Quail

On Sunday, September 7, 2003, HERBERT F. QUAIL, in Morrison, CO. A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, October 11, 2003, at 11 A.M., at St. James Lutheran Church, 8301 Liberty Road, Baltimore, MD 21244.

On July 28, 2006 C. VIOLA (nee Liebno); beloved wife of the late George Wesley Quail, Jr.; beloved mother of Kathleen Q. Robinson (Glenn) and Bonnie Q. Barnes (R. Wayne); grandmother of Wynn and Carolyn Robinson and Taylor Barnes. Services at Carroll Lutheran Village, Krug Chapel, 300 St. Luke Cir., Westminster on Wednesday at 11 A.M. Interment in Loudon Park Cemetery, Baltimore. The family will receive friends at MYERS-DURBORAW FUNERAL HOME, 91 Willis St., Westminster, Tuesday 6 P.M. to 9 P.M. and 10 A.M. until time of service on Wednesday at Krug Chapel.

Quail are noted for abrupt rises or declines in their numbers. But Peter Jayne, leader of Maryland's upland game and furbearer programs, said last week that during the past 15 years the state's quail population has shown a sharp downward trend.When measured by the hunter harvest survey, the quail populatlon has dropped from 250,000 birds in 1975 to fewer than 42,000 in 1991."That is an 82-percent decline," Jayne said.The harvest survey is based on numbers of quail killed, and that is directly related to the number of hunters in the field.

While near Tucson, Ariz., last summer, my husband and I saw a wildfire burning out of control in the Santa Rita Mountains. The Florida Fire, as it was called, was started by lightning and continued to burn as more than 250 firefighters battled to control it. The contrast between the peacefulness of the golf course at Quail Creek Community and the ferocity of the fire made me realize how Mother Nature controls both extremes of our world. Linda Nordling Sykesville

In defense of Vice President Dick Cheney, who accidentally shot a wealthy campaign contributor while hunting quail over the weekend, the two species can be easily confused. Here, then, is a primer, for Cheney and hunters and non-hunters everywhere, on how to differentiate between the two. Bobwhite Quail: Scientific name, Colinus virginianus. Wealthy Campaign Contributor: Cloutus politicus. Quail: 8 inches to 11 inches long and weighing about half a pound; reddish-brown feathers are mottled with black, white and gray to help blend into surroundings and avoid predators.

"Cockbird," I shouted as the brilliantly colored pheasant exploded 15 or 20 yards ahead of my hunting partner, Bob Chrest.In an instant Bob's 12 gauge Remington 1100 flew to his shoulder, the muzzle swung past the cackling rooster and a charge of high brass sixes hit home.Bob moved up quickly to collect his bird, but because of the extremely heavy brush, I had to shove my way to the general spot in question and lend a hand in locating the first pheasant of 1988 to be bagged by this slightly unreputable team of ringneck addicts.

Quail present an interesting challenge to both the hunter and the wildlife manager, and Peter S. Jayne, leader of Maryland's upland game program, is taking a different look at the bobwhite in Maryland.Jayne's new look is based on a change in the evaluation of hunters' seasonal kill of quail, using a concept of additive mortality rather than the traditional concept of compensatory mortality.In simple terms, compensatory mortality is a concept that accepts that a given percentage of quail will not survive the year, regardless of how they are killed -- by weather, disease, natural predators or hunters.

The bad news for quail hunters in the state is that the severe weather of last winter and the wet summer months probably will have numbers of the birds in the state at low levels this hunting season.The good news is that the Department of Natural Resources has initiated a multi-year program designed to learn more about ways to help bobwhite quail."Bobwhite quail populations throughout the eastern United States have been declining in recent years," said DNR Secretary John R. Griffin. "One of the primary factors contributing to this decline has been a decrease in the availability of quality quail habitat."

A KEY TO cooking game birds, said Cathy Whims, is keeping them moist. So when Whims, a Portland, Ore., chef, found herself in a game-cooking competition facing about a half-dozen quail, she quickly decided to stuff the birds with figs. "When you stuff quail, the moisture from inside the birds keeps them from drying out," she said. "But you don't put too much stuffing in; otherwise it will ooze out and burn." Whims kept a close eye on the stuffed quail as she browned them in bacon and duck fat in a large frying pan, flamed them with Marsala wine, then popped them in a 400-degree oven until the meat felt "spongy," a step that took about 5 minutes.

