RPQRF e-Quail Newsletter (September 2025 V17N9)

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Parasites in Quail: Clearing the Air
by Dr. Ryan O’Shaughnessy

A recent social media debate has once again highlighted strong opinions within the quail hunting world. Few topics in quail management have generated as much debate in recent years as parasites. Among scientists, hunters, and land managers, discussions have at times become polarized, with narratives ranging from parasites being insignificant to them being the silver bullet solution to quail decline. Some voices even claim that efforts like Quail Guard are primarily motivated by profit, while others insist parasite treatments offer no real benefit at all. At the Rolling Plains Quail Research Foundation (RPQRF), we believe the truth lies somewhere more nuanced.

Our position has always been clear: habitat and weather remain the most important factors influencing quail populations. Habitat loss—particularly in the Rolling Plains Ecoregion—continues to be the leading cause of long-term quail decline. Without healthy rangelands, diverse plant communities, and adequate cover, no intervention can sustain quail populations over time. We have never claimed otherwise.

That said, quail face multiple survival challenges each year, and parasites may play a role in tipping the scales against them. While we cannot control weather, and while restoring habitat requires long-term commitment and stewardship, it is worth asking whether managing parasite burdens could provide quail with an additional advantage. If reducing parasite loads can improve reproductive success and increase annual survival, then it may be one more tool to help sustain our beloved bird.

For this reason, RPQRF has invested in research to better understand the relationship between parasites and quail survival. Our work does not presume parasites are the cause of quail decline, nor that treatment is a panacea. Rather, we seek to apply rigorous science to determine whether managing parasites can complement habitat management and weather cycles in supporting stronger populations.

As with all our efforts, the guiding principle remains stewardship. We recognize the complexity of quail ecology and the many forces at play. Parasites may not be the primary driver of population trends, but they could be a factor worth managing—particularly in regions where quail already face immense pressure.

At RPQRF, we remain committed to separating fact from misconception, pursuing sound science, and keeping habitat at the heart of conservation. The science and research needed to support or refute new concepts take time, and rest assured, we’re working on it! I encourage anyone with a love of this gamebird to keep an open mind, and be supportive rather than dismissive of new ideas pertaining to quail conservation.  Remember, we are all trying to do the same thing, and that is to preserve the bird and the sport we love so dearly. 

Rattlesnake and Dog Encounters by Mitchell Riggs

As the days cool, dove season is underway and quail season is just around the corner. Hunters are running their dogs more often—getting them in shape for the season—and retrievers are back in the field. Cooler temperatures don’t mean snakes are gone; they remain active, and encounters are still possible.

On August 26th, Nora, my 5-month-old Brittany, was bitten on the nose by a rattlesnake. She had previously received the Red Rock Biologics Crotalus Atrox Toxoid vaccine. We didn’t witness the strike, so it may have been one to four hours before we noticed the swelling. Despite the bite, Nora acted like her normal playful self—aside from the swelling on her face.

Even though she had been vaccinated and seemed fine, we decided to take her to the veterinarian and opted for antivenom treatment. We were in and out within an hour, and Nora remained active and in good spirits. Based on her mild reaction and quick recovery, I believe the vaccine significantly reduced the severity of her symptoms and ultimately saved us money on vet bills.

You may have heard that after 20 years on the market, the USDA initially declined to renew Red Rock Biologics’ license for the Crotalus Atrox Toxoid. However, the USDA has since granted a conditional license, and the vaccine is back in production. I personally believe this vaccine works—and I’m grateful it’s available again. Whether or not to vaccinate is a personal choice, vaccine is around $40, antivenom treatment $500-1,000, your hunting buddy, priceless.

Treating Yucca with Quail in Mind by Kyndall Underwood

Yucca is a native plant found throughout Texas rangelands, and it often sparks debate among landowners—should it be considered a valuable part of the habitat or an invasive problem? The answer depends on your land management goals. While yucca can dominate pastures and reduce the amount of livestock forage, it’s also important to recognize its ecological value. Quail, for instance, frequently nest at the base of yucca plants, relying on the shade and concealment the plant offers. Some research suggests quail nests associated with yucca have a higher survival rate. Would you want to stick your hand in yucca plant?

