The Birds

A little about your targets

Thought we would provide a little info about the birds you will be hunting. I am not a biologist, but I do study the habits of my chosen game. Check the links page, I will throw in a quail study page, if interested.

Gambel's Quail

Not going to get into the biology, plenty of other sites for that. The Gambel’s is the most plentiful quail in Southern AZ. Fun and frustrating to hunt. Their running/flushing behavior, I’ve found to be dependent on available cover. If on a desert hunt, they will work you and your dogs to death, running and running. If there is good cover, they will hold pretty good. They are masters of putting a large bush or tree between you and them before flushing.

Scaled Quail

Everything down here is dependent on elevation. Small changes in elevation can result in big changes in vegetation. I call scalies the tweeners. They will intermingle in the some of the same areas as gambels, but tend to be at a little higher elevation due to preferrred cover and food sources. The scaled like the grasslands. They also vary in population greatly year to year. Very rain dependent based on what I have seen. They like the low grass clumps and prefer to run. Following the initial flush, you can move the dogs in quick and work some singles.

Mearns Quail

AKA- Montezuma Quail

Ah, the Mearns. They are, by far, my favorite to hunt. Higher elevation birds, different food source, shorter, later season. They will hold and hold and hold. Smaller coveys than the other two. I’ve literally had them flush from between my feet, while doubting my dog that was telling me it was there. Had ’em hold tight enough that my flusher caught ’em. Crazy fun to hunt. They flush, break off into singles and hold tight. They try their best to look and act like a rock. If you don’t have a dog, good luck even finding them.

Dove

Mourning, White wing, Eurasian

Hard to beat a good dove hunt. Just stand and shoot. If the migration is on, easy money. Except with a good Arizona breeze, they come by at 60+ mph. We have mourning and white wing for the early season, mourning for late season. We do have eurasian collared dove, but only mixed in occasionally. We can do a stand alone hunt or an add-on. Traditional decoys and blind or sitting by a water source in the evening. Bring lots of shells, unless you’re a dead-eye. Try to beat the averages. They say good shooters use 3-4 shells per bird taken.