While you do not have many hunting opportunities in the United States, you can still get out after them in two states (Arizona and New Mexico). Arizona is the dream location for quail lovers! Even an easy limit is a calorie-negative affair. A discarded child’s hoodie. Six of seven were young of the year, which meshes well with other data that suggests that Mearns don’t live long in the wild, although they can live seven years in captivity, apparently. Evidence of illegal border crossing was everywhere. After Friday’s opening of the Mearns’ season, the 45-quail possession limit may include 24 Mearns’ quail, of which no more than eight may be taken in any one day. Even after one of their covey has flushed, and been shot, they will sit tight. Smallest was 4.35 ounces, the largest 5.1 ounces. So too does the relatively large mountain quail, as large as a partridge. There is an ongoing Mearns' quail diet study by a Biologist from Mexico looking at seasonal diets of Mearns' quail across their range. I am a very good snap shooter, an instinctive shot at targets that magically appear before me with no warning. Arizona precipitation, quail reports and population predictions, French Brittany pups, gundog training. Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. Tucked into the grasses were hedgehog, barrel and prickly pear cactus. The Mearns look is certainly one of a kind. They also travel in tiny coveys. The Mearns’ quail lives at a higher elevation and … You will cover some serious ground on this hunt. Steve has been hunting quail in Arizona for over 40 years and hunting mearns with pointing dogs for 30 years in Southern Arizona. A fourth, the California quail, receives little hunting pressure and is found along the Little Colorado River drainage near Springerville. Arizona Mearns Quail Hunting: Steve and Jetta make their last stop on their 2017 quail hunting road trip. Sure, most Western quail will flush in pulses, but I’d never seen this. They are a secretive, quiet and difficult to hunt bird. I really enjoyed your post on the Winchester 101! Whether you want to hunt the Northwoods of Minnesota in search of the "King" Ruffed Grouse, run behind gundogs in the prairies of South Dakota chasing Roosters, or need to find your soul in Southeast Arizona after the trifecta of Quail... B2B Outfitters has a hunt for you! Ghostly white sycamores, leaves long gone. This quail is perhaps the most beloved representation of Arizona and the life to be found in her deserts. The reason may be because Mearns quail are so perfectly camouflaged, and give off so little scent, that sitting is a good option for them. Whether you are a seasoned upl and hunter, or new to the sport, quail hunting, with good pointing dogs, is about as good as it gets. All flew like adult birds, but upon examination, four of the five cocks were not fully feathered around the head, and the hens were smaller, all birds of the year. © 2021 Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, All Rights Reserved. Arizona quail hunting with French Brittanies. As the water splashed into the metal dog dish, I hoisted Sunny onto the tailgate and secured her GPS collar and watched the screen on my handheld to make sure everything was working. Even though they are large for a quail — a big male can weigh almost a half-pound, and are rarely smaller than 5 1/2 ounces — Mearns can fly up to 45 miles an hour, and have an uncanny ability to put an obstacle between you and them. Arizona Quail Hunting Guide MIKE CROSS. Shrugging into my vest and slipping the shotgun from the case, I flipped the tailgate down, dropped the dog dish into the dirt and opened the nozzle on the blue water jug. After all, they aren’t flushing at 100 yards the way bobwhites and California quail do. I have also tried to pass it on to my children and grand children. I plucked each one, even a beat-up hen whose skin had ripped. “This is the second summer of widespread 'nonsoons' instead of monsoon moisture. Mike and Wade say a covey per hour of hiking is a good day. Arizona Quail Slam So far so good as we have received a lot of Winter rain.This should result in a better than normal bump for Gambels and Scaled Quail.Arizona Mearns Quail require Monsoon or Summer Rains to stimulate their reproductive cycle.Right Now its safe to say we will have better numbers of Scaled and Mearns Quail. Specializing in upland birds- Gambel's, Scaled, and