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Arizona Gambles, Scaled and Mearns Quail Hunting Log December 2005 Hunts: 2 December, 9 December, 16 December, 31 December 2 December 2005 - San Carlos Indian Reservation, Arizona
Doug & Terra - Scaled Quail Hunting We headed out to San Carlos to try our luck at getting into some more Mearns Quail. I love those little devils. Once we were on our way we agreed to wait till later in the day for Mearns and try for Scaled Quail first. Right off the road we jumped 2 Gambles Quail and each shot one, but we were unable to locate them. We then walked for quite a way before we got into our first covey of Scalies and once we did they were flying all over the place. There were 3 different covey breaks. As we walked around looking for singles they kept busting out by Doug and he ended up with 5 Scaled Quail. We moved on from their in search of more and walked for ever without seeing more birds so we started to head back to the truck. On our way back the dogs kept getting birdie but we only had one bird flush out in font of us. I walked off to the right and Slick got birdie near some cactus and out came 6-8 birds. I hit 2 but was unable to locate them.
Slick Pointing Scaled Quail Up a little from where the covey flushed Slick pointed (see above picture) but nothing came out. So I released him and he ran up about another 20 feet and pointed again and out popped a bird. I nailed him and Slick ran over and grabbed him. Not ever having had Slick retrieve it wasn't a good experience like with Ice. Then up a little ways more I bumped a bird and shot it and Slick pointed it dead and I RAN in and got it before he could. We'll have to work on retrieving! From there we moved on to Mearns Country. We hiked up to the top of the above mountain and about 2/3s the way there Pistol bumped a covey from under a tree and I nailed the only bird that flew my way. Doug then came in and got a single from the covey which Zeus retrieved for him (below picture).
Doug & Zeus - Mearns Quail Hunting We hunted around the side of the mountain for a bit and then moved up. Near the top it gets a little shady as to what happened so this may be out of order. But at one point Zeus pointed a single which I shot and Pistol retrieved. And at another time Pistol "pointed" she stopped right in the middle of the covey with Zeus right there and I shot 2 birds, but was unable to locate either of them. Lots of fun action though right at the beginning of our hunt. Then we moved along the top of the mountain and didn't see a thing. Near the end I started to work along the West edge (we'd been working the East) and Pistol started getting birdie. She finally found the covey and went on point. Because she had a few unproductive points while moving along the top of the mountain I half expected to see nothing but had the safety off just in case and wammo...out flew 4 birds and I shot one which Pistol retrieved. Doug motored over and shot a single and we moved on. We didn't see any more Mearns during our trek back to the truck, but what we did see at the beginning made the walking worth while.
Zeus Pointing Mearns Quail Country Doug had hurt his leg while we were hunting Scaled Quail and after the rugged hike for Mearns he was done in so we headed home. On our way Doug spotted a Gambles Quail in a tree on the side of the road so we jumped out and there were about 50+ birds crossing a little stream bed and so we gave them a chase. Doug shot one that jumped out of the tree and then we headed up the canyon. Due to his hurt leg Doug was in no shape to run around the mountain where we saw the at least 30+ birds fly.
Doug & Zeus - Mearns, Gamble & Scaled Quail (Arizona Grand Slam) So I had the mountain all to my self. It was a great training opportunity for Ice. She pointed a double which I shot and she retrieved (one bird I shot to close with a 6 and there wasn't much left so I left him on a rock). Then from there I jumped 3 birds 1 of which Ice retrieved and Ice soft pointed (she stopped about the same time the birds flew so I'm not sure if she actually scented them or not) 2 other birds at different locations which I shot and she retrieved. All in all it was an hour of fun shooting and slow moving as we quartered the canyon wall. It was a lot of fun seeing Ice work (no matter how slow) and see some really good dog work. I have a new gun and so far my wild bird shooting has seemed to improve 100%. We'll have to see how I finish out the season.
Sam & Ice with 5 Gambles Quail
Arizona Grand Slam & My new Gun Above is the picture of my first Arizona Grand Slam for the 2005-2006 season. 5 Male Gambles Quail, 2 Scaled Quail, 3 Mearns Quail. (I got one Grand Slam last year on December 31st and then never again for the 2004-2005 hunting season). Also pictured is my new gun. I love it!
