Kilimanjaro

Thanks Christian... I'm sorry that we haven't been able to get together this season yet. Days off just don't match. but we will... i want to see those wirehairs of yours work.

Thanks guys... Doug, tell Rica to get ready and we'll get together for that Mearns hunt in the next couple of weeks.

I've seen them done while Mearns hunting down south of the Patagonia Mtns a couple of times. Found lots of feathers too. Would love to have that tag... I have a ton of Rios under the belt, one Merriams from NM, and one Eastern from the Oazarks in northern Arkansas. I am ithching to get toe rest of them . They are all so beatuful and fun to hunt. I LOVE TO TURKEY HUNT!!! Those Goulds are beautiful.. On that note though, I am down by TB ranch all the time and have NEVER seen a turkey anywhere around there. heck, those birds I've seen down while quail hunting are the first turkeys I've seen at all since moving here to AZ. Hopefully, the Goulds are expanding their range..

I agree with Casey... I don't even like or trust Pitbulls, but no dog deserves to be treated that way. That was just cruelty at it's finest. They need to take take little punk up Reddington RD, castrate him with a butter knife, put a few 22 rounds in his gut, and let HIM limp down the road back to Tucson. Bet he'd think twice then!! I would really like to get my hands on people like that. It'd get ugly real quick..

Nice buck! Congrats.

We went out with a mission yesterday.. to get the AZ slam ( Mearns, Scalies, and Gambels) in one day of hunting. It started out great, at first light, we found 2 big coveys of Scalies and scratched down a few. Those are the hard ones to find out here.. Got the hard one out of the way first thing!! We then headed over to some country near there that held a big covey of Gambels. We hadn't been there 5 minutes when a covey of about 30 flushed wild 50 yrds ahead of us. We took off after them and after an HOUR of trying to get just one, we said to heck with these Gambels, cactus and hot weather!! I got one shot at a male.. saw his legs drop but he just kept on going. Those Gambels are tough hunting with a .410!!! They know just how to keep a bush between you and them at all times while flying 6 inches above the ground at Mach 5!!! They make me SO FRUSTRATED!! DAMNED GAMBELS!! We gave up on the chance of the AZ slam on this day and went down south and chased Mearns all afternoon!! We got into 5 coveys in about 3 hrs of dog work. My puppy Virgil is turning into one helluva dog! He was finding coveys and singles, backing and honoring the other dogs. I ws so proud of him!! All in all, a really good day.. And as the song says, "2 outta 3 ain't bad!!" Here is my loot of birdies from the day. The ol .410 did her job! While we were walking out of the canyons back to the truck, we bumped a covey right on top who flew about 50 ft and landed together. Virgil ran over there and went on point, while the older dogs went over there and honored his point. I took a few pics, and we quietly pullled the dogs off of them so they could regroup before it got too dark. The flash in the pic made it look darker than it really was. I thought it was a good pic... A 7 month old puppy being honored by a 2 yr old Brit and a 10 yr old GSP!!! And here is a pic from last week.. as you can see, the slam eluded me once more!! I didn't find any Scalies.. Once again, 2 outta 3 ain't bad!! One of these days this season, I'm gonna get them all!!

Thanks guys.. I was a pretty good day. Just wish those danged Gambels weren't such a pain in the butt!! I really don't like chasing them crazy things! Doug, I wished you woulda come down when I had the days off. Its really discouraging to walk around for 3 or 4 days and not find hardly anything. I know, I did it time and time again when I first moved out here to AZ in '03!! I Those Mearns are really funny about where they live. You can be in the right general area, but if the habitat isn't EXACTLY right, they won't be in there. Everything has to be there in the right order, so to speak... grass, cover, overstory, food, etc. You are right about the rain.. it is DRY!! Everywhere.. Dogs did really good, considering the conditions. Now if we get some moisture, I'll show ya some super dog work!! Hope ya can make it back down here before season ends. I'll be in Cali from the 20th to the 24th of this month hunting Mt quail, Valley quail, and Chukar.. After that, I'll be game to get into a couple more Mearns coveys before the season closes here in AZ. Then its back home to TX in Feb to finish the North American quail Slam in one season with Mr Bobwhite!! And maybe even slip in a day or two to hunt free-range Aoudads as well, time permitting... I gotta test out that rifle I'm taking to Africa this summer on a tough critter.

Now that is one OLD KITTY!! Probably saved him a slow death of starvation. Helluva trophy!!

Just curious to see if anybody who frequents the site has been out this season chasing birddies.. I've been hunting them about twice a week.. trying out new spots, and finding new places to hunt. It's been going pretty good so far.. I've taken the AZ Slam several times over now. So, lets hear any reports or better yet, lets see some pics of some successful hunts from this season.. I'll start with a few newer pics I've taken on hunts we've done in the last couple of weeks.. Hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas... Here are a couple pics of some Scalies.. Here is one I scratched down on an afternoon hunt by myself.. And here are my favorite little rockets.. Mearns. We had a good day on Mearns here. And even got a few doves to hold still long enough.. Here we got into 2 of the 3 species in the same area. Got a few... And here is one tired Brit with the spoils of a good day...

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""you can't "overgraze" on public land. they won't let ya. if the conditions are bad, you have to remove cows. sometimes all of em."" Hey Lark, did you not see the picture I posted on the first page??? That pic was taken in the CORONADO NATIONAL FOREST!!! I guess somebody forgot to stop by and give the rancher down there a friendly reminder saying he probably has a few too many cows on the place.. In case you didn't get an opportunity to see see the photo, I'll repost it just for you...

