Arizona quail season has finally arrived. I’ve been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to let Sunny run around and chase Gambel’s. We were out early and scared up a couple of covey’s. Sunshine found out quick that Gambel’s quail would rather run than sit around for a point. We were lucky to followup on a covey bust, knock down a straggler and get a mouthful of a desert bird.

It was a fun time exposing the pup to the desert. She ran her heart out and has plenty to learn.

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It’s usually around Thanksgiving that I found out whether I drew a January archery javelina tag. It’s pretty convenient that javelina and Gambel’s quail habitat overlap, so during the month of December, I usually quail hunt the unit I drew and tuck a small tripod and pair of binoculars in my bird vest. When the morning slows down or I’m waiting for the birds to start talking, I’ll have a seat and scan a hillside or two to try and get the lay of the land and maybe even find a herd of pigs.

This particular morning was a bit on the cloudy side and the sun never did warm the hillsides. I sounded out a few calls on my Jim Matthews custom call and recieved an answer from a quail a couple hundred yards up the wash. After walking to that location, I was rewarded with a double as the covey flush in front of me. I marked where the covey flew and retrieved the two downed birds.

I zig-zagged my way through the calf-high grass and prickely pear and flushed a single quail straight away in front of me. Three shots and three birds. I never shoot that well, so decided to stop while I was ahead. I spent the rest of the morning glassing for pigs.

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It took about 20 minutes before I realized that I had turned off on the wrong two track. Instead of improving, the trail dumped into a wash and became impassable for the truck. Not wanting to waste an opportunity, I put the truck in park, grabbed my coffee, and opened the door for a quick listen. I was greeted by the sound of a Gambel’s quail covey getting out of their roost tree about a hundred yards away. It was an easy decision to shoulder my vest and grab my shotgun and look at some new country

I scratched out two birds out of the covey and found myself a new hillside to hunt in the future. Sometimes taking the wrong turn takes you to the right place.

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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.

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I planned to do a little bit of scouting for the 2016 javelina season, and on a whim I decided to bring the shotgun along just in case I found a covey of Gambel’s. After hiking up the first hill, I busted the first of 6 coveys for the day. With birds plentiful and very vocal, I didn’t spend a whole bunch of time glassing for pigs, and instead spent the rest of the morning chasing Gambel’s quail. By the end of the morning, my vest was heavy with a half dozen birds, and I headed for home.

After putting gear away and cleaning the birds, I deboned the breasts and legs and got out the fixings for quail nuggets. Within minutes, my little sidekick had pulled a chair over to the kitchen counter picking at the tasty fried morsels and honey mustard. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as completing the circle and taking game from the field to table.

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I made it home late on Friday evening from the latest Pig Farm Ink BarFly, and morning came much earlier than I had anticipated. After hastily gathering gear, DJ and I made it into the field for an early morning of hunting Gambel’s quail. The desert was pretty quiet for the first couple hours and we opted to change up locations and look at a different piece of desert. The change paid off and we ended up flushing a couple large coveys onto a sprawling flat which gave us an hour or two of hunting singles.

I haven’t had this productive of a morning all season, and it was nice to see such a so many birds. The desert in this area was healthy from our frequent summer rains and there was plenty of undergrowth, feed and cover that has obviously helped this particular area. With a solid morning like this one in the books, I’m looking forward to getting out these next few months and putting more miles under my boots, since walking and traveling is actually pretty healthy, and I been looking to lose some weight, even taking a supplement called rapid tone that help with this.

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For the first time since living in Arizona, I skipped the opening weekend of Arizona quail in favor of heading north to some cooler temperatures, grouse hunting and Apache trout. But in the weekends following, I laced up my boots and braved the heat to chase Gambel’s in the Sonoran desert.

The summer reports seem to be accurate as there seems to be a slight uptick in bird numbers. Regardless, it felt good to get out and work the washes and hills. The weight of a shotgun over my shoulder was a little different sometimes I use one of my airsoft rifles for hunting. At the end of the day I had couple of birds in the vest so I had a welcome feeling after a long off season. Here’s hoping for many more quality mornings in the field chasing quail with buddies.

