Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, s-byrns@tamu.edu
Contact: Greg Jones, 806-495-4400, gw-jones@tamu.edu
POST – The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will conduct a Quail Appreciation Day beginning at 8:30 a.m. May 28 at the Chimney Creek Ranch, 598 Chimney Creek Road near Post.
“The goal of the program is to instill an appreciation and understanding of the factors contributing to maintaining a healthy wild quail population,” said Greg Jones, AgriLife Extension agent in Garza County. “Our program is one of several Quail Appreciation Days being held across Texas for landowners, naturalists, hunters, ranchers and others interested in preserving wild native quail populations.”
The morning program will include an update on the Texas Quail Index by Jones. Joining Jones to present talks on appreciating quail, quail necropsy, scoring quail habitat and giving a Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch update will be Dr. Dale Rollins, retired AgriLife Extension wildlife specialist and current executive director of the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch, and Becky Ruzicka, AgriLife Extension wildlife associate at Dallas.
Dr. Brad Dabbert, Texas Tech University department of natural resources associate chairman at Lubbock, will speak on the university’s Quail-Tech Alliance.
Following lunch, the afternoon session will consist of a tour of various stops including Softball Habitat Evaluation Technique, Estimating Quail Abundance, Key Plants for Quail, Assessing Quail Nesting Cover, Dummy Nest Demonstration, Interpreting Quail Nest Depredation and Predator Trends.
Individual preregistration is $25 by May 25 and $30 thereafter. The fee includes lunch and break refreshments.
Two Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units in the general category will be offered.
For more information, detailed instructions to the tour site and to preregister, contact Jones at the AgriLife Extension office in Garza County at 806-495-4400 or gw-jones@tamu.edu.
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