Supervisors plan to stock quail in 1972

Editor's note: The following article was taken from the April 6, 1972 edition of The Recorder. Joseph Pritchard was editor and publisher.

If quail were to be stocked in Highland County, their chances for survival would be slight, the county's board of supervisors learned Monday.

Last month, the supervisors voted unanimously to use some of Highland's damage stamp money to buy and turn out about 1,000 quail in the county.

But, as Jack Raybourne, district biologist for the State Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries told supervisors Monday, "We're willing to work with you but honestly, I believe you'll be wasting your money."

The reason for this, he explained, is that quail, like turkeys, are not used to coping with predators, can't feed on natural food and would find it hard to survive in natural habitat.

Also, while Highland's climate is suitable for birds, its land is not, Mr. Raybourne said. Quail need wide areas of land covered with brush for a natural habitat and there is in Highland "a tremendous amount of land with nothing but bare grass and not enough cover," he commented, pointing out a need for changes in land management in Highland if quail are to survive.

Noting that there are "quite a few coveys of quail scat- tered through the county," Board Chairman Roy V. Robertson asked, "If we stock the quail in June, would they all be dead by fall?"

"I'm afraid so," Mr. Raybourne answered.

The county "can do a whole lot better job" by putting the money it wants to spend on buying quail into development of access roads and improvement, the biologist told the board.

When asked about the possibility of turning out snowshoe hares in Highland, Mr. Raybourne said they could survive here. "There is a natural habitat" for the animals he said, pointing to Sounding Knob and the Laurel Fork area northwest of Blue Grass as possible sites. Snowshoe hare do well at elevations ranging from 3,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level, he said.

County Game Warden E.R. Arrington said if the board does decide to purchase quail, they should release a few and see how they survive, "before spending a lot of money."

Pete Arrington and Sherry Schultz, members of the zoology class at Highland High School, said their class had studied the matter and reached the same conclusion as Mr. Raybourne that "pen-raised quail wouldn't survive in Highland County,"

Chairman Robertson said the board would reach a decision at is May meeting on whether or not to go ahead with buying the quail.