During quail hunting season, wing collection boxes are placed at several wildlife management areas: Beaver River, Optima, Packsaddle, Cooper, Kaw, Drummond Flats, Canton, Fort Supply, Cross Timbers, and Pushmataha. Hunters are asked to donate a wing from each quail they harvest for research purposes. Upland Game Biologist Tell Judkins with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation recently created a video showing what happens to those wings, and what sort of data can be collected. Ultimately, the wings can help determine the status of the quail populations at the WMAs and can offer clues about how next year’s season might pan out.
- Don P. Brown is an information & education specialist for the Wildlife Department