Riverman
Member
I am curious how other folks hunting in AZ this year did for Quail?
Hunting for Gambels in AZ this year was pretty decent for me. Before going I had heard that it was not a good year so I was pleasantly surprised. In fact after I got down there and hunted I texted several friends to tell them to get down there and check out some good quail hunting. I spent about 10 days in the Tonto Basin and north-of-Tucson area in January and got into a fair number of birds. I was going to chase Mearns quail down by Patagonia area, but decided not to after I heard reports of people hunting for days with no flushes. I have had pretty good luck in this area before for Mearns, but not during the 2022-2023 season when I hunted three days without a single flush. I hunt a labrador so that is part of the "problem" but she still finds them when they are there. I hunted some areas in SE AZ for Scaled quail and I got a few, but it was not as good as previous years. Still fun to shoot some of those little running birds!!
I actually saw many coveys of Gambels with 50-100 birds each in the Tonoto Basin area this year, which was the most birds I have seen in that country for the last 15 years. I think a pointing dog would work better to hold those birds in larger coveys, or maybe not, hard to tell. Was still nice to see several hundred birds every day. I hunted about 4-5 hours per day and killed about 5-8 each day. The area north-of-Tucson wasn't quite as good, but it was certainly better than in some years past.
I live in UT so it is pretty nice to have good quail hunting relatively close, especially since Bobwhite numbers are so poor all over. I still get a few Bobs in NE, but they are scattered.
With any luck, and some good rain storms the good number of birds will lead to a good hatch and good numbers for next season!! Good luck.
Hunting for Gambels in AZ this year was pretty decent for me. Before going I had heard that it was not a good year so I was pleasantly surprised. In fact after I got down there and hunted I texted several friends to tell them to get down there and check out some good quail hunting. I spent about 10 days in the Tonto Basin and north-of-Tucson area in January and got into a fair number of birds. I was going to chase Mearns quail down by Patagonia area, but decided not to after I heard reports of people hunting for days with no flushes. I have had pretty good luck in this area before for Mearns, but not during the 2022-2023 season when I hunted three days without a single flush. I hunt a labrador so that is part of the "problem" but she still finds them when they are there. I hunted some areas in SE AZ for Scaled quail and I got a few, but it was not as good as previous years. Still fun to shoot some of those little running birds!!
I actually saw many coveys of Gambels with 50-100 birds each in the Tonoto Basin area this year, which was the most birds I have seen in that country for the last 15 years. I think a pointing dog would work better to hold those birds in larger coveys, or maybe not, hard to tell. Was still nice to see several hundred birds every day. I hunted about 4-5 hours per day and killed about 5-8 each day. The area north-of-Tucson wasn't quite as good, but it was certainly better than in some years past.
I live in UT so it is pretty nice to have good quail hunting relatively close, especially since Bobwhite numbers are so poor all over. I still get a few Bobs in NE, but they are scattered.
With any luck, and some good rain storms the good number of birds will lead to a good hatch and good numbers for next season!! Good luck.
