Biologists have documented a steady decline in bobwhites since the mid-1960s, though the drop started much earlier. For every five coveys we had back in 1966, there might be one left. It's hard for us baby-boomers to imagine, but some kids in Alabama have never heard the whistle of a male bobwhite.

You can blame a nearly universal change in land use for the loss of wild quail. Hunters have not shot them to near extinction. It is more like we have neglected them to that point. The habitat simply no longer supports the birds' needs. As farming practices have changed and our suburban culture has flourished, the birds were cut not slack. As their habitat disappeared so did they.

Unlike the rabbit and squirrel populations, which are comprised of multiple generations, 80 percent of bobwhites rarely live more than a year. Biologists also point out that the annual production of quail is dependent upon the right environmental conditions during the summertime reproductive season -- which explains why any given population can vary greatly from year to year.

Thus, quail management is almost entirely in the hands of Mother Nature. But even she is helpless if manicure the landscape into one that is not suited for bobwhites.

Landowners might not be able to control the weather, but they can manipulate habitat for maximum quail production. The DWFF has published a 47-page book, "Ecology and Management of the Bobwhite Quail in Alabama," that shows how best to do just that.

Written by biologist Stan Stewart, the free management guide is loaded with color photographs and illustrations.

"In recent years managers and researchers have revisited sound bobwhite biology and have made new discoveries about bobwhite behavior, ecology and management," Stewart says. "Individuals who are applying this knowledge are currently experiencing unprecedented bobwhite management successes and population highs.

"The message is clear: Quail do not have to be just part of the past. They respond to management," he adds. "Supply the birds a favorable environment, and they usually increase rapidly."

Despite the low numbers of native bobwhites, nearly 17,000 quail hunters take to the field each year in Alabama. Many of those folks who enjoy watching bird dogs zigging and zagging across the landscape are turning to the state's commercial operations. Pen-raised quail are no match for wild bobwhites when it comes to dodging lead, but they sure taste good.

Some of the state's best quail preserves can be found online at www.gamebirdhunts.com/us-hunting/alabama.asp.

Squirrels
Like Apples In An Orchard
Bushytails attract more hunters than any other small game. Alabama has more than twice the number of squirrel hunters as we have chasers of cottontails, and both outnumber quail hunters. Not only do we have a bountiful population of squirrels, but one doesn't have to look far to find a place to hunt them.

It would be easier to list the places where you cannot find and hunt squirrels than to say where to do it. You cannot, for instance, shoot them out of the oaks surrounding the state capitol in Montgomery. You cannot shoot them off the balcony at Lakepoint Resort in Eufaula. Well, you could at either place, but it is illegal.

Actually, Alabama's 30 or so wildlife management areas and four national forests are perfect for hunting squirrels, and you get two weeks before the opening of the deer bow season and the entire month of February to have the tracts mostly to yourself. In addition, hunting is allowed on some U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land, national wildlife refuges and several small tracts purchased in recent years by the Forever Wild Land Trust.

Most people think big stands of hardwoods are best for bushytails, but that is not necessarily so.

Tim Cosby, former chief of the DWFF enforcement section, is nuts over squirrels. The retired No. 1 game warden likes to hunt them with treeing feists. He's also the guy who taught me that poking along a hardwood bottom isn't nearly as productive as prowling edge habitat -- where hardwoods are flanked by pine plantations.