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The last weekend of Arizona quail season has come and gone. I had a few hours to head out to an area that I wanted to hike in to and explore for future deer and javelina hunt. Although I toted the shotgun in, the shells never left my pocket and I spent quite a bit of time behind my binoculars, searching the hills for sign of javelina and mule deer. My nature walk (as my wife calls it) turned into a pretty good trek, and I put 6 or 7 miles on my feet. Although the Winchester never made it to my shoulder, it was a peaceful and fulfilling morning spent in the field, and I was able to see some new country. It’s tough to beat a desert sunrise.

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The dog went on point, and as I eased into position, a Mearns quail flushed in front of me. The bottom barrel barked and the bird folded to the ground as another Mearns quail burst out of the grass to my left. Before I knew it, I was swinging on the flying quail and the top barrel toppled the second bird. The rest of the covey fanned out in the tall grass ahead of us, and as quickly as it started, everything became very still and quiet. I walked over and picked up my first feathered trophy while the pup came trotting up with the other one gently cradled in his mouth.

It was tough to imagine my day starting any better. A double on Mearns quail and there was still plenty of daylight.

We spent the rest of the morning working different canyons and found a couple other coveys. It was a great morning with some excellent dog work and great scenery. At lunch we decided to call it a day on Mearns. Even though the limit is currently 8 birds, it just never seems like a great idea to take that many from such a small and heavily hunted population.

We cleaned our prizes after lunch and put them on ice. After a bit of discussion, we decided to head to a different area and see if we could scare up some Scaled quail. We had walked for a good ways and the sun was sinking lower in the sky. We talked about turning back, but decided to push a bit further. We couldn’t have walked another 40 yards, when a large covey of quail flushed. Shouldering the Winchester, I felt it slam into my shoulder, and one lone bird fell from the group. The waist high grass made finding the bird difficult, and if it hadn’t been for the dog and his nose I could not have recovered it. I couldn’t believe my good fortune as the Brittany pup dropped a beautiful Scaled quail at my feet. It was my first Scaled quail and one that I would not soon forget.

So there I was, with a Mearns quail and a Scaled quail in the cooler for the day. All I needed to complete the Arizona Quail Slam was a Gambel’s quail. I had tried to complete the quail slam before but had fell short by one bird. I knew there were Gambel’s back across the road in a wash, but the sun was almost behind the hills, and I had roughly an hour of shooting light left. My buddies stayed to try and scratch out a Scaled quail, so I started walking towards where I know I had gotten into Gambel’s quail before.

I walked for about 45 minutes and hadn’t moved a bird, let alone heard anything. With about a mile still back to the truck, I turned my steps towards the vehicle and only walked about 20 yards when I heard the haunting call of a Gambels quail.  I moved in quickly and flushed a large covey. I lined out a single bird and dropped it in a large pile of cactus. After a few moments of searching, I was holding my lone Gambel’s male and the final bird for my Arizona Quail Slam taken in a single day.

In closing, Mearns quail receive a ton of pressure in their short season here in Arizona from in-state and out-of-state hunters. If you are heading out after Mearns, consider limiting your harvest to one or two birds per covey. It’s also worth noting that the 8 Mearns limit is pretty generous, and I’ve talked to many hard-core Mearns hunters who think it’s too generous. If you’re going to be bird hunting in Mearns country, consider hunting Mearns in the morning and moving on to Scaled or Gambel’s quail in the afternoon, in order to give those Mearns a break. At the end of the day, we have some great opportunities to quail hunt in Arizona, enjoy it.

A big thanks to my buddy Kyle who writes over at Sleep When You’re Dead and Landon for photos and dogwork. Always great hunting with you guys.

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Hunting birds in the desert has a way of clearing my head. It had been a long morning of hiking hills and busting brush. We had moved a couple coveys, but my vest was still empty. We were making a loop back to the truck when birds busted in front of us. One bird peeled off, and I took off in the general direction. As I crested the ridge, she flushed and gave me a glorious crossing shot. The first barrel missed, but when the second one barked the bird folded to the ground.

One thing is for sure, all that hard work made that one lone quail the tastiest bird I’ve had in a while.

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