3rd gen native

It's always a treat to see a young canine learning to hunt with his/her life partner in hunting. I lost two in the last month, one to cancer the other from a mojave snake bite. Put them to rest and found another to learn with my older shorthair. Had forgotten what a joy it is to watch the light bulb go on. Good luck with that good looker!!!!

With the few rains over July I've seen a number of winged walnuts following mom and pop both Gambels and scaled. numbering any where from four to twelve in a group. On my own property I have four pairs that nested in a mesquite brush pile a couple days ago they all rolled out, numbering fortytwo little ones. Don't know who belonged to who but it was quite a site!! These were all Gambels, Scaled so far I've seen two bunches numbering eight to ten on the far end of my property. Still seeing pairs running around undecided,So maybe just a little to early to tell what the upcoming season will be like but it's sure looking better than last year!!!!!

I have a very effective way of dealing with road runners on my property, I've been using a large falcon trap baited with a mouse tied to the trapdoor release. set it up and wait a couple hours, Roadrunners are very territorial and cover a lot of ground on a patrol, take R.R and cage to work and release about ten miles away. Has sure thinned them down in my area.

Horrible weather yesterday evening/night here in sierra vista hard and heavy rain with the prediction of same in the morning. Got up to a bright sunny day. went in to work, But will be out this after noon. nice photo's Lance !!!

Rain is back every day, Spots that had good flights last week are gone birds are spread all over now with plenty of water in road pockets. I was on the verge of claiming we would have a good season now that rains are gone. guess it was still to soon for that prediction LOL.

With the rains in southeast AZ. slowing I've been out scouting for bandtail pigeons, this year is looking good, Birds are dropping down from the north sooner than last year. An above average mast crop is helping to sustain the increased population of canyon rockets as well as mineral heavy water tanks which these birds are often found hanging around. I've hunted these big birds most of my life in AZ. from Prescott to the rim country and now in Cochise county. Finding them can be a chore without bino's they love sitting on tall dead pines in the mid morning and if they haven't been shot over will often times sit until you are standing under them, Gawking at you until nerves take over and they launch from the perch, Be ready as they will surprise you as to how fast they can be!! Shooting at passing flocks in canyons with towering trees can be a real challenge!! So what say you? any others that chase the canyon devils :D

There are some relict populations still at several of the old initial transplants done by game &fish, While still living in the prescott area on several occasions saw them on and around mingus Mtn, Cataract canyon out of williams holds some as well along the train route into the canyon. I've chased the red legged devils on several trips to snake gulch& Hacks canyon, Like Blues/Duskies they are addictive and delicous!!!

Was having an evening cocktail with a couple buds I frequently hunt with and the subject came up dove hunting down in Hidalgo/Los mochis. We hadn't been down in the last couple years so started laying plans for a weekend trip. As the discussion unsued, Jaeger my senior G.S.P. heard the words bird hunting one to many time and started doing the tail chasing lets go boss dance. Dog understands a little to much. The guys were rolling the dog was barking I couldn't get a word edgewise.Finally got everyone quieted down to make some calls, Contacted exec. terminal placed order for fuel, everyone has a passport,Made reservations at lodge, Thousands of birds hitting several maize fields was Angel's reply (head of the lodge and district game warden) Will file a flight plan next thurs. Lift off at0330 my F33A bonanza will have the four of us and this crazy dog back on the ground in under three hours ready for a morning hunt. Blood pressure is spiking just getting ready for this!! nothing like mid between season tuneup just for the dog of course. pics will follow.

It would appear that Lances dogs and mine were schooled at the same academy, With five Short hairs under my roof it's sometimes a real chore to keep the peace with all of them. They can't all go hunting on the same trip and invariably I get the cold shoulder and sad eyes upon leaving with just a couple. Upon return all is forgiven if they get to "smell out the trip" with the promise that they will get next trip out. Lances explanation definition is the best I've seen yet, Matches my crew to a tee.

Although we have some that stick around all year in town the whitewings showed up in masses a couple weeks ago. Some that have arrived are juveniles from hatchings in mexico, Easily identified by the not yet powder blue eyelids that only adults attain with age.

