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Arizona Quail Hunting Log - October 2009 Hunts: 2 October, 10 October, 17 October, 24 October, 31 October OPENING DAY - 2 OCTOBER 2009
Pistol Retrieves First Gambles Quail of The Year Today I took a half day and headed to a spot I'd seen some quail in a helicopter with a friend a few weeks back (another story for another time). Not knowing exactly where to go (can't see road signs from the air) I actually ended up on the wrong road, but it turned out to be great. At dawn the Pistol, Ice and I stopped at the top of a hill and listened for birds. Nothing. Oh well, we're here and I don't have all day so we dropped down the hill into the wash below to look for birds. About half way down I stopped to listen and heard one chirp straight out about 100 yards. Away we went. About half way to where I thought I heard the chirp birds started flying all over the place. Wanting to wait and see if I could get a bird over a point I didn't take any wild shots...yet. As we neared the other end of the wash we had pushed quite a few birds without any points and I was getting anxious to shoot. As the next group of birds flew up I shot one and after some time searching Pistol came out with the male Gambles Quail above.
Using The Hat To Mark A Downed Bird A large number of the birds had flown up the bank of the wash, which was about 25 feet straight up, so we climbed up after then. At the top there was a lot more wild flushing going on and then finally Ice nailed a single. Unfortunately I didn't have a shot due to the cover that was between me and the birds. A few yards more and Pistol went on point. This bird wasn't so lucky and I dropped him. Or so I thought. As you can see above I used my hat to mark where I thought I saw him hit the ground and sure enough found feathers, but after about 5 minutes of me and the dogs searching we came up empty.
Pistol Retrieves Another Gambles Quail We stayed up above the was, not more than 1/2 mile from the truck, pushing around small groups of birds for about another 30 minutes. I hit another wild one and Pistol scooped it up.
Ice Nails A Double After a while we headed back towards the wash and Ice nailed a nice double. After snapping a quick shot I moved in and the birds flushed and I missed. Shooting today was off, not horrible, but off. Out of 12 shots I only knocked down 3 birds.
Pistol Retrieves 3rd Bird of The Day About 10 yards off from the edge of the wash I was able to get one more bird (final bird of the day) and Pistol made a nice retrieve. From here we worked our way to the edge of the wash to attempt getting back down into it without killing ourselves.
Listen to Some Gambles Talking We stopped and took a moment to listen to the quail calling in the wash and I decided on a path that would take me back to the truck in time to run my pup Johnny on some birds before I had to go.
Pistol Pointing Remnants of a HUGE Covey Oddly enough with all the calling we heard in the wash, I was only able to bump 2 birds. Since there were no dogs around I didn't even take a shot. I was trying to live by the "no point, no shot" rule and it was fine for opening day, giving that the dogs aren't tuned up on wild birds yet, not to mention there was no breeze and it was warming up quick. Anyway as I approached the other side of the wash a HUGE covey of birds flew up to the top and I thought we might get one more shot at birds before we made it to the truck. Getting up I was out of breath but the excitement of the dogs kept me going. Not 10 yards up and Pistol nailed a single, but I didn't. At this point I figured I'd leave these birds alone and get my pup out and since we were so close to the truck I figured it be an easy trip to get him on some birds.
Johnny Pointing Gambles Covey After putting up the older dogs I grabbed Johnny and we headed out. At first I was pretty excited, thinking we'd get into birds right away, but I quickly realized this was going to take some work. The birds had dropped into a steep draw and I couldn't hear them calling so I wasn't sure which direction they had gone. We made our way down then through it for a while and I bumped just one bird. So we moved up to the top of the other side and after a short distance I bumped a group of about 6 birds, but Johnny was totally unaware. At this point it was pretty hot and the lack of excitement from Johnny was very apparent. He wouldn't run but 10 yards out in front of me and he didn't dare "crash" through a bush, let alone go near one. I was beginning to think I had a dud on my hands. Then, finally, he had some birds flush off to his side. He heard, then saw, then smelt and he turned it on. He ran out in front hunting at a nice 30 yards or so and bumped 2 more small groups of birds, each time getting more excited. We circled around with me wanting to get him on some birds before we headed back and finally he nailed some birds. At first I was unsure that there would be anything there since he was pretty close to where he was looking and at least so far today even the young singles weren't holding. I moved in anyway and there was nothing. I gave the okay and he wouldn't budge. So I thought I better give it a look around and walked about 10 feet further out in front and up came 3 birds. HURRAY!
