Me:If all the environmental and farming practices are hurting the game bird populations, why don't the thousands of acres of Conservation Commission land have birds? Managed 100% for wild game(especially quail/pheasants) with a nearly unlimited budget and still no birds.
Buck:Because not all CRP land is managed expressly for Pheasants. Because not all native grasses and plants(promoted by CRP programs) are conducive to game birds. You've said so yourself.
I'm not talking about CRP(please actually read the part about "Conservation Commission land"), I'm talking about STATE OWNED AND MANAGED LAND. This land is managed 100% for game habitat by the bunny cops.
I'm done. No response will result in anything but more propaganda.
I recall the heyday of quail in central MO exactly as you do- grain growing everywhere. Today there is 700 acres of CFRP off my east property line and not a quail in sight. We do have a buttload of coyotes and chicken hawks, who are apparently blind to the dozens of rodents I see when I mow a 16 acre hayfield.