Mearns quail / Lunarita Outfitters. The daily bag limit is 15 quail per day in the aggregate, of which no more than 8 may be Mearns’ quail. Arizona Desert Quail Hunting Guide Arizona Mearns' Quail Season December 4th 2020---February 7th 2021 1 Hunter $600 per day Add a Hunter $300 per day Gear Checklist Shotgun/license/ammo Upland boots with aggressive tread Upland pants (double front preferred) Upland bird vest Blaze orange hat Rain A beautiful Mearns quail and the good old Armas Garbi 101 bird gun. Also Goes By: Montezuma Quail, Fool’s Quail, Harlequin Quail. That alone was worth the drive to the border. A rooster. Quail guide Randy, with his pre-1900 16 gauge Parker bird gun. They are by far the hardest upland game bird to shoot, being tiny, fast and aerobatic. It’s a 20ga CZ Bobwhite. Remember: A young bird is a tender bird. It felt good to cross this border with guns and dogs! I miffed two easy shots this way. COVID-19 Rules. Sure, he said, and we jumped in the truck. LunaRita Outfitters, LLC. And oaks — an open forest of them. Quail hunters in Arizona spend the majority of their time pursuing three species of quail, Gambel's, scaled or Mearns'. Thank you Bob. He said that before the now-imprisoned drug lord El Chapo had taken control, this area was more than a little dangerous. And there is nothing easy about hunting Cyrtonyx montezumae, known variously as Mearns, Montezuma, harlequin and, oddly, fool quail. Mike pointed to a spot along the fence in an arroyo where the cartels had bulldozed the fence to let trucks carrying drugs drive across the border. More on the last later. Immigration is such a hot topic, so much in the news. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook. Blue or scaled quail start in west Texas and are primarily a Southwestern bird, as are Gambel’s and the Mearns. Still, with only seven to play with, I’ll need to return. Arizona Mearns Quail . Southern Arizona is a bird dog paradise! Other Services. The ground erupted in front of me as 12 Mearns quail popcorn flushed straight away. Latest Posts. Fit / finish and has it been reliable? I have to admit it was surreal. And in the distance, high mountains, dusted with snow. Meanwhile, the department is inviting quail hunters in southeastern Arizona to help gather data for quail management purposes. I’ve hunted quail before, many times. --Arizona's 1st and only-- Exclusively hunting quail over Braque du Bourbonnais pointers | Double Aero Guides--Arizona's 1st and only-- Exclusively hunting quail over Braque du Bourbonnais pointers ... Arizona Scaled & Mearns' Quail. “That’s Mexico.”. I slammed the tailgate closed and hit the key fab to lock the truck before turning and walking into the grass myself. Arizona offers the wingshooter the opportunity to pursue three species of Quail which are Gambels, Mearns and Scaled Quail, on top of great Arizona Quail hunting there can be awesome late season hunting for Mourning Doves along with Duck hunting via jump shooting tanks. Sign up to receive email updates from Arizona Wanderings. 520-235-9095. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Mearns’ Quail south of Tucson. Accompanied on different days by a pack of Brittanies, German shorthairs, longhairs, and pudelpointers, we’d spend hours hiking up and down rocky canyons, through arroyos and oak savannah in search of the wily Mearns. She locked up, pointing, just up and out of the drainage, so Wade and I clambered up as fast as we could. Here it is a reality. Shiloh brought it back, we congratulated ourselves… and Shiloh got birdy again. Wade eased Shiloh in, and what looked like a gray apple exploded from the grass, dead away from us. Four great Brittanies ready to hunt. It is the only state where three species live in abundance; New Mexico has all three, but in lesser numbers. Arizona Mearns Quail I pulled the truck off the side of the dirt road in roughly the same spot I had marked on the map. Tucson, AZ (520) 240-0050 [email protected] Hunt Gambel's Quail, Scaled Quail, and Mearns' Quail Waterfowl and Doves . Glad you liked the original post. With what limited hunting time I have, I carry the Winchester. Gotta love the AZ winters. The gold standard for anyone hunting with dogs. It took me 90 minutes, but these birds were too valuable not to pluck whole. That would almost never happen with bobwhites or California quail. Practice, man, practice…. As