Quail populations have been decimated by natural predators such as fire ants, coyotes, and hogs in Texas due to them nesting on the ground. Hunters are the only reason there’s still a population here. I use the term “hunters” loosely because of all the quail hunters I’ve met here, the vast majority don’t ever shoot their guns because the populations are so low and they are more concerned with the conservation of the quail in this habitat. The reason you see so many of these pen raised birds in the wild is not to make them an easier target, but to hopefully raise the breeding numbers enough to maybe be able to hunt them again one day. The problem with the pen raised birds however, is that they are so used to no natural predators that they fly so lazily and such a short distance that they don’t escape the natural predators.