Reames attends Brigade camp

By Sam Waller

Albany’s Riley Reames enjoyed being part of the Texas Brigade program so much last year that she signed up for one of the other camps this year.

After attending the Ranch Brigade camp at Santa Anna in 2021, Reames attended the Rolling Plains Bobwhite Brigade camp June 10-14 at Wood Ranch at Rising Star.

“We were there for five days and did so much,” Reames said. “It was a lot packed into a little amount of time.

Reames, a home-schooled sophomore, said  her interest in wildlife conservation led her to attend Bobwhite Brigade as a cadet. She also attended the Youth Range Workshop at Junction.

“Ranch Brigade has more about plants and what everything eats,” she said, “but I really enjoyed the conservation aspect.”

Reames hopes to return to Bobwhite Brigade camp next year as an assistant leader. Points are earned for completing projects associated with Bobwhite Brigade in the coming year.

“If you get asked back, you get a chance to earn a scholarship,” she said. “It’s based on whoever did the most out of everything on the list.”

The Rolling Plains and South Texas Bobwhite Brigade camps educate youth (ages 13-17) about Texas quail and natural resource management. Participants study the anatomy and biology of bobwhite quail, bobwhite diet and nutritional needs/stages, habitat requirements, covey dynamics, as well as predator, habitat and land management. Hunter ethics, firearm handling and safety, and even dog handling are part of the five-day schedule.

Reames said the Bobwhite Brigade program involved a number of projects among groups, known as “coveys” in the program.

“They name a top covey, and the covey that did the best on each project gets a free hunt,” she said. “My favorite thing was that I got to lead up a project on habitat evaluation. We had to look at several different places and decide what each one needed to be good for quail.”

Other projects included plant identification and evaluation.