3 Gambles Quail We made our way back to the truck loaded up. The day started at 42 degrees and now at 9:30am it was over 60. Funny how hot that can be when you're out hunting. In all it was a great day and I'd definitely go back to that spot.
10 October 2009
Pistol Pointing Gambles Covey - Ice Backing Looking for a repeat of last week, I headed out to the same place as last week. However, this time I had a different approach and was certain things would go well. I worked my way down into a different part of the wash and before I reached the bottom I saw Ice on point. Then I noticed Pistol up in front of her a little farther down. Working my way down the hill the covey started to flush...and it was a big one. I shot a double and loaded up for more, but didn't have any more good shots. Problem was, once we got down to find the birds...we weren't able to locate them. This would be a common theme with 2 of the 3 doubles I would shoot today. In all I downed 5 birds that the dogs and I never found.
Pistol Was On Today - Here She's Pointing A Single After spending a few minutes trying to find the double I had just shot we moved on looking for singles. Pistol quickly found the first one and I missed. I started the morning feeling pretty rusty, but warmed up as the sun continued to rise. We worked around a while with no more points from the dogs and no more hits from me on the many wild flushes. Then we headed for the hills. Once there we encountered a few small groups of birds but with little opportunity to shot. Finally after about 30 minutes on the hill Pistol went on point and I connected with the bird. It was close enough that I recognized it as a female. However, upon going in for the retrieve, Pistol never came out with the bird. I went in and had no luck finding it either. After a bit I realized I hadn't seen Ice for a while so I started calling her. I didn't have a collar on her so I couldn't beep to locate her. I called, called again then called one more time. On the third call either she or the birds moved and I saw her move off about 10 feet after a flushing covey higher up the hill and to my right. Bummer. Always trust your bird dog...even if you can't see it.
Pistol Backing Ice We worked our way off the hill and flushed a few more birds wild and out of range and headed back towards the truck. As we went up the slope to the truck I saw Pistol on point. She looked serious, but not like she normally does when she has a bird pinned. As I moved in I looked in the direction of her nose and saw Ice on point about 20 feet up. She was backing Ice and I was going in the wrong direction. I turned and never made it close enough to take a shot at the flushing birds. From here we moved on to a new spot. My brother had been up this way the day after the opener and said they got into a bunch of birds. I knew they had come in on a different road, but I hopped the one I was one would take me close to where they were. After about 20 minutes of driving my road ended, but the spot looked promising so I unloaded the pup Johnny and we headed out. I could hear birds calling from the truck so we went in that direction. We hadn't gone 50 yard when birds were flushing in every direction. Hundreds of them. Unfortunately the trees were so thick there was no chance of a shot. We worked through the trees pushing the birds out and as I came into a clearing I saw a group of about 30 birds fly up and out of the was. I pointed Johnny in that direction and away we went. Once at the top we bumped a number of birds, but mostly they were flushing wild in small groups about 50 yard in front of us. Mostly trying to get back down into the was. We headed a group of them off and they flushed on top giving us an opportunity for singles. After bumping a few wild Johnny finally nailed a triple and I shot 2. He got one (kind of...not much of a retriever yet) and I went after the other. Guess I'm not much of a retriever because I never found my bird. Wanting to end on a positive and wanting to get the real dogs to go in after some of those other birds in the wash we circled back around. Fortunately we were able to bump a few more birds on the way which added to Johnny's excitement for the hunt.
Pistol Pointing Small Covey Back at the truck I watered down Pistol and Ice and we headed back out for birds. We didn't have to go far before the birds started flying. They were everywhere. Mostly at this point they were flushing wild out of range, then finally I found Pistol on point. The birds were right down in a lower part in the was and when they flushed I was ready and nailed one.
