I just got back from another day hunting Mearns quail. It couldn't have been any better than today. Don and I went south of Patagonia into one of his favorite canyons. This is my first year of this style of hunting and Don has been great in sharing.
My two GWPs are now accomplished pointers/retrievers and they even honor other dog's points. It was wonderful to watch them evolve in the last month.
As we sat for a brief rest for the dogs, my 79 year old friend of many years told me that bird hunters around the country would have given anything to have been with us on this special hunt. I truly feel fortunate to have Don as my mearns hunting mentor. Don has hunting mearns since the 60s and is very knowlegable. FYI when the Game and Fish decided to reduce the bag limit a number of years ago, Don addressed them. G and F wanted the bag limit reduced from 15 to 5! Don argued for a larger reduced bag limit when the population was low. Don's exact wording at the end of his presentation was "whatever happened to compromise?". The reduced bag limit was then set at eight birds.
We hunted in short sleeved shirts as the temps were in the 60s. We saw no less than 19 coveys! We each got our limit of 8 birds. We saw no one in our 10 mile walk. We limited out and still had a 4 mile hike to the truck. We watched with pure enjoyment as the dogs just kept on pointing birds.
A bird hunter couldn't ask for a better time. Good companionship, challenging shooting, fine bird dogs and perfect weather. Just had to share.
Hre is a link produced by Az's game and fish on Mearns hunting:
http://www.azgfd.gov/video/Quail.shtml
My two GWPs are now accomplished pointers/retrievers and they even honor other dog's points. It was wonderful to watch them evolve in the last month.
As we sat for a brief rest for the dogs, my 79 year old friend of many years told me that bird hunters around the country would have given anything to have been with us on this special hunt. I truly feel fortunate to have Don as my mearns hunting mentor. Don has hunting mearns since the 60s and is very knowlegable. FYI when the Game and Fish decided to reduce the bag limit a number of years ago, Don addressed them. G and F wanted the bag limit reduced from 15 to 5! Don argued for a larger reduced bag limit when the population was low. Don's exact wording at the end of his presentation was "whatever happened to compromise?". The reduced bag limit was then set at eight birds.
We hunted in short sleeved shirts as the temps were in the 60s. We saw no less than 19 coveys! We each got our limit of 8 birds. We saw no one in our 10 mile walk. We limited out and still had a 4 mile hike to the truck. We watched with pure enjoyment as the dogs just kept on pointing birds.
A bird hunter couldn't ask for a better time. Good companionship, challenging shooting, fine bird dogs and perfect weather. Just had to share.
Hre is a link produced by Az's game and fish on Mearns hunting:
http:/