"Bird numbers are improving a bit, but still are a far cry from the '70s and early '80s. We have lost a lot of prime cover such as hedgerows, and we just don't see weeds in the milo or cornfields anymore. On the positive side, the CRP acres are helping -- particularly during the first few years the land is in the program. That's when the weeds and forbs grow well."

Sited near Royal in the northwest corner of Nebraska's quail range, Grove Lake WMA is managed by Eric Zach. "I actually think we have a good population of quail here considering we are on the northern fringe of the bobwhite range," he said. "We also have good numbers of pheasants and prairie chickens around the area."

Scott Taylor, assistant game division administrator for the NGPC in Lincoln, closely monitors the upland game program. "The statewide whistle count in 2006 was basically unchanged from 2005," he reported. "The East-Central, Northeast, Southeast and West Platte were all above the five-year average. Only the North-Central unit was below the five-year average. The statewide index was 22 percent above the five-year average.

According to Taylor, preliminary 2005 estimates put quail hunter numbers in 2005 at 29,000, and their bag at an estimated 134,000 birds. Those numbers were down from 2004, when 31,000 hunters took 164,000 birds.

"Small-game hunters have declined for most species all across the country," Taylor observed. "Looking back at the records, we had a high of 73,000 quail hunters in 1973. Lower numbers of quail is probably the main cause of the decline, but not the only one. I think we are looking at fewer people living in a rural setting, along with a myriad of lifestyle and cultural changes over the last few decades. I think these no doubt have played a major part in the decline of upland game hunters."

Taylor said that limited studies show that closing the season or cutting it back to eliminate January hunting may or may not hold potential for improving the breeding population of the birds. However, the jury is still out on that management option.