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Arizona Quail Hunting Log January 2008 Hunts: 5 January, 19 January, 26 January 5 January - Arizona
Cool Dog The day has to be good when it starts out like this. Even though it was a pretty cold day, this dog was probably the happiest dog on Earth. Well...maybe almost as happy as our dogs were to be going hunting.
1st Mearns Quail of The Day Our first stop was at a place we had all thought of stopping before, but will likely never stop again...at least not until there is a year that is even better then this one. We didn't get but one bird and there wasn't a lot of sign to speak of. We moved on to a new spot farther in.
Topped out with the Dogs
Pistol Pointing Mearns Quail The second stop was close to some canyons we had hunted before, but one we had never actually hunted. From the onset there was plenty of sign and pretty soon Pistol went on point. I worked in to where she was pointing and the birds (20 or so) all flushed up on the other side of the draw where my brother and friend were with their dogs. I don't recall if my friend got any birds out of this covey, but I do know I didn't even get a shot. We looked for singles for a while and aside from a few wild flushes we found nothing else. So we moved on.
RT & Pistol Pointing Mearns Quail Not to much farther up the canyon we found (with the aid of the GPS tracking) RT on point. I worked in and kicked around but nothing. So I walked to the end of the downed tree (left of picture) and up came a covey of birds. Probably about 15-20 birds. I got one out of this covey and I think my friend did too. We jumped a few singles (one of which I think flew right over to my friend and I think he got it). Below are some pictures from the covey break!
Flushing Mearns Quail
Flushing Mearns Quail
Flushing Mearns Quail
RT Pointing Mearns Quail After hunting around for the singles to our great joy, RT's GPS tracker beeped and we found him on point again...he was about 20 yards from where he had pointed the previous covey. With doubts in our mind we moved in and to our great surprise 15 or so birds flushed up and the case was on. We bumped a few singles but not with much shooting luck. We did get some birds though. Here are some pictures of Pistol retrieving them.
Pistol Retrieving Mearns Quail #1
Pistol Retrieving Mearns Quail #2
RT Pointing Mearns Quail RT was doing pretty well today. He found another covey coming down the canyon (possibly remnants of one of the covey's we found earlier). From there we moved on to some new country to find some new places to hunt.
Blu Pointing Mearns Quail Not to far from the truck Blu went on point and a covey flushed in all directions. Not sure what happened with those birds.
Ice, Terra & Zeus Pointing Mearns Quail One of the singles must have flown up near me. My brother found Ice, Terra & Zeus pointing a single in the above bushes. I kicked around and nothing flew. Kicked around some more and the bird flew out of shooting range. Dang it!
For Your Feet Right were that bird was hiding out we were lucky enough to find the above Talcum powder for your feet. At least the immigrants crossing the boarder have dry feet.
Ice Retrieving Mearns Quail Not much farther down we came upon another covey. Blu I think had been pointing farther up from where I was, but I just walked on the birds...about 20-25 of them...and shot one as it headed for the steep country! Terra helped us to get that bird. And then I back tracked and got another single which Ice retrieved for me.
Blu Pointing Mearns Quail - Ice & Terra Backing We got into a few more covey's as we worked our way down the canyon and had some success with shooting. Then there was a bit of a dry & hot spell where we didn't find much of anything.
Walking - A lot!
Ice At one point I don't recall if there was a dog on point or not because I wasn't close by, but we had been stopped and were talking and as we started to move on there were birds flying all around. Doug got one or 2 and we moved on.
Last Mearns Quail of The Day You may not be able to see him, but my buddy and his dogs are in the middle of the picture. On the way back to the truck they headed off down into the canyon and his dogs nailed a double of which he shot one. The last Mearns Quail of the Day. In all I think we ended up with about 8 or so birds. It was a good hunt and we found some new country we could hunt again next year. From there we jumped in the truck and headed home. There was some good sights on the way back. Take a look below.
Javelina (Actually saw him in the morning)
Deer - 2 Bucks, Multiple Does
Sunset
Sunset
Sunset My brother has fun taking pictures of the dogs as they run and jump. Here are some shots from this trip.
