Mearns Quail?

jmac

New member
Has anyone been out after the Mearns Quail this year? I've been trying to get time off work, to get after them, but no luck yet.:)
 
For many years late quail hunting in the desert and oak covered hills of Arizona was tradition. Haven't been in years. I live in Kansas City, Mo. but get the dogs tough enough I might make special trip. When I went the border was still "sleepy", unfortunately, I assume all that is gone! more the pity. If there is a tighter holding bird, I'd like to see it! beautiful, hens included.
 
jmac, Take a day or two.
Trust Me. :thumbsup:
 
OanN and wayne,

You are both correct. I can't think of a bird that holds tighter than a Mearns. Heck I've had to kick them up, after the dog found them. I'd like to take some time off to hunt, but can't afford to loss out on the bonuses owed me, for bring in the contact on time. Lord knows I'm stress out hard. LOL:D
 
I haven't been there in a few years, it was awesome the year I was there (a friend shot 100 that year). Sounds like bird numbers have recovered some from several down years. It is awesome to be outside in January and the temp to be in the 70s and hunting is short sleeves (if you aren't in catclaw country). Mearns live is some awesome country, the border issues make things a little weird but not a bid deal (like put bells /beepers on your dog, so "visitors" will know you are coming:eek:).

I need to see if I have time and gas money to go this year...:confused:
 
Scott,

What general area do you hunt mearns? Work is a bore for me during the winter and they encourage vaccay. I may be up for a trip this year if I could do it in a reasonable amount of time.:cheers:
 
Hey Robert,

I don't know if it's worth the tip yet. The people in the southern chapter or not very friendly. They are have there own thing going on and don't want to share and info. I have not been down south this year and don't know what is going on. I'll pm you soon Because I;m going to find out one way or the other. :thumbsup:
 
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.
 
Good for you Frangel,

I 'm glade you had a good time and got into the birds. Did you have a guide? Dave brown????
 
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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.


Three different quail in one day..... I got to do that. Awesome:thumbsup:
 
Yes it is possible to do this in Ca. I still want to one day get up after your mountain Qual. They are a bit bigger than other Quail are they not????

Yep, mature mountain quail are between a valley quail and chukar in size.
 
So, it sounds like I still need to hunt:
-Scaled
-Mearns
-Valley
-Mountain
-Gambles

So how many places would I have to hunt to get them all?
 
The hardest of them will be mearns and moutain quail I believe. If you do the home work and get a little help from guys who may have knowledge I think you may get all listed quail in 2 or 3 areas. The problem I see is that where multiple species ranges overlap it means that its probably marginal for one or more of the species in the area. Where all 3 (Ca, gambels, mtn) overlap here can be great for all 3 species but not as great as could be had in each respective prime range if that makes sense.
 
The hardest of them will be mearns and moutain quail I believe. If you do the home work and get a little help from guys who may have knowledge I think you may get all listed quail in 2 or 3 areas. The problem I see is that where multiple species ranges overlap it means that its probably marginal for one or more of the species in the area. Where all 3 (Ca, gambels, mtn) overlap here can be great for all 3 species but not as great as could be had in each respective prime range if that makes sense.

Yes Robert,

You are correct , Its either boom for one species or the other most years. the perfect weather years are the only difference. You get rain down here all year long and there will be plenty of all species down here. I've only seen it once in 2006. But One can hope. LOL :cheers:
 
I'm game:thumbsup:
 
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