When considering yucca control, a selective approach is key. Not all yucca needs to be removed, instead, target areas where it has become overly dense and is crowding out native grasses and forbs that are important for both livestock and wildlife. Chemical control options, such as Tordon 22K (picloram) or a 25% Remedy® Ultra Herbicide & 75% diesel mixture , can be applied directly into the whorl of the plant. Mechanical removal is an option as well, though it can be labor-intensive and often ineffective unless the entire root system is removed. Late summer to early fall is typically the most effective time to treat yucca, as the plant begins shifting energy into its root system.

Managing rangelands with both livestock and wildlife in mind requires balance. Thoughtful, selective treatment allows you to maintain enough yucca to benefit nesting quail while still improving forage and range health.

Bottom line: Treat yucca selectively to support both productive pastures and thriving wildlife habitat. With careful planning, your brush management efforts can enhance both land value and biodiversity.

Yucca is sometimes referred to as “beargrass”, it is thought to have gotten this name from Native Americans who used the strong leaves to hang bear meat to cure. Another theory suggests the name came from bears using the plant for bedding material. Here at the research ranch, the research technicians cut yucca plants and use it to cover the tops of the quail traps. This provides cover and concealment for the captured quail until a technician arrives.

You can find more information on treating yucca here. 

A Doggone Long Road for Love (and Legacy) by Dr. Dan Foley

In the world of quail hunting, loyalty often runs deeper than the birds themselves. It is measured not only in the hours spent in the field but also in the miles traveled, the pedigrees preserved, and the friendships forged around dogs whose instincts define generations. During the last week of August, I put that loyalty to the test with a 1,200-mile drive from San Angelo, Texas, to Provo, Utah, accompanied by my German Shorthair Pointer, Pearl. The purpose was not a trial or a hunt, but something more fundamental: to safeguard the bloodline of one of the most respected kennels in the history of our breed.

Pearl descends from Huachuca Kennels of Huachuca City, Arizona, where Robert “Bob” and Sandy Deitering built a reputation that still resonates today. For decades, the Deiterings shaped German Shorthairs that excelled in both the field and the winner’s circle. Bob, a former Air Force man, began with a single dog in the 1960s and quickly rose to prominence in the field trial community. His thoughtful, deliberate training style and careful breeding choices made Huachuca Kennels synonymous with excellence. Among his greatest achievements was the Quailridge Roxy Roller line, which produced 27 field champions and national title winners—a feat that even now remains a benchmark in the breed. Bob was inducted into the NGSPA Hall of Fame in 2014, and when he passed in 2019, he left behind more than memories. He left a living legacy, carried on by the dogs that bear his name in their pedigrees and the hunters who still measure themselves by his standard.

My own connection to Huachuca Kennels goes back nearly 30 years, when my longtime hunting companion, Breon Robertson, first introduced me to Bob and Sandy. Since then, Breon and I have raised, bred and hunted over more than a dozen Huachuca-bred shorthairs. One season, we even traveled with Bob and Sandy to South Dakota to help them train dozens of dogs. It was a month of long days, heavy lifting, and endless lessons—the kind of immersive experience that taught us as much about patience and precision as it did about dogs. To this day, I count it as one of the most formative experiences of my time as a handler.

That history is why the trip to Provo mattered. Breon owns a male named Blaze, a direct descendant of the Huachuca line, as sleek and capable as any dog I’ve hunted behind. Pearl, my female, is cut from the same cloth. Together they represent decades of careful choices, refinement, and instinct—all the things Bob and Sandy valued most. The challenge was geography. Blaze lives in Montana, Pearl in Texas, and neither quail nor bloodlines respect state lines. So, we settled on Utah as our meeting ground, halfway between us, to consult a reproductive specialist who could give this pairing the best chance of success.

To an outsider, it may sound excessive: days on the road and thousands of miles traveled for a vet appointment and the possibility of a litter of pups. But those who have hunted over a truly great dog know better. These dogs are not interchangeable; they are the product of vision, persistence, and no small measure of devotion. Every time Pearl locks into a point, she carries with her more than instinct. She carries the imprint of decades of effort, from Bob’s first trial dog to the champions that followed, to the lessons passed down to those of us lucky enough to learn from him and Sandy. Preserving that isn’t a luxury, it’s an obligation.

