QuailMasters-South Texas 2015 dates set
Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, [email protected]
Contact: Dr. Dale Rollins, 325-653-4576, [email protected]
SAN ANGELO – The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the Texas Wildlife Association have set the dates and opened registration for QuailMasters-South Texas, said the workshops’ coordinator.
Dr. Dale Rollins, San Angelo-based retired AgriLife Extension wildlife specialist and lead instructor for the workshops, said QuailMasters is a series of hands-on, intensive training sessions designed to expose participants to the best quail habitat in the state while making them “masters” of the art and science of quail management.
“This is the first time we’ve hosted QuailMasters with a South Texas focus,” Rollins said. “So if you’re from the southern part of the state, hunt quail in that area or own property there, then this is your opportunity to attend sessions that are maybe a little closer to home.
“Those who could benefit from attending QuailMasters include landowners/managers, hunters, quail enthusiasts, consultants, AgriLife Extension agents, wildlife biologists and college students.”
Rollins said participants are expected to attend all four sessions.
Session dates and the general areas of each are as follows:
– Session I, March 22-24, Victoria/Refugio.
– Session II, May 3-5, Cotulla.
– Session III, June 7-9, location to be announced. Rollins said this location is voted upon by the participants from several options, so the locations won’t be known until after the first session.
– Session IV, Aug. 9-11, Hebbronville.
Individual registration for all the sessions is $500 due by March 6. The fee includes most meals and classroom materials. Three hours of graduate college credit are available for an additional fee. Space is limited to 35, so coordinators urge those planning to participate to register as soon as possible.
Rollins said the course is partially funded by AgriLife Extension’s Reversing the Decline of Quail Initiative as a way to educate landowners in best management practices for bobwhites. Rollins is the initiative’s statewide coordinator.
For more information or to register, contact Rollins at 325-653-4576, [email protected], or Clint Faas at 979-541-9803, [email protected] .
“QuailMasters will enhance your decision-making skills relative to the three key phases of quail management,” Rollins said. “Those phases are habitat management, population management and people management.”
Jerry Hammon, a quail hunter from Friendswood and a past participant, said, “Nowhere can you find a more comprehensive study regarding quail, quail habitat and management practices while enjoying the comradery of the other participants, instructors and professionals that shape Texas wildlife habitat—a first-class program.”
Another participant, Andrea Bruno, a graduate student from Texas A&M University-Kingsville, said, “QuailMasters brings to life the applications of a variety of management practices. For a visual learner, it was much easier to understand what quality quail habitat was while standing in the middle of it as opposed to reading various habitat parameters in a book. As a graduate student, QuailMasters provided me with a deeper understanding of quail life history, quail plants and quail management practices, plus some good meals with new friends as an added bonus.”
