Antonio and I found a day last week to meet up and break out of our normal fly fishing mode to do a little quail hunting. We headed to one of his spots and found a whole mess of birds that seemed to not have been hunted this season. As has been the case for the past couple of months, the birds were tough to locate until about 9:30 or 10, at which point the quail started talking to each other. We had a great morning, and between the two of us, we knocked down ten birds.

I guess the one thing that I have learned hunting quail this season is that the birds are there if you are willing to work for them.

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Little puffs of dust rose from every footstep. With the light just cresting the surrounding hills, the desert was eerily silent. The smell of mesquite hung in the air as I shrugged into my hunting vest, and I spot checked to make sure I had the necessities for a few hours in the desert. With the truck locked up, I turned up the wash and headed toward a couple of springs that I knew, in hopes of finding a covey or two of Gambel’s quail.

About a half hour into my walk, I still hadn’t seen or heard any birds. What I did see was a half dozen shells littered around on the walk in, which means I’m not the only one who knows about these springs. Someone had probably come in here on opening day while I was hard a work. Such is life.

I only heard a couple of birds throughout the morning and I was able to only put up one covey. I dropped on bird as it rose, but 20 minutes of searching still left the game bag empty. The springs were all dried up and the desert was a bit on the crispy side. I have a feeling its going to be a long Arizona quail season.

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My buddy, Kyle, and I met early on Saturday morning and made the drive up to Wickenburg to see if we could find some of those Gambel’s quail that I had stumbled on a few weeks back. The area that we were hunting as a couple of cattle tanks, and I have found that this season, most birds are fairly close to water since things have been so dry.

We brought his pup, Chase, along for the ride and Chase was a ball of energy from the time he left the truck. He has been on three hunts and is still learning the ropes, but it never gets old watching a dog work a hillside. We started in the wash and after a good bit of chasing birds, found ourselves on one of the north facing hills. I jumped a covey and crumpled a nice Gambel’s hen.

We kept working the hills, but it seemed as if the birds we had heard that morning had left the state. I stumbled into another sizable covey later in the morning and was able to stuff one more bird in the game vest before calling it a day. With Thanksgiving around the corner, I am hoping to explore some different territory and see if I can find some areas to hunt. In the great state of Arizona, we have quite a bit of public land and I imagine some of it does not get too much pressure. I hope everyone has been having a good season so far. Swing by the Quail Hunting Forum and let everyone know how you have been doing.

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With lungs burning and legs pumping I climbed up and down the hills outside of Wickenburg chasing Gambel’s from one side of the canyon to another. As luck would have it, I was able to connect on some decent birds in some really beautiful country. The draws and slopes that I stumbled through and ascended up were home to a good number of quail and I am looking forward to shouldering my grandpa’s old twenty gauge again very soon.

Most of the areas I have hunted this year have been extremely dry. The cactus are looking thirsty and most of the stock tanks and seeps that were wet and full in the years before are dried up. Anytime I have found birds, there has been some water very close by. If you have been out and had some success, swing on by the Quail Hunting Forum and share your story.

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