Whether or not this particular breeding takes remains to be seen. Nature, even when assisted by science, offers no guarantees. But the journey itself reaffirmed why hunters like us do what we do. It is not only about birds in the bag or ribbons on the wall. It is about the partnership between hunter and dog, the friendships that endure across decades, and the responsibility to keep alive a bloodline that has shaped so much of my time afield. For me, those 1,200 miles were not a burden. They were simply the road that needed to be traveled.

When people ask how far a quail hunter will go for his dog, I can give them an exact answer: as far as it takes.

Dr. Dale on Quail Podcast

Join Dr. Dale and his special guest Kyle Lusson as they discuss Quail Forever’s mission to conserve quail and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public access, education and conservation advocacy and their implementation of these efforts in Texas. Kyle also has a special connection to the Fisher County area where the Research Ranch is located and you will not want to miss that story!

For previous sessions, see www.quailresearch.org/resources.  Thanks to Gary Joiner at Texas Farm Bureau, Jonathan Vail (Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation) for his technical expertise, Jeffrey SoRelle with RPQRF for logistical assistance, and Gordy & Sons of Houston for funding. If you have a suggestion for an interesting interviewee, please e-mail Dr. Rollins ([email protected]).

By the Numbers

1.57 – Inches of rain received during August at RPQRR

40 – Number of reptile species documented at RPQRR

From Our Facebook Page by Dana Wright

The Facebook post of the month goes to a post featuring a research technician, a scaled quail with a transmitter, a rattlesnake and how the three came together.  I had no idea the kind of reaction we would receive, I realized quickly, people were either passionate about their love of snakes or hate of snakes. Here at the Research Ranch, we have a very healthy reptile population and have documented 19 species of snakes, the most common observed being the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. I asked Dr. Rollins “out of the last 15+ years how many quail with transmitters had been eaten by snakes”? You have to remember we have monitored thousands of quail with transmitters over the years, per Dr. Rollins’ recollections, this incidence would make the 8^th one, all but one involved a rattlesnake, one was eaten by a rat snake. We have also only had one technician bitten by a rattlesnake in all of the thousands of hours they have spent tromping around out in the field. Considering all this, it’s a pretty rare event for a quail to be eaten by a rattlesnake.

Following is an abstract of a paper published on the subject: “PREDATION ON NORTHERN BOBWHITE AND SCALED QUAIL BY SNAKES IN TEXAS” by Rebekah E. Ruzicka, Dale Rollins, Lloyd M. Lacoste, and Fidel Hernández

Abstract

Snakes are a known predator of quail; however, the influence of snake predation on quail populations is unknown. We used a long-term data set collected by eight radiotelemetry studies in Texas, encompassing 23 years (1994–2017) and 5,369 quail, to quantify snake predation on quail. We documented that northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) and scaled quail (Callipepla squamata) mortalities were caused by three species: western diamondback rattlesnakes (Crotalus atrox), prairie rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis viridis), and Texas rat snakes (Pantherophis obsoletus). This study is the first to document predation of quail (Odontiphoridae) by the latter two species. We found 30 mortalities (0.6%) attributable to western diamondback rattlesnakes. We found 1 mortality (0.03%) attributable to a prairie rattlesnake and 2 mortalities (0.06%) attributable to Texas rat snakes of the 3,206 quail exposed to predation by those two species. We concluded that snakes are not major predators of adult quail, but that they will prey opportunistically upon them.

Statewide Quail Symposium – Abilene, TX September 17-19, 2025

There is still time to take advantage of early-bird pricing for the Symposium. Participants are encouraged to register by Friday, September 5 (online) in order to receive the discounted price of $100 and $75 for students, after the deadline registration will increase by $25.  An updated agenda of topics and speakers can be found on the registration link.

You may register for the Symposium at: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/rpqrf/event/2025statewidequailsymposium/

Dates to Remember

September 17-19, 2025 – Statewide Quail Symposium – Abilene, TX

October 15, 2025 – Houston Quail Coalition Dinner & Auction

October 17, 2025 – Upland Game Bird Program – Childress, TX

October 23, 2025 – Cross Timbers Quail Coalition Dinner & Auction – Ft. Worth

October 31, 2025 – Cows & Critters Landowner Workshop – Matador Wildlife Management Area, Paducah, TX

November 1, 2025 – Opening Day of Quail Season – Texas (Click HERE to get a printable card with the 2025-26 Texas Hunting Seasons)

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