far as the eye could see. I went back east for Christmas and couldn’t wait to get back to the sunshine here in AZ. Mike shuddered. But look closer and the Southwest gave itself away. The beat up ones will be stewed with butter and ginger, served with green grapes and pearl onions. They’ll go into one of my favorite dishes, one that celebrates this part of the world: Sonoran Quail. By Hank Shaw on February 16, 2017, Updated June 17, 2020 - 11 Comments. Shrugging into my vest and slipping the shotgun from the case, I flipped the tailgate down, dropped the dog dish into the dirt and opened the nozzle on the blue water jug. Again, a rooster flushed, not five feet from the last one. Mearns, as they are called in Arizona, are, like much of the flora and fauna of the state, extending as far north as they get; Mearns are mostly a Mexican quail, ranging all the way down to Oaxaca, more than 1500 miles away. Case in point: Wade, Johnathan and I were walking an arroyo when Shiloh the Pudelpointer got birdy, coursing back and forth and wagging her tail. No other quail I’d ever encountered would act like that. South of Tucson, harsh mountains rise steep out of the arid desert plane.The Huachucas, Santa Ritas, Sierritas and other high desert ranges of the Coronado National Forest are home to Mearns' quail, a long-toed scratcher of the tall grass, scrub oak and cactus uplands.. Once thought to be extinct, the black and white and mahogany … ... Arizona Mearns Quail Season December 4 – February 7, 2021. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Mearns' Quail: December 4, 2015 - February 7, 2016 Limit 8 a day/24 in possession Gambel's and Scaled Quail: October 2, 2015 - February 7, 2016 Limit 15 a day/45 in possession We are based out of Patagonia, Arizona, the heart of Mearns' quail country. December will be the Mearns Quail deployment to mountains of Southern Arizona followed by Gambles Quail in Arizona and Blue Quail in New Mexico. The new site picture and double trigger is taking some getting used to. The 45-quail possession limit may include 24 Mearns’ quail, of which no more than eight may be taken in any one day. What were your overall impressions of the CZ Bobwhite? Meanwhile, the department is inviting quail hunters in southeastern Arizona to help gather data for quail management purposes. After Friday’s opening of the Mearns’ season, the 45-quail possession limit may include 24 Mearns’ quail, of which no more than eight may be taken in any one day. Each bird was a trophy. Upland bird hunting is more about soaking in a particular place than putting meat in the freezer. How do you get them this pretty? Shiloh brought this bird back… and got birdy one more time. Wade shot first, missed, and I shot through an oak branch the bird had put between us. And then there’s the whole “fool quail” thing. Harding says this probably isn’t the best year to hunt Mearns', or Montezuma, quail. A small bird, weighing about 6 ounces, with a round body and short tale this Harlequin has a dark chest that is stunningly spattered with white spots and a … Everyone wondered aloud what was going to happen now, with El Chapo in a US prison, unlikely to be freed anytime soon. A fourth, the California, also called valley quail, gets little hunting pressure because it’s primarily found only along the Little Colorado River drainage near Springerville. I picked one of the last ones to get off the ground and dropped it from flight. We enjoy four of the six huntable species of quail that are found in North America. Grass. As we tromped around, Mike casually pointed. As I said, surreal. Not six feet from us. I’m living a blessed life. Sunny was on it in a moment, rolling, mouthing and savoring the taste of fat male Mearns quail in her mouth. Ours had sedge tubers, lots of small black seeds and maybe a few bugs mixed in for good measure. Twenty birds is a big covey, and we saw only two larger than 10 birds in two days’ of hunting. You might think this holding still business would make Mearns an easier quail to kill. Mearns Quail Hunting S.E. We did not reach that nirvana, sadly. California quail live beyond the Golden State, into Idaho and the Pacific Northwest. Mostly creeping wood sorrel and purple nutsedge, supplemented by acorns, various seeds and insects. In the end, we managed only seven quail in two hard days’ hunting: We’d walked 12 miles the first day, seven the