New Mexico Quail Hunt

Just the dogs and I went for an 8 day quail hunt to New Mexico. The main priority was to locate Mearns' quail in New Mexico and also to bag my first scaled quail. After a long drive over two days I finally arrived to Mearns' camp. I hoped to find Mearns', scaled, and Gambel's quail all within an hour drive of camp.

Mearns' Camp:


The crew on stake out:


Mearns' quail habitat in New Mexico was grazed down severly by the local ranchers. It was quite disapointing seeing the National Forest land grazed to bare dirt in many good Mearns' habitat locations. I did manage to find a few coveys over the next three days on the steep slopes that the cattle could not reach.

Darko and Ace on point for Mearns':


Raider on point with Maggie backing:


Pics of Mearns' in the bag:






Ace with his pair of Mearns':


After a few days of hunting Mearns' quail I dropped down to lower elevation and managed to bag my first scaled quail. I also managed to find a couple covey's of Gambel's quail and managed to put a reasonable day of quail hunting together with Mearns', scaled, and Gambel's quail all being bagged in less than 24 hrs, all within access from camp.

Here is a pic of a scaled quail on lookout. There was about fifteen birds in this particular covey:


Scaled quail habitat:


Raider working the cover for single scaled quail after busting up a covey:


Female Gambel's quail on lookout:


Overall the trip was a success and I managed to bag at least 5 birds of each species and managed to add the scaled quail to my list of quary taken. I look forward to heading back to the southwest again in January for a Mearns' quail hunt in Arizona when it's freezing cold and snowing here in Idaho.

A picture with all three quail species that were bagged within a 24 hr span:

Brownlee Adventure

I drove over to SW ID to meet up with some friends from www.uplandidaho.com We hunted the Brownlee Resevoir area for a few days and had an awesome hunt. Maggie was really on a roll and had quite a few nice finds on chukar and huns. Raider really turned it on this trip and found quite a few coveys as well. He has even started retrieving to hand and even held through the shot on one covey flush. I wish I could have taken more pictures, but I dropped my camera trying to get a pic of Raider on point half way through the first day.

Maggie pointing a covey of chukar:


Raider put in over 50 miles on the chukar slopes in 2 days. Here he is working the cheat grass:


Raider on a 50+ yard chukar retrieve, his first retrieve to hand!

A Great Day in the Uplands!

Over the weekend the family got together for our annual sharptail and pheasant opener hunt. With pheasant opening at noon we take the oportunity to head for sharptails in the morning and then come back for pheasant in the afternoon. Last year the opener was a bust with 2 coyotes and 1 fox bagged to only 1 pheasant and no sharptails. This year however started and finished a little better.

We started hunting at first light in an area that has both sharptails and ruffed grouse. It is a beautiful place to hunt with CRP grass mixed in with islands and peninsulas of aspens and pines. The leaves are just starting to turn and it was a picturesque morning to be in the uplands.


Not 10 minutes from the truck Darko cut a track and proceeded to trail a moving sharpie in the grass. The morning was absolutely dead calm and he had no oportunity to point it from air scent. After tracking for about 50 yards, a big male jumped 20 yards ahead of him. I managed to bring it down from 30 yards away on a straight away shot with the cylinder choked bottom barrel of my 16ga. I really shoot my new DeHaan SGr quite good, at least for me. As we approached a stubble field my brother Ty managed to get a single sharptail on a small covey of 5-6 birds a few minutes later.

From there we headed up to higher ground where the grass gives way to clumps and draws of aspen trees. As we approached a small cabin I imagined what life would have been like to live there a hundred years or so ago. As I found out, there would have been ruffed grouse roosting in the trees out the back step.


As I rounded the corner and entered the aspen trees, I just managed to spot Raider on point as three ruffed grouse flushed in front of him. I managed to nock one down on a straight away with my bottom barrel while another flushed into the tree. After the retrieve we decided to give the second grouse a sporting chance. He flushed out of the tree heading left to right and my first shot through the trees missed. He blazed out of the thick stuff and started across the stubble field and I managed to dump him with my second barrel through a narrow window in the trees. We managed one more ruffie on a point by Raider and then it was back to the CRP grass and sharptails.


After about an hour of hunting in the grass without a sharptail find, my brother Trey and I were coming up on a location next to a stubble field that has always produced birds in the past. Sure enough Darko locks up on point with Ace backing. After my brother and I combed the area without a flush, I released the dogs and 50 yards further Ace slams on point again with Darko backing this time. Trey and I walk in for the flush and 2 sharptail rocket into the sky. I manage to miss with both barrels, but Trey connects for his first sharptail of the day. On the way back to the truck I managed another sharptail on a wild flush for my 2 bird limit.


Back down at the family farm it was time for some pheasant and huns. After the initial pass through the cover and being forced to watch my brother Ty bag a rooster from the other side of the field AND get into a covey of huns, it was finally my turn. We were working a tall weedy patch when Ty calls out that his WPG Chaco is birdy. Just then I noticed Maggie go on point as a rooster rocketed into the sky. One shot with 1165 fps 1oz of 6s on a straight away dropped him like a rock. Maggie, always the diligent pointer left me to my own devices on the retrieve, but I had my first rooster of the season. Not long after, Maggie again went on point and I dropped another rooster from my at 15 yards from my bottom barrel. You can just see Maggie and her orange collar in the cover.


We hunted a few more hours with my brothers Ty and Trey bagging 3 more pheasant and a few huns before I finally had my chance again. This time however Maggie flushed out some prey that was more her own size. A big ole' fox flushed in front of her and was scooting across the fall wheat on a left to right crosser at 20 yards. I managed to pile it up stone dead with my first shot.


Maggie pointed a pair of huns and Darko managed to point another rooster and I finished up the day with 2 sharptail, 3 ruffed grouse, 3 pheasants, and 1 hun. Quite a bit better than last year when I never even shot at bird, but bagged a coyote and a fox.


I also managed to come across an animal control box that is working out quite nicely for the Toyota truck. It has 4 dog boxes along with a large gear area in the back. It sure is a lot better than crawling into the back of the bed and messing with dog crates.