Upland update, 02/08/2012

              The Wildlife Department is embarking on an intensive, long-term research
project on two northwest Oklahoma wildlife management areas to study
quail reproductive success and mortality. The Department is also teaming
up with a group of partners to conduct an extensive research project that
covers the western portion of the northern bobwhite quail's North
American range. The Department will continue ongoing quail conservation
efforts across the state through a number of initiatives on both public and
private lands.
QUAIL UPDATE
Hunter helps researchers with banded quail harvest
Bernard Brown of Sand Springs harvested a quail Jan. 19 at the Cimarron Hills Wildlife
Management Area in northwest Oklahoma that may have looked like any other when he shot at it
on the flush. But when his German shorthaired pointer "Blade" retrieved the bird, it became clear
that something was different.
"I noticed immediately it was banded," Brown said. "I was stoked. Made my day!"
Brown's bird was part of a group of 165 quail
that were trapped, sampled and banded by Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation
biologists at the end of 2011 for research. Specifically, Brown's bird was a juvenile male that had
been trapped and banded in October and released after blood and other biological samples were
collected from the bird.
Hunters were notified by the Wildlife Department of the possibility of harvesting banded quail
on several western Oklahoma WMAs this season and were asked to report banded birds if they