Pistol Bringing In A Male Gambles Quail Pistol scooped it up and brought it right back. From this point it was pretty much small covey after small covey for about 45 minutes. Both dogs were on, but Pistol was definitely getting more action. She would bump one, then point one and hit quite a few good singles. I was about the same. One some...off some.
Pistol With Another Gambles Quail We had a lot of fun pushing these birds around. The heat was starting to get to the dogs so I turned them around. Looking down the was I noticed we weren't more then a mile away from the truck. Wow. Seemed like we'd gone such a long way, but with all the action in the middle I guess it just slowed us down.
Pistol Pointing Single Gambles Quail After taking a short water break (gave the dogs one bottle full each...had 4 to start...now I was down to 1) we headed across about 50 yards and then started working our way down. It started out slow and then I called Pistol off a right side cast and as she hooked back around she slammed on point. I moved it, but as the bird flushed I didn't have a shot. It was pretty neat. I heard the bird flushing, but milliseconds before I heard it, I saw Pistol break point like a flash of lighting. It blows me away how well these dogs can sense what's going on. I'm convinced she started to move the very instant that bird took it's first step, but it wasn't until it was coming out of the bush that I was aware of what was happening.
Ice Retrieving Gambles Quail As we continued to work down Ice pointed a covey to my left and front, but they flushed well before I was near enough for a shot. So we worked the singles. They stayed pretty close together so along this little draw it was one up after another. I finally got a shot and nailed it. Ice grabbed it and brought it in.
Pistol Pointing Last Covey of Gambles For The Day About 50 yards from there I found Pistol on point. She was panting, so I didn't think she was too serious, but I quickly learned the panting was likely due to the heat and the fact that I'm not sure exactly how long she had been standing there. I moved in and nothing. Another 5 steps and there were birds everywhere. This time I finally got a double and was able to get both birds in the bag.
Pistol Retrieving Female Gambles Quail Pistol grabbed one while I was looking for the other. I looked and looked and nothing. Then Pistol came in and found it for me.
Gambles Quail & Shotgun Shells Once back at the truck I unloaded the birds (9 total...if I'd found the 5 I lost I would have been one off of a limit) and the ton of shells I found while walking around. This place must get hit more often then it would appear by the number of birds I found. I'm not a 100%er when it comes to getting shells, but I try to pick up each one. Since I don't always find them I pick up other shells I come across. I've never found this many in any other place I've been hunting and it's in a pretty remote location.
Scratched Up Arm - Look Familiar? I tend to protect my legs pretty well, but my arms always take a betting when I'm out after Gambles Quail. I don't really mind so much and I guess it's all part of the fun. 17 October 2009
Pistol Pointing Gambles Quail Single For anyone crazy enough to go hunting today you know it was blazing hot. Getting out of the truck the temperature gauge red 65 degrees. The last 2 weekends that is the number it read as I was finishing up my hunt. I'd hopped getting to the hunting spot before sunrise would give a good 30 minutes or so of "cool" weather hunting. I was wrong. Before I even dropped the tail gate I could hear the dogs panting something fierce. Well...I'd come this far, not turning back now. But I'd make it a quickie for sure. Last weeks success prompted me to go back to the basic area and try a different section of the large wash we'd hunted. From up high it looked like great country and we started out okay, dropping down into the wash and heading down hill. Then suddenly Pistol was on point. I moved in and up came one bird. I heard it fly and caught a glimpse of it as it darted around a large bush and disappeared. No bother, I could hear more birds calling up ahead. Not far past were we hit the single Pistol and Ice were both on a covey, but the cover has become too think and I was unable to see the birds again.
Find Water - Find Birds By this point (30 minutes into the hunt) I'd already gone through one bottle of water and the dogs were thirsty for more. From last weeks hunt I knew there was some water close by so I headed there and found this great water hole to let the dogs cool off in. This new section I had intended to try out proved to be much more difficult for shooting, walking and keeping track of the dogs than I'd anticipated. So, I headed out. And out meant up and up until I was back close to the truck. Not where I'd wished to be with so little to show for it, but the dogs were already showing signs of over heating so I started back.
