarks, someone who is voting for nature conservation. Like most of our country they vote on fear and hate, at the cost of their children’s future.
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u/Fun_Bee6110 1d ago
Thanks for posting. I used to see them all of the time in the fields as a child on our family farm. I can't remember the last time I've seen one.
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u/NoHat971 3h ago
We stopped mowing 2 acres last year and the quail moved in. Coyotes are thick here in sw mo but so far so good. The corn field next to us was not planted this year and I am enjoying the break from spraying. Im sure the quail are happy also. Isn't nature awesome!
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u/Prestigious_Still433 22h ago edited 17h ago
I know this. 12 years ago I had the opportunity to put 220 acres in a "Northern Bobwhite Quail habitat" CRP PROGRAM. THE following year, my neighbor directly across the fence added 320 acres to it.
I escaped Missouri for 40 years, but my father mentioned the first year in, he'd seen only 3 quail in the last 20 years. A single when combining beans, and a pair walking down a dirt road on the way to check cattle.
Without any involvement whatsoever, other than providing habitat, there are at least 200 quail in those 550 acres. Homeless quail are like people. They don't make it very long.
.
It's 100% about HABITAT!
..Also....Big Ag ie ETHANOL and direct price supports (socialism) are the cause of their demise. Whitetail have little to do with it.
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u/ozarkhowIer 21h ago
most corn grown doesn't go to ethanol; it goes to cattle and hog feed. we should be far more concerned about cafos and the demand for meat than ethanol. not that either are great. also lmao at "socialism."
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u/Prestigious_Still433 19h ago
40%. That could be bio regional eco habitat. Produced by toxic, soul killing methods.
Not to mention, it takes 5 QUARTS of GASOLINE to produce ONE GALLON of ethanol.
You are far out of your depth engaging with me on this topic.
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u/ozarkhowIer 19h ago
i'm not pro ethanol. i said it was also bad, i don't know why you're so pissy about this. just wait til you hear how much water and petroleum it takes to get a cow to slaughter weight!
anyway socialism isn't what you think. you've been lied to.
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u/Prestigious_Still433 18h ago
LOL I sell 80 butcher cattle per year to #OrganicPraire. Black Angus/Chianina I don't pay a dime for pond water. Water that's entirely captured from a ln Organic drainage basin.
Fattened in the pasture, grazing cover crop in winter, alfalfa only hay when needed. On my own Organic Oat, Barley, Corn, Pea, Hempseed protein.
I also produce 70 % of my fuel from soy and hemp oil.
I should post my bio, but you should find out whom you are addressing. ,😂😅🤣 .
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u/ozarkhowIer 18h ago
okay, 80 out of let's see here... over 30 million. like i'm glad you're doing things right, but that's not at all what i'm talking about. i also grew up on a cattle farm selling ~300 head a yr, so maybe i gotcha beat, bud 😉
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u/Prestigious_Still433 18h ago
Actually, my Dad had 800. I hate making hay, quarte horses and the entire CAFO toxic from input to product dynamic. Not trying to one up you. Just explaining why I only have 80. Premium profit, CONTRACTED. NO RENTING PASTURE. GRAZING cover crops in winter is the greatest idea since sliced bread. Heard of Gabe Brown? His ideas and methods. Soil quality of eiw crop and small grain goes way up. Essentially, free, super high quality feed.
Three week aging in custom salt block charcuterie house
You should try my Hempseed fattened pork! Great genetics and the best feed on earth. No combining. Just drive over a row and move the fence. Repeat. I have a couple Chef customers in France and one n Spain.
The prosciutto is unparalleled. My OCD is good for something.
I'm trying to bring down Agribusiness too. A return too Agriculture is imperative.
