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Arizona Quail Hunting Log - December 2008 Hunts: 12 December, 27 December 12 December 2008 - Arizona Mearns Quail Hunt
Morning Mearns Covey Break We headed down south for a good ol' Mearns Quail hunt and had a great time. We hit a canyon I hadn't hunted for quite some time and it was fun just to be back there once again. Right off a couple of bird hunters passed us and parked their 4 wheelers about 150 yards from our truck. Not nice! We made some talk about it and moved on to hunting. We hadn't walked but 20 yards from the truck when Joe found some birds next to the river bead. Unfortunately, the covey of 20 or so birds flushed up before we could get in a shot. They all headed straight up the hill in the picture above so we towed our out of shape butts up the steep hill side in chase of some singles.
First Mearns Quail of The Day We walked along the hill top where we thought they had all landed and didn't find a single bird. Then we circled back around and hit a few singles. We walked around some more and bumped a few more singles that were holding tight. For those who may think otherwise...these birds don't always hold tight. They RUN!
Single Mearns Quail Flush As we worked out way back along the line we thought the birds had landed on Pistol pointed a single and I decided to shoot some video of the event. The day was warm and dry with little wind, and by the time my buddy moved in for the shot the dogs were all panting. It's neat to see the dogs tail start to wag just before we notice the bird fly up. Pretty amazing how perceptive those little dogs are. The video is pretty typical of the day. Find birds, shoot, miss. But you don't always have to get a limit to have a good time...but it is nice to have something to take home.
Tricky Mearns Quail After that we split up to find a few more singles and above you can see my buddy just about to shoot at a double the dogs found. In typical Mearns quail fashion they flew fast and darted around trees making for tough shooting in the thick trees along the side of the hill. We walked around the area for a moment and right to the left of the tree in the picture flushed up a bird that we all (including the dogs) must have walked by a few times each. Fun how that works out sometimes.
Joe & Zeus Pointing
Do You Smell Birds? I Don't Know...Do You? From there we worked our way down the canyon and found a few more coveys along the way. Each time made for some fun shooting. Many times this day the dogs would go on point and produce no birds...just diggings. The canyon still holds birds and even though as we got deeper there weren't as many it leaves hope for future years of Mearns hunting in one of my favorite canyons. Once we left the canyon we took a short drive to a location we had once seen a hawk take out a flushing Mearns. It was pretty cool...in that same spot we jumped a covey of Mearns this year. We worked the canyon and found a few more birds but mostly just did a lot of walking. So we moved on to a new location.
Ice Pointing Mearns Singles The day was warm so the drive to a new location wasn't such a bad thing. Once we arrived we packed up and turned the dogs loose. Before we could leave the trucks some of the dogs found a covey of birds (also in the same location we'd found birds years before) and the chase UP HILL was on. I headed straight up the hill from the truck as I had seen some birds fly that way. My buddy and his dogs found some more and sent them sky rocketing towards me. I missed! So I continued up the hill. Ice nailed a double, me doubting there were really birds there (lots of false pointing today) took the time to get out my camera and snap a shot only to have the birds flush up moment before I could get my gun into a good position...still I fired...and missed. We bumped a few more birds as I moved up the hill but I never had a good shot.
Pistol Pointing Mearns Single Finding myself already half way up the hill, I decided to keep on going up...and up...and up. Once I made it to the top I had a wonderful view of the country all around me. Man this is some pretty country...and in Arizona no less. We worked our way along the top and had a few false points and saw some old sign. Then I couldn't find Pistol. I called her and waited. Called again and looked around and up behind me and found her on point. She looked serious, so I snapped a quick picture and moved in. I got right up to her and nothing. Then I turned and followed her nose and BOOM off went the bird. My first shot went straight up into the air...my second shot hit and my third shot confirmed the kill.
Mearns Quail Retrieve Since the shot was down hill the bird had travelled quite a way and so I brought the dogs in hoping the bird wouldn't get away. They searched and found my one kill of the day. Ice grabbed it up and brought it in so happy! From there we headed back down the hill and back to the truck. We had worked hard and so had the dogs so we decided to head on home. In the end we found 7 or 8 coveys and came home with 3 or 4 birds. Fun times and great to be out with the dogs again. Can't wait to get into the hills again. 27 December 2008 - Arizona Mearns Quail Hunt
It'll Be A Cold Day As is evidenced by the frost on this horses rump...it was a cold day! The low as we got started was 20 degrees and by the end of the day it had warmed up to an amazing 37. That's my kind of bird hunting weather! A special thanks goes out to my brother who has over the last few years put down his gun (for the most part) and taken up the camera to help document these great trips. He still has the dogs, just shoots in a different and very meaningful way. Thanks bro.