Late morning before I was able to meet up with Brady and Evan, Truly a great couple of guys to hunt with!!! Most area's that were holding birds had been hard hit with dog trials in the last few weeks. coveys were reduced to a half dozen or so, Most getting up at the fifty yard or better mark. Evan had the most amazing event, A single scaled flushing at fifty yards flying another fifty landed in a mesquite tree, Evan walked up and the bird stayed frozen, Standing under it Evan nocked it out of the tree with his gun barrel never firing a shot bird plunges to the grass where Evan reached in for a retrieve!! Never seen anything like this!!! Looking forward to a retrial next year Guys!! On to fishing

The cherry cows are a hard hunt where most of the mearns reside as well as a lot of private lands posted. The dragoons have mearns, Easiest way to get to them is middle march pass out of tombstone. When you get to the top of the pass the road snakes down to the right with a cutoff to the left, Used to be known as china camp. Following this will take you to a couple of dirt tanks surrounded by typical mearns country, This is in the middle of the dragoons. Used to hunt the three sisters ranch before it got posted, Took several slams in there over the years. You will pass that ranch on the way up the pass. On middle march there is a golf course on the right (locate by the dead and dying palms seen from the road now defunct) gambels and scaled are both in the area. A couple of open steel tanks on the right will place you in the foothills. P. M. me if you decide to try it, I'll be out for the season end also.

Had a red shoulder that came within five feet twice this last weekend while hunting scaled quail, Handsome fellow would land close and watch as we cleaned birds. Acted as if he had been handled at some time in the not to distant past. Sitting on the tailgate talking to him he would cock his head and listen, I made no attempt to get closer, Short sleeved shirt and no face protection was not good enough odds. That was the closest I've ever had one in the wild approach.

Have a good hunting bud that shoots one and really likes it, Was using it the past three weekends on scalies in N.M. got the job done real well!!!!

I was absolutely thrilled to meet and hunt with Kenny Annie and mags!! Tried to show them our south eastern hospitality but weather was heck bent to foul it up, took the crew to a favorite spot of mine where taking a limit of scalies is/was an easy deal before weather set in, Could'nt even get them to show a face. kenny ,Annie and mags finally got into a small covey of gambels where we've only encountered scalies. Day Two: Weather again was set to be foul but we headed for mearns country on the way saw one single scalie cross the road take flight and plop into snow covered grass. Headed into the hills and finally connected with a couple coveys of mearns, Annie was standing almost on top of them, Kenny was moving to take a right side approach Mags on the right my Jaeger on the left Annie could'nt see them I was standing back watching the birds spin in circles looking for an escape path all I could do was stand back and smile, First contact with mearns is always a special treat!!! Got into one more covey before sleet and snow started making the day miserable, On the way out we spotted a large herd of mulies walking single file across the snow driven grass. snow was on their backs as they walked away from us, In the middle approx halfway was a huge buck sporting a 4x2 and a half rack looking way off balance, Either an unlucky shot or fighting for does had left him lopsided. snow was coming down in flurries now, Another mile down the road was a herd of antelope feeding as if nothing was out of normal. Snow piling on their backsides, Just another day for them. Day Three: Kenny and crew are feeling frisky and want another rematch on the mearns, I was about halfway shot, A back injury a couple weeks ago was making it hard to keep up with long legged Kenny!! This guy can flat travel!! On our way thru the grasslands of sonoita we spotted a pair of mexican wolves, I've only seen these twice before, They were headed down the same trail the mulies used the evening before and quickly were lost as we traveled on. arriving it didn't take long to shake up a couple coveys and drop a few birds, Beautiful day clear skies and great new friends to hunt and make memories with. had to cut it short as Kenny and crew had a long drive home

As a kid growing up off of bell road in the sixties we used to trap sparrow hawks and try training them for sparrow hunting. It was quite the challenge to get one to hunt properly, males were the slugs, Females were fierce little hunters. This brings back a lot of memories GOOD POST!!!!!

If you are in flag the best quail hunting and closest to you is beaver creek. take the 17 to 179 turn left, Anywhere past rarick canyon to the left or south holds good to excellent numbers of birds down to the creek, hunted it many times while I still had a granite plant in prescott. Prickly pear patches were usually a good start, A quail call is a must there only way to locate them quick as they are very talkative in that area. Good luck!! took many a fine limit out of there.

Go out thru solomon on to the 70 headed to duncan when you hit the foothills first major road right is or was labeled hackberry ranch road any branch roads left or right will lead to dirt tanks. Was out there a couple weeks back and took a mixed limit. Hackberry will take you out to the sand dunes and on down to san simon, Birds were doing well down to the rabbit farm. Good luck!!!

