|
Arizona Quail Hunting Log December 2007 Hunts: 8 December, 22 December, 29 December 8 December - Arizona
Blu Pointing Mearns Quail - RT Backing Today the 4 of us headed out in-spite of the rainy weather and boy am I glad we did. This would be my first Mearns Quail Hunt of the year so I was eager to get out. We started out at a place my brother and one of my friends had been to earlier that year with some good success and we also knew we could get there in even though the roads were rough. Almost right off we were into birds. The cold weather and moisture made for birds holding tight and scent caring well. As we moved up and down the canyons there was a lot of good dog work. Blu pointed numberless covey's and the shooting was pretty fair.
Blu Pointing Mearns Quail - Zeus Backing As we got back to the truck after the first round I realized I had lost my camera (camera #2 lost in the field. If you find a Canon Powershot...chances are it's mine! Please let me know!!!) So no pictures from me. Luckily my friend had a camera and he was able to shoot a few pictures.
Ice Pointing Mearns Quail - Zeus & Blu Backing After lunch we headed on to a new area and as we were looking for a place to stop...that place was shown to us in an extraordinary way. As we looked to the right of the road a Hawk swooped down and up flew a covey of Mearns Quail. Thanks for the tip! We got out the dogs and headed in. There were a few birds left over. As we moved down the canyon we got into a few more smaller covey's of Mearns before heading back to the truck for the long trip home.
Stuck Turkey As we were heading down one of the roads we ran into this clutch of turkey's. The one in the far right of the picture was stuck on that side of the fence. She kept running back and forth. We watched for a bit then I jumped the fence and let her out. She and the others didn't run off far.
Turkey's Hanging Out - Watch Out! After watching them for a bit I couldn't resist jumping out and chasing them for as long as I could keep up...which wasn't for very long.
22 December - Arizona
Me in Mearns Country Today my brother and I headed out for a hunt down South to try our luck with the spotted Jets. Above you see my brother with my gun...but he really only shot the camera on this trip. Thanks for the pictures. You are getting quite good. The day started out at 19 degrees, but unfortunately it didn't stay cold.
Mearns Bridge Above you can see the bridge that the Mearns Quail use to cross over the canyon. These were some lucky birds.
Lost in the Hills At one point we were pretty lost in some really thick brush and so I used this tree as a look out to find our best route down the hill. It made for a LONG walk with no birds on the way up and no birds on the way down.
Cool Ice Formations Walking back down a different draw we came across the above ice formations. It was really cool to see the waves like formations frozen in time.
Down!
Down!
Down She Goes! Blue was feeling wiled and crazy today and kept running along the edges of cliff like this on. This time she decided to run down. Pretty cool! She just kind of flew down this ledge. She's either really sure of herself or just really crazy!
Blu Pointing Mearns Quail
Blu Pointing Mearns Quail (Long Shot)
Away They Go! We had walked for quite a while before Blu pointing a fairly large covey of Mearns. As I moved in she took a step and off they went. I pointed and...CLICK! My auto wasn't ready to fire! I quickly fixed the problem and took a practice shot at my brothers head (your welcome) while a few more birds flushed up the hill.
Mearns Attempting his Escape When we got to the top of the hill Blu pointed some birds that had landed just over the top of the hill and as they flushed up I took my chance on one.
Ice Retrieving Mearns Quail The results were one male Mearns Quail. Ice went into the thick stuff to find the bird and she pulled it off as usual.
Happy With The First Mearns Quail of The Day
Blu Pointing Mearns Quail - Pistol Backing
Blu Pointing Small Covey As we were working our way down Blu's GPS went off and we found her on point at the base of a hill with very thin cover all around. Thinking there must be no birds we moved in and after some kicking around flushed up a small covey about 10 feet from her nose. They were making a quick get away when I finally shot one before it topped over the hill
Duck in the Pond
Ducks Leaving the Pond At our second stop we came across the above pond full of ducks. We watched for a bit then my brother got out of the truck and began the sneak approach. He got about 5 feet and they were off like lighting. Pond jumping sure isn't easy. Guess there must be some who get in there and get the job done. Good thing we weren't hunting duck!
Boarder Crossers On our last walk and as we were getting close to the truck we heard some yelling off to our right. On the next ridge we saw some people (see center of picture) and while it took us a second we soon realized they were yelling at us in Spanish. They were 3 boarder crossers rumored to be out in the wild. We spotted them and headed for the truck as they seemed to really want our attention and we weren't sure we wanted to find out. We found out what they wanted though. No big deal.
29 December - Arizona
Morning Run Today I took a good friend out for his first Mearns Quail hunt. If I'm right it was his 4th Quail hunt of all time. We started out the morning with a great encounter. A nice sized heard of Antelope that really wasn't too concerned with running off was standing near the road. We took a few pictures and I didn't waste time trying to get out and chase them.
Ready to Roll We went to a spot my brother and I had been to before a year or so earlier and strapped up the dogs. (note the GPS Tracking device on Pistol courtesy of my brother). It's really fun to be able to track the dogs at all times as well as the little indicator that beeps on the tracking remote letting us know when a dog has gone on point. Today the weather was just right for bird hunting and the dogs were ready and excited to get going. Now we just needed to find some birds.
