Mortality of bobwhites is high, with as many as 3/4ths of the birds not surviving in a single year.  Despite this high turnover, over-harvest can be a problem and will result in no birds on your property if not managed properly.  Research indicates that less than 30% of the birds should be harvested to maintain a sustainable population.  Even less harvest is recommended when populations are low.  According to the Arkansas Quail:  Private Lands Management Guide,

In times of low population levels, excessive hunting could impact the reproductive potential by reducing breeding densities in already isolated populations.  Under today’s conditions, it’s more important to determine and stick to an acceptable limit of hunting harvest to insure maintaining an optimal number of breeders.

A rule of thumb is to shoot only two birds per covey.  However, the remaining birds may group with another covey and form a “bevy,” so be careful.  Continuing to shoot two birds per “covey,” particularly late in the season, can severely reduce the population.  One study has also shown that hunting late in the afternoon reduces survival of bobwhites by giving them less daylight hours to regroup.  In areas with low bobwhite populations, it is best to not hunt at all until there is a sufficient number of breeding birds in the population.

To determine an appropriate harvest strategy, conduct a count of the number of birds on your property.  One way is have several people walk in a straight line about 20 yards apart through bobwhite habitat, and count every bird that is flushed.  This should be repeated until the entire sample area is walked, being careful to count each bird only once.  The sample area should be at least 100 acres and resemble other bobwhite habitat on the property.  For best results, count again for the next two days and take the average.  Studies indicate that about half of the birds are counted using this technique.  For example, if an average of 12 birds were counted, multiply this by 2 (12 x 2) for a population of 24 birds per 100 acres, or about one bobwhite per 4 acres.

Habitat loss combined with predation has been attributed to declining bobwhite populations in the southeast.  Studies on the effectiveness of removing furbearing predators (e.g., raccoons, opossums, foxes, coyotes) from bobwhite habitat have received mixed results.  In optimal habitat, it appears that predator removal has little effect on bobwhite populations.  However, areas with marginal bobwhite habitat may benefit, at least temporarily, from an intensive predator removal program conducted in accordance to state wildlife harvest regulations.  These predator removal efforts tend to be time intensive, costly, and require constant monitoring to be effective in the long run.  Regardless of whether you decide to implement a predator removal program, these findings show the importance of providing quality habitat for bobwhites as the initial step in the recovery and maintenance of a bobwhite population.  With quality habitat, bobwhites have more opportunity to escape from predators and therefore predators become less harmful to the population.