On cold winter days such as the one on which this column is being written, my thoughts turn to a time when quail hunting was a part of the Arkansas culture. There were few things my father loved more than what he referred to simply as bird hunting, and there were few things I enjoyed more as a boy than hunting with him.
Once wild quail became rare in Arkansas, I stopped hunting. I miss the sport.
On a bookshelf at home is a collection of leather-bound books on hunting and fishing. In 1976, Jim Rikhoff founded the National Sporting Fraternity Limited and its publishing arm, the Amwell Press. Using money I had saved from working at the radio station and the newspaper in Arkadelphia, I joined the NSFL when I was still a high school student. Various collectible book titles were published and first offered to NSFL members. The last of the Amwell Press titles that I purchased was Joseph Greenfield Jr.'s book, A Quail Hunter's Odyssey, in 2004.
"The true bird hunters consider this addicting avocation to be nothing less than the key to the enjoyment of life," Greenfield wrote. "From late November until early March, the everyday problems of life become unimportant. Quail season is open. Each component of bird hunting--birds, dogs, shotguns--combine in changing proportions to paint a beautiful canvas. Dyed-in-the-wool bird hunters frequently choose to hunt by themselves. My primary reason for hunting with others is that they own the land and have invited me to participate. Without them there would be no hunt. Except for this eminently cogent reason, I am at a loss to understand why one would hunt with a companion."
A year ago, I was invited by Arkansas Game and Fish Commission officials to a luncheon. It was a gray Friday in January, and those present for lunch included dedicated quail hunters such as former Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Jack Holt Jr. and U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson. Members of the commission and the commission staff wanted to brief us on their efforts to restore the northern bobwhite in Arkansas. We were reminded that stocking pen-raised birds doesn't work. The key is widespread habitat restoration. As one of those at the meeting said, "This isn't the first time we've tried something, but it's the most important time." In other words, it's now or never. This is probably our last chance to bring back quail hunting in Arkansas.
Wilson reminded those present that quail hunters will "come from all over if you have birds, and they'll spend money." Ford Overton of Little Rock, who has been on the commission since 2012, is a duck and deer hunter rather than a quail hunter, but he's passionate about restoring quail in Arkansas. "We're not going to let it die," Overton told us. I'm reminded of the fact that there were only about 500 deer left in Arkansas in the 1920s. Arkansas hunters now harvest more than 200,000 deer per year without causing the population to decline. It's one of the great conservation success stories in the state's history. Through the decades, the commission has led successful efforts to restore wild turkeys, black bears, alligators and even elk to the state. The northern bobwhite is the next wildlife challenge.
I was heartened to read in Bryan Hendricks' column in this newspaper Jan. 1 that the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service will offer about $600,000 this year for landowners to provide habitat for quail in 20 counties. Its Working Lands for Wildlife program is intended to encourage landowners to create or improve habitat for at-risk species. Hendricks wrote: "Really, $600,000 isn't much money to restore habitat over a large landscape, but the fact that it's available is monumental. ... Fred Brown of Corning, the AGFC chairman, said that quail restoration was one of his goals in his final year on the commission, and his leadership has empowered the agency to succeed after his term expires in June. The AGFC has hired a full-time dedicated quail biologist, and it is attempting to recruit landowners to improve quail habitat."
In 1982, the last year I seriously hunted quail, a quail whistling survey reported that observers in Arkansas heard nearly seven quail per mile. By 2009, it was down to about one per mile. If the current efforts fail, I at least have the memories and some leather-bound hunting books to keep me company at night. It would be nice, though, if young people such as my two sons could someday make their own quail-hunting memories here in Arkansas rather than having to travel to western Oklahoma or Texas.
I'm drawn back to the words of Joseph Greenfield: "In spite of the long odds, hunters must continue to fight the good fight to preserve the sport. ... Perhaps we live at the tail end of a tradition stretching back to the time when our forefathers first crawled out of the primordial slime. If sport hunting disappears, God forbid, man and beast alike will be by far the poorer. ... Why hunt birds? The simple answer: Nothing, absolutely nothing, beats watching a pair of pointers cover a picturesque piece of ground in a workmanlike manner and slamming on brakes to a stylish point. Or even better, admiring them precisely handling a running covey. This tableau, immediately followed by the feel of a fine double shotgun brought into play and accompanied by the thunderous sound of the covey flushing, is an experience without equal. There may be a few things I haven't tried, but nothing I have attempted, seen or read about even comes close."
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Freelance columnist Rex Nelson is the director of corporate community relations for Simmons First National Corp. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.
Editorial on 01/11/2017