Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 26, 1995 TAG: 9503280011
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There were other more favorable outings, when his dogs caught the invigorating whiff of a quail and went into long, low points, and everything seemed right with the world. But overall, it was a depressing season.
What's more, Terrell told officials of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries at a recent public hearing that nobody is doing anything about it. The department has turned its back on quail, he said.
``In my opinion, the quail, as a species, is about extinct,'' Terrell said, with a quiver in his voice. ``Hunting quail has gone from recreation to work. It is no longer pleasure.''
Game officials don't deny the 1994-95 season was a bummer for quail hunters. It was the worst since the state began keeping quail harvest records in 1977, said Bob Duncan, chief of the department's game division.
It took hunters nearly four hours of effort to flush a single quail last season. That was down 16 percent form the previous season, which also was a poor one.
``But to say that we aren't doing anything, that is a little bit of a bum rap,'' Duncan said. ``We probably haven't articulated well what we have done.''
Whatever it is, it isn't enough, Terrell believes.
``I expect in two or three years quail hunting will be a thing of the past,'' he said.
Terrell lauded game officials for what he called a ``super success story'' with the management of turkey and deer, species that have been providing hunters record kills. But quail, he said, are moving in the opposite direction.
Terrell asked two questions: Why not shorten the quail season? Why not stock birds?
Why not require sportsmen to purchase a special stamp to hunt quail, asked Ronald Pyle, another concerned quail hunter from the Piedmont. Pyle said he would pay $5.
``The game department needs to recognize that the decline of quail is a major problem.'' Pyle said.
Still another hunter said he would be willing to pay $100 for a quail stamp if it would help restore quail.
There were recommendations to get tougher on predators by opening a season on hawks, which are protected by federal law, and by expanding the season on foxes, raccoons and wildcats.
But in the end, while changes in regulations were proposed on behalf of turkey and deer, none embraced quail or the critters that prey on them. That surprised a lot of sportsmen, but it didn't disappoint Duncan.
``People are kind of flailing the water, trying the shotgun approach, to figure out what ails quail,'' he said. ``Nobody knows what ails quail.''
That doesn't mean problems with this popular farmland bird are insurmountable, he said. It means solid research is necessary to unravel what is fact and what is fiction. Such research already is under way on behalf of quail, he said.
``We have to use the same kind of [major research] approach we are using on turkeys and on bears,'' he said.
Duncan is optimistic the downward trend in the number of quail can be reversed, but it won't be accomplished with some magical adjustment to hunting regulations.
by CNB