RT Pointing Our First Mears Covey of The Day Today we headed out to an area of the state we'd been to a few times in years past and came in a new way hoping to find some new ground to cover. Our first stop was near a location where my brother and I had been the last time we came to this beautiful country together. We unloaded a few dogs and headed for the hills and within a few minutes we found RT pointing on top of the hill we were climbing. As the other dogs set up to back we moved in for a shot.
Young Male Mearns Quail As we were moving in for the flush we found a few young ones confused as to what they should be doing at this point of the game. The covey finally flushed and up came what turned out to be a nice sized covey flying in all directions.
Mearns Retrieve I shot one of the first birds up. With the dogs heading in all directions after singles I made my own retrieve. Not bad for an aging guy with a few extra pounds around the gills and other places too.
Young Mearns Flush As I came around the corner of the tree I saw a young male standing there and flushed him up. Hopefully he'll make it to next season.
RT Pointing Single Mearns - Ice Backing We worked the hillside and had a few singles flush up wild and a few hold for the dogs. RT nailed a single in a Manzanita bush and Ice locked up on back. When we got close we spotted the little guy on the ground, hunkered down tight.
Young Male Mearns These birds sure do blend in nicely to their surroundings. This little guy wasn't sure what to expect so we moved in and flushed him up and let him fly. Then we let one of the younger dogs who hadn't been out much (MO, my new buddy) come in and smell what it was he should be looking for.
Ice Pointing Mearns Covey As we worked down the hill and headed for what we thought would be a quick loop through a bowl we found Ice on point right at the bottom. She held nice but the birds weren't in the holding mood and flew off before we could get to them.
RT Pointing Mearns Single RT was doing a great job finding birds and found some singles from the covey right off. We moved in and shot at a few of the ones he and the other dogs found as we moved our way along the bowl. Next Ice nailed a single that made the below picture slide show a possibility. She held tight and so did the bird, but upon the flush, my gun didn't fire and so no shot was fired. Poor dog. I think I have finally figured out why that happens. So hopefully that won't be happening anymore.
Ice Pointing Single Mearns - Me Missing From there we continued our trek around the bowl until my brothers GPS beeped at him indicating that RT was on point...450 yards away! That dang dog had run down and up and down into the next canyon and because he usually didn't false point, we were compelled to head over there ourselves.
Zeus Pointing When we bottomed out at the first mountain and before we started our assent up and over the next we found Zeus and Ice pointing. We couldn't figure it out...there were no birds, and although it looked like there may have been some birds there earlier we think they my have just been backing each other.
Poor Skunk When we finally made it to the other side of the hill and mostly down to the canyon, we knew there were no birds...we also new there was a skunk...the smell was intoxicating. I like the smell of skunk...just not that close.
Coming Out of Skunk Ville As you may have guessed, RT had a run in with a Skunk and I'm still not sure who lost on that deal. That dog smelled so bad it was almost unbearable to walk behind him if the wind was blowing your way. Fortunately back at the truck my buddy had some skunk solution and that seemed to temper the smell a bit.
Pistol Pointing Mearns Covey From there we jumped in the truck and took a drive to a new location. We quickly found that the hills were alive with the sound and sight of hunters, hunters and more hunters. Not wanting to be a bunch of jerk and steal someone else's spot, but also knowing the area was full of places to hunt, we drove on a few miles from the last hunters we saw setting up camp and staked out our final hunting area. From this location we could hunt in multiple directions so we would be able to hunt out the rest of the day without moving our vehicle.
Zeus Pointing Mearns Covey As we moved down the canyon all the dogs were pointing and acting birdie. We got into a covey and got off a few shots and moved on down the trail looking for more birds. As we moved down into a wash Pistol pointed and as we moved in there were diggings, but no birds.
Pistol Pointing Moving Covey
Zeus Pointing Moving Covey We relocated the dogs and about 20 yards further down Zeus went on point. We moved in close and still no birds, but we didn't release the dogs...we knew there had to be birds close by. On a side note, my brother had let his pup out this run to help her get used to the game and not knowing what it means to back she moved on ahead and about 20 yards in front of Zeus she busted up a nice little covey out of shooting range.