Pistol Retrieving Female Gambles Quail I could see a nice little wash that ran close enough to the truck to make it worth the detour and so I pointed the dogs in that direction and hoped for the best. We hadn't gone far when Ice went on point. Nothing. She moved up about 20 yards and both her and Pistol went on Point. I could hear the birds rustling in the bushes so I moved up and got into position just in time to shoot a female out of the first wave. There would be two more waves totaling about 20 birds of which I missed one more shot. By this point we'd been away from the truck for an hour and even with the water hole stop I was out of water. So, we beelined it back to the truck.
Female Gambles Quail After watering Pistol and Ice and hosing them down with my trusty bug sprayer converted into a portable dog soaker, I loaded the two of them up and opened Johnny's crate to let him out. He was a bit reluctant at first so I thought this would for sure be a quick one just to get him out and maybe bump a few birds. Fortunately, we were able to bump a few of the singles from the covey Pistol and Ice hit on our way back to the truck. All busted, no points. We moved on a bit and now Johnny was showing some excitement so I pushed up down into the was after some birds. While in the was we got into two nice sized covies. The first one I bumped and Johnny was off to my left and never saw them. He did however land a nice point on a single which I missed. Moving on about another 100 yards and wham, Johnny went on Point. Thinking it might be a long flying single I was surprised when about 15-20 birds came up out of a small little bush. So surprised in fact I missed both shots. It was at this point I noticed Johnny was still acting a little gun shy. For such a great dog he sure is a sissy. I'll need to do some proper gun breaking in November. For now I'm more concerned about getting him on birds and keeping him excited about them. So I was quite pleased that as we topped out on the walk back to the truck he went on point again. This time there wasn't anything there, but as we moved on about 20 yards and down in a wash he went on point again. This time I got one and miraculously he retrieved it...with a little encouragement. At first when he picked it up I gave him a "good boy". But then he dropped it. I said "fetch" and he picked it up again which got him another "good boy" and then he drooped it. Third time was the charm and he made it all the way to hand. He'll figure it out and that just made him even more excited. Now I'm excited to get him out again. This has been a great start for this young dog. At 11 months old and so on his first bird season, he's been able to get on quite a few wild birds and he's got the makings of a bird finder. 24 October 2009
Pistol In Gamble's Country 45 degrees to start and 70's at the end. Today a friend and I headed out in search of Gamble's Quail. The first draw we hit looked very promising, but after having walked for quite awhile all we had seen was one bird that flushed out wild about 100 yards out in front of us and down in the draw. After we turned around we headed up a different draw and right as we were nearing the end I saw a few birds flush wild out in front of use. We worked up the draw and the must have been running fast because we didn't find them in the draw.
Ice & Pistol Pointing Gamble's Covey If you look really closely you can see 2 dogs on point in the picture above. The cover was so think as we were heading back to the truck there wasn't much to see or shoot and those birds took advantage of that. I did see 2 fly off to my left so we headed in that direction. As I topped out on the draw I looked down in and on the opposite side I saw 5-6 birds running up the other side. I headed down and in their direction, but never found them.
Johnny Pointing Gamble's Covey Once back at the truck I put up the older dogs and got Johnny out. We headed to the edge of a wash and listened for birds. We heard a few and headed down. Once down, my buddy and his dogs quickly encountered a few birds and the chase was on. At this point I lost track of my friend and his dogs and so we headed in the opposite direction of another hunter we could hear yelling for his dog. (He must have found him because once we returned to the truck we could no longer see his truck off in the distance.) As Johnny and I moved a long he was running out pretty good and I could tell he thought he had this hunting thing down. He went on point once with no return and then pointed again a few moments later. This time a covey of about 20+ birds shot up all over out of a few small bushes. I unloaded my gun and hit absolutely nothing. I blame it on my wide brimmed hat falling off in my face as I lifted the gun to my shoulder and the surprise of Johnny actually nailing a covey. I had a pretty good idea of where the singles had spread out to and so we worked first to the right and then circled back to the left. In all Johnny pointed 3 more singles 1 of which I was able to shoot. He was a pointing machine...in that he was running, pointing, running, pointing and probably had 4 times as many false points as productive points. The bird I shot went down wounded and at first we just found feathers, but then Johnny scared him out of a bush, chased him down a small hill and nabbed him at the bottom. Much better then the first week when he actually ran from the fleeing bird.