9 December 2005 - Mearns Quail Hunt - South of Tucson
Slick - Looking for Mearns Singles Today I went down South of Tucson looking for Mearns Quail. I went to some new areas where the AZ Game and Fish said you can find Gambles and Scalies first though. I thought I would be fun to try out some new areas as I was hunting with just me and the dogs. After about 30 minutes looking for Gambles or Scalies where the AZGF said to look...I decided I was wasting time and headed for the Mearns Country. On my way to my pre determined location I came across a road that looked like it might lead into some pretty rough country so I took it in hopes of finding some Mearns that hadn't been disturbed by hunters yet. Getting back in required using 4 wheel drive so I'm glad I didn't bring my little truck today. I took Slick and Ice out together as they have both been working pretty close in hopes that with numbers we'd have more luck finding something. We climbed up a steep mountain and saw plenty of signs were Mearns had been either eating or roosting...but no birds. We moved on down through a canyon and with in a few minutes both dogs were acting extremely birdie when all of the sudden birds were flying all over the place. I shot 4 of 5 shells and hit only 1 bird. I was just way to excited! Birds were going in all directions and I lost count, but there must have been over 20-30 Mearns. I had time to reload and shoot a few more times before they had all flown. From there we moved around and busted up a few singles but with no breeze the dogs weren't doing to well. We moved on and up. At one point the cover got extremely thick so I took the dogs up the mountain about 20 yards and Ice went on point just as 10-15 birds flew out from under a tree. I was on now and hit 1 which Ice retrieved for me. Most of the birds flew down into the thick stuff but I saw a few fly up the mountain and so we headed after them. Slick bumped a male which I shot and Ice retrieved for me. Then we moved on and I missed a few which I won't comment on. We circled around and made it back to the spot where the birds had flushed about 20 minutes later and I FINALLY had one of those Mearns experiences everyone talks about. I put my hand down on a large rock while climbing up the hill and looked down at small and very strange looking rock..."How interesting" I thought. And then the "rock" made eye contact with me and took off. I was so scared I almost fell back down the hill. I managed to get my balance and get a shot off but I missed. Then I turned back up the hill to find Ice pointing the same place the covey flew out 30 minutes earlier and as I walked in 3 birds flew out and I got 1 which she retrieved. To this point it had been about 2 hours of really tough walking and I was out of water so we headed back to the truck.
4 Mearns Quail from 2 Large Coveys with Ice and Slick After taking a break I headed back out with Pistol. By this time I was pretty hot and I knew things were going to be tough. We moved pretty fast past where we had hunted before and got into some new country. About 10 minutes into the new country Pistol bumped a 12-15 bird covey and I was able to get off a few shots but didn't hit anything. We moved on and didn't find any of the singles. Maybe it was too hot...maybe we went the wrong way, I'm not sure. So we moved on and got into some really nice country but found no birds. So it was back into the tough stuff.
Pistol Pointing Mearns Quail Pistol made a few false points in the general area where she busted the covey that didn't turn up anything, but I took each one serious and I'm glad I did. Walking in on one point 4 birds flew out and I was able to shoot 1 male. We worked around looking for more but didn't find any. We moved on and by this time it was about 2pm and really hot so we headed back to the truck and headed home.
Pistol - Me - Male Mearns Quail
5 Hours - 3 Coveys - 5 Mearns Quail
16 December 2005 - Gambles Quail Hunt - Southeast of Bagdad
16 Degrees at 7am At the start of the morning it was a cold 16 degrees outside. It made for nice weather the rest of the day though so it was worth it. At our first stop near a large wash that looked promising we took out Mattie and Ice. Almost immediately after dropping into the wash we were on the chase. Some birds flushed off to our left and then the entire covey flew out of the wash and up onto the side of a mountain. We headed in that direction and started getting into singles. Many of them were flushing wild and some flushed close enough to allow us to take a shot or two.
First Gambles Quail of the Day Out of the covey of 20-30 birds we ended up with only one but it was a fun chase. From here we headed up the wash in the other direction and within a few minutes found a few birds up in a bowl of the mountain along side the wash. Again, shooting wasn't quite on and no birds were taken so on we went. We came into another huge covey of birds hanging out in the wash that flew back behind us and to the other side near where we originally dropped down into the wash. We chased a few of the birds that headed up the was and got a few good shots. At one point Ice freaked out or just made some wild barks and took off full speed up the bank of the was and disappeared. We never figured out what happened. Maybe she was just excited about some birds that flushed as she was heading in the direction some flew. After some shooting we headed back after the bulk of the covey. We started getting into some wild flushing singles above the wash and the shooting was on.
