Quail Plantations

saltysenior

Senior Member
Viewing Quail Plantations on Google Earth , one sees vast areas that are either disked or mowed into about 40'x40' squares....what is the purpose of this ???
 

spring

Senior Member
A good explanation in that link. One thing it didn't mention is simply that it also helps reduce the quail habitat, a practice that simply helps somewhat concentrate the birds, which makes them a bit easier to find. Most area plantations utilize the combination of fall discing and checker boarding to reduce habitat by about 20%; though I know of one that targets about 30%. This is a key factor in reaching a target of 2 birds per acre, though some actually approach 3.
A patch of ragweed, for example, which provided great summer habitat, is pretty much worthless during the winter. Discing it under, which also replants the seeds, is often a good area to consider for fall habitat management.
Of course it also helps get around a place in jeeps or wagons. Dogs like them, and in my case, often like them too much. Convincing them to get off the lanes and into the brush is sometimes aggravating.
 
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GLS

Classic Southern Gentleman
What you are seeing is "blocking" which are lanes cut through the habitat leaving patches, squares or blocks of brush and grasses wherein the wild quail live which are often food trails of broadcast grain. If one looks at google earth in the region between Tallahassee and Thomasville, and zooms in on the brown areas in the scattered mature pines, one can see the blocking. The lanes are for the hunters and dogs to hunt along the edges of the blocks. Most of the quail plantations rely on broadcast grain along food trails, the lanes, into the blocks which reduce opportunities for predation by spreading out quail rather than bunching them up in food plots where they are easier pickings for predators. The food trails are miles upon miles of length. The reason there are so many wild quail in the Albany, Thomasville, and Tallahassee regions is that there are hundreds of thousands of acres of contiguous habitat managed by like-minded land owners who collectively spend millions of dollars annually "for a handful of feathers". Gil
 
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saltysenior

Senior Member
The view shows vast amounts of acreage between Albany,Ga and Tallahassee that is ''checker boarded''...does this mean that all that land is for wild birds and no pen raised birds are used on those plantations ??
 

cowhornedspike

Senior Member
The view shows vast amounts of acreage between Albany,Ga and Tallahassee that is ''checker boarded''...does this mean that all that land is for wild birds and no pen raised birds are used on those plantations ??

Many of those plantations have wild birds only and those are pretty much private and hunted only by the owners and their guests. Many dollars are spent there to assure a good wild bird population.
Pretty much all of the "pay to hunt" plantations are a mixture of wild and set out birds...mostly released birds are the ones that get shot. They probably look the same on google for the same reasons...you still need dog and hunter access to shoot released birds.
 

RedHills

Self Banned after losing a Noles bet.
All good info. I've always been fascinated from the history of these local plantations. I'm way too late in line to have enjoyed or benefited from it, but my Ancestors onced owned "The Cedars" which would become "Dixie" which would become "Livingston Place", as well as Lyndhurst and Nacoosa in Jefferson County.
 
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spring

Senior Member
Most of the commercial places (released birds), try to simulate the look of a plantation that is actively managed for wild birds, primarily focusing on their hunting courses, which usually have the low basel area pine savanna that hunters expect. As a result, they maximize this sort of landscape, which looks great, but sometimes minimize the other integral components that wild birds need, which include sections for escape, safety, and nesting since the birds put out on hunt day don’t really need that.
 
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SC Hunter

Senior Member
I spent a good bit of time on a few plantations down around Thomasville Barwick area in my early 20's and those are some beautiful areas! The dogs, horses, wildlife and just overall landscape of the country is some of my favorite that I take for granted living in South Georgia.
 

leroy

Senior Member
What plantations have members been to that have the best experience, grew up hunting wild birds with my dad and would like to get something close to that experience for my boys. Went to one close in NE GA area that was horrible, walked circles around in about a 5 acre set of bottoms while the guide almost had to literally throw the birds up to get them to fly, had to give them a second or you would obliterate them.
 

SLY22

Useles Member !
What plantations have members been to that have the best experience, grew up hunting wild birds with my dad and would like to get something close to that experience for my boys. Went to one close in NE GA area that was horrible, walked circles around in about a 5 acre set of bottoms while the guide almost had to literally throw the birds up to get them to fly, had to give them a second or you would obliterate them.

Try Big Red Oak Plantation in Gay Georgia.
 

Pruitt101

Member
not sure which plantation you hunted ion in N GA but check out Burnt Pines, south of Madison. Great birds, guides, lodging...........ask for Brian Mask.
 

BJ4X4

Senior Member
I spent a good bit of time on a few plantations down around Thomasville Barwick area in my early 20's and those are some beautiful areas! The dogs, horses, wildlife and just overall landscape of the country is some of my favorite that I take for granted living in South Georgia.
I live in the barwick area, okapilco borders my property. There's still lots of quail here.
 

SC Hunter

Senior Member
I live in the barwick area, okapilco borders my property. There's still lots of quail here.
I was married to a girl from down there and her dad owns land and lives on Coffee Road. It's beautiful country down there.
 

BJ4X4

Senior Member
I was married to a girl from down there and her dad owns land and lives on Coffee Road. It's beautiful country down there.
Yep it sure is! I'm on coffee rd too, but it's a big rd. Small world.
 

buckpasser

Senior Member
I live in the barwick area, okapilco borders my property. There's still lots of quail here.
I was married to a girl from down there and her dad owns land and lives on Coffee Road. It's beautiful country down there.

Real small world. I live right down the road from Barwick (less than 4 miles) and frequently do work for Okapilco Plantation. OP is a premier quail plantation as far as habitat and population go. They spare no expense, but are a clinic for quail production. I’ve toured with Willie to learn how to improve quail numbers on the plantation I manage, even though I primarily manage for big game.

Barwick is changing, but stays at least a few years behind the rest of the world, and I appreciate that.
 

au7126

Senior Member
In 1961 I was a senior in Albany Ga and my English teacher's husband was the manager of Nilo Plantation. Found out some years later that if you spell that name the other way you have Olin. Which was the ammo maker that owned the plantation.
President Eisenhower came and hunted several times while I was there. My dad was in USAF at Turner field and was a big deal when the Prez flew in for a bird hunt
 
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