Johnny Pointing Single Gamble's Hiding In The Rocks The day was warming up and we decided to give one more location a try. This locating proved to be completely barren of any birds. The washes were dry and there were absoltely no tracks to be seen. The was looked amazing and after a few we years I'm sure it would hold many, many birds, but for now it didn't even hold rabbits. 31 October 2009
Pistol Pointing Gamble's Quail Covey Today we set out to find new country to hunt and had a great time. The day started out at 31 degrees at 7:00am and ended with 68 degrees at 11:30am. Right out of the truck I could hear some quail calling to our West so we headed in that direction. We hadn't gone more then 200 yards when Pistol went on point. I thought it was a little close for where I heard the quail call so I snapped a picture and started in semi-casually. In milliseconds birds were flying up all over to my right, left and everywhere in between. The birds flew off in every direction, most under the cover of the trees. Then finally one flew my way and after two quick shots he was out of range. Missed.
Pistol Retrieving Gamble's Quail There were likely 50+ birds that flew off in all directions and I decided to keep walking down the wash and then circle back up the hill on the other side. We hadn't gone far when Pistol pointed a triple on the bank. They were hunkered down tight in a small bush and I was surprised when there were three and not just one in it. I shot at one and missed then put my barrel on the late flyer and got him. Pistol was right on him for a nice retrieve.
Pistol Retrieving Second Gamble's Quail We went down the was about another 20 yards and some birds flew up to my right but too far out of range for a good shot. Walking down into the wash to cross over to the other side a single busted up at my feet and I got him. I called in the dogs and Pistol found him quick. We moved on up to the other side and into the hill side where I had seen about 10-15 of the birds fly. These birds had flown over separately as opposed to in covey formation so I hoped there would be a lot of them holding tight for some nice bird work. At this point I only had Pistol hunting for me. Ice had disapeared into the thick of the wash. With this being the 5th weekend and Ice not having worn a collar any of the prior 4 weekends, she was getting pretty footloose and fancy free. So, I just let her do her thing planning to take the collar off Pistol and put it on Ice next time she came around to help remind her who she was hunting for. Funny, once I got the collar on, I didn't need to use it. Smart dogs.
Pistol Pointing Single Gamble's Quail Pistol and I worked up out of the wash and within moments I found Pistol on point. I took a few steps in the direction she was pointing and two birds came out, one to my left and one to my right. The one that flew to my right darted behind a tree so I turned my attention to the one on the left just before he dropped over the hill and got him. It was probably only a 25 yard shot so I thought Pistol would scoop him right up. She didn't. I came in to help out and I couldn't see anything but a few feathers. So I called Ice in (who was coming up out of the was due to the shooting). I put the collar on her and had the two dogs going back and forth where I thought he went down. After 5 minutes or so we gave up the search and moved on.
Ice Retrieving Gamble's Quail We hadn't walked far when I turned to call Ice (and zap her if needed) when to my great joy here she came with the lost bird in her mouth. I was pretty excited that we didn't lose this one. I hate losing birds and right now I'm thinking it's likely the shells I've been using that are at least part of the problem. Time to invest in some nicer shells and see if it makes a difference.
Ice Pointing Small Gamble's Quail Group We worked up and over the next little hill without seeing any birds. As we came down the other side and down into the draw Pistol went on point but there was nothing there. We moved up about 20 feet and Ice slammed on point. Nothing came out of the bush she was pointing at so I moved up about 10 more feet just as Pistol came up over the other side and slammed on point in time to watch 4 birds fly out of a bush and head straight over the hill and out of site. Fun little chase.
