I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the desert so green and full of growth. Combine the extra cover with the birds being very shy and quiet, my first morning in the field was a slow one. DJ and I hiked several hills and pushed a few coveys, but when the smoke cleared, there were only a few spent shells and a pair of male Gambels to show for our morning effort.
A light sprinkling of lemon pepper and a slow bake makes for a simple and juicy post hunt celebration.
Hi, Ben! Good work there, better than coming home empty handed. Do you use any of those feathers for fly tying?
Thanks Mel. I like this pattern for the big softhackles – http://azwanderings.com/fly-tying-gambels-golden-stonefly/. It’s a fun pattern to tie.
Ben
Thank you, Ben. Appreciate the link to that pattern. That is a fine looking Golden Stone Nymph pattern. I have never used any of this particular material and was curious………………..
No problem. Enjoy.
Ben
Nice report, Ben. Leave a few birds for me when I get there in December! Were you using any dogs this time?
Will do Jeff. No dogs, just boots on the ground.
Ben
I have been only out once so far this year and your post is interesting of how quiet the birds are. I split up a couple of coveys but had a hard time as they were not vocal at all making the singles very difficult to locate!
Keith, they are definitely being quiet this year. We’ll see how things go once the weather cools down. Good luck out there.
Ben
Hey Ben nice job as usual. Those are some beautiful birds. Your blog is among a handful of blogs that has inspired me to start my own. If you have advice on making it more engaging I’m all ears. BTW I’ve got two young boys of my own; my advice, that no one ever listens to, is one is enough. Feel free to stop at one!
Thanks Jon. You’ve got a great looking site. The best blog advice I can offer is to have fun with it and do it for yourself. It can be very gratifying when you keep those things in mind. Best of luck.
Ben