The Department of Natural Resources is proposing to shorten the quail season in the eastern portion of the state, extend the cottontail rabbit season and is seeking federal permission to begin a September hunt on resident Canada geese.The quail season, in that portion of the state east of Interstate 83I-695 and I-95 would run from Nov. 15, 1993, through Feb. 7, 1994, or three weeks less than this season.Peter Jayne, director of the state's upland game program, said last week that quail populations have been diminishing and a shorter season would protect the birds as they near the breeding season.

BOSTON -- My professional tribe has long followed the motto best expressed by a former editor of mine: "If you have a fish in a barrel, shoot it." Of course, this time the target wasn't a fish, it was a quail - or, to be more precise, a person behind a quail. It also wasn't in a barrel. It was on a Texas ranch. But you get the idea. After the vice president of the United States shot a hunting companion, it was open season on Dead-Eye Dick. Reporters of print, broadcast and blog, comics of cartoon and late-night TV, released a fusillade of outrage and a barrage of jokes on the man who shot himself in the foot by stifling the story and giving opponents enough ammo to make him a sitting duck for the duration of his time in office.

In defense of Vice President Dick Cheney, who accidentally shot a wealthy campaign contributor while hunting quail over the weekend, the two species can be easily confused. Here, then, is a primer, for Cheney and hunters and non-hunters everywhere, on how to differentiate between the two. Bobwhite Quail: Scientific name, Colinus virginianus. Wealthy Campaign Contributor: Cloutus politicus. Quail: 8 inches to 11 inches long and weighing about half a pound; reddish-brown feathers are mottled with black, white and gray to help blend into surroundings and avoid predators.

Back-to-school day at farmers' market The Carroll County Summer Farmers' Market will be open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Carroll County Agriculture Center on Smith Avenue, Westminster. Saturday is back-to-school day with face-painting and drawings for gift bags of school supplies for children. Mothers can enter a drawing for beauty and bath gift bags. Amy Williamson will have a display of Discovery Toys. Demonstrations will be given by Elaine Esworthy of knitting and Susan Withnell of spinning.

On Sunday, September 7, 2003, HERBERT F. QUAIL, in Morrison, CO. A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, October 11, 2003, at 11 A.M., at St. James Lutheran Church, 8301 Liberty Road, Baltimore, MD 21244.

A KEY TO cooking game birds, said Cathy Whims, is keeping them moist. So when Whims, a Portland, Ore., chef, found herself in a game-cooking competition facing about a half-dozen quail, she quickly decided to stuff the birds with figs. "When you stuff quail, the moisture from inside the birds keeps them from drying out," she said. "But you don't put too much stuffing in; otherwise it will ooze out and burn." Whims kept a close eye on the stuffed quail as she browned them in bacon and duck fat in a large frying pan, flamed them with Marsala wine, then popped them in a 400-degree oven until the meat felt "spongy," a step that took about 5 minutes.

In Anne Arundel 1 youth dead, another hurt in Severn shooting SEVERN - Anne Arundel County police are investigating a Friday night shooting in Severn that left one unidentified juvenile male dead. Police officials reported yesterday that patrol officers found the victim and another boy- both suffering from gunshot wounds - about 11:15 p.m. near Jacobs Road and Still Meadows Drive. Two other boys were found with "blunt-force injuries," police said. The shooting victims were taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where one victim was treated and released.

Although the Department of Natural Resources is initiating a hunter survey on bobwhite quail in Maryland, a game manager with DNR's Wildlife and Heritage Division said last week that the results of the study might do little to solve the complex riddle of the bird's low population in the state."

By his own admission, Joel Vance has an incurable disease: quail hunting. But if you read his new book, "Tails I Lose," you realize he has another affliction as well. The former regional editor of Field and Stream loves his bird dogs. As one chapter proclaims, he's "knee deep in Brittanies." That's understating the background of a man who has owned both American and French varieties of the dog, raised six litters of pups and now has seven dogs at home. "They won't do you wrong," Vance says as we chat on the phone.