Southwest Georgia Quail Forever Hunt set for this weekend
More than 50 shooters will cover 10 plantations Friday and Saturday during an annual quail hunt
File Photo
By Terry Lewis
ALBANY — The Southwest Georgia Quail Forever Hunt is set for this weekend, during which at least 10 different plantations throughout the region are expected to have hunters on their grounds participating in the event.
The event began in 2015, but the storms of 2017 and Hurricane Michael played havoc with those years’ hunts. After the collapse of the Quail Unlimited group in 2013, Albany area organizers in 2014 decided to continue to showcase the region by keeping the tradition of quail hunting alive and maintaining a signature event in Albany.
Quail Forever arose from those ashes.
Hunt Organizer Tommy Gregors said unlike the long-gone QU affiliation, the QF arrangement allows the southwest Georgia chapter much more financial flexibility and discretion in how it spends the organization’s funds. All money raised goes into the chapter’s QF account, but the chapter has the checkbook.
Proceeds from the event are used to promote quail hunting, habitat preservation and youth programs
The initial Southwest Georgia Hunt in 2015 hunt drew 28 shooters. Gregors said Wednesday this year’s event event is expected to attract more than 50 bird hunters from across the nation.
“As long as we don’t have a storm come in,” Gregors said. “The weather is looking like it will hold up, so we should be fine.”
Gregors said the numbers will swell on Friday and Saturday, which are banquet nights, and they are preparing for a crowd of 400 each night at the Hasan Temple on Palmyra Road.
“We have some returning hunters and some new hunters for the weekend,” he said. “It just shows you that southwest Georgia can support this type of event, being this is the quail hunting capitol of the world.”
Hunters will arrive on Thursday, register beginning at 3 p.m. and attend a reception at the Shackelford House at 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday are hunting days with similar schedules, with breakfast at 7 a.m. before being shuttled to their assigned plantations to hunt from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
At 6:30 p.m. they will be shuttled to the Hasan Temple for dinner and more socializing before returning to Merry Acres Inn at 9 p.m.
In 1982, a group of pheasant hunters saw the connection between upland habitat loss and declining pheasant populations. An organization dedicated to wildlife habitat conservation was needed, and Pheasants Forever was formed.
Pheasants Forever’s mission work quickly garnered it a reputation as “The Habitat Organization,” a tagline the nonprofit conservation group uses proudly to this day. In 2005, in response to continued declines in quail populations and suitable quail habitat, Pheasants Forever formed a quail division, Quail Forever.
Quail Forever is dedicated to the conservation of quail, pheasants and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public awareness, education and land management policies and programs.
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