From: crs@beta.lanl.gov (Charlie Sorsby)
Subject: Re: Raising and Releasing Game Birds... Advice Needed
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Date: 4 Jan 93 08:35:28 CST
Originator: hunting@osnome.che.wisc.edu

In article <1992Dec30.144334.5621@doug.cae.wisc.edu> jwahl@iastate.edu (H J Wahl) writes:
= In article <1992Dec29.093026.1007@doug.cae.wisc.edu> richm@bella.corp.sgi.com (Rich McKay) writes:
= >Keywords:Raising and Releasing Game Birds... Advice Needed
= >
= >My family owns a cattle ranch in South Central Nevada and we are
= >interested in raising and releasing game birds in order to establish a
= >self sustaining population.  [Lots deleted]

I sent some of this to Rich but it occurs to me that it may be
worth posting for all.

First, anyone contemplating the release of game birds of any kind
should consider (in addition to Jim's good advice) that the
practice is regulated by the same agency that regulates hunting and
fishing in most states ( Department of Game & Fish, ..of Natural
Resources, ..of Wildlife, what have you in your state ).

This is generally for very good reasons among which are to try to
prevent introduction of species which may compete with native
species, introduction of disease into wild populations, etc.
Please discuss it with your state agency and the game biologists
there before you even consider releasing game animals of any kind.
(Or any other kind of animal, for that matter.)

= >Does anyone know of any organization I could contact to get more
= >information?  I would be interested in purchasing chicks or even
= >fertilized eggs.  Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
= >
= >...Rich
= 
= Dear Rich,
= 
= There are several organizations that would probably be able to help
= you such as Pheasants Forever, National Wild Turkey Federation, Ducks
= Unlimited, and I think there is a Quail Forever or something like
= that.  I don't have access to addresses or phone numbers at the moment
= but if no one else resonds with them I will try to get ahold of some
= for you later.

I can supply that for Quail Unlimited.  QU's charter is the
improvement of *all* upland game, not only quail, mainly through
habitat improvement.  Their bimonthly magazine, _Quail Unlimited_
has many good articles on research and on practical work to improve
upland game populations.  Unlike many such organizations, most (60%
as I recall) of funds raised by local chapters go to the local
chapter for *LOCAL* projects.  (The magazine also has one of my
favorite gun-dog training columns, Steve Rafe's "About Dogs."

Address(s):

			Quail Unlimited National Headquarters
			P. O. Box 610
			Edgefield, SC 29824-0610

For information about starting you own local chapter, if one does
not already exist in your locale, direct your query to Winona
Overholt, Assistant Director of Chapter Development at the same
address or phone 1-803-637-5731.

= I only wish everyone took such interest in wildlife populations.
= However, judging by my own experience with raising and releasing
= quail, your time and money may be much better spent in trying to
= improve habitat than producing the birds yourself. It seems to me that
= if you have had birds there in the past, any more that you would
= release would soon succumb to whatever got the original birds.
= Especially since pen-raised birds never seem to have the survivability
= or vigor that wild birds have.  I know the repopulating of wild turkey
= project in Iowa suffered decades of pure failure until they gave up on
= pen-raised turkeys. As soon as they started trading for wild trapped
= turkeys with other states, the population really boomed until there
= was a good population all over the state.  I'm sure that any of the
= above mentioned organizations will have many wortwhile suggestions on
= habitat improvement. Good luck and keep us posted with progress
= reports.

Good points, Jim.  Also, pen-raised birds seem to be more afflicted
with disease (perhaps due to great population density in pens) than
do wild birds--or so I seem to recall.  Another problem is that
pen-raised birds may bring in disease against which *they* have
immunity or against which *they* have been medicated but to which
wild birds are susceptible.  As you can guess, the result may be
the decimation of wild populations as well as the loss of the pen-
raised birds through predation and the rigors of the wild.  And,
of course, they are not typically as strong flyers, lack fear of
man and dog (and therefore coyotes, foxes, etc.), are typically
unaccustomed to foraging in the wild, etc.  Consider, instead,
joining or forming a local QU chapter and raising funds for habitat
improvement (or simply learning from them how to improve habitat on
any property you may have) and working in cooperation with your
state game management agency.

Happy hunting!

Charlie -- Upper Rio Grande Chapter, Quail Unlimited


-- 
Best,

Charlie "Older than dirt" Sorsby				"I'm the NRA!"
	  crs@lanl.gov


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