doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT: Mearns Quail

Hi All. It looks like Texas and Oklahoma are going to be a bust this year for quail hunting with the drought and all. So, I'm looking for a place to hunt Mearns which I have not done. Any ideas on public hunting or otherwise would be appreciated. PS. I do hunt with a double gun. Thanks. Buzz

Buzz, most hunting for Mearns' is on public land: Coronado National Forest in SE Arizona. But from everything I've heard, bird numbers are really down.

There seems to be plenty of Gambels Quail in the central area of Arizona. I could literally shoot my limit ,if it were legal, by walking out my front door and taking a stroll down the street.
Jim

Mearns numbers are horrible. I hunted down there last year and never saw a one. A guy down the draw from me shot one and he is a local. Said that numbers were terribly low and figured it would take years to come back. The Gambels further north were good though.

Don't waste your time looking for Mearn's - their numbers are very dependent on summer rains, which were sparse this year and came too late anyway. Coming off a near-record low population last year, it'll be a long time before they're back.

Gambel's are spotty - where I live (Prescott area) almost no birds in the NF, even the unhuntable inside-the-city-limits quail seem down this year. You should find more Gambel's at lower elevations, but I haven't any first hand information yet.

Buzz,
I hunted once for mearns down along the AZ border last year. They were really sparce. We found one covey over a day of hunting. The rains have been late, I believe too late to help with a hatch.

I think your best bet for mearns may be to contact someone in Mexico. I believe we have a relatively new member that posted some great pix of not only mearns, but other exotic quail down there.

We have a great population of California quail and chukar in southern California. That's what I'll be concentrating on this season.

Hello gentlemen:

I do not know if Chuck refers to me. I am not a new member of this forum, because I signed in 2002!, but I live in Mexico an posted some photos of "exotic quail" (I loved to hunt quail)
Mearns (Moctezuma) quail season opens until december here in central Mexico. I will go hunting mearns quail the first days of that month, so I will keep posted about the results.

I was out in the field training dogs and what I saw is a better than average quail population this year, but the zone I frecuent is for banded and red breasted bobwhite quail.

We will see...

Best,

Thanks gents for the useful info. Sounds like I better come up with Plan C....hunt another species or maybe Mexico. Hope you guys have a good hunting season. Buzz

Tenga buena caza Jose!

As others have said, word from around Sonoita is not good



But with less rain, fewer of these SOBs

Jim you made me chuckle about the quail being up in your neighborhood. Sure they are, all the golf courses, greenbelts and city ponds in Scottsdale are artifically supporting the birds.