Words & Images by Donna Cameron
The afternoon was hot, and the sweat was stinging my young eyes. Not only that, the tall Bermuda grass was grabbing my little legs every step of the way, seemingly pulling me backwards. I couldn’t complain, for I was proving to my dad that I was a worthy quail hunter and would be no trouble at all, even though I was just a wee lass! Periodically, I heard the compelling whistle call of my favorite bird, the gentleman Bob White, and that was all the motivation needed to keep me plowing through the sea of grass, high stepping in blackberry brambles and crawling under barb wire fences. Dirt, mixed with sweat, stained my face, and my legs bled beneath my jeans from all the thorns, but I kept going. I was struggling to keep up with my Dad, while carrying an impossibly heavy H&R Topper .410 single shot shotgun! Thoughts raced through my mind, such as don’t trip, don’t shoot across my dad, and well maybe, just don’t shoot! I was walking on my dad’s left, as he was blind in his right eye and wanted to keep me in his peripheral vision as this was my first quail hunt. We topped a small hill, and started down towards a drainage. Then suddenly there was an explosion of a huge covey of round brown birds with short tails and furiously beating wings flying up from between us, between our feet, and in front of us! If a ten year old girl could have a heart attack, I am certain I would have had a massive one in that moment of sheer adrenaline overload. I was so stunned that it never occurred to me to raise my gun and shoot. My dad shot several times from his trusty Model 12 and crumpled two quail, which I immediately marked. Breathlessly, I ran towards the downed birds while my dad watched. Eventually, I started breathing again, and my heart beat settled down to a lope instead of a gallop. The smile on my face was frozen in place as I excitedly asked my dad if we would be able to find another covey. I was hooked for life on hunting quail, as is virtually every person who ever experiences the explosion of wingbeats all around them.
Over the decades that passed, I never forgot the sound of the covey flush, and hoped I would someday hunt quail again. I had a few opportunities, but nothing really memorable. All that changed when we moved to Arizona, the quail Mecca of the United States. With a trifecta of quail species spread across our state, people from all over the country head south in the winter time to chase these remarkable and beautiful birds. We have crisp, cold mornings and warm sunny afternoons, which make for a wonderful respite from the cold and snow of our friends from the Northern states.
Arizona is home to three out of the six species of quail found in the United States; The Gambel’s quail, the Scaled quail (blue quail/scales/cotton tops), and the Montezuma or locally known as Mearns quail. We actually have a few pockets of a fourth species, the California Quail, but we don’t really count them as they are so localized and hard to find. One of these days, I may look for a California quail just for the challenge of it!
The Gambel’s quail is the most well recognized of our quail. A small, round, gregarious quail with a jaunty comma shaped topknot, they can be found in large coveys. They are a beloved species which have made themselves at home in our urban areas. When we first moved to Arizona, we lived in Phoenix and occasionally saw small family groups in our area. However, when we purchased our home which backed up to a wash on the outskirts of town, we were suddenly surrounded by Gambel’s. Often, we sit outside and listen to them call back and forth to one another, singing “chi-ca-go” or chi-ca-go-o.”
Where do these beautiful birds live? In the desert, of course. Not just any desert, but the Sonoran desert which covers Phoenix and Tucson and most of the western half of Arizona. If there are Saguaros, prickly pear, cholla, mesquite, and palo verde trees, you are in the right place. What makes a good Gambel’s spot? A wash that has thickets of prickly trees that are intent on taking good size DNA samples from the unwitting hunter seeking out quail! Wear long sleeves that don’t snag. The birds travel up and down the washes, and the thickets provide food and shelter in the form of shade and protection from predators. If there is water nearby, you are almost guaranteed a covey of quail. The Gambel’s generally do not hold point, instead choosing to run. When your dog is first exposed to these birds, let him figure it out. Also, they are tough birds to kill. Once when I was hunting with my sis last year, I absolutely folded a bird. I instantly started walking in the direction it fell, which was open grass and small bushes. I confidently walked to where it was supposed to be, and there was no bird. When my dog joined in the search, he could not find it either. Evidently, when it hit the ground, it had enough life left in it to run into the nearest rodent hole! I think that was the only quail I lost last year. Arizona is where no one will judge you if your dog takes off running at the flush or shot!
Scaled quail are our other desert bird, and they are found in the Chihuahan desert and associated desert grasslands. Scalies (or cotton tops, or blues, depending on where you live) inhabit relatively flat grassland and desert areas with sparse vegetation and less ground cover than what’s preferred by Mearns quail. Look for areas with greater than 25% grass canopy cover at the height of 20cm (7.87”) and less than 6% tree canopy (1). Hunting scaled quail after chasing Gambel’s is a relief! I love it because I don’t lose a pound of flesh to the woman-eating acacia and palo verde and other plants that latch onto you and don’t let go. Years ago, in West Texas, my dad, brother and I were hunting for rabbits and dove and whatever else was in season. To our surprise, we flushed a covey of scaled quail and no one hit one because we were not expecting any quail. I saw where they landed at a full run several hundred yards away in a plowed field. My dad told me not to waste my time chasing them, as they would outrun me. At the time, I was a cop and a runner, and no one said to me “You can’t catch me!” I took off across the field with my single shot, full choke .410. I lost track of the covey, and instead had tunnel vision on one bird running down the row. I finally got about fifty yards away and decided to end the chase in dramatic fashion by unceremoniously ground swatting the bird. Ten minutes later, I finally got back to my dad and brother, with one beautiful and unfortunately for him, dead, scaled quail.
