Hunting Bobwhite Quail in a Pine Forest

The Forest and Harvesting a Bobwhite Quail

The Bobwhite quail, Colinus virginianus, is a major game species and a diminishing wild product of a combination of open forest and non-intensive agriculture of the eastern United States. This bird has been the object of a major field sport for over a century and is the subject of hundreds of books and scientific reports.

The wild Bobwhite quail is a small bird, six or seven ounces with a potential weight of nearly 10 ounces. The males, or roosters, are easily distinguished from subdued, buffy-marked females with their black and white head markings.

The wild bird is in short supply due to changing land management conditions that have had a negative effect on the bird. Many hunters are forced to release pen raised birds to hunt on a regular basis. This "artificial" introduction of birds insures a continued supply of game for bird hunters.