With a message from president Bill E. Bowles on its website, Quail Unlimited, the nation's oldest quail advocacy group, has announced its immediate closure.

The announcement closed the book on an organization that, despite its best efforts, could not overcome mismanagement first uncovered nearly three years ago.

When we first reported the story of possible problems with the organization in 2009, there was still hope that the struggling organization could reverse abuses of the organization's finances which had left not only in desperate financial straits, but looking at least one federal investigation involving missing firearms supposedly used in QU fundraising efforts.

Since then, it's been a continuous stream of bad news, capped by yesterday's announcement that, effective immediately, QU was ceasing all operations. In that message, Bowles encouraged members to move their memberships and allegiances to Quail Forever.

The decision, Bowles wrote, wasn't easy, but was reached after the entire Board of Directors agreed that the best choice was to "go out of business effective immediately."

You can read the http://www.theoutdoorwire.com/media/Bowles-Letter-to-QU-Members.doc>entire message from Mr. Bowles here (.doc).

Meanwhile, Quail Forever and sister organization Pheasants Forever, have rolled out the proverbial welcome mat for former Quail Unlimited members and chapter officers.

In a http://www.quailforever.org/page/1/welcome.jsp>welcome page automatically linking from the former Quail Unlimited website and closure announcement, Quail Forever is quick to point out a critical difference between QF and QU: a 4-star Charity Navigator rating. That rating puts the organization at the top of the nation's various conservation groups with 91.23 cents of every dollar raised going directly back into conservation work.

The welcome also points out that the 100 Quail Forever chapters and more their than 10,000 members have the responsibility of determining how 100 percent of their locally-raised conservation funds were spent. "As a result," the welcome explains, "chapter volunteers are able to see the fruits of their efforts locally, while belonging to a national organization with a strong voice on federal and state conservation policy."

Despite the warm welcome to QU members, the QF/PF organization points out there was no merger of interests nor is there any linkage between the two organizations.

PF/QF has, however, acquired the membership list, website and logo of the now-defunct Quail Unlimited. And four former QU employees are working under short-term contracts to help reach out to the now-disenfranchised members and chapters.

"Our goal," says QF/PF's Vice President of Marketing Bob St. Pierre, "is to let those state and local volunteers know we welcome their passion into our organization. We want them to join us as individuals or become newly-chartered chapters."

We want assemble the largest collective voice ever for upland wildlife," he says, "and we want to take that full audience to Washington to fight for a new Farm Bill and to do the same thing for state and local conservation."

Like Quail Forever, the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI) is saddened by the demise of Quail Unlimited, but director Don McKenzie says they're confident that the grassroots support of the national bobwhite restoration effort will continue to strengthen, despite the failure of the species' oldest advocacy group.

"Challenges that led to the end of the organization were unrelated to the urgent importance and continuing needs of the quail conservation mission," he said, "while it's unfortunate they're closing their doors, there are other private conservation groups, including the Quail Coalition, Quail Forever, and the Quail and Upland Wildlife Federation involved in the 25-state NBCI effort that will not only welcome the dedicated efforts of former QU members but also will continue to expand their respective roles and impact on quail restoration." (Editor's Note: read the entire NBCI statement in today's News Section).

For its members, the closure of Quail Unlimited is the conclusion of a story that has been rife with charges and counter-charges of wrongdoing, financial mismanagement and political intrigue. Now, everyone remaining in the efforts to strengthen the restoration of the bobwhite is hoping they can turn their attentions from the failure of one organization to the objective of all their various groups: restoration of America's upland wildlife.

We'll keep you posted.