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Arizona Quail Hunting Log - February 2010 Hunts: 06 February 06 February 2010 - Scaled Quail Hunt
Pistol & Johnny Pointing Gambel's Quail The final day of my 2009-2010 Quail hunting season found me heading down to Southern Arizona with high hopes of chasing some Scaled Quail around all day but ended with me and the dogs only seeing 3 birds. On our first stop the land looked promising and there was water so I really thought we might find something. I took out Johnny & Pistol and they were full of energy and really happy to be out running...almost like they knew this would be the last time for a while. They ran but and covered a lot of ground. At one pint I lost them and came down into the above wash to see them on point. The golden bushes to the left blocked my view of them until I was right on top of them. I thought there was no way there were any birds there so I snapped a picture and walked in. Nothing flew out. I released the dogs and they tore out of there. I crossed the wash and out popped 2 Gambel's Quail. I wasn't ready and didn't get off a shot. We walked about another 30 minutes with not even a false point and turned around.
Pistol & Johnny Pointing Scaled Quail We took a different route back to the truck and when we were about half way back Pistol finally went on point. Johnny made a nice back and I moved in for a picture. I walked in and nothing flew out. This time however Johnny didn't move and Pistol went crazy with her nose to the ground and moved about 10 yards up and went on point again. My first thought...SCALED QUAIL! I love the Scaled Quail chase! Something I've missed this year.
Pistol Pointing Scaled Quail It took use about 2 minutes and 2 more points to finally pin the bird down. On the final point I walked in and about 10 yards out a bird flushed. I shot and knocked it down. It was a Scaled Quail and it was the only one. Bummer. I'd hoped for a covey. Something to chase. But there wasn't any more than one bird. We went all the way back to the truck with only one more false point. The dogs looked so serious I thought there must be birds, but nothing.
Ice Pointing Scaled Quail Roost After a short break I took Ice and YoYo out and in the first 5 minutes Ice went on point. I moved in and nothing flew out.
Covey Roost Pile After some investigation I found this pile of poop, likely from the night before. It was fresh and must have been what Ice was pointing. I was excited...there are birds in this area! But we walked and walked and walked and found absolutely nothing. After this we drove around for a while looking for a good place and frankly it all looked like good Scalie habitat. I finally picked a place to stop and took Ice and Pistol for one more walk. We walked...and walked and again found nothing.
Final Bird of The Season This wasn't what I'd hoped the last day of the season would be like, but with the exception of not finding any birds I had a great time hanging out with the dogs in the field one more time before October. Here's to one more great time hunting and one great season of fun quail hunting. ∞ Back to January 2010 or go to Hunting Log |