second. Most of you know the bobwhite, as it has the widest range of any quail. They are a secretive, quiet and difficult to hunt bird. Shrugging into my vest and slipping the shotgun from the case, I flipped the tailgate down, dropped the dog dish into the dirt and opened the nozzle on the blue water jug. Feb. 17, 2021 Dreamin' of next season When we got there, Shiloh was still pointing, and nothing had yet flushed. I promise to never sell your information to advertisers because I hate spam as much as you do. Hey there. North America has six species of quail, each with its own preferences. Hunting Opportunities for the Mearns Quail. The Mearns quail is considered a game bird in Texas, but there is … Upland Hunts. I suspect those used to hunting Mearns quail do find it easier. Mearns Quail Hunting in Arizona December 14th, 2019. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet's largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. Arizona Below is a map with the Locations of AZ G &F Wing Barrel Locations.Data for this year will be greatly appreciated. I scanned ahead looking for the brown body of my dog and felt the familiar buzz of the GPS. I snapped the shotgun closed and walked towards her. Mearns, as they are called in Arizona, are, like much of the flora and fauna of the state, extending as far north as they get; Mearns are mostly a Mexican quail, ranging all the way down to Oaxaca, more than 1500 miles away. Footprints. You get alot for the price. To be honest though, try as I may, I didn’t shoot it that well and chose to sell it to a friend. What I'd never done was hunt Mearns quail when their numbers were as high as they were last December. It was a very solid gun while I carried it. This makes Arizona the epicenter of quail hunting. We were that close to the border? There are Mearns’ quail in this area, and I vow to come back and hunt them, but for now I am headed ever west, toward Arizona and the epicenter of the Mearns’ hunting scene. If you have read about Mearns' quail, you have read about the Patagonia-Sonoita area. Arizona upland bird hunting information, season limits, bag limits, species overviews and quick links to Arizona DNR and hunting licenses. Wade and I shot at exactly the same moment, double tapping the bird. We, to, were hunting along the border, but perhaps west of where you were hunting. Right to the fence. Prepare for your upland hunt. And, here and there, spindly chollas, decorated with ripe, canary yellow fruit, like Christmas lights in the savannah, waved their arms in comic fashion. Another gray apple blew out of the grass, this time with a black butt. All of this in one of the most beautiful settings I’ve ever been to. I'd completed my Arizona trifecta way back in the 1990s in one morning's hunt near Wilcox. 2021-2022 Quail Reports. Youth under age 10 can hunt quail without a license if accompanied by a licensed adult age 18 or older (a maximum of two unlicensed children may accompany one adult licensed hunter). I’m just a little envious that you’ve still got nice warm weather out there! marijuana? Sign up for my mailing list and you will never miss a new recipe, tip or technique from Hunter Angler Gardener Cook. A valid Arizona hunting or combination license is required for all hunters 10 and older. Licensed Arizona Guide, Mike Cross, is pleased to offer guided quail hunts in Southeastern Arizona near Tucson. 7 1/2 pellet managed to hit the quail and it fell. Quail hunters in Arizona spend the majority of their time pursuing three species of quail — Gambel’s, scaled, also called blue quail, and Mearns’. Filed Under: Essays and Stories, Featured, Pheasant, Grouse, Quail. Call us to book your guided or outfitted hunt in southern Arizona, New Mexico, or Utah. Seriously? The nice ones? You can hunt bobwhites from Cuba to Colorado, and they are part of the culture in the Deep South. Plucked, gutted and ready to roast, my seven quail averaged 4.7 ounces. To find the Mearns, you must travel south, and upwards. Big Game Hunts. Damn. All other quail are Westerners. Among the Emory and scrub oaks stood juniper and mesquite. At least one No. Brian joined me and Brett on an all-day Mearns marathon while the rest of our troop accepted the Herculean task of finding a Gambel's quail or two. It’s great to hear about birds of the year and good bird numbers around the state. CHEEP! I’m not shooting it particularly well and ended up going back to my over under for this season. 