It's my favorite time of the year in Arizona. It's still cool enough to hike and hunt. Recently I decided to take up quail hunting and I love it. It's more fun than coyote hunting because I never stop moving and I never come home empty handed. Of course the thrill of the kill is bigger with a coyote but overall it's more fun to chase quail around the desert. My only regret is waiting until the end of the season to start.
January 29th I went on a quail hunt with a big backpack, backup shotgun, cooler etc. I hike about 6 miles and set off my back and shoulders and afterwards noticed a large lump on my left rib. I've had what looks like a rib sticking out further on that side for over a decade now but after this hike it was really noticeable. Maybe because I lost weight recently as well. Anyways I went to a bunch of doctors, got an ultrasound, a MRI, and eventually saw a surgeon. Turns out its a lipoma (non cancerous fatty tumor) and I get to have it removed later this month.
Anyways it kinda set me back on the quail hunting for a while because I had a sore back and I thought it might be something more serious. But last week I got really serious about quail hunting and changed up my strategy. No more carrying around a ton of gear. Just a light backpack and some grocery bags and latex gloves. The first day I went I killed 4 quail and was able to recovery three of them. Three seconds after shooting one I turned to my left and killed another. I decided to retrieve the second one first and couldn't find the first one after that. I think he managed to crawl under a bush. The next day I figured out why.
So the next day I was out hunting and instead of using 7 1/2 shot in my .410 shotgun I used 6 shot. I hit 8 quail and a dove but was only able to recovery a single quail. A couple of the quail I saw clouds of feathers and everything but they managed to crawl away under a bush and I couldn't find them. I learned a 7 shot is not good for quail in a .410. It would work in a 12 gauge but not in a .410. A .410 just doesn't have enough powder and there's less shots. Needless to say my range is much shorter than if I had brought my 12 gauge too. With my 12 gauge I could probably hit them at 80 yards but with my .410 I can only do half that. It makes the hunt more challenging which can be more exciting but all frustrating at times. I'm considering bringing out the 12 gauge next season but might just stick to .410 in this area because it's close to houses and trails and a .410 will spook less people. Unfortunately on the way back to the car on this hunt I lost my sunglasses. I went to Walmart later that afternoon and bought new ones.
The last day of the season I went back out with 7 1/2 shots and decided to up my game a little and bring a zip lock with ice and a frozen water bottle. This way I could go a little longer without having the quail go bad. The problem this time was that I was out way too early. The good news is 15 minutes into my hike, way off of any trail I stumbled on my sunglasses. The bad news is it took me nearly two hours to find my first quail. When I finally did find them they were in a heavily vegetated area where I wouldn't be able to find them if I was to shoot them out of a tree. So I went back to my lucky spot where I always get a kill. I shot one of out a bush and put him in the bag. A few minutes later I finally came up on a large covey of dozens of quail. The problem is they were on the opposite side of the wash and by the time I got over there they were splitting up. I chased them around for a over a half hour and got a couple shots out but they were too far away for a kill. I was getting pretty frustrated at this point, was out of water, thirsty and tired, and started heading back towards the car. I made a last minute decision to turn back to my lucky spot and zigzag the hill one more time. I found two quail about 60 yards out running away. I shot one as he ran under a bush and saw a big cloud of dirt. Then I saw wings flapping under the bush and shot again. I wasn't sure if I had two kills or one. I went over there thinking I just had one quail on steroids but then found I had killed two; one on each side of the bush. I had never seen a quail try to be a hero and come back and save his friend before. On the way back to the car I had a quail call me in and got my fourth kill for the morning.
That night I cooked up 8 quail in a clay pot with rosemary and lemon. It turned out alright but next time I'll stick to frying them. Quail don't have the fat like chicken and are tougher so it's better to cook them fast. Frying them they taste better than chicken but in the clay pot I think chicken taste better than quail.
The morning of my last hunt of the quail season. The desert is starting to bloom. I come home from my hunts covered in yellow pollen.
A couple days ago I came home from work and Adri gave me this. Apparently before going to the store she went to her piggy bank and got her money to buy me Cadbury Eggs. She told Natalie that she wanted to buy me something because I do so much for her. Taped to the back was a bag full of her change (which ended up back in her piggy bank when she wasn't looking). What a sweet little girl.
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