I had the great opportunity to get down south and see a unique side of Arizona with my good friend Dave Brown. Dave run Dave Brown Outfitters and spends his summers in Canada guiding fly fishing and upland hunting trips for Hungarian patridges while in the winter he beelines it for Arizona and guides for Mearns quail in Southern Arizona. (I look forward to doing a full writeup on his operation in a few weeks but his official site can be found here with many of his photos also posted here.)
Last year was an extremely tough year for Mearns in Arizona and this year was only slightly better, but having spent all of my time in the field chasing Gambel’s, Dave’s offer to come hunt Mearns was very enticing. We met early and hunted late and as hard as we worked, the dogs worked even harder. We moved a couple of birds first thing in the morning, but they gave us the slip and left us empty handed. In the eleventh hour, good ol’ Sammy boy slammed on point with his tail as up, straight as an arrow. As we walked up to cover, a bird jumped up and both of us fired as one more flushed and scurried over the ridge. You know you’re dealing with a good guy when he tells you that the bird was all yours. I know better and realize we both probably put lead into him, but I was very happy to be holding a beautiful Mearns rooster. Dave Brown is a class act and his love and pride in his pups is evident with how hard they work for him.
What would it cost me to have you send me some of those feathers. Looks like some cool flies. I’m kind of on a mission to Ty some flies from every north American quail species.
Gary,
I’d be willing to send a couple over for you to complete your mission. Send over an email with you address and I’ll drop a couple in the mail. Sounds like a cool idea.
Ben
Now Ben…you need to get a bird dog!
Tell me wife that. I’ve been given permission for the next pup to be my pick. Decisions decisions.
Ben
Been waiting on the story. Great read as always. I have a feeling we’ll be chasin Mearns in 10 months together. Pretty country man.
Thanks Kyle. I agree. We’ll definitely have to be heading back down that way together. Definitely a different style than hunting Gambel’s.
Ben
I would recomend a German Wire Haired Pointing Griffon…. great all round dogs
Roy,
Thanks for the advice. I’m keeping my eyes open at this point and it will probably be a while before we add another dog to the mix. But rest assured, when we do, it will be a bird dog.
Ben
I grew up in Tucson, AZ, moved to the east coast in my late teens…I used to work with Terry Bostick of bird dog kennels(15 years ago) in Vail, we used to hunt mearns in the hills between sonoita, and pena blanca lake. Also used to chase gambels, brought back alot of memories of hunting and my old german shorthair.
Thanks for sharing,
Ian
Thanks Ian. Arizona has some pretty amazing upland hunting. As much as I like hunting Gambel’s, Mearns hunting really got me going. I can’t wait to head back down south in a good year. Thanks again for the kind words.
Ben