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The NEW Surrogator™ unit will allow you to establish a huntable population of quail imprinted on your property.
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Ragweed Benefits

Ragweed, most experts agree is the native plant most used by pheasant and quail, throughout its range. Ideal because of its multifaceted function, ragweed provides for the basic needs of adults and chicks alike. Ragweed is very valuable as a winter food source due to its abundant and nutritious seed production. For brood rearing it is unequalled in its structure. The sturdy, erect stalk branches out into broad leaves that spread out at the top. This provides a protective canopy that shields the chicks from avian predators. Ragweed remains open beneath its canopy, allowing the chicks easy litter-free ground access for running about and feeding. Ragweed is highly prized by quail hens that take their chicks into it because of the abundance of insects it attracts. Insects are necessary for good chick survival and growth because of their high protein content.

Roger Wells, Certified Wildlife Biologist and National Habitat Coordinator for Quail Unlimited has made it his life’s work to study the whys and wherefores of habitat and its impact on prairie creatures, especially the quail. “Ragweed is very important to quail,” Wells told me in a recent visit. “Only insects provide quail with more metabolizable calories than ragweed. Ragweed has tremendous seed production and ragweed seeds provide the highest amount of metabolizable energy than any other seed. There is a big difference between calories and metabolizable calories. Some seeds may have more calories per seed, but those calories may be indigestible to quail, making them useless. Ragweed provides quail with more metabolizable calories than even corn, soybeans, wheat, or any other grain that we know.”

Ragweed Plot

Ragweed has traditionally been managed by disking in the fall or winter, depending on soil type and region. Assuming that there is a sufficient seed bank beneath the soil, dormant seeds are brought to the surface, along with other weed seeds beneficial to quail, where they are exposed to sunlight and moisture allowing them to germinate in the spring. There are three types of ragweed. Common or Lanceleaf Ragweed (Ambrosia bidentata), an annual that grows to about hip high. Giant Ragweed (Ambrosia trifida), also called Horse Weed, is an annual and grows to about 8-10’ tall. Western Ragweed (Ambrosia psilostachya) is a perennial native forb found on prairies and rangelands. All are similar in value and usability to quail.

Up until now quail managers have been opportunistic in their use of ragweed. They have followed traditional management practices and disked annually in the fall or winter to encourage the growth of weedy fields. Depending on the quality of the seed bank, ragweed is typically one of the many plants that come up.

Ragweed is now taking a new and much more significant role in quail management. Recently, more intensive use is showing greater benefits than ever before. Clay Sisson is the Project Coordinator for the Albany Quail Project at Auburn University in Georgia. “Changing our management focus to brood habitat consisting of ragweed fields has contributed to large increases in quail populations on several local properties. In some cases our managed quail population has doubled and tripled,” Sisson explained recently.

These astonishing results are well documented through the use of radio telemetry equipment and more than 5000 samples taken since the spring of 1992, when their research began. “The early focus was on fine tuning brood rearing habitat,” said Sisson. Researchers selected 6 different private plantations, totaling about 100,000 acres, in an effort to study quail management and how to increase quail numbers.

Ragweed is one of the most beneficial areas for broods

“We felt like [brood rearing habitat] had been overlooked and that very little was done or known. By using large samples over a long period of time through the use of radio telemetry equipment, a very good sample was obtained.”

“We learned early that broods overwhelmingly preferred weed fields which are patches of annual weeds produced by winter disking. In Georgia, these weed fields are predominantly ragweed.” The radio telemetry samples showed heavy use of ragweed, resulting in good survival. The good survival was attributed to good insect production, and good cover. “We became proponents of common ragweed.”

In an experiment on one plantation, researchers selected, what they referred to as, the “better hunting areas.” They worked to identify the differences between those and the less productive hunting areas. They noted that the better ones had excellent weed fields, equaling about 20% of the total range. The less productive ones had weed fields in only about 5-10% of the total range. “When the less productive areas were increased to 20% of the total range planted in ragweed there was an immediate response. Within 2-3 years the population doubled,” explained Sisson.

They began cultivating it like any patch of grain, and determined that in order to get the desired results, the ideal of total acreage planted in ragweed patches is about 20%-30%. Sisson described a field trial held on the Sunday prior to our conversation, at one of the plantations where this type of work is being done. During the field trial, on 6000 acres they moved 148 coveys of quail! “Needless to say,” laughed Sisson, “the men are looking forward to the opening of the season!”

“Why plant?” I asked Sisson, “Why not just disturb the soil and let it come up naturally?” Sisson agreed that ragweed would occur naturally when soil is disturbed, but emphasized that the high degree of success they had experienced was due to the abundance and the dependability of planted ragweed. “There are some places that don’t have a good seed bank; dormant areas or areas with no recent farming history. But, by planting you will get more for sure, without having to wait a year to see what comes up. By planting in fall or winter, it acts as an “insurance policy” to get a good stand. Done in a weed field, it gives it a jump-start by seeding it in. Once you have a good stand, disk every year for several years until it begins to look less abundant, then seed again.”

Ragweed Plot

“Plant about 7-10 lbs per acre, using 20-30% of the total property planted in ragweed as a formula. The plantations using this method have increased their quail numbers to 2-4 quail per acre,” Sisson said. “Planting ragweed has certainly contributed but so have a number of other things - there are no silver bullets!” Then laughing, he added, “People have been trying to get rid of ragweed for years. Farmers think that we’re crazy, but the quail certainly don’t seem to mind!”

Other nationally recognized experts are using ragweed in their management practices, also. Reggie Thackston, Bobwhite Quail Initiative Coordinator with the Wildlife Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources says, “Ragweed is one of the top quail plants in the Southeast.” As part of their quail habitat restoration program, they promote and in some cases provide financial incentives for management to encourage ragweed, in openings within thinned and burned pine stands, to encourage good brood habitat. “Establishing openings about 2-5 acres in size emulates the old patch farming days. This way chicks can move about and feed without being exposed.” They also encourage its use in field borders. “As a field border, the wider the better. As little as 10’ can be significant for quail but 30’ is better, all the way up to 100’. Thirty feet is the width generally used by the Quail Initiative.”

As one of our customers said, “I remember when I was young; my uncle told me that if you want to find quail in Oklahoma you have to find ragweed. We were always glad to have the opportunity to hunt and glad to find birds! I recall one hunt with my old dogs Mikey and Annie. I recall specifically, Mikey was on point. As we approached the dogs with our guns ready I noticed that again the dogs were pointing in a patch of sneezeweed. As the birds boiled out from beneath the dogs point to the sound of our shotguns, two quail folded and fell back to the earth. The dogs raced to be first to the retrieve. Mikey picked up a fallen bobwhite, and brought it to me for my inspection. I noticed the yellow powder on Mikey’s muzzle, forearms and chest and recognized the distinct yellow pollen, so reviled by those with allergies, ragweed pollen. We found the quail where we found the ragweed!

And according to a growing amount of research, our customer was right. It is being proven over and over in areas planted in the dreaded sneezeweed. If we plant it, they will come!

RAGWEED AVAILABLE IN 20 AND 40 POUND BAGS

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