Classic Bird Hunts
Guided Upland Bird Hunting, In Traditional Style.
January thrills.
The rugged vistas of the cowboy west are home to three species of Arizona quail. The mearns, the gambels and that riverboat gambler known as the scaled or blue quail. These quail offer the most diverse hunt of any on the Classic Bird Hunts menu. The gambels and scalies will be found in the desert, an undulating sea of grass, cactus and yucca that is at once harsh and beautiful. You will find it difficult to believe that a dozen or more of these birds could be off the end of a Brttany's nose in cover that couldn't hide an ant, until that is, you take the one-more-step that fills the air with whirring wings. Mearns, by contrast, will insist that you lace your boots tight, pack a water bottle and burn a few calories. They inhabit the rocky fingers and washes that are usually found above 8000 feet. They will make you sweat, they will make you swear and they will make you laugh, but to hold one in hand, taken on the wing and over a point is to hold the Stanley Cup of quail. You may be a little tired and you may be a little sore, but more than anything you will be ready to find another covey. It is that good. We have hunted these birds in T-shirts and lunched on the tail gate with an inch of snow crunching under our boots. The contrasts in these hunts are part of what keep us coming back. There is nothing vanilla about the birds, the cover or the country.