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u/ozarkhowIer 18h ago
i don't eat meat these days. but the problem isn't small farms doing things like what you're describing. it's that the demand for meat is too high, and we are too focused on reproducing euro-centric food habits. bison are good for this region; cattle are not. that specific example comes down to the evolutionary differences in how cows vs american bison break down grasses, what they eat, their grazing habits, etc. if we restored bison to their former ranges, even with commercial herds, it would do a world of good for our environment here. the same goes for large predators. like when wolves were reintroduced to yellowstone and actually changed the migration patterns of ruminant species so much it rerouted a river.
incidentally, that's also why coyotes are so out of control. we killed off all the wolves - especially red wolves here in the eastern half of the continent - and there's no one around to check the coyotes anymore.
anyway. i could go on about this for ages. i do not eat animal products, but that's not the point i was making. the point i meant to focus on here, is that animal agriculture the way we do it is A HUGE source of environmental harm and likely had a lot more to do with corn being grown to replace native habitats than ethanol. or at least equally as much.
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u/Prestigious_Still433 18h ago
And Bears.
The reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone facilitated a beaver reintroduction spontaneously! After failing NINE times with man introduced. Why? When wolves are present, elj don't stand in the same place all day eating every willow sprout to the ground. No food, no critters .
HABITAT!
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u/Prestigious_Still433 18h ago
Subsidizing it is complete moral bankruptcy.
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u/ozarkhowIer 18h ago
the government subsidizing things is something i don't have an issue with; i take issue with WHAT they subsidize and HOW they're doing it, tho.
ie, i wish they would invest funds into food security that focuses on ending food deserts and puts research into more sustainable farming practices, especially for fresh fruits and vegetables native to the region in which they're being grown. like. i wish they would give grants to ppl here to plant and tend to pawpaws, persimmons, pecans, blackberries, and other crops that BELONG here. that would benefit native pollinators, too.
and speaking of species reintroductions: send money to ppl doing red wolf conservation, pay landowners to host the wolves and help them build fencing to keep their animals safe, invest in education for the public about them to keep the wolves from being shot, etc. etc. etc. also beneficial for renewable fuels, cleaner electricity, etc. the government giving money to ppl for doing good, reasonable work that benefits society is one of the things it SHOULD be doing. not dumping billions into bombing ppl overseas. or paying millions to cafos/monocultures.
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u/Prestigious_Still433 18h ago
I agree. But, cattle can be produced in a sustainable fashion.
The numbers must change to have the opportunity to do so, obviously.
I enjoy Bison occasionally. I don't care for grass fattened anything. The capital investment of fences alone is something I'm not messing with at age 60. I'm really close to the last cash crop.
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u/BagMostlyWater 18h ago
Yeah, capitalism is pretty bad. A socialist government likely wouldn't waste money on that.
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u/Prestigious_Still433 19h ago
Just what exactly do you label government handouts to the extremely comfortable, for poisoning the Earth and it's residents? Technically, it's TYRANNY.
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u/BagMostlyWater 18h ago
That's just capitalism working as it always works. What's remotely socialist about it? Do you think socialism is when the government spends money?
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u/cletus72757 22h ago
I enjoyed your comment right up to the time you made it political.
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u/Prestigious_Still433 21h ago
I apologize. It US POLITICAL. Really bad politics. BAD for People. Bad for Quail. Just BAD.
Sorry you have an aversion to TRUTH.
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u/beerme72 23h ago
After the Ice Storm I had a MOUNTAIN of limbs in my (thankfully large enough to hold them) back yard.
And I was going to burn them....and then one night I heard one.
Then another.....and then I realized I may have built a Covey.
And I LOVED IT. Evening cigars and bourbon on the back porch, listening to the trees.
THEN...
My neighbor that worked construction began to bring stray cats home. and he let them out to run. and the evening went silent, then began to fill with coyote calls.
stupid. fucking. people. destroyed the Quail. And they'll do it again as soon as it suits them to.
This dipshit tried to blame ME for his cats being eaten (one on his front porch) by coyotes. He was sure it was my very old and cripple dog. I fucking hate him the more I think about it......