Prescribed burning is better than mowing, disking or spraying herbicides. Quail thrive in areas with regular burning. So do rabbits, deer, turkeys and a host of songbirds and small mammals.

"Fire kills off woody vegetation that can shade out more beneficial plants, and it can prevent woody vegetation such as sweetgum and oak trees from taking over," says Patrick Cook, a small game biologist with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. "Prescribed burning also promotes the growth of young plants that are highly nutritious for wildlife, and it clears out thick ground cover that can create difficult, even impossible living conditions for quail and turkey chicks."

The benefits of fire don't stop there, however. Although the landscape left in the wake of a fire can look like a veritable wasteland, it's actually the perfect stage for an explosion of lush new growth. The fire itself clears thick leaf litter that hinders new growth and the ash left behind enriches soil.

"No need to worry about killing off existing plant life, because nature is very good at rebounding after fires," adds Cook. "In fact, many plants actually depend on fire to grow, and fires really stimulate growth of legumes such as partridge pea and trefoils, both excellent quail foods. Insect production really goes through the roof after a burn and newly hatched quail and turkeys rely on insects for the first few weeks of their lives. A few months after a burn you've got the perfect food plot for deer, as well.… Read Full Article