JF Griffin - Index

JF Griffin - magazine - Index

Q&R
While much of today’s hunting attention
seems to be focused on the big
game species, it was the basic small
game species that occupied most Tennessee
hunters just a generation or two ago. Many
of those hunters of days-gone-by made their
living by farming, which made them particularly
aware of the hunting opportunities
within walking distance of the farmhouse
door.
Quail and rabbits, for example, are among
those farmland species. They are usually
most abundant where there is a favorable
mixture of grain crops, idle grasslands, and
brushy cover or woodlands. These species,
therefore, are most abundant in the middle
and western portions of Tennessee, generally
becoming scarcer as you travel eastward
into areas of the state with higher elevations,
more heavily forested land, and where the
agricultural practices are predominantly tobacco,
hay and cattle farming.
Only one species of quail, the bobwhite,
is found in Tennessee. There are, however,
three species of rabbit. Most common is the
eastern cottontail, which like the bobwhite
quail is found throughout the state. The
swamp rabbit is found in some of the bottomland
areas of West Tennessee and in a few
isolated areas of the extreme southeast. The
swamp rabbit is the largest of the three species,
with adult females weighing up to six
pounds. The smallest and least common is
the Appalachian cottontail. Formerly known
as the New England cottontail, this rabbit has
a range usually limited to elevations of 3,000
feet or more. The mountain balds and boreal
habitats of the Appalachian mountains along
the eastern border are its major Tennessee
habitat.
Both quail and rabbit populations have
declined drastically over the past few decades
in response to many factors, primarily resulting
from adverse land use changes. The loss
of traditional farmland, along with intensive
land use practices on the rural lands that
still remain, often do not provide the types
of cover that fulfill these animals’ year-round
needs.
Since approximately 90 percent of
Tennessee’s land area is privately owned,
private lands continue to support the vast
majority of quail and rabbit populations, and
likewise provide the primary hunting opportunities
for those species. Public lands, however,
also play an important role in hunting
and dog training for many sportsmen.
The key to long term increases in
Tennessee’s quail and rabbit populations lie
in changing land use practices on both private
and public lands. The TWRA is making
significant efforts to improve private lands
habitat through technical assistance and costsharing
programs, encouraging more use of
native grasses on USDA program lands such
as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
and Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program
(WHIP). TWRA’s “Farm Wildlife Habitat
Program” also provides assistance to private
landowners who want to improve small game
habitat and populations on their land.
TWRA is also working to improve its
Wildlife Management Areas wherever possible
to increase habitat for farmland wildlife.
Fescue, for example, is being eradicated from
all areas and the treated areas are reverting to
more natural vegetation or are being planted
to appropriate habitat. Where practical,
some areas are being planted to native warm
season grasses, but this process is expensive
and time consuming. As sharecrop contracts
are renewed, more grassy and weedy field
borders will be left adjacent to upland crop
fields and more early successional habitat
will be created by allowing fields to revert to
native old field conditions.
Both the quail and rabbit populations and
the number of hunters pursuing them have
continued to decline in recent years. The
continued loss of farmland to urban sprawl
(estimated at more than 60,000 acres annually),
the increased posting of lands against
any kind of hunting, and the growing tendency
to lease private lands primarily for
Quail and
Rabbit Hunting
on Tennessee Public Land
Written By RogeR aPPlegaTe, TWRa small game Coordinator
deer hunting, have all compounded the difficulty
quail and rabbit hunters face in finding
a place to hunt.
For the many hunters who are not fortunate
enough to own hunting land, or
who do not have rural landowner contacts,
Tennessee’s public lands provide a major
hunting opportunity. Since WMA regulations
may vary from year to year, be sure to check
the current edition of the Tennessee Hunting
and Trapping Guide before you hunt.
The following information should help
direct hunters to some productive areas and
give them some insight on how to maximize
their experience pursuing quail and rabbits
on some of Tennessee’s better public hunting
land.
The Public Hunting Area (PHA)
Program
This program currently includes approximately
7,000 acres of commercial timberlands,
which are available to anyone with
the simple purchase of a permit. Although
the majority of the total PHA acreage is forest,
there is still accessible land to hunt quail
and rabbits. On managed forest lands, young
clear-cuts flourish with native weeds and
grasses during the first several years, providing
excellent food, nesting, and escape cover
for both quail and rabbits. The young clearcuts
on these PHAs will attract quail and rabbits
for several years until the trees become
too tall and begin to shade out the grasses
and weeds. For pines, that is to about 4 years
of age, and 6 to 8 years for hardwoods.
Hunters should be aware that the exact
locations of these quail and rabbit habitat
types will shift through the years in each
PHA as different timber tracts are harvested
and the clear cuts mature, but the percentage
of small game habitat on each PHA remains
fairly constant. Recent clear-cuts are generally
scattered throughout the holdings. Since
the PHA program varies from year to year, be
sure to check the Public Hunting section of
this guide. Unfortunately, due to pressures to
34 2008 Hunting & Trapping Guide