oaks -and-

Hunting one of North Americas least known, quail most underappreciated game birds.

By E. Donnall Thomas Jr. Photos by Don and Lori Thomas

another hour, it might be too hot for the Maggie, my veteran female wirehair, and loaded gun, and if the birds won’t hold until we birds are right there, practically under her Lori into an optimal shooting position, walk dogs to smell, and in that heat, I can’t carry it indicates that she’s on point somewhere get there, I don’t want to shoot them anyway. nose. in ahead of the dogs, and start kicking the enough water to keep them going anyway. above us. My ears tell me she’s a good 200 Mearns quail hunting is all about the dogs— ground. Sprawling from horizon to horizon, the vast yards away and straight uphill, as usual. The always has been, always will be. If experience hadn’t taught me to trust azure space overhead evokes the iconic I was late to accept electronic locator collars slope’s steep pitch and the unstable rocks Maggie, I’m not sure I would believe her. The explosive covey rise makes me flinch Big Sky Lori and I left behind in eastern as a substitute for the bronze cowbells I underfoot ensure it won’t be easy to reach After clawing our way up the slope, we finally Despite the density of the live oak canopy even though I’ve experienced countless Montana a month ago. Friends back home once used to keep track of my pointing dogs her. spot Maggie, perfectly camouflaged in the overhead, the ground cover consists of others like it and knew this one was tell me the thermometer hasn’t risen above in thick cover, but without one we wouldn’t dappled light filtering through the oak leaves. nothing but sparse grass and rock that coming all along. Lori’s shotgun barks as I zero for days, but here in the Sonoran be hunting now. We’d be looking for a lost Lori and I break our 20-gauges and confirm By this time Max, our younger male wirehair, couldn’t possibly hide a covey of quail. We concentrate on isolating a male from the Desert I actually welcome the morning dog, and never mind the birds she’s pointing. their empty chambers. For safety reasons, I has joined the party and honored her point. load our shotguns anyway. Guessing that the blur of feathered bodies hurtling through chill on the shady side of the mountain. In The monotonous beeping collar belongs to won’t climb through loose rock like this with a Maggie’s body language announces that the nonexistent birds will flush uphill, I motion the oaks and slap off a shot myself. First

