battle,
If you get to hunt in Washington State you will find your Cal Mountain Quail, however not in big numbers, they are a prize no doubt about it. Pa mountain Quail were about the same size but colored differently, and lived along the edges of the Pa forests, they have been extinct here in Pa sense the early 1900's. My Grandfather's stories about hunting then in the late 1800's, sent me to the mountains in Washington State when on leave in the US Army, to see the western Cal Mountain Quail, because I would never experience seeing/hunting our Pa Mountain Quail. Some great hunting on private land afforded me some western Cal Mountain Quail, simply a great bird hunting experience.
For Mearns Quail you need to spend some time in AZ with a friend of mine, along the Mex border, high in the mountains. If you get some snow it is one of the most beautiful hunts you will ever experience, and some of the fastest gunning God ever created, every bit as challenging as Pa Ruffed Grouse hunting, in the big Potter County Forest. Mearns Quail are like Grouse, they instinctively put something between you and them almost instantly. Get ready to shoot a few trees.
The experience of hunting both these incredible game birds is well worth the money you will need to expend. I was lucky to be stationed at Ft Huachuca, Az for a while and hunted Mearns Quail with my young wife and Weimar Dog often, I never took it for granted. Some of the greatest times of my life, the memories are burnt into my mind forever.
RGD/Dave
L.C. SmithMan
Last edited by Ryman Gun Dog; 08/01/18 12:28 PM.
