Reading from a March, 1938 brochure that would become what we know as the Wildlife in North Carolina magazine, is a quote from Rupert E. West--" The modern farmer using tractors and farm machinery tries to utilize every available foot of acreage on his farm. Therefore, we don't have the wide hedgerows and cutover thickets that once were numerous and offered excellent protection for quail"
In North Carolina(as well as most places in this country), wild quail are extremely rare now. I have seen a few in the brush near Mattamuskeet and around Pungo lake here in the east. You can contract a quail hunt in several places where they will "plant" pen raised quail for you to flush with your pointer.
I am very fortunate that I can still recreate those early memories of that old Louisiana farm and listen to quail on late summer afternoons as I did this past Saturday--- I can visit the Field where caring people still farm the old fashioned way--and guess what!??--the wild quail are there and calling--"bob--white"---- See a few wild quail pictures below taken last week.