Planting for a Hunting Preserve

Greetings All,

I have a 75 acre farm that consists of 55 acres tillable, 20 acres wetlands/creek. I have put 1.25 acres into open water (in my state - WI - you can't put in a pond without the pope giving you his blessing - did I say pope? I meant the DNR! But what you can put in are areas called - scrapes - 4' or less deep so that they freeze during the winter thereby killing off all the invasive fish that one has put in one's ponds - but I digress).

I'm trying to determine the proper mix of nesting/brood cover to food mix to put in. Is there a formula? I've reached out to Quail Unlimited and have gotten a response of 25% grain, 15% woody cover (my creek area?), 20% annual weeds, 40% in permanent vegative cover. This being a ball-park estimate.

For those of you that have reverted a farm and had success with establishing a quail population, does this sound right?

Thanks for your thoughts, suggestions.

Regards,

Dave