Pistol Pointing Single We saw a few of the birds go up the hill to our left and pointed the dogs in that direction hoping to find a few singles. About 20 feet up the hill Pistol went on point and I flushed up a single female Mearns Quail and shot it.
Pistol On The Retrieve Pistol nabbed up the bird and went looking for more. I had one flush up near me and shot it and with that I came off the hill and headed back to where the birds had flushed from. My buddy also had a few birds fly up by him and he got one or two.
Pistol Pointing Large Mearns Covey & Me With a Bird We hooked around to our right so we could take the canyon back up in a different direction and hadn't gone far when we found Pistol on point. As we moved close the birds flushed. Me and my buddy each got one birds out of the flush.
Rocky Landscape Looking For Singles There were plenty of birds and they flushed up into a rocky hillside and the chase was on. We had a few wild flushes and a few finds. In all I got one and we each had a few fun shots.
Zeus Pointing Mearns Our wanderings after singles had lead us back to where we found the covey and so we continued our march up the draw. Not too far down Zeus went on point and we moved in.
Tracking Down The Mearns Covey We were once again on the trail of another covey of moving Mearns Quail. Every couple of yards one dog or another would go on point and we would move in. Then finally Pistol dropped her head and tail and pinned the covey.
Mearns Covey On The Ledge We moved in and...boom...up flushed a covey and like little jet fighters the birds were flying in all directions.
Can You Find The Mearns Quail? If you look REAL close you can see one bird just about dead center of the above picture. It's the brown blob right below the base of the trees in the background. I shot that one and had one heck of a time finding it.
Young Pup Looking For Mearns Quail
Mearns In The Bag My buddy also got some birds out of this covey and had his dogs out there scooping them up for him.
Zeus - The Mearns Dog - Finding Downed Bird After we'd looked for my bird for a few minutes we called in my buddy's dogs and still had no luck so we moved on in despair. About 20 yards down the draw Zeus went on point. Yep...he found my downed bird. She'd run off and finally stopped and we got her. Thanks Zeus!
Zeus Tracking Mearns We moved on a bit and shortly found Zeus tracking some more quail. After a few stops we finally made it to the covey which was spread out along the rocky wash bottom.
Got It! The birds were jumping up all over the place. It made for some exciting and fast shooting and some good dog work.
Two Trips Out and Almost A Limit When we got back to the truck we took an opportunity to have lunch and take a break for us and the dogs. We took the birds out of our bags and snapped a quick shot before we cleaned them for eating.
Pistol Pointing Mearns Covey After our little break we headed out on what we half thought would be an unproductive hunt. For one thing we were tired, the dogs were tired and one dog smelt like skunk and bad! We also had concerns the area we were heading into wouldn't hold many if any birds. To our great joy not more then 200 yards from the truck Pistol pointed a nice covey. I snapped a quick picture and moved in for a shot.
Pistol Retrieving Mearns Quail The birds flushed up and I shot one. Pistol went in for a retrieve and we moved on in pursuit of singles.
RT On A Nice Sized Mearns Covey Once our search took us to the end of the draw we hooked up a mountain and headed in a new direction. Not long into our march we found RT on point. He hit a nice covey of quail with 20+ birds that held tightly until we arrived ready to shoot.
Mearns Retrieve By Ice In the first flush we got some birds and Ice scooped mine up for me. With great excitement at the amount of birds we had just flushed up we headed out looking for singles.
RT Slams a Single There was a lot of action for the next few minutes with dogs pointing singles up and down the hillside and my buddy and I shooting up a storm. In the above picture RT came cruising down the hill and just about went head over heals as he slammed a single which I got thank you RT. Up above me my buddies dogs helped him put together the below sequence of pictures as he shot a fleeing quail.
Going After The Single The action slowly died down and we slowly made our way back to the truck. A great time was had by all and my buddy and I both came home with a limit of Mearns Quail and my brother a little over 300 pictures. We figured we got into somewhere around 10 coveys of varying sizes which was much more then we expected. The day was a fun one and we got a lot of great pictures to make it memorable. Here are a few more for you to enjoy.
Bobcat Making A Get-A-Way
Bounding & Jumping Puppy
Ice Coming Up From The Ground ∞
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