Desert Sportsman

After kicking off the season with a great grouse hunting trip it was time to start chasing quail. Mike O’Connor, Dick O’Connor and myself headed to our favorite mountain quail spot and had a challenging hunt. The conditions were less than ideal with daytime temperatures reaching over 80 degrees. We managed to find a few coveys and took a few birds but decided to head back home after a couple of days.

While waiting for Mearns season to open I decided to do several scaled quail hunts. The bird numbers seemed to be about the same as last season but the cover had grown in thicker due to abundant summer rainfall. The hunts turned out to be great training for the pups and a good opportunity to practice some shooting.

Mearns season opened with unbelievably great weather and conditions. The entire season was full of memorable hunts and it was a pleasure being able to run the young dogs on almost every hunt. I saw many old friends in the local towns and just about all reported decent success.

This season differed from most in the fact that there was a huge influx of hunters that wanted to chase Mearns quail. If you could find areas off the beaten path bird numbers and covey sizes appeared to increase. I heard a number of unfortunate stories involving interactions with tourist hunters that seemed to think Mearns quail are only found around trucks with Arizona plates.

In early December myself and Monty Snow decided to meet up with some friends who run a goose and pheasant outfitting service in Dalhart, Texas. Upon arrival we were greeting by Jason Sundvahl and Mike Sanford, owners and operators of North Texas Waterfowl, Inc. Over the last several years Mike and Jason have built the premier guide service in the Texas panhandle. We started each morning with a goose hunt and spent the rest of the day hunting pheasant. My 5 year old pointer “Kate” made the trek with us and had a great time stretching her legs out in the open farmland.

After the quick trip to Texas it was back to Arizona to finish out the remainder of the season. I chose to chase the “Grand Slam” of quail and had success in the hunts with a bit of puppy training mixed in for good measure. Between grand slam hunts I made trips to hunt scalies and mearns with good regularity. The young dogs got a great taste of desert quail hunting and the elusive nature of the birds found in our grasslands.

Now that the season is over it’s been fun to recount all of the great hunts that took place. While it can be difficult to remember every detail of every hunt, it’s easy to remember all of the great people who made each hunt a success. For me, those people are Sean Hahn, Monty Snow, Bryan Baker, Ed Kinney, and the O’Connor’s. Their understanding of bird dogs and the pursuit of wild birds is impressive and always adds so much to the experience. Thanks for the great hunts!

For more information on Texas waterfowl and pheasant hunting please visit: www.northtexaswaterfowl.com