26 STRUNG MAGAZINE FALL 2020 STRUNG MAGAZINE FALL 2020 27 impressions suggest that I’ve killed the bird and tricky footing offer a stark contrast to before noon. The later I look for them, the even though the cover prevented me from the easy going in the desert below. more coveys I find. seeing it fall. When Lori fires her second barrel, I spot feathers drifting through the The proper common name for the birds air uphill ahead of her. After waiting for a Lori and I were hunting that morning is straggler that never appears, I break my Montezuma quail, but they also go by fool shotgun, unload my second barrel, and tell quail (for their allegedly naïve behavior) Hunting Clown Quail the dogs that the time has come to stop and harlequin quail (for their clownish It really is all about the dogs. Absent a pointing and start fetching. appearance). They are more commonly capable canine partner, a hunter may well known, however, as Mearns quail, after never see a Mearns quail, much less shoot Our wirehairs have always been effective, Edgar Alexander Mearns, the pioneering one—a reflection of the birds’ willingness to if not necessarily stylish, retrievers. Ten biologist who first formally described them. hold still, hide, and let intruders walk right minutes later, they are both guzzling happily Like his contemporary Elliott Coues, Mearns past them without flushing. Of course, this from their collapsible water bowl as Lori and was an Army surgeon stationed in the same trait makes them an ideal quarry for I sit on a log admiring the results of their desert Southwest. The two men shared a pointing dogs. Essential qualities in a good handiwork: three dead quail, each of them a passion for natural history, and while Coues Mearns quail dog include an excellent nose, polka-dotted, clown-faced male Mearns. I use was studying the desert whitetail subspecies stamina, the ability to cover a lot of rugged the dogs’ continued panting as an excuse that bears his name today, Mearns was busy ground, and rock-solid steadiness while for all of us to linger in the shade before with my favorite game bird and nearly a whoever is carrying the shotgun labors to setting off in search of the next covey. dozen other species previously unknown to reach the point. That often seems to take Western science. Who says doctors don’t do forever. anything but make money and play golf on Wednesdays? Everyone has his or her own favorite gun dog breed, and I would not presume to Of Birds and Habitat Because of their unique habitat tell anyone that that choice isn’t suitable Hunters who spend time in Mearns quail requirements and behavior, Mearns quail for Mearns quail. I have hunted Mearns territory quickly learn just how tough the hunting is distinctly different from the with pointers, setters, shorthairs, and Apaches really were. Southeastern Arizona, pursuit of other quail including the nearby wirehairs and have friends who hunt the heart of Mearns country, consists of Gambel’s and scalies. Live oaks are the them successfully with everything from flat, arid terrain punctuated by numerous essential component of Mearns cover, not Pudelpointers and Brittanys to pointing isolated “sky island” mountain ranges rising because the quail eat acorns but because Labs. While cripples don’t run like wounded thousands of feet above the desert floor. they require oak canopy to nest successfully. pheasants, thick cover makes it hard to The Apaches were mountain people who As with many game bird species, chicks need mark falls accurately, and downed birds can regarded their lowland-dwelling neighbors insects in their diet after hatching, but be hard to spot on the ground. These factors with disdain. Their mastery of those winding adult birds feed almost exclusively on oxalis make retrieving ability a real bonus and help canyons and steep, rocky slopes enabled bulbs, which they excavate with their long, explain my personal enthusiasm for versatile them to elude and outfight the combined clawed toes. These characteristic “diggings” breeds like wirehairs. forces of the American and Mexican military are easy to identify. Since a typical Mearns for decades prior to Geronimo’s final covey’s home range isn’t much more than 20 I know a number of experienced hunters surrender in 1886. acres, when you find such signs, birds should who share my opinion that Mearns quail be nearby. smell different from, or just plain less Characterized by typical desert flora—prickly than other upland birds. I’ve seen excellent pear, ocotillo, mesquite, and agave—the Mearns quail are ground nesters that typically dogs run right past coveys on their first open terrain below the mountains supports spend the night huddled together on a sidehill Mearns hunt, and I’ve also watched veteran fluctuating populations of Gambel’s and midway between ridgetop and canyon floor, retrievers walk over the top of dead Mearns scaled quail (collectively referred to as relying on their superb camouflage to keep without noticing them. Although it may be “desert quail” in Arizona). Hunting for both them safe in a predator-rich environment. tempting to ascribe these performances can be excellent in good years, and while the They keep bankers’ hours and seldom move to poor scenting conditions in hot, dry air, walking may be long and hot it doesn’t have until the ground begins to warm midmorning, I don’t observe the same phenomena on to be punishing. Those willing to accept the at which point they start downhill to dig and desert quail hunts in surroundings that are mountains’ challenge will find desert flora feed. Like many experienced Mearns hunters, even hotter and drier. These same dogs yielding to live oaks as elevation rises. This I like to give the birds time to lay down some usually do much better once they have a is Mearns quail habitat, where steep slopes scent and seldom head to the field much

