I'm not sure how the normal areas of Southern Arizona are for Mearns this year but I have heard good reports and they had good moisture at the right times in most of Mearns country this past summer. I managed to pick up a slam a couple weeks ago but 11:00 AM!! It was the first time I had ever accomplished the slam. I found some good sized coveys of Mearns (20+) with a good number of 8-12 bird coveys. I was hunting an unfamiliar area but the Mearns quail were in the habitat that one would think they would be in; Oak lined draws with Bear grass, some Yucca, Catclaw, Juniper and tall warm season grasses with light to moderate grazing. I only hunted Mearns one morning and a few afternoons and jumped 2 to 3 covey's per outing. I didn't find very much scratching however and most crops were filled with small seeds and hoppers... Gambel's numbers seemed pretty good but hadn't formed "Super Covey's" yet. I did get into fair numbers of Scalies and even manage to hit a mixed covey of Gambel's and Scaled quail. The quail hunting seems to be much improved from last year in the area I was hunting.