“Last season, about 520,000 quail were harvested in Kansas, which was up from the 2015-16 season. Hunter success was relatively high, and hunter numbers remain below average,” reports Jeff Prendergast, Small Game Specialist with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism.
“Winter was relatively mild, and unlikely to have major populations impacts,” says Prendergast. “A heavy snowstorm occurred the first weekend in May in far western Kansas, and is thought to have caused some mortality, particularly in the Southwest.”
“Habitat across the state is generally good to great,” says Prendergast. “But extreme weather events like that have may have localized to regional impacts on fall quail densities.”
“Thus far this spring and early summer, good rainfall has been heavy providing ample cover for nesting and brood rearing,” adds Prendergast. “But very heavy precipitation may cause increased chick mortality particularly in the eastern regions of Kansas.”
“In recent years the north-central, south-central and southwest Kansas have generally had the best quail indices,” says Prendergast. “However, all regions are currently above their long term average according to our spring whistle survey.”
“Extreme drought stressed vegetation communities, but now there are excellent conditions for quail as the grasslands have started to recover,” concludes Prendergast.
See the other heartland quail reports here:
Iowa,
Nebraska.
Tom Carpenter is Digital Content Manager at Quail Forever.
Photo credit: Roger Hill.