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29 November 2008 - Phoenix, Arizona Quail Hunt
Mountains in the Sky It has been a very interesting year, as I'm sure many have been experiencing and so I'm only now getting out to hunt for quail. Of all the things I've had to sacrifice or do without this year...hunting quail has been the hardest. Walking in the hills and deserts of Arizona chasing my bird dogs is one of those things that gives me so much pleasure it's hard to live without. With all that said, I wasn't planning on going hunting this weekend and only decided to go out Saturday morning around 7am. I loaded up the Jeep, packed in the dogs, grabbed the only box of shells I had (8's) and hit the road for an old favorite spot close to town.
Thirsty Dogs It had been a few years since I had tried this spot and when I got to the entrance it was blocked off. No way in there. So I had to find a new spot to park (too close to the highway for my liking) and head for the hills. By the time I got in deep we had been going for about an hour and hadn't seen anything but a bunch of Dove. I stopped in the shade of a tree and watered myself and the dogs. I've always believed the best place to store water is in your body, but at this point, having already drunk all my water I was wishing I'd stored more in my bag. I had 3 bottles for my dogs (which on a good 3-4 hour Mearns hunting loop would be enough) and after our little water break was over were were down to just one. After resting for a few minutes I decided it was best to call it quits and head back to the Jeep. I humped my now 10lbs heavier (heavier then last year) butt over the hill to my South and started back down a new wash. It was then the Quail Gods (or maybe the hot sun) started talking to me. I was led by what I thought was a flushing quail a few hundred yards out in front of me and laughed at the thought of following the Quail Gods.
Pistol Pointing First Covey of Gambles Quail As I came up a wash to my surprise I found Pistol locked on point in the general location where I thought the Quail I had "seen" had landed and I had to laugh again as I pulled out my camera.
Ice Pointing Gambles Quail Covey Then I spotted Ice on point a few yards away and took a picture of her. Thinking there weren't any "real" quail there (always trust the Quail Gods) I moved around for a better position to get a picture of both dogs in the lens when all the sudden the bush to my right exploded and 15-20 quail split up in all directions. I shot at two and hit one.
Pistols 1st Retrieve of the Year Pistol rounded up the first bird and we were off looking for singles. Pistol pointed and I worked in and found nothing. Then I moved on about 10 feet to my left and boom...up came a single! Easy shot and I grabbed this one.
Ice - Stop to Flush From there we moved on trying not to kill ourselves as we still had a long way to go and very little water left. As I came down one hill I saw Pistol on point on the other and Ice running in the opposite direction just a little too fast. The scenting wasn't great and she bumped a few birds. Those few birds turned into wave after wave of Gambles flying over the hill...about 50+ birds. Fortunately Ice stopped to flush and Pistol held her point in time for me to get over there and bump a few more singles out of range for my 8's. We headed over the hill in search of singles and found a few but didn't get any good shots. I could hear them calling in all directions and decided to go after the ones that were in the direction of the Jeep.
Quail Retrieve With a Bit Extra We only bumped a few birds and I got one lucky shot off hitting a male Gambles Quail. On top of the hill there was plenty of Cholla Cactus and both dogs picked up a bit.
Pistol Pointing Gambles Covey We hadn't gone far when Pistol nailed another covey of 10+ birds and I snapped off a quick shot missing the quail through the trees. I didn't pay much attention to where they went as we all needed to get some water and we were still a ways off from the Jeep. In all I had a GREAT time on my first of few hunts that will take place this year. I can't wait to go out again. The dogs had a great time too and have paid the price of no hunting with really sore feet. I think they'll forgive me. ∞ February 2008 back to December 2008 |
