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Arizona Quail Hunting Log November 2004
Balls Pointing Gambles Quail - San Carlos Indian Reservation November 2004 These pictures were taken on a trip I took by myself to the San Carlos Indian Reservation in November 2004 so all accounts should be taken for what they are worth! The above picture of Balls (9 months at time of picture) was the first stop of the day about 4 miles North East of the San Carlos River. We stopped at the end of a road near a stock take and within 5 minutes Balls had busted a covey of what I think were Mearns Quail, but as I was about 50 yards from him at the time I couldn't be sure. We looked around for singles but didn't scare up any. So on we went looking for more. Within the next 20 minutes or so he busted another covey of what I also think were Mearns Quail and once again we didn't find any singles so I can't be sure. So on we went. At this point we were nearing the end of the canyon we were hunting so I started to head up the South side of the canyon towards a large clump of trees and thick brush. Balls once again busted of covey of birds that right off I knew were Gambles by all the noise they made as they took off. There were probably 20-25 birds in the covey and I pointed Balls in the direction of the wind where I saw a few go down. He pointed a single and I shot it. Balls retrieved it and we were on our way. At this point I just let him hunt and he pointed one more single which I missed. Then I busted up a bird and shot it and Balls retrieved it for me. All in all it was a fun little canyon. On the way out we didn't get into any more birds but Balls sure did hunt for them. Next I went hunting just around the corner from the first canyon with Pato (pictured to the right). We quickly got into a covey of about 15 birds that he pointed (this was his first covey point) and he looked great. It was your typical tail high with one foot off the ground point. At first I didn't think there would be anything there, but as I walked in it was my to my joy when surprise birds were flying everywhere! I shot one of them and missed another. Pato wasn't much on retrieving so I had to get the bird myself. We kept hunting around the base of the mountain looking for singles and after about 15 minutes got into another covey of about 15 or so birds. Pato again pointed and I missed them all. So we kept going and in about 5 minuets got into what must have been a conglomeration of the coveys we busted before Pato again went on point and when I got about 10 feet from him there were birds flying all over the place. We chased these birds around for about another 30 minutes and then headed back with 4 birds.
The picture of Pato above was taken in October on the opening day of the Season near Wilcox, AZ
Pistol Posing - San Carlos Indian Reservation November 2004 Pistol, pictured here on top of a mountain near the San Carlos River (the black canyon directly behind Pistol) didn't get any pictures taken of her while on point or working birds on this trip so I took this picture for the memories. After hunting Balls and Pato, and since I was by myself I decided to do some exploring. I headed down a road I'd been down before only this time I just kept driving. I got into some pretty rough country (nothing my v6, 4x2 couldn't handle) that was very pretty (see pictures below). The first stop we made Pistol and I had been out about 45 minutes and were headed back to the car when she pointed a covey of birds. She was up on top of a flat looking down a 10ft rocky drop off. When I got up there I saw a few Gambles quail jump out at the bottom and they just sat there an looked at me. Well I didn't want to shoot them while they were just sitting there so I started jumping around and they all took off. I shot one male. Then we went looking for singles. We found 4 or 5 more birds but only were able to get 1 more. It was pretty amazing. These birds seemed to not be really aware of the imminent danger they were in when I first came upon them and when they flew off they never really went very far. At first I thought it must be that they had never seen humans, but upon further reflection they probably just felt safe flying 20 feet and hiding in the rocky cliff. In the below pictures you can see a view from my last stop. In the first you see the canyon we came up and in the second you can see the canyon we went down. I had hoped we see some Mearns in the canyons and some Scalies on the top flat, but the 1 hr 30 min walk produced no birds. Sure was a pretty place though.
Views on the San Carlos Indian Reservation November 2004 back to October or go to December home hunting journal other pictures links contact
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