Blu Pointing - Mearns Flush As we walked down the canyon Blu & Pistol were ready for action. Within 5 or so minutes we heard some birds flushing out ahead and found Blu standing up at the top of a hill on point. We're pretty sure they had flushed from the bottom of the hill but what we did know is that they headed right over Blu's head and on to some flat ground up the hill. We headed up the hill and the hunt for singles was on!
Pistol & Blue Pointing Mearns Quail
Walking in on Mearns Quail
Pistol Pointing Mearns Quail
Pistol
Pistol Retrieving Mearns Quail
Finishing the Retrieve The conditions were perfect for finding singles today. The dogs were on fire finding singles all over the place. Many times they would find birds in thick grass that we had walked through more then once. These birds were holding tight and we were having a great time. As the dogs would find them we'd flush them up and that's where as usual we didn't do super great...but we did get a few birds.
Cow
1st Mearns Quail of The Day After our that first covey we walked for about an hour or so and didn't find another bird. Lots of walking and nothing but a cow scull and 1 male Mearns Quail to show for it. Although I was able to offer many fine shooting opportunities with that first covey, my friend still had not no birds to show for it. We couldn't let that be the case for long. We didn't move the truck from here, but after a short break we headed down another canyon in search of some birds. I took Copper and my brother sent Becky along while he waited for RT to make it back to the truck (he was let out for a bathroom break and it turned into a hunting trip.) We walked for about 45 minutes and found a few birds but we weren't able to connect with any of them. Once we were back at the truck we loaded up and headed out for a new spot to hunt.
Pistol & RT Pointing Mearns Quail
Ice pointing Mearns Quail - Pistol Backing Our next stop we turned loose Pistols, Ice & RT. Though this stop didn't start out with birds quite as quickly as the first stop, after a short time we were into birds. At this point the details are a bit fuzzy, but what I do know is that there was a lot of action by the dogs and shooting on our part. Ice even turned it on and pointed a few coveys at this stop.
Shooting First Mearns Quail At one point RT went on point and the covey was right on the edge of the wash bank. They were holding pretty good so when we finally located them my friend was ready to shoot and he got his first Mearns Quail. Hurray! Here are a few shots as the birds made their escape.
Mearns Quail - Making His Escape
Mearns Quail - Making Their Escape (note the smoke)
Me - Pistol & Ice - Mearns Quail At the end of this walk we ended up with a total of 5 birds. We passed through quite a few coveys and the dogs did a great job.
RT Pointing Mearns Quail - Ice Backing At our 3rd and final stop we ran the same three dogs as before, Ice, Pistol & RT. Right as we dropped off the hill into the canyon I heard birds flushing. We came down to find RT & Ice pointing. Fortunately all the birds hadn't flown off and we got in a few shots. I ended up with 1 out of this covey.
Ice Pointing Mearns Quail Our next covey came with some fun excitement. I was too far off to see what happened, but quickly made my way over. A covey had flown off and yet the dogs kept pointing...birds must have been holding in there somewhere. Sure enough as we worked our way around 1 male flushed up then we were able to get the picture of one loan female that we missed once she finally decided to flush.
Female Mearns Quail
Female Mearns Quail
Female Mearns Quail
Ice Pointing Mearns Quail
Pistol Retrieving Mearns Quail We had one more creek-side covey of which both my friend and I were able to take a bird from. The covey was a nice sized one. The covey sizes today ranged from 8-18+ birds. After the last covey we found we headed up and over the hill side and at this point things got pretty bad for me. I hadn't been running Pistol with a collar (only had a 1 dog unit) and she had done great. As we went up the hill however, she decided to go in the opposite direction and before we knew it she was gone. Well, I've lost plenty of dogs and so I just hoped she would show up in a few minutes. As we worked our way back down the mountain she never showed up. We were getting close to the truck and in fact as we reached the base of the hill right before the truck we jumped the same covey we had hit coming down. No luck this time though and still no sign of Pistol. At the top we cleaned the birds and blew our whistles hoping she was close. Nothing. So my brother and friend took off in the truck to try to find her and I waited. Blowing my whistle, shooting my gun, yelling her name. Nothing. Finally after about an hour we decided to head out. This was big country and the sun had gone down. Our hopes were pretty well shot. We drove for about 5 minutes or so and my brother insisted we turn around. We went right back to where we were parked, blew our whistles and within 5 minutes she was back. My brother and I both said we had failed to pray for help in the search of Pistol and that is why he insisted we turn around. Power of Prayer #2.
First Mearns Quail Hunt At the end of my friends first Mearns Quail hunt you can see he was the lucky recipient of 2 fine Mearns Quail. 1 male and 1 female. Not bad for a first time hunting the little fighter jets.
End of The Day We ended up with a total of 9 birds. We had a really great time walking around the oak trees and knee high grass. Seeing some new country and sharing good times with a first time Mearns Quail Hunter. Below are a few other cool pictures my brother took while we were out hunting today.
Our Good Friend the Hawk - Keeping the Birds Down
Becky - Launch!
Woodpecker Pecking
My Brother with RT & Blu
November 2007 back to January 2008 |
|||||
