SHORT Mearns hunt!

[firstcoueswas80]

0530 rang early this morning, as I had a date with... MEARNS QUAIL!

 

Excited for my first Mearns trip of the season, I arrived at Scottboy's house and off we went! After throwing the mutts in the truck, we were off!

 

We were hunting near some draws that have ALWAYS produced Mearns for us, so we were fairly confident that we could get into the birds in the draw we picked.

 

It sure didn't take long! Within 200 yards (no joke) of the truck, Virgil had a covey PINNED in the open. Scott and I looked at each other and grinned.. 4 shots rang out, 2 from my 12 guage, 2 from his 20 guage... Scott managed to knock down a bird and, well I was left with ringing ears and a little less rust on the ol' shotgun!

 

Within another 200 yards Virgil had another covey locked down. This time, I managed to get the bead of the Franchi lined up properly and knock a bird or two down, as was Scott. With beautiful work by the dogs, we had a few birds down within 15 minutes! To say we were pleased was an understatement!

 

The rest of the day, Penny was stealing the show. With her much slower, more methodical way of hunting the Mearns, she had coveys pinned down like it was a piece of cake. On one occasion, we had busted a large covey ( just scared them, no birds knocked down) and saw a few singles fly out into the open. Scott marked one single and we hunted that area. Penny stopped on a dime and darn near put her nose to that bird he held so tight! One shot, and tha male was mine!

 

On another occasion, her and I were chasing a single. She had this bird figured out. I walked up there to her, expecting a flush at about 5 yards. I would take a step, Penny would take one.. This went on for about 3 steps, then the bird flushed inches from her nose. He fell yards from her nose and was retreived to hand. She deserved a good pat on the head for that one!

 

 

 

I limited out just before Scott did, so I managed to get a pretty dang good picture of him about to shoot his last bird of the day... The day ended with 16 birds in 2.5 hours. 13 males, 3 hens!

 

After the 2.5 hour hunt concluded, we fried the breasts up and whipped up some rice. The rest of the night was spent enjoying the food with a cold beer, and talking about the fine day we had and the stellar dog work!

[IHunt2live]

LEAVE SOME FOR ME! I can't wait to get some free time and knock down a few more mearns myself. Great job

[WFGinNM]

Way to go, nothing like hunting behind good dogs.

 

--Bll

[CouesWhitetail]

Man you guys are making me hungry!! Nice work!

 

Amanda

 

[Kilimanjaro]

"I'm dead serious Dad, they're RIGHT under my nose!!!! D-O-N-T M-O-V-E A M-U-S-C-L-E.."

 

 

 

"I got'em right over here.. Now hurry it up with the best part.. The shootin'!!"

 

 

 

"Sometimes you gotsta get every last inch outta yer snooter to get the jump on them rascally quail birds!!"

 

 

 

Lucky dogs.. This is their office and this is what they do for a living..

 

 

 

They are promply paid in full with these and hearty ear scratches..

 

 

Union break..

 

 

Happiness to an English Pointer is a bloody tail tip..

 

 

 

How many do ya see in the pic??

 

 

 

Like Casey mentioned, we were witness to some stellar dog work today and were weighed down in a bit over two hours by bulging game bags full of our intended quarry.. One of those days you'll talk about years down the road for sure.. I live for days such as this one.

 

Take care guys!!

 

[Red Rabbit]

15 yard penalty!!! Unsportsmanlike conduct. TAUNTING.

 

Enough is enough guys, you're throwing gas on a fire.

 

Good stories and pics. Relishing the first mearns trip to come.

 

Doug~RR

[tjhunt2]

Casey/Scotty.....You guys are killing me. My good friend Ted Bounds, jackshoe member name, has been on me to go down that way and hunt some mearns. After your pics and story I have got to try it. Jackshoe has a vesla and him and I have never hunted the mearns before. I'm not looking for your place to hunt but someone told him they saw alot around Patagonia Lake while deer hunting this year. Do they exist there in numbers? Thanks

 

Great story and pictures Casey/Scotty.

 

TJ

[Chef]

Looks like great fun guys!

A perfect day for sure.

[Coues Archer]

Great job. Looks fun.

[youngbuck]

Good job guys, I count 8: 1 in view top left, one directly below that toward the bottom, and 6 with the tree in the middle behind them