By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter
After a four-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Statewide Quail Symposium will return this year with a tour of the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch and engaging and educational discussion on quail management, research and conservation.
The Quail Symposium will be held Aug. 16-18 and is hosted by the Rolling Plains Quail Research Foundation (RPQRF), Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Texas Wildlife Association.
“The symposium is open to anyone with an interest in quail, including landowners, land managers, hunters, students and naturalists,” Dr. Ryan O’Shaughnessy, RPQRF executive director, said.
In addition to hearing from those with the research foundation, event goers will receive updates from researchers at the Tall Timbers Research Station, universities in Texas, landowners and land managers who are skillful at the art and science of quail management.
“We have a program that should be appealing to anybody interested in quail hunting and management,” Dr. Dale Rollins, RPQRF outreach director, said. “We’ve really done a good job of soliciting speakers, not only from Texas, but from throughout the country.”
The last Quail Symposium was held in 2019. The symposium is typically held every other year while Quail Masters is held in the years the Quail Symposium is not held.
“That just builds a little bit more excitement,” Rollins told the Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) Radio Network. “We’ve also had some good spring rains, so the optimism among the quail hunting community is much better than it has been in the last several years.”
On the first day of the symposium, Aug. 16, participants will have the opportunity to tour the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch between Roby and Snyder.
“We’ll showcase our habitat management practices and update participants on our research and outreach efforts,” O’Shaughnessy said. “We’ll see and discuss management techniques used on the property to optimize habitat for quail and work on plant identification skills with experts while out in the field.”
The visit to the ranch gives participants a great opportunity to learn more about the ranch and its goals toward preserving wild quail hunting while also showing the landscape of the ranch.
“If you were to say, ‘I want to draw up a landscape that’s good for bobwhite quail,’ you want to see the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch,’” Rollins said.
The second and third days of the symposium, Aug. 17-18, will be at the Abilene Convention Center.
There will be sessions on everything from hunting gear and technology to resources for landowners to improve and maintain hunting habitat for quail.
“We’ll be presenting research, not only on what we’re doing there at the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch, but we also have specialists coming in from the East Foundation in South Texas, from the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, from Sul Ross, Texas Tech and Tall Timbers,” Rollins said. “There’s a big project going on in East Texas now. It’s bringing hope to a landscape in East Texas that hasn’t seen quail hunting in many years.”
Those who are interested in attending the symposium are encouraged to pre-register by the July 31 deadline so organizers may have an accurate head count for meals. However, registration will be accepted at the door the day of the event.
Registration is $75 until July 31 and $100 thereafter.
Student registration is $50 before July 31 and $75 after.
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