‘23-‘24 AZ Quail season report

ZRob97

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 4, 2020
Location
N. Arizona
Hi all, trying to be more active on the threads and figured I’d post about my quail season here in AZ-

I moved here a few years back and only got out a few times in ‘22-‘23 without any success and was able to turn it around this year. I’m primarily a big game hunter and fly fisherman but living in AZ it’s just too easy to get out for quail, and having such a long season through winter sure helps the time go by.

Me and a few friends made it out about 10 times this year. Sometimes solo but I’d say 2/3rds of my trips being in a group of 2-5.
I have an Australian cattle dog who isn’t much of a hunter but getting retrieving down. I bought a cheap primos quail call last year and it worked pretty well locating birds before and after the shot, although after breaking up a covey 2-3 times they seem to go pretty quite.

I picked up a 20 ga weatherby Orion about halfway through the season and was definetly an upgrade over my mossberg 500. Light weight and love having a quick follow up shot.

We hunted mainly the Wickenburg area and Bloody Basin, both areas having success but Bloddy Basin had larger coveys forsure.

I averaged probably about 5 birds a day and put about 10 miles down per day through washes and canyons, where we had our best luck.

A few pieces of gear that stood out-
- Weatherby Orion (matte) 20ga
Lightweight and great quality for the price.
Shot a mix of 2.75, 3/4 oz loads no problem

- Marsupial small game belt
Worn without shoulder pads made it more comfortable in the heat, holds 50 rounds, two nalgenes, tools, med kits, etc no problem and very comfortable

- Crispi Nevadas
My boots for any off trail hunting, great quality and support but light enough to go all day in the rocky desert

- Orvis upland shirt and Missouri breaks pants
I was destroying my Kuiu attacks in the cactus and had a Columbia shirt getting picked apart. These Orvis pieces held up great and take thorns much better.


Overall it was a great season and definetly will be a new hobby moving forward!
 

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I did not hunt AZ but was down around Tuscon around Christmas and saw quite a few birds.

New Mexico season was decent, birds seemed more scattered though.
 
I shot a few but they were too young for me to shoot at most coveys, we had 3 hatches where I hunt.
 
Man that’s really cool. I’m hoping to hunt AZ this year and would love to harvest a few of those quail like that. Are they California quail? Guess I’ll throw a shotgun in and bring my lab and see what happens.
 
Man that’s really cool. I’m hoping to hunt AZ this year and would love to harvest a few of those quail like that. Are they California quail? Guess I’ll throw a shotgun in and bring my lab and see what happens.
They’re Gambrel’s Quail, very similar to California Quail. It’s definetly worth a trip!
 
I read about Mearns quail also kinda in the area I’m looking at going. Those things are crazy looking hopefully I find a covey of them.
 
Mearns are great entertainment as well as to hunt them just don’t get your hopes up too much not a easy bird to locate. Pm me if you want a little help on these mearns.
 
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