Sporting

That is not the case anymore. Development and changes in farming technology and techniques, among other issues, have adversely affected the quail. For one thing, there are fewer farmland hedgerows offering cover for quail. Farmers have been removing them for years to add tillable acreage to their land. In addition, farmers long ago started using fescue for grazing stock and as a cover crop. Fields of fescue, a cool-season grass, make poor living space for quail. What’s more, while longleaf pine trees are an ideal habitat for quail, there are fewer of them these days as farmers plant the faster-growing loblolly pines to supplement their farming income. Longleaf pines are also less affected by prescribed burning, which helps rejuvenate quail habitat.

Puckett acknowledges the necessity and benefits of these changes but also believes that farmers, in some cases, could help to boost the quail population. “If a landowner’s number one goal is timber income, then by all means, manage for that,” he says. “But if they have a strong desire to manage for wildlife, look into alternatives.” He points out that both the state and federal governments offer financial incentive programs that allow farmers to cost-effectively take some land out of crop production and leave a percentage for wildlife. “A lot can be accomplished by taking 5 percent of a farm out of production and placing it into field borders, hedgerows, idle crop land and thicket cover,” argues Puckett. He encourages anyone interested in helping bring back the quail population to visit www.dgif.virginia.gov/quail for comprehensive quail management information. “Joining the [Game and Inland Fisheries] department’s new Quail Management Assistance Program will intensify our efforts to help quail,” he says. “It will help us better to track habitat improvements and document successes.”

Put good hunters with good dogs in a favorable bird habitat and you get a successful quail hunt. Having bagged several birds during their late-starting quail hunt, the Royall party heads back to the lodge, high above the marsh, just as the November sun begins to set over Essex County, turning the sky reddish purple. There, they will spend the night and rise early to hunt waterfowl in the morning—followed by a goose hunt in the afternoon. The ride back to the lodge is a good time to reexamine shots missed, share excuses and salute shots well made. Asked to assess the afternoon, hunter Richard Farland says he was pleased. “What really impressed me was that we had many covey rises with anywhere from five to 15 birds. The ground cover was excellent, and the dogs worked beautifully. It was a real pleasure just watching the expert dog handling.”