When chasing Scalies, when your dog points, and you walk forward to flush, be prepared for no birds. Your dog might be confused until he learns that scaled quail just keep running! Your dog might look like he is creeping, when all he is doing is following the running birds. Be prepared for a chaotic experience and the learning curve that comes with chasing desert quail. If you can get a covey to fly, it will be a nice sized covey of around 13 birds. A word of advice on scaled quail should you shoot one, make haste to get to it quickly because they, too, can be like Lazarus, rise from the dead, and run down a rat hole quicker than you think! Scaled quail are definitely a worthy and fun challenge for you and your dog.
Imagine a little round quail, nicknamed “harlequin” for their striking black and white striped clownish face pattern. Now imagine your dog, standing on the side of a steep slope in tall burnt yellow grass framed by dark green oak trees, engaged in a game of freeze, refusing to move on the staunchest, most beautiful point ever. You struggle to control your ragged breathing as you confidently walk up to your good dog, and you now play freeze as well, searching the ground in front of your dog, trying to see what he is seeing. At first your glance is calm as you are sure you will spot it, imagining that the brightly patterned little bird will suddenly come into focus. After a minute or two, you are convinced your dog has false pointed, and in disgust, you stride forward, muttering invectives, and encouraging your dog to relocate. While you are busy railing at your dog, it happens! The explosion of wing beats from under your feet, often coming from behind you and in front of you simultaneously. If you are lucky, you manage to get off a shot or two, but more than likely, you will shoot a tree instead of a bird. While you are cussing at your miss and trying to reload, the second flush occurs, catching you completely by surprise again, causing you to drop your shells as those silly looking birds fly through the oaks and over the hill, laughing all the way. Now who looks like the clown!? The last and most famous of our desert quail is the Montezuma quail, called Mearns quail here in Arizona. Which brings us to another nickname, “fool’s quail”, cause who looks the fool now?
When most people in the northern half of the United States are done hunting, Mearns season is just starting in December. Mearns are found in the most scenic areas of southeastern Arizona, especially around the Huachuca mountains, and Patagonia mountains. They inhabit the oak woodlands and oak grasslands and are found at higher elevations than our other quail. Do some research, watch some YouTube videos and you will see why people travel from far and wide to hunt these beautiful birds. They hold so tight that when the flush occurs, it is heart stopping. Arguably the most handsome quail in North America, Mearns coveys average around eight, and are predominately found on public land accessible to the DIY hunter.
When scouting for Mearns, look for thick tall grass and oak trees. Everyone who hunts Mearns quail in Arizona usually begins their search near Sonoita or Patagonia. Along the main highways to Sonoita and Patagonia are large canyons where you can find suitable Mearns habitat. Typically, you will find a large canyon bottom full of tall grass (with plenty of goat head stickers), and there will be many oak covered finger ridges coming off the mountains. Sometimes you may get lucky and find the birds feeding in the sandy washes between these ridges. Often they will be on the steepest slopes where your dog doesn’t particularly want to work, and you especially don’t want to side hill all day or battle through the trees. A couple that I met while hunting Mearns shared with me that they like to get up high on the ridges and get their dogs to work slightly below them. The scent will travel up the hill because warm air rises. If you have your dog working a ridge line, then he can pick up the scent from below and go down to it. If you are walking the middle of the drainage, your dog will only pick up scent of birds right in front of him and may stumble into them without pointing because he is below the scent, which is what happened to me on my first walk in the woods. If you find areas around the oaks or in the grass banks of the washes that is freshly disturbed from digging, concentrate on those areas because Mearns have been feeding and are most likely nearby. Mearns have powerful legs and huge claws and scratch the ground to find food much like chickens do. Most of their diet is sedge, Oxalis and other bulbs, tubers, tepary beans, and acorns. Other times, you may find them in more rolling hills interspersed with oaks and junipers. They will be close to oaks in tall thick bunch grass.
All our quail are dependent on rain and their populations rise and fall dependent on the amount of precipitation we receive. Gambel’s are particularly dependent on winter rains. Mearns are very dependent on summer rains. It can be boom or bust year. The quail forecast has not been released yet, as we are still in “Monsoon” season. If you come down to Arizona, check with AZGFD or with QF to see what the conditions might be. If it is a bad year for Mearns in particular, maybe take a rain check on your trip if possible. Some ethics I live by when hunting quail are to let them get off their roost in the morning and feed, as there is no need to hurry in the morning. I also personally will not hunt the last hour or two of the day as they need time to regroup in order to stay warm for the night. A quail lost without his family will not survive because of cold temperatures and predators. And if you see a small covey of quail, it is probably best to just pass on shooting, particularly when it comes to our very highly pressured Mearns. If it is four or less in a covey, pass. If you are really lucky and work hard and know your specific quail habitat, you might be able to bag all three species on your trip to Arizona. It took me three trips to three different areas to bag all three species. Most folks who accomplish the Arizona Quail Slam in a day do so with the help of a professional quail guide. If you plan on being in Arizona, our Valley of the Sun Quail Forever, puts on a Small Game Challenge where you can sign up for different challenges. The cost is $25, and our chapter matches your donation and it goes to conservation. One challenge is the Native Quail Challenge were you seek to harvest all three native quail in one season. Visit https://www.votsqf.com/small-game-challenges.html for more information. I completed the Native Challenge last year and am doing another challenge this year involving grouse and chukar! Stay tuned…
May your heart and legs be strong, may you see and enjoy all these beautiful birds. Happy hunting! As always, you can reach me through social media.
FB: Donna Scott Cameron
IG: @djc5080
1 Bristol, K.D., & Ockenfels, R.A. (2006) Fall and winter habitat use by scaled quail in southeastern Arizona. Rangeland Ecology & Management, 59(3), 308-313.