Got a chance last sunday to get out , Rain had slowed to light drizzles so headed out to another spot not hunted by me in 7-8 years. was at the 1 o"clock hour when arrived and let the dogs out to start the hunt. last time here was dryer than a popcorn f--t . Conditions are substantially improved but, An almost total conversion in species dominating this area. What used to be a totally scaled quail area has been taken over by gambels and lots of them, thirty to forty bird coveys lot's of still young birds prevailing. A couple of hours hunting them and I moved to a different spot/ tank 3-4 miles away, It was getting long shadows when I finally found with the help of my S.H.P.'s a twenty bird covey of scalies. These birds were WILD!! taking off fifty yards out twice before starting to hold, Managed to collect three before daylight brought it to a halt with a total of twelve birds for four hours of hunting. In nearly sixty years of hunting arizona and going thru it's dry spells it's sure nice to see this many birds once again. Picture for your viewing!

Was out scouting for birds last evening southwest of benson, Parked my rear on a rock pile overlooking a water tank glassing for birds coming in for water. Fifty yards out I could here some gambels doing the keep it all close fellas as they moved to the tank, Two males jump up on the side of the trough doing scout duty. As I focus on them I realize the one with his back to me doesn't look quite right. His top knot is russet colored and has no curve. Little devil turns around and I'm dropping mud! My first ever sighting of a scrambled quail is looking back at me!! these have got to be one of the most unique and striking looking game birds, His chest and underwear were horseshoe belly scaled quail while the neck , throat and head were a magnificent blend of scaled and gambels features. I watched as the covey moved off and never saw him or others like him as the shadows crept in . Living in sierra vista/Hereford these last dozen years I've occcasionally seen a mixed pair running around during mating season but never saw any resulting hatchlings of the cross. how many others have come across these hybrids while out scouting or hunting. i'll be hunting this area opening day and this time carrying a camera. Good luck too all if you are out this weekend!!!!!

Here a a few follow up pics of this weekends trips. Hope you enjoy!! Greg/james

Hello troops, was out opening thru sunday with AZ. redman pulled into the spot where we saw the scrambled male. Let the short hairs out (2) and started the hunt. Forty yards from the truck the dogs lockup, Jaeger takes lead with Sissy backing him on the other side of a low lying masquite mass with tall grass surrounding it. Dogs push in as we take our stand and out pops a couple dozen mearns? !!! Hunted this area for the last ten years and never have I seen mearns here. We let them go while we mopped up the drool from the dogs and ourselves. One draw over the s.h.'s lock up again, Thinking it might be a few strays from the mearns covey we were a little aloof. WRONG!!! out jumps a huge covey of scalies, Quickly recovering we manage a pair apiece, Close to fifty birds in this covey dogs were having a tough time finding the downed birds after they wind washed, So we ambled around a few minutes until they could pickup scent, Birds had scattered well and were starting regroup calls, Off we go in the direction of calling. Sissy locks up and Jaeger takes second position. We move in and the whole side of the hill explodes!!! This scenario repeats every fifty to seventy yards the rest of the morning. Numerous young birds some only a few weeks old are jumping and fluttering down a few yards from flush point. I never got to see that scrambled guy in three days of hunting, But three limits apiece of scales each over the three days got my old ticker pumping like a teenager. It's been a long dry spell since I've seen this many scalies. We left Sunday only just barely tapping the area, Wierd part was seeing mearns in the area, This is not a fluke as we jumped others farther out, What's even wierder is the Gambles that used to be here seem non existing only collected two in the three days and they were running with the scalies. The lord has been kind to this old boy!! Hoping that others are enjoying the bounty we did as well!! Hope to see you in the field and God bless!!! Greg/ 3rd gen native

When you leave apple annie's and are back on the 10 take 191 to sunsites/pierce rd., Turn left on pierce rd. continue on to middle march pass rd.Take middle march to the left. large dirt tank will be on the left. There are several tanks in the area but the one given directions to hold the most birds. haven't been there yet this year but am going over sat. last season myself and three others limited on last day evening hunt. Good luck and good hunting!!!

Very spotty here in sierra vista. Scouted our spot three days ago at a dirt tank we have hunted for years. Heavy flights of both WW and collards morning and evening. This morning three of us were hard pressed to get nine birds all morning dove only missed one and got three.Ran into four other hunters coming out that had been down near the river at hiway 82 they took the only bird that flew over. Not a usual opening day!!