Steve Carpenteri of Dallas found that J.L. Lester WMA offers a well-groomed setting for a west Georgia quail hunt. Photo by Polly Dean.

It's said that of the five senses, none will more reliably trigger sharp-etched memories long ago stashed away in our brains than does the sense of smell -- no matter how long ago an aroma might have been inhaled. For me, for instance, the fragrance of pine trees, especially after a drenching rain, ignites images of childhood family vacations spent in a cabin at Callaway Gardens.

Pleasant recollections of those Pine Mountain summers in the 1960s and '70s also bring to mind the distinct bob-bob-white whistles of quail that I heard echoing frequently through warm Georgia evenings. The perfume of pine and the sound of bobwhites are still today fused in the mind of this South Florida girl who back then was more accustomed to the scent of salt and the cry of seagulls.

Once upon a time, the Peach State was known as the "Quail Capital of the World," but those days have passed, and the bobwhite's whistle is less prevalent. From the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, quail flourished in our state, left in peace by the low-intensity farming and forestry practices of the times. But changes in agriculture and land use have caused the quail population to enter a steady decline in recent decades.

Data collected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services indicate that the birds' numbers did in fact drop more than 70 percent from 1966 to 1998. Land-use changes responsible for decreased bobwhite numbers include "clean" farming methods that leave no treelines or vegetative borders along agricultural fields. Larger fields and the use of pesticides, along with increasing numbers of pastures containing exotic grasses, also contributed to decreased bird populations. Another factor: higher numbers of intensely managed pine plantations whose short rotations of plantings reduced the prescribed burns conducive to favorable habitat.

With decreasing quail populations, the number of quail hunters and birds harvested has fallen off dramatically as well. In 1962, an estimated 135,000 hunters in the Peach State harvested nearly 4 million quail and by the late 1990s the number of hunters declined to less than a third, while birds harvested dropped to around 900,000 within a season.

Fortunately, biologists know more about the management of bobwhite quail than about that for any other species of upland game bird. The key to providing ideal habitat for the quail is to understand its entire life cycle and that cycle's relation to the current habitat. And all aspects of attracting a healthy quail population must be addressed: Planting food plots is fine, but if lack of brood habitat is also in play as a limiting factor, that issue can't be neglected.

Happily, the wealth of knowledge on quail management that's been gathered in recent years has enabled Peach State wildlife biologists to groom a number of our public hunting areas for quail hunting such that the pursuit is viable there.

A MODERN HUNTING OPTION
This past season, I was able to experience a first-rate season of public-land quail hunting by taking advantage of J.L. Lester Wildlife Management Area's specially designated dog-training area. A hunting buddy of mine acquired what he hoped to be a well-trained Brittany. Another friend who runs beagles mentioned the well-managed the dog training area at J.L. Lester, so after a few phone calls, we located a supplier of pen-raised quail, and with birds and receipt in hand, we headed to Polk County.

The plan for the day was really to test the newly acquired Brittany, so my buddy planted the birds in groups of two or three around the area, taking note of where he'd placed them. After an hour or two, the three of us, our shotguns and the dog, Chris, headed to the fields. It was soon apparent that Chris was quite capable, and we had a great day of downing birds -- along with plenty of missing them as well, but Chris again sniffed out the ones that got away, By day's end I had a serious case of quail fever!