Saturday afternoon was to be nice for temp (50*) and wind (calm-5mph) below the Mogollon Rim, so Rica and I dropped off the mountain and pursued some Gambels for a few hours yesterday afternoon near Sedona. A previous hunt this year had yielded seeing only 2 quail all afternoon, so expectations were not high after the few droughty years. Surprisingly, we found two coveys on a ridge I had not hunted in a couple of years. A good afternoon hike with Rica, sunny and shirt-sleeve temps, and came home with the next dinner on rice.

I have been hunting Gambels, Mearns and Montezumas here in SW NM with some success. My lab/shorthair cross loves these little birds and is a joy to watch her work. Good luck! Mtg

Nice photos..congradulations on your success..Az. quail have been very tough the last half dozen years...

MTG & WCH, I like those beautiful Mearns which hold nicely, unlike the running, flushing Gambels. Gald you are haveing some success in NM. The AZ Mearns took a major population hit a couple of years ago. I did not even go to southern AZ last year for Mearns.

How do you guy's run your dog's in all that cactus? I've been down in cactus country a lot and a couple time's had my old pointer with me. Turned him loose a few time's and every time he cane back with spurs in him. I was thinking he'd need a full body bull hide leather suit with some kind of head protection. A hunt in Arizona for Merns was one of my bucket list item's but can't get by the cactus.

Don, Rica does pretty good with the prickly pear. It is the cholla that I avoid hunting in. If she gets a cholla ball on her foot, she tries biting it off, and then it's a bigger problem.

Mearns habitat is more grass/oak/hills. There is just a little cactus. Hopefully the mearns population will recover some more and you can make your bucket trip next season. You might try rubber boots if your dogs keep getting cactus spines.

I used boots on my shorthairs here in southern NM....in volcanic country...the volcanic rock ginds off their paws...so boots are necessary...the cholla and prickly oear can be problems if j=you jump thorugh the cholla (as I did only once)...but the snakes are an even bigger probelm in the rock if the temps are anywhere above 65...watch the heck out....hunt scaled quai, gambels, and the rare california or means that occasionally show up...been from Deing and eastwasrd in Indaian Basin and down in the bootheel of NW....like the hbightlands the ebest...next to cholla..even sen the birds roosting in the cholla like darn tweeties...been here 36 years and would never go back to N Michigan ,...just tto darn cold and wet...no thanks...and I grew up in that country...Blessings....no birds this year...no rain..