520-600-8795. I looked down and Sunny was on point, 20 yards from the truck. I appreciate the kind words on my blog. Home. The general bag limit is 15 quail per day in the aggregate, of which no more than eight may be Mearns’ quail (when the Mearns’ season opens Dec. 6). I pulled the truck off the side of the dirt road in roughly the same spot I had marked on the map. Home invasions. We’d go uphill from there. But it is an abstraction for virtually everyone, me included. …was thrown over. Hillsides suede with dried threeawn, gramma, bunch grass and cottontop. Sunny jumped off the tailgate and slurped water before turning away from the truck into the tall yellow grass. Looks like your success rate was comparable to mine–except the majority of birds my son, grandson and I harvested appeared to be immature birds of the year. Limits: 8 per day, 24 possession in aggregate with other quail. Overthinking. Gunfights. I pulled the truck off the side of the dirt road in roughly the same spot I had marked on the map. The place-names drip with history, romance, beauty: Ruidoso, Mescalero, Tularosa, Alamagordo, Las Cruces. January is a toss up and for the last several years has been Nebraska for pheasant, Oklahoma for Bob Whites, Arizona for Gambels and New Mexico for Blues (again). My friends Johnathan O’Dell, Mike Cross and Wade Zarlingo, all Arizona Game & Fish biologists, had taken me to Sonoita, elevation 4800 feet. A jug of water, painted black so it could not been seen at night. The whole lead-up to shooting a hidden bird being pointed at by a gun dog thing can give me stage fright. It had been reinforced by the Border Patrol since. Quail in hand, I decided to do a little kitchen science. Mearns may well be the most challenging of all. A crazy sight for someone used to other species. Good quail hunters can rest assured they can hit all other types of upland game with relative ease. Mearns got this name because they hold tighter than any wild bird I’ve ever seen. Take care. In Arizona, we have one of the longest seasons, and are blessed with a great climate that makes our hunting season most enjoyable. In addition to those four species, Arizona is lucky enough to still have the Masked Bobwhite Quail, and has hopes of one day re … I can’t wait. This was a group of three birds. And again, Wade and I double tapped it. In fact, if you count Steve together with his 3 other Arizona Quail Guides associates, you will have well over 100 years of experience with dogs and knowledge of hunting areas throughout the great state of Arizona. Thanks for your blog–as an old man, I enjoy watching your family grow and enjoy the “out door life”. Quail Region Description and AZ State Map: Some interesting and very helpful information by Arizona Game and Fish Department Small Game Biologist, Johnathan O’Dell and published in Arizona Wildlife Views Magazine September/October 2015: Click on image to enlarge Gambel’s and scaled quail live in the Arizona you’re thinking of: Parched, grassless desert, among giant saguaro cactus, towering yucca and agave. Mearns quail eat tubers primarily. Even raids by Mexican soldiers, chasing drug smugglers across the border. Serious dog. Another war for control? Mearns' quail depend on monsoonal moisture, and timing and location of rainfall also influence their nesting success and population numbers. A shoe. It looked like no part of Arizona I’d ever seen. The general possession limit is 45 quail in the aggregate after opening day, of which no more than 15 Gambel’s, scaled or California quail in the aggregate may be taken in any one day. Bent places in the wire fence where a bale of… hay? By Gary Lewis. What will I do with these quail? Arizona Quail Hunting Camp: ... Desert Quail: To Be Determined Mearns': To Be Determined Host: Bob Corley, Globe, Az. The masked bobwhite, a fifth species, is federally listed as an endangered species, and if still persisting in the wild, is found only on the Buenas Aires Refuge southwest of Tucson. Check Availability. Author SAQF Posted on December 2, 2020 December 2, 2020 Categories Updates Tags mearns quail , mearns quail hunting All youth hunters 10 to 17 can purchase a … We have been quail hunting Arizona for over 35 years, and hunt private and public l ands. End of season blues.
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