Arizona Quail Hunting: Where our food comes from

Gambel's Quail
Double Top Knot

After a scorcher of an Arizona quail hunting opener, I sat in the shade of the backyard enjoying the cool breeze. My little girl stood at my shoulder, listening and watching as I told her about my morning and showed her the pictures from my time in the field. She held the male Gambel’s in her small hands, examining his feathers, commenting about how soft it was, and asking about his topknot. I took my time and chose my words carefully as I explained why I went hunting and ultimately where our meat comes from.

Post skinning and cleaning, we breasted out several birds and prepared the fixings for quail nuggets. Dunk in eggs, roll in breading, and straight into the cast iron skillet. A few moments later, we were dipping fresh quail nuggets into honey mustard sauce. It was a fine way to start the weekend and the Arizona quail hunting season.

Arizona Sonoran Desert
Arizona Sonoran Desert
Gambel's Quail
Gambel’s Quail
Arizona Sunrise
Arizona Sunrise
Cleaning quail
Cleaning birds and learning where our food comes from
Quail Nuggets
Making Quail Nuggets
Quail Nuggets
Quail Nuggets

 

14 Responses to “Arizona Quail Hunting: Where our food comes from”

  1. Brandon

    Very nice. I made it out Friday afternoon north of town for a couple hours, managed to get one male and one female gambels. Grilled them yesterday with some olive oil, garlic and rosemary. I’m so glad quail season is finally here, looking forward to more of your posts. Keep up the great work.

    Reply
  2. Doug Burt

    Ben, I’m impressed you’ve been able to squeeze your passions of hunting and fishing with the young family. Its very hard and I know that. I love the nugget idea to engage the kiddo.
    OH, great pics as always and congrats on a couple birds on a quick hunt.
    Stay in touch.
    Doug

    Reply
    • azwanderings

      Thanks Doug. As you know it’s tough to steal those few hours on a Saturday morning. I hope we can get out in the field together this fall. Take care.

      Ben

      Reply
  3. Ron W

    Nice Post! I wasn’t able to make it down there last year. Planning on coming down this tear.

    Reply
  4. Jorge Ramirez

    Loved this. Can’t wait to start sharing my hunting stories and explaining the same thing… where our food comes from. I have a couple more years until my little one is old enough!

    Reply
    • azwanderings

      Thanks Jorge. It’s been a pretty cool experience to share with her. Best of luck.

      Ben

      Reply

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