UPDATED: Join their March meeting on 3/29 at 9am at the Fairfield Gun Club, south of Fairfield!
The Quail and Upland Game Alliance (QUGA) is a 501.C3 organization that is active in not only Illinois, but also in Indiana and Kentucky. It is a grassroot organization to support all upland game and practices to enhance bird and butterfly habitat.
QUGA is active in the conservation community, spending hundreds of hours actively participating in policy making, as well as establishing wildlife friendly practices to benefit quail and upland game.
They would like to strongly encourage individuals to join the cause by:
Join Your Local South Central Illinois Chapter Housed in Fairfield
Local officers are Nick Carter, President; Vern Gwaltney, Vice President; Pat Harvey, Treasurer; and Don Brockett, Secretary. An annual meeting is held at a local gun club with members encouraged to attend and voice their ideas, thoughts, and concerns. A free meal is served, along with the opportunity to participate in a trap shoot.
Join Local Fundraising Events
Their largest fundraiser is the annual gun raffle. Shotguns, rifles, and pistols are displayed at local festivals such as Mule Days, Bean Days, Popcorn Days, Fall Fun Fest, and more, with volunteer QUGA members set up at displays and selling tickets. QUGA also encourages landowners to sell ten (10) day archery deer hunts as a fundraising event.
Create Habitat on Your Own Land
Landowners can be an important and integral part of QUGA by taking land acreage too small or inconvenient for farming and planting warm season grasses or habitat vegetation in those areas. They can also convert filter strips and waterways from Fescue (which is terrible for wildlife) to warm season grasses. The local chapter will donate up to $500 per project for this purpose.
Participate in Local Bird Hunting Preserve
The local chapter has created a private preserve that allows hunters to hunt released birds from October to March. If needed, experienced dogs can be provided at no cost. Members can also use this area to train their own bird dogs. During the most recent season, the preserve hosted 25 hunters and released more than 500 birds (quail, pheasant, and chukars). Local member, Larry Musgrave, raises the birds for the preserve.
This past year the local QUGA chapter has added many acres of warm season grasses to improve habitat. The gun raffles and deer hunts raised nearly $6,000 in 2023 to help fund the projects above. These funds were also donated to various youth shooting clubs in the area to assist with ammunition costs.
The South Central Illinois Chapters have about 30-40 members, with a goal to have 50 members by the end of 2024. If anyone in the Wayne-White Electric service area is interested in joining the location QUGA chapter and learning more about their events, membership forms can be found at www.quga.org and mailed to Don Sutton at 395 US Highway 45, Barnhill, IL 62809.
Additional Ways to Support Habitat
Above, you read about the local Quail and Upland Game Alliance out of Fairfield. Another way you can help support local conservation in our area is through the County Line Quail Forever Chapter supporting Clay and Wayne Counties. Both QUGA and County Line Quail Forever area dedicated to conservation and preserving local habitat.
If you would like to learn more about County Line Quail Forever, they are holding their 3rd Annual Banquet at Willow Creek Venue (another Wayne-White Electric member!) in Fairfield on March 9, 2024. Social hour will be from 4:30-5:30 p.m., followed by a fish dinner from 5:45-6:45 p.m. Games, raffles, and prizes will close out the evening from 7:00-10:00 p.m. Tickets for the event are $60, with $20 for a plus one - this includes a one-year membership. For existing members, tickets are $20, 16 years old and under are $20, and a Ghost Ticket for $25 to enter door prizes without having to be present to win. Various prizes will be drawn.
Find County Line Quail Forever on Facebook or call Maverick Fisher at (618) 839-1444 for more information.