Joe
Zeus
Copper
Zeus
19 January - Arizona
Pistol Pointing Mearns Quail We went deep today looking for a new place to hunt as well as a place that would be away from the crowds. It worked. We didn't see any other hunters and we had a great hunt. We parked at the mouth of 3 canyons that looked good for Mearns Quail and headed up canyon to the left first. Rather quickly the dogs were getting birdie and soon Pistol went on point. I moved in and nothing. And then all the sudden there was something. Birds flew up and I think we ended up with one bird out of this covey. We bumped a few singles, but for the most part they all disappeared. There were probably 8 or so birds in this covey
Pistol Pointing Mearns Quail - Ice Backing Not sure if you can see her...but Pistol is under the tree. This was probably 100 yards from the first covey and I had my doubts about finding birds with this point. Always trust your bird dog. I moved in and got all the way under the tree and almost on top of Pistol before I was ON TOP of the covey. They burst up and in typical fighter pilot mode sped out in every direction but the one that would give me a good shot. My buddy got one out of this covey just as he had in the first. We moved on through the canyon and came across a number of birds as we moved back down another canyon heading back to the truck. There was a lot of good dog work this morning with pointing, backing and retrieving. Here are some pictures.
Zeus Pointing Mearns Quail - Pistol Backing
Ice Pointing Mearns Quail - Wild Flush
Mearns Quail - End of First Hunt At the end of our first round my buddy ended up with 4 birds and I had one. Not for a lack of shooting however. I had been using my o/u for the last few Mearns Quail hunts as it had been producing some nice results. After this morning hunt however, I think my luck had run out.
Pistol Pointing Mearns Quail - Ice Backing We took a short break after the first hunt and due to our grand location we didn't need to move our truck so we just headed out down the next canyon. We were fortunate that this outing also resulted in a lot of dog work and a lot of birds. Many of the points (like the one above) resulted in birds popping up 20-100 yards farther down the canyon. There was a lot of bird activity all around and the dogs were having what my buddy called "doggy cocaine." Euphoria for the nose.
Mearns Quail - Camouflage I'm pretty sure we recovered every downed bird, but not everyone was easy for the dogs to find. This on in particular was run over about 3 or 4 times before we spotted it on the ground. It's no wonder they are so hard to hunt without a dog to find them for you.
Pistol Pointing Mearns Quail - I Missed em! The above picture of Pistol on point is one of those "Ah, Dang it! Gotta trust your bird dog" moments. After snapping the picture I went right to where her nose was pointing. The trees were thick and I hopped I'd get a good shot if anything came up. Nothing did. I circled and circled and nothing. So we released the hounds and after one of the dogs that was backing came in for a closer look the birds flushed out from right where Pistol had been pointing. Right where I had walked...feet or even inches away. I couldn't believe it.
Pistol & Terra Pointing Mearns Quail There were a lot of covey's but also many opportunities with singles. After this covey flushed we headed up the hill after some singles and found a few. At one point we were working our way down the hill and Terra went on point about 2 feet from me and I looked down right into the eye's of a female Mearns Quail. I don't think either of us knew what to do for about 1 second then I stomped she flew and I got her. Lucky shot!
Pistol Retrieving Mearns Quail The birds were holding tight and with a slight breeze the dogs were picking them up at some good distances. We had a lot of circling and circling going on and found quite a few more birds then I think we would have if we had just rushed up and back through the canyons. The dogs were really having a good time finding and retrieving the birds.
Group Point/Back We hunted all 5 dogs all day so at many times we would find pictures like this with all the dogs (Joe was out of the shot) locked up on a covey or singles. It sure is fun to have the entire team get it and get it good! Makes for really good hunting.
Mearns Quail - End of 2nd Hunt At the end of our second hunt it was about 1:30pm and my buddy had reached his limit. I on the other hand had only 4 birds (not for lack of shooting) and so my buddy consented to make one last stop at a place we had both hunted before (though never together). We drove for about 30 minutes or so and unleashed the hounds.
Zeus Pointing Mearns Quail - Terra & Joe Backing We made our way down one side of the canyon and didn't find anything. There was a lot of sign, but no birds. On our way back up the other side of the canyon however, we encountered quite a few birds. I was now packing my auto and hoped for a better shooting outcome. Suffice it to say...it wasn't much better. I missed my opportunity with the first group of birds (pointed by Zeus) and with the second group (also found by Zeus) I finally got one. This was a really cool covey bust. Zeus was on point and I worked in looking for birds and about 3 feet from Zeus's nose I spotted them in the middle of some grass. All hunkered down looking up at me. One more step and they took off in all directions. One flew straight up feet away from me and I took one wild shot at him as he passed over the top, missing, then I zeroed in on another one heading for the hills and got her.
Ice Pointing Mearns Quail
Pistol Pointing Mearns Quail - Ice Backing
Zeus & Terra Pointing Mearns Quail
End of The Mearns Quail - 2 Birds We worked back up the canyon and after about a 1/4 mile headed back for the truck. On the way back we got into one more group of birds that resulted in one more bird for me. So I made it to 6...at least I made it over the hump. With all the opportunities I should have had a limit, but even still it was a great hunt with lots of great dog work and fun shooting action.
