I am just glad that I got to enjoy years of the best quail hunting anyone could ask for. I was raised on a ranch in southern OK. I could turn my dogs out and within two or three hours put up 8 to 10 coveys. Today I don't believe there is a one covey on the whole place! I go to the meetings that the wildlife dept. puts on to hear their explanation of the problem. All they say is environment, environment, environment... The environment in the county that I live in has not changed. We have never had much farming but we still have acres of pasture with lots of quail feed, plenty of cover but no quail. Some of us armchair biologist say the problem is predators...hawks, owls, coons, even turkeys. We have always had predators. Others say weather...too dry...too wet...it has always too wet or too dry in OK. Did not hinder the quail back in the day. I have said all of that to say this. It is my never to be humble opinion that we have poisoned quail with lots of other little wild critters. We saturate the fields with weed killers, bug killers, brush killers. Those involved with keeping right of ways clear, fence rows, etc. the places where quail used to live and nest spray these areas with potent herbicides that kill everything. At the last game dept. meeting that I attended I asked what had happened to the bullfrogs? There was a time that I could stand out on my porch on a hot summer night and hear them bellowing in every direction. Ever see a horny toad? More properly a horned toad. Everyone used to have 3 or more in the garden. How about an ordinary toad? We used to pitch those old brown light bugs to our local toads until they were so full they could not hop. My belief is they have gone the way of the quail. Too many chemicals. Please excuse this rant for being too long. Just the ruminating of an old coot who has seen the change.
I believe you’re barking up the right tree. Jack and Swamp Rabbits are gone too, and there aren’t many terrapins on the roads, salamanders in the ponds, or snakes around either. I haven’t seen a Flying Squirrel in S.E. Oklahoma in 15 years. Some of my friends blame Coyotes, but I say, “No way!”
Poisons are used everywhere in agriculture and by compulsive homeowners who believe that a lush green lawn and a weedless garden are essential to prove to the world that they are masters of their small domains.....all provided simply and efficiently through the miracles of modern chemistry.
I visited Long Island, N.Y. a few years ago in the summer. Not a butterfly, beetle or moth to be seen, not even in the streetlights..... If this continues, we are going to be gone too. The Earth is going to be as dead as the surface of the moon.
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