The 8th Distinguished Lectureship in Quail Management Schedule Announced

At the 2016 Dallas Safari Club Convention and Sporting Expo, attendees will have an opportunity to hear some of the latest updates in quail research at the 8th Distinguished Lectureship in Quail Management. This year's lecture is on Friday, January 8, 2016 from 9am until 12:30pm in Ballroom C4 of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas.

The featured speaker is Bill Palmer, President and CEO of Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy. Located near Tallahassee in Northern Florida, Tall Timbers is a recognized leader in quail management research and the station currently manages more than 160,000 acres.

"The first thing I will discuss is how Tall Timbers Research Station has helped private landowners increase bobwhites through long term research and collaboration and how that research is now transcending onto public and private lands throughout the southeast," says Palmer. "The second part of my talk will be a hodgepodge of fun facts and studies."

Formerly, Palmer was the Director of the Game Bird Research and Management for Tall Timbers Research Station, a position he held for 17 years. That game bird program is one of the largest in the country with nearly six decades of research efforts. Palmer's research interests include northern bobwhite quail management on both public and private lands, behavioral ecology, and population dynamics with an emphasis on predator-prey relationships. While he has over 50 research publications and guided development of the national quail restoration plan, he is most proud that quail populations in Florida's Red Hills have remained at historical highs for over a decade.

"We started the lectureship in 2008 to keep 'students of quail' updated with leaders in quail research and management. Dr. Palmer epitomizes those credentials," says Dale Rollins, director of the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch in Roby, Texas. Rollins, who is an organizer of the lectureship is also one of the speakers this year. "Tall Timbers is recognized throughout 'quaildom' for their achievements of cutting edge research and sustained contributions to our knowledge of quail management."

The mission of the lectureship is two-fold: to showcase leaders in quail conservation adapt their techniques and knowledge as appropriate to address our situations in West Texas.

Sponsors of this year's seminar include The Rolling Plains Quail Research Foundation, Agrilife's Reversing the Decline of Quail Initiative, Park Cities Quail, and Dallas Safari Club.



The lecture schedule is as follows:

9:30 Welcome and opening remarks

9:40 Updates on Agrilife's Quail Decline Initiative

10:00 Keynote speaker: Dr. Bill Palmer, Tall Timbers Research Station
-"Restoring quail populations: from Quail Plantations to National Forests

10:45 Break

11:00 Update from Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch

11:20 Tall Timbers Part. 2 - Dr. Palmer

Quail Research Update:


- Translocation as a Management Tool

- Quail behavior and genetics

- Understanding bobwhite chick ecology – the last research frontier?

12:00 noon Questions and Answers
Closing comments

12:15 Adjourn


About the Ranch
The Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch is a 4,720-acre ranch in Fisher County, Texas. The ranch's aim is to provide land managers, and other stakeholders, with timely, relevant technology and management schemes for enhancing quail populations in the Rolling Plains of Texas. In doing so, the ranch hopes to sustain the "quail dynasty" that has supported hunters, ranchers, local economies, hunters, and the quails themselves.


Contact: Russell Graves, 806.280.8007, russell@russellgraves.com