28 STRUNG MAGAZINE FALL 2020 STRUNG MAGAZINE FALL 2020 29 season or two of Mearns quail under their Mearns quail habitat is serious snake The Elusive Why? belts. country. Fortunately, quail season takes Describing the game and its habitat, and place in the winter, when the region’s dozen offering experience-based advice about I think Mearns quail offer the most rattlesnake species are largely inactive. hunting it, is easy. Explaining why a challenging wingshooting of any game bird While I rarely encounter venomous snakes, I seasoned hunter would go through all of this on the continent. Imagine climbing through have friends whose dogs have been bitten. to shoot a bird small enough to skewer on chukar terrain to shoot at birds whizzing a toothpick and serve as an hors d’oeuvre through ruffed grouse cover while flying In terms of dog safety, I worry more about becomes more complicated. as erratically as woodcock. As with all true javelina, the region’s unique, indigenous covey birds, the initial rise requires the desert pig. (Biologically they aren’t true pigs, Certain fish and game species acquire a hunter to isolate one bird from a dozen or but it doesn’t hurt to regard them as such.) mystique that somehow makes them more more and focus on that bird alone—never While javelina rarely attack people, they can meaningful than the sum of their parts. an easy task, especially if you are trying be very aggressive toward dogs, and their This phenomenon is highly personal, and to shoot nothing but males. While there is wicked teeth can inflict a lot of damage. what arouses that elusive wow factor in no legal requirement to do so, dropping a Don’t be afraid to make noise while hunting one hunter may leave even close outdoor strikingly patterned cock bird always feels (I think beeping locator collars help keep companions indifferent. These special more gratifying than killing a drab hen, and dogs and hogs out of each other’s way), and quarries seem to choose us as much as we letting the females fly on also makes sense if you spot javelina or smell their distinctive choose them. For me, the special few are biologically. musky odor, head in another direction. steelhead in the water, bugling elk among big game, and Mearns quail when I reach for Mearns quail are very fast on the wing, Thorny desert flora such as cholla and sand my shotgun and summon the dogs from the and the cover they inhabit demands quick burr can be a real problem for dogs in desert kennel. reflexes and split-second decisions. Safety quail habitat but are much less abundant must always be the prime consideration, in Mearns cover. Still, I carry a hemostat Despite the intangibles, there are reasons and it’s imperative to visualize safe shooting for thorn removal. The most common thorn for my enthusiasm. Quail season takes place lanes and confirm the location of all dogs problem in mountainous terrain arises from at the time of year when I need someone and hunting partners as you approach the cat’s claw, which grows up off the ground else’s warm weather most. Hunting Mearns point rather than wait until birds are in the and is more likely to stick you than the dogs. keeps me in shape during months when it’s air. When that covey finally flushes, there easy to forget what that feels like. These will be a lot of confusion and not much time Rocky footing is ubiquitous in Mearns birds inhabit a fascinating ecosystem that to respond to it. habitat and can be hard on dogs’ pads. never exhausts its supply of new flora and I don’t routinely boot my dogs as some fauna to observe and ponder. Most Mearns friends do, but my wirehairs have toughened quail live on public land, eliminating the their feet during three months of Montana need to seek access permission. hunting by the time they reach the desert Desert Caveats for the winter quail season. But to summarize the why in one Newcomers to the desert Southwest will compressed scene, I would simply ask the A lot of good quail hunting takes place near likely face hazards with which they may reader to join me as I imagine one of my the border, and I commonly find tracks, have had little prior experience. There wirehairs frozen on point in a sun-drenched discarded backpacks, and other signs is no substitute for preparation prior to setting far from the nearest road, followed of illegal immigration. I also frequently confronting them. by an explosion of wings, tiny bodies zipping encounter border patrol agents, whom I through the oaks, two quick snapshots, and have found to be uniformly courteous and Adequate water supplies are always the then the outlandish plumage resting in my pleasant. Border issues are complex and prime consideration in backcountry desert hand at the end of the second retrieve. travel, especially for hard-working dogs that overly politicized, but I don’t worry much about them while quail hunting. aren’t going to tell you when they’re getting Perhaps best of all, at the end of the day dehydrated. I keep mental notes about Lori and I get to take the birds home, clean known surface water sources—if there are them, grill them over a bed of mesquite any—and plan my hunting routes around coals, and eat them. Dinner doesn’t get any them so the dogs can jump in and cool down better than that—perhaps just because of as well as drink to their hearts’ content. I the way we’ve earned it. also carry more water than I think I’ll need and offer it to the dogs regularly.

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