#353 | Why 95% of Quail Broods Need Disturbed Ground
Birdshot Podcast
Nick Larson
4.8 • 971 Ratings
🗓️ 26 June 2026
⏱️ 75 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Quail habitat is the whole story. Kyle Hedges and Frank Loncarich spent five years following bobwhite quail across the Midwest, and the data pointed at one thing over and over: disturbed ground grows birds.
On this episode, host Nick Larson brings back Kyle Hedges and Frank Loncarich, two biologists who helped run one of the largest quail habitat studies in the region. From 2014 to 2018 they monitored 500 nests, radio-collared chicks, and even collared raccoons to see how predators move through cover. What came out of it is a genuinely hopeful finding: you can grow quail if you're deliberate about it.
The number that anchors the conversation: 95% of their brood locations were in habitat that had been burned, grazed, or otherwise disturbed within the previous 12 months. Grassland managed with fire and cattle beat the old broken-up dairy-farm model on nest success, on survival, and on eggs per nest. The thick, idle CRP field that looks so birdy in January? The chicks can't get through it.
Before the quail talk, Nick and the guys swap turkey-season stories and take on the old myth that turkeys are eating quail and grouse into decline. The short version: the timing doesn't add up, and it never did. It's a habitat problem wearing a predator's costume.
Chapters:
0:00 - 95% of Broods: The Stat That Reframes Everything
2:19 - Turkey Season Recap and a Mid-Morning Tom
15:14 - Are Turkeys to Blame for Quail and Grouse?
21:57 - Inside the 5-Year Quail Study
25:40 - Usable Space and the Numbers on Nest Success
28:23 - Why Broods Live in Recently Disturbed Cover
31:18 - Prescribed Fire and Grazing at Landscape Scale
34:37 - Why Change Is Hard on Working Farms
36:35 - The Idle CRP Problem
38:40 - How Often to Disturb: Every 1, 2, or 3 Years
41:17 - One Farm for Quail, Turkeys, and Deer
42:10 - Cost Share and the Real Price of a Burn
45:26 - Building a Fire Culture and Burn Associations
46:52 - Native Grass Restoration Goes Mainstream
48:11 - Pollinator Plantings as Quail Habitat
50:08 - What Good Quail Cover Actually Looks Like
53:02 - Shrubby Escape Cover and the 10-20% Rule
54:16 - Eastern Red Cedar and When Woody Cover Helps
59:36 - Predators, Raccoons, and Why Grasslands Win
Resources & Links:
Land and Legacy: https://landandlegacy.tv/
Kyle Hedges: https://landandlegacy.tv/about/
Frank Loncarich: https://landandlegacy.tv/about/
How to conduct a prescribed burn for upland bird habitat (Project Upland): https://projectupland.com/hunting-conservation/how-to-conduct-a-prescribed-burn-for-upland-bird-habitat/
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Transcript
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| 0:30.1 | 95% of our brood locations were in something that had been either burned or grazed |
| 0:34.9 | or some type of disturbance in the last 12 months. |
| 0:54.8 | Unfortunately, some people get lulled into it. You go to Western Kansas, and it's, you know, New Year's and you're hunting pheasants and there's snow, and you go into one of those thick-ranked CRP fields, and a pile of pheasins come out of it, and you're like, this was awesome. Well, yeah, for one month a year. But even for raisin fissin chicks, it's not. |
| 0:58.3 | The story of success that it tells that we can grow quail if we're intentional about it. |
| 1:05.3 | I think that people like that because, you know, they've seen quail decline their entire career if they're biologists |
| 1:12.6 | or their entire life, if they're hunters, in most places in the country. |
| 1:17.6 | There are some exceptions, but they like this success story. Come here, Amy. |
| 1:32.3 | Good girl, sweetie. That's a big bird. |
| 1:53.0 | Wow. |
| 1:56.0 | Hey everyone, Nick Larson here, host of the Birdshot podcast, the show that brings you conversations, stories, and traditions from all across the uplands. The Birdshot podcast is presented by Onyx Hunt and supported by folks just like you via our Patreon community. If you want to stay up to date and not miss any of our upcoming episodes, be sure to subscribe and follow the show in your podcast player or on YouTube wherever you're listening or watching today tap that button for me thank you for doing so and with that said let's get into today's conversation on the birdshot podcast. Welcome back to another episode. Everyone, today we are joined by former guests going back to 2019, Kyle Hedges and Frank Longcarriage. Welcome back to the show, gentlemen. |
| 3:04.3 | Thank you. Thanks for having us. Thanks. Glad to my pleasure. My pleasure. We've been, |
| 3:08.9 | we've been kind of seeing each other at Fessimfest the last couple of years and talking about |
| 3:14.9 | getting you back on the show and we finally made it happen thanks to a little nudge by Kyle during |
... |
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