Slowly but surely the Arizona quail season is drawing to its February 9 close. Despite the poor scenting conditions we have had some moments of triumph with our dogs getting the win—that is, pointing birds.
My takeaway from this year with dogs is that it made them better. The young dogs really had to learn to trust their noses. Any little bit of scent that they did pick up, they had to go with. They also had to “dig,” or work for bird contacts—not for lack of quail, but due to the hot and dry conditions that we had throughout the season.
Speaking of quail, it was hard to get a handle on what happened with the hatches. Were they as good as Arizona Game and Fish (AZGFD) predicted or reported? In 2023/24, we did have great winter rains, which Gambels and Scaled quail benefit from. Then there was a decent but somewhat spotty monsoon throughout the Mearns quail range, which should have positively impacted that population. Some folks within the hunting community suggest that the Mearns numbers were very low. But again, it could simply be that due to poor scenting conditions, the dogs could not find the birds.
I am sure some will speculate that the overwhelming hunting pressure put on Mearns quail during the 2023-4 season, when Mearns quail numbers were low, did not help with the AZGFD’s forecasted recovery. I am quite sure the Department will hear a lot of opinions from quail hunters once the season is over and the post-hunting season rants start.
In the meantime my dogs and I are going to keep plugging away and savouring our wins. After all there is no other place I would rather be at this time of year than following bird dogs out in the desert.