By Michael R. Sullins, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Louis A. Harveson, Sul Ross State University.

By most standards, Texas is well known for its often superior bobwhite and scaled quail hunting. Bobwhites occur at high densities throughout south Texas and the Rolling Plains and scaled quail (often called blue quail or cottontop) are ubiquitous in the western portions of the state. West Texas quail hunters are still blessed with good populations of both birds and in boom years the numbers can be amazing.

But there is more to Texas with respect to quail hunting opportunities than bobs and blues: Texas is also blessed with hunt-able populations of Gambel’s quail along the western edge of the Trans-Pecos region (a fourth species, Montezuma quail, occur in isolated populations in evergreen/oak woodlands in the hills of western and west central Texas—although it has game-bird status, it is not legally harvested in Texas at this time).

Gambel’s quail are legal game-birds in Texas with the same bag limits and seasons as bobwhite and scaled quail. Gambel’s are well known in Arizona and New Mexico, but many Texans are surprised to find out that these birds also occur in their state. This is quite understandable, owing to the size and diversity of the state, and the limited extent of range of the species. A few hard-core quail hunters who seek to harvest all three legal species of quail in Texas make the effort to come to the far western reaches of the state (primarily along the Rio Grande River in Presidio, Culberson, and El Paso counties) and undoubtedly are rewarded with heat stroke, abrasions and scratches, possible snakebite, and just maybe a limit of these beautiful quail.

Although a legal game species, little information exists on Gambel’s quail in Texas.  However, recent efforts by the Wildlife Research Program at Sul Ross State University (SRSU) and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) in Alpine, Texas are hoping to shed some light on this species.

In early 2002, Michael Sullins (Wildlife Biologist for TPWD), Mike Hobson (District Leader for TPWD), and Dr. Louis Harveson (Associate Professor of Wildlife Management at SRSU) secured funding from TPWD to conduct the first ecological study of Gambel’s quail in Texas.  The objectives were simple: to obtain as much ecological information about Gambel’s quail so that land owners and managers in Texas could better manage their populations.  Specific objectives included determining Gambel’s quail distribution, diet, survival, density, habitat preferences, and nesting characteristics.

Unlike bobwhites, which occur in relatively lush habitats, Gambel’s quail survive in some of the toughest (some would say God-forsaken) country in Texas where rainfall is usually below 8 inches, temperatures commonly exceed 110oF, and desert scrub vegetation dominates the landscape. With limited economic resources (as is always the case in graduate research) we knew early on that if we were going to be successful, we would need help beyond the limited funding that we could secure. One of the most important pieces of gear we needed was another ATV.

And that’s where the Texas Quail Unlimited chapters came to our rescue. Texas Chapters graciously donated a Polaris 400 Sportsman to the project to assist the graduate student army in collecting the much needed data. The folks at Texas QU went ahead and got us what we really needed; an ATV that would do the job. The Polaris 400 was coined “Cadillac” by those that rode it along the desert washes.  Checking traps, monitoring radioed quail, and conducting population surveys are just some of the activities that were facilitated by this ‘Cadillac’ ATV which did really well in the deep sands of the desert draws.

For the past 5 years, Texas QU chapters have continued to support the Gambel’s Quail Project by renewing the lease on the Polaris ATV.  Because of this and the support of the Council, four graduate students have collected data on Gambel’s quail to support their thesis research: Michael Gray, Michael Sullins, Poncho Ortega, and Margarita Gomez.  Each student focused on a different aspect of the study and collectively, they have amassed one of the largest demographic dataset on Gambel’s quail in the country with >700 birds captured during the study.

We now have a better understanding of the distribution of Gambel’s quail in Texas, as well as seasonal food habits, habitat preferences, surveying techniques, survivorship, population dynamics, major predators, and much more, thanks in great part to organizations such as Texas Quail Unlimited who rightly place such high priority on conservation of the resource for now and future generations.

For more information about this project, please contact Louis A. Harveson (harveson@sulross.edu or 432.837.8488)