Mearns Quail Hunt Finale We saw quite a bit of wild life on this trip. Coyote's, Turkey, Deer, Hawks, and a Javelina. Here are some pictures.
Mule Deer I snuck up on these ladies to get this shot. They had topped out on a ridge and I was able to sneak up the hill side and take a few pictures.
Big Hawk
Javelina
26 January - Arizona
Pistol Pointing Gambles Quail 8:15am - My first stop was interrupted by who ever it was that beat me to that spot, so I had to move on to a new location. Good thing. I didn't hear much shooting on their side of the canyon. As was expected I walked for about 30 minutes before I got into any birds...I just didn't know what to expect. The first point resulted in a single flushing Gambles Quail female which I let fly as she was all there was. Things didn't look to good at this point. I figured there would be more of the same for the rest of the day. Fortunately I was wrong.
Ice Retrieving Scaled Quail I walked about another 150 yards or so and after a few false points I figured there had to be birds running around in the area so I decided to circle around and see if we could find something. Good thing. Pistol went on point and I hustled around in front of her but nothing flew up. I was walking towards her and saw Ice backing about 30 yards back. Just as I got to Pistol about 15 Scaled Quail flew up and towards Ice. I shot 2 and Ice retrieved the first, but we never did find the 2nd bird.
Pistol Retrieving Scaled Quail After the retrieve 2 more birds flushed wild about 5 feet from where Ice had just retrieved the first bird I put down. I shot one of those 2 and Pistol grabbed it up quick. We didn't chase after that covey anymore and I was only hoping the coveys would get bigger from there!
Pistol Pointing Mixed Covey - Ice Backing
Ice Retrieving Gambles Quail Moving on we walked for about another 15 minutes and we were into birds again. The above is the first of 2 points...this one didn't deliver any birds, but after I released pistol she moved up about 25 yards and stopped again. I moved in and flushed up a 25-30 bird covey and shot one Male Gambles Quail. Ice quickly scooped up the bird and we went off looking for the singles.
Ice Pointing Scaled Quail Single
Pistol Retrieving Scaled Quail Single With all those birds we only nailed one single. Ice pointed this one about 20 yards from the edge of a large canyon. It held pretty tight until I was pretty much right on top of it and after the shot Pistol made a nice retrieve. I'm assuming most of the other birds found their way down into the canyon. So we went looking for more.
Ice Pointing Mixed Covey As we moved on there were quite a few false points before Ice nailed a small mixed covey of which I got one female Gambles and a Scaled Quail. This was our last covey for quite a way so I decided to start to circle back. Right as I made my turn to the right I caught a glimpse of some movement about 20 yards out and I was sure it was a Cotton Top. I called the dogs over and as we worked I started to doubt whether or not I had actually seen a running bird and if I had then I was sure they must have given us the slip.
Pistol Pointing Scaled Quail Double From there we had a lot of action. The covey had split up over about 100+ yards and with the exception of two wild flushes Pistol and Ice provided me with 6 opportunities...at least I took 6 shots that were all misses!!!
Hiding Scaled Quail The last group of 4 birds that we found of that covey were huddled up at the base of that teddy bear cactus in the picture above. Pistol was pointing and I though..."there's no birds in this desolate area"...sure enough they were holding tight probably because they had no where to run. I shot and that was my last of 6 missed shots. Exciting 10 minutes...but sure wish I could have done my job a little better.
Ice Pointing Scaled Quail Covey We crossed over the hill we had been hunting and moved on into some new country for our hunt back. About 10 minutes into our walk Ice nailed a 6-8 bird covey of which I got one. After the retrieve I sat down with the dogs under the shade of a cactus and we took a well earned break.
Pistol Pointing Scaled Quail Covey - Ice Backing After our break we walked for quite a while before we got into our final covey of the morning. This one was also a mover but we finally pinned down a group of them and I shot 2 but only found one. We still had a way to go and I was out of water so we b-lined it to a stock tank and then to the Jeep.
6 Scaled Quail - 2 Gambles Quail In all we were out for 4 hours. We found 7 coveys of mixed sizes from about 8-30 birds. Not as many as I would have hoped for, but more then I had actually expected. At this point the dogs and I were all pretty beat so I went exploring. Sometimes that works out well...this time it didn't really pan out. In all from Noon-3:30pm we only saw 1 more covey of Gambles with only 5 birds flushing up so no shots taken. We did see some cool stuff though. See below.
Herd of Antelope
Ice Waterfall December 2007 back to February 2008 |
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