Desert Christmas Cactus I decided to turn back down into the was and circle back around where some other birds had gone. We worked the area pretty good with no luck. So we headed on down the was. We walked for about 30 minutes with no success so I turned us up a hill and into a nice little valley. There were Desert Christmas Cactus bushes all over. They were all so full of red fruit and made the desert look beautiful. We headed back to the truck and got into one more group of singles from the first covey within 50 yards of the truck, but they busted far out and flew far.
Johnny Pointing Single Gamble's Quail At the truck I switched out the girls for my pup Johnny. We headed up the hill to our left that I hadn't gone to yet hoping to find some of the birds from the first covey grouped up there. When we got near the top Johnny went on point and after snapping a picture I walked in. Nothing came out. Right before I released Johnny from point a bird flew out up and too my left. With a quick spin, a slight hesitation and a pull of the trigger I missed.
Wounded Gamble's Quail We moved on along the hill side and didn't find any more birds there. Moving down into the was I bumped a single. I pointed Johnny in that general direction and as we neared the area where I thought I saw him go down, Johnny bumped him off to my left. The bird was a youngster and he flew straight down the was so we just headed on after him hoping the third time would be the charm. This time Johnny pointed him and I made what seemed like an easy shot. Johnny went running up after him but wasn't having much luck finding him so I came in to help. I saw the bird on the ground, still alive and so I snapped a quick picture before calling Johnny in. Johnny came in and went on point then at the "fetch" command ran in to grab him, but he bird fluttered off into a near by bush. Johnny went in after him. This young dog has come far in 4 weeks. The first week he was afraid of a fluttering bird and wanted nothing to do with it, now he couldn't wait to get his teeth on this one.
Johnny Retrieving Gamble's Quail After a little chase Johnny came out with the bird and delivered him almost to hand. And asked for a drink. He's getting it and I'm sure he'll become better as the season progresses. We worked down the was a little way and Johnny had home more point that sent a bird flying off before I could get a shoot. We tried to get a repeat of the last bird, but this one either flew a lot farther than I thought or had hit the ground running...or...we just couldn't find it. Anyway, we headed back up the wash and for about 10 minutes didn't hear or see anything. At about 100 yards from the truck I stopped to listen and heard some quail talking on the hill Johnny and I had originally been on. We booked it up there and Johnny went on a solid point where the birds likely were before we started to push them. We moved them up and over the top and right as I topped over I bumped up three of them and missed with a wild shot to the bird closes to me. I worked the top of the ridge while Johnny worked around below me and farther down about 20 yards a covey of about 15 birds flew down and then back up a little hill. We cruised over there only to watch them flush out again too far out of ranch for a shot and even too far for Johnny to see what was happening.
Pistol Retrieves A Gamble's Quail I drove on about 15 minutes up the road and found a nice old jeep trail to follow. It got pretty rough and tight for my truck, but I could see what looked like an area that would have water so I pushed on at the expense of my paint job. Finally getting to a point where I could go no further I unloaded Pistol and Ice and we headed up the was to see if there was water, and more importantly birds. As we were going along I thought I heard a quail call in a tributary wash off to my left so I took the dogs up that about 50 yards and after seeing nothing headed up over the hill back towards the waterhole. As we topped out and started down I had both dogs off to my left with Ice a bit closer then Pistol. Almost like it was planned the both slammed on point right as the spooked up a nice sized covey of Gambles Quail. The birds flew in all directions and I waited for one to fly my way, took the easy shot and Pistol ran up and grabbed it. I took the dogs down hill in search of singles and I bumped 3 - the dogs found none. We circled around and after a while with no birds I called it a day.
Good Half Day Hunt in the Arizona Desert This Halloween Half Day Hunt turned out to be a pretty fun one. I found some new areas with plenty of area still to be hunted, had some good dog work and did pretty good shooting.
5 Male Gamble's Quail In all I shot 5 Gamble's Quail in 4 hours of Hunting. Some how today I ended up shooting only Cock Birds. Three of them were for sure this year birds and the other two were suspect. One of my neighbor friends is going to likely smoke these up as he practices for Thanksgiving Turkey. ∞ Back to September 2009 or go to November 2009 |
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