I will have to split my sides on this one. Patrick, I whole-heartedly agree with you that a majority of ranchers these days do not run cattle on their land out of necessity.. they run livestock for the tax exemptions.. I'M NOT SAYING ALL OF THEM, but alot do just that. The quail hunter side of me really gets pissed off when I hunt a canyon one year that is full to the brim with Mearns, only to go in the next year and find that not even a goat couldn't even scrape out a living in there after the cows had their way.. that is range manegment in the worst of ways... I've seen it time and time again down in the San Rafael valley.. Grazed into a parking lot..... No the other hand, ranchers who truely care about their piece of land and the land they have rights on, are true stewards to the land and ALL the wildlife that calls that habitat home. They contribute more to the land and the animals who are native to it than almost anyone.. Water, supplimental food ( oat fields, food plots etc) ,winter range, shelter from a barrage of hunters on public land, perdator control, etc...... I think that this issue just comes down to the simple fact of the person with the grazing rights giving a crap.. it's a simple matter of personal peference towards ALL wildlife. Some people have different views on whats right and whats wrong.. By no means do I think that I am an expert in this field, but I did take ALOT of range management classes while getting my wildlife management degree back in TX. I did learn this...Grazing affects ALL aspects of the landscape and the condition in which the land was originally..it affects it now and will continue to do so down the road.. BTW, I do know that TX and AZ are very different when it comes to this matter !!! I just wish all the parking lot makers here in Southern AZ would learn an old saying about Mearns ... " Take a third, and leave a bird"... Most hear " Take more than half to make more on my calf"..... Nothing good comes out of it when this is the case. Too bad I see it alot out here.. Remember, ranchers are all different.. Some truely do do it for a living and care and are doing more to help than you or I could ever do, and some, well... we all know what some of them do. Money talks. So, I agree AND disagree with both sides!!! Does that make any sense, or does that cancel my opinion out??? Oh yeah, if ya don't believe me about some of them not caring at all, here's a pic from last week... Good grazing practices vs. not-so-good grazing practices... You tell me which is better for the wildlife. The proof's in the pudding....

Very cool stuff Amanda!! I have some pics I took when I was working in Africa of a bunch of Bushman petroglyphs.. They look quite similar.. Thanks for sharing those...

Thank all of you very much for the kind words. Glad to hear that alot of you out there appreciate good photos. I try to do my best and take some decent photos in the field. Photos are as much of a trophy and memory as the hunt itself. I threw in that last one just because I liked the way it turned out. That gun means alot to me, and I thought a mature Mearns along side it with the grass in the background would make a neat photo. It came out nicely. Again, thank you very much...

Got to make a couple more trips down to the grass and oaks the last couple of days.. Casey made the drive down from Flagstaff to go with me on a little Mearns safari. He's been wanting to go for the last couple of years. I think I put him into the right areas.. We moved seven coveys of Mearns in about 4 hrs.. Great hunt.. Dogs did great and the shooters did OK... Headed out the next day with a couple of other buddys and we had another good day. The scenting conditions were way worse than before.. But we still ended up with a mess of birds. On this hunt, I took out my pride and joy of my guns.... my 1923 L.C. Smith side by side .410... This gun was made to hunt Mearns!! Flawless as always!!! Now, if only the operator was as reliable!!! Hope all of you enjoy the pics.. See ya out in the hills.... First days bag... Casey with his first take of Mearns... Me with some TIRED pups.. And my .410 from the second hunt.. I love this gun!!

Post a pic of the Coati if you can. i've wanted one of those danged things since I moved out here. I've only seen 2 or 3 of them in person. What unit were you in?

Ernesto, I don't know what happened to all those big bucks!! We were looking for them too!!

I FINALLY got to get into the hills today and chase those little boogers that ya'll know I love so much. I chomp at the bit all year waiting for Mearns season to roll around. Today was one of the best days I've ever had for Mearns. We had 7 coveys in about 3 hrs of hunting. And we only covered a TINY fraction on the available cover. It was unreal.. go 300 yards, covey.. go another 300 yards, covey... you get the idea . One of the highlights of the day was the my new pup, Virgil (ya'll remember him), had his first point on a wild covey. AND, he was backing and honoring points from my Brit, Penny. I was one proud papa to say the least!! Well, just wanted to share a few pics with ya'll... Hope you enjoy. Sorry about the crappy quality... I forgot the digital and had to grab a dispoable camera from the store on the way out. Glad I did!!! Thanks for lookin... Anybody else doing any good on quail this season?? Let's hear it if you are!! Here is a pic of one that was caught out in the open!! Here is Virgil backing and honoring a point by Penny on a whole covey!! The pups with the spoils of a good hunt!! Me with my pups... And one worn out Brittany!!

Thanks guys..

Good job Scott... sounds like a tough hunt. Glad to see that you made the most of it and came home with a nice buck.

Wow, what a 2 point!! I would have smoked that thing in a heart beat!!

If you could, PM me with the info on the place.. it sounds like somewhere I'd like to check out.. Thanks alot....

Thanks, I'd sure appreicate the info. I've looked into several locations before, but just didn't like how they operated after talking with the outfitters. If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay?

What a beautiful buck.. A big congrats to you on a super nice animal...

Nice buck, bro. Congrats...