Ice Bringing in a Male Gambles Quail We both made a few good shots and actually started getting some birds in the bag. With dry windless conditions the dogs weren't scenting the birds very well, but we did get a few snap points where the dogs stopped and the birds flew a split second later. Ice once again was retrieving very well.
Ice Bringing in another Male Gambles Quail We didn't get into as many of the birds that we saw fly up there (around 20-30) but we did get into a fair number. Circling around we were soon on the trail of a running covey. We chased them for about 100 yards from the top then down into the wash and to the other end before they started flying. We chased them but they quickly disappeared and so we headed back to the truck.
8 Male Gambles Quail - 1 Female Between the both of us we ended up with 9 birds. After a quick break it was into the truck and on to our next stop.
Pistol Pointing Our next stop was in a more mountainous region. We parked the truck and got Pistol and Red out and headed up the mountain. We immediately got into a fairly large covey that flew up and around the mountain. We headed in after them and some how lost most of them.
Pistol Bringing in a Male Gambles Quail We got off a few shots but were mostly unsuccessful. The weather again didn't help the dogs. We humped around the mountain and back the other side and only ran into a few singles. Red and Pistol both pointed locations where birds had flushed while earlier and at one point Pistol went on point and a bird flushed out about 20 yards down the hill. Wish I could say she was definitely pointing that bird, but I don't think so. We then marched around looking for more and found nothing.
Pistol Pointing
Pistol and I with 2 Male Gambles Quail We headed back to the truck and traded out dogs one more time. We took out Gut and Slick for what would be our final hunt of the day. We walked and walked and walked up and down and found nothing in some of the best quail cover with plenty of water. We were very surprised that we didn't run into one single bird.
Slick & Gut Playing in the Water
Mamma Javelina with 2 Babies We did see a mamma Javelina and her 2 piglets running up a hill out of a canyon we had just come out of. Always fun to see some wildlife. Then right there we heard some quail calling up the mountain to the side of the Javelina. We headed in that direction and with some careful listening and a little help from Gut we were able to locate the covey. When the flew the crested the top of the mountain and landed right on the other side. When we toped the ridge we could see them running on the ground then they were off. We bumped them one more time and Gut pointed a single for Eric that he shot.
Slick Pointing Wounded Gambles Quail When he shot the bird it was headed down a pretty steep hill and we couldn't find it. Slick came down and after running around a bit went on point. When we got into the bush out came a wounded males gambles and he ran and hid in some cactus. After some work we got him out. On our way back down to down the mountain we split up and took different sides. Eric got into one more covey but they flew off and it was getting late so we just headed back to the truck. All in all it was a fun trip with lots of birds and some pretty okay dog work. ∞
31 December 2005 - Mearns Quail Hunt - South of Sonoita
Doug and Terra - Mearns Quail Hunting On the final day of they year we went on a Mearns Quail hunt South of Sonoita. They day was spend looking for new locations to hunt...places we had never been. This proved to make for a good time with the dogs...but unproductive for birds. At our first stop we walked for a few hours and only had one small covey to show for it. We each walked out of that first stop with 1 bird each. Then it was off for some more exploring. One thing we noticed at this first stop was there was no green shoots for birds to be eating.
Walking in on a points by Zeus At our next stop we immediately (20 yards from the truck) got into a nice sized covey of birds. We each got one bird from the initial covey break and then the chase was on. We chased them up the hillside and were able to get find a few of the singles. Above you can see Zeus pointing 2 Mearns Quail that were holding very tight about 10-15 feet up the draw. Ice had just busted one where she is smelling moments earlier.
Doug with Zeus on Point - Mearns Quail Hunting We walked up the canyon in search of more birds but found none. The dogs got birdy quite a few times and at one point Zeus was sure there were birds in the area, but we found none. On the way back down the hill a bird bumped up between me and the dogs and I was able to get it. Once again Ice was on the ball with finding and retrieving the birds I did shoot.
Ice and I with some Mearns Quail All in all it was a good day and we were able to find a new area that we will go back to next year for sure.
Mule Deer
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