Mearns opens Friday Nov 27

[Kilimanjaro]

SB,

are you kidding me no pictures? come on man i was waitIng here in the snow all weekend waiting for your pics of the opener glad you guys got into them sounds like ya got the mutts some work in.

 

AZMEAT

 

I took a few (not near as many as normal), but I haven't downloaded them as of yet!! I was to busy trying to get a little shooting in!

[AZMEATHUNTER]

SB,

i understand well.......sort of hahaha always look foward to your pics. can't get down as much as i would like so its fun to see pics of your dogs doing their thing.mearns hunting is upland hunting at its finest.hope to get my mutts down their soon.

thx

AZMEAT

[Red Rabbit]

Scott,

Of the males you took, were many young birds? or were they mostly mature leftovers? What kind of hatch survival would you estimate this year?

Of the 8 males I got, only one had the white clown face. The other 7 had brown faces, which was suprising to me.

 

Doug

[Kilimanjaro]

The majority of the males taken by me and my partners were either juvie males or second season males that haven't mollted into full winter plumage yet.. lots of browm faces still.. Same as always on the opener and the few weeks following.

 

By the New Year, you won't be able to tell the difference in any of the males. They'll all have molted and put on the full blue color into their beaks and legs.

[youngbuck]

Well I got lucky and found just 2 birds. I was to busy freezin my butt off and finding elk to shoot at. The birds were in camp in the middle of the day. First bird flushed dead away, and I missed. Dont know how but it happens. 2nd bird got up at about 10ft and flushed hard left. I swung and connected. 1st mearns, and a male.I only have cell phone pics. It was too cold for my normal camera or video camera to work. On a side note memory foam will freeze solid.

 

 

[Red Rabbit]

Congrats on your first mearns.

Funny how it was waiting for you to come back to camp. I had a covey fly through camp last year in 36B.

Looks to be in good shape if you are going to have him mounted.

 

RR

[firstcoueswas80]

Scott and I had a GREAT day today!

 

We burned a trail down south, hunted a real easy draw for a few birds. We aimed at getting the slam today, so set our goal 3-4 Mearns a piece. Well, 1 hour of hunting, and 1 hour of walking back to the truck and Scott's dogs had found 4 coveys, 8 dead birds (4 a piece), and only 10 shells fired! Great dog work, and above average shooting was the ticket today!

 

A little side note: Both, Scott and I doubled on different coveys today. It was a really really good day!

[Kilimanjaro]

A few pics from today. The dogs made it really easy today. Had we not tried for the trifecta, we would have EASILY limited out on Mearns within 2 hrs of hunting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

tryin' to find a covey of scalies out here in a place that has produced in the past.. All we found were tracks and a big herd of pronghorn bedded in the ironwood draws coming off the hills..

 

 

 

and here's one I forgot was still on the camera and didn't share.. Opening day of Gambels back in Oct.. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time..

[deserthntr]

looks like a fun day!

[Kilimanjaro]

A few Christmas weekend birds.. The weather smiled upon us this weekend. It was perfect for quail hunting.

 

Got a single on LOCKDOWN..

 

a couple of mature males from a nice double from the Dakota 20ga..

 

a fresh covey..

 

"take your time Pop, I've got 'em pinned down for as long as need be.."

 

a couple more nice males for the bag..

 

shoulda had a limit, but I crippled one and counted him as taken..

 

Oh yeah, another bobcat litty took a dirt nap..

[IHunt2live]

Great pics Scotty! I've also taken a few resent trips and found some good number of birds.

[AZMEATHUNTER]

A few Christmas weekend birds.. The weather smiled upon us this weekend. It was perfect for quail hunting.

 

Got a single on LOCKDOWN..

 

a couple of mature males from a nice double from the Dakota 20ga..

 

a fresh covey..

 

"take your time Pop, I've got 'em pinned down for as long as need be.."

 

a couple more nice males for the bag..

 

shoulda had a limit, but I crippled one and counted him as taken..

 

Oh yeah, another bobcat litty took a dirt nap..

SB,

thanks for the pics.man I have to get down there before it over can't find anyone to go.guess me and the mutts will have to go solo.

love the first pic is vigil yawning...he looks like "come on person lets get it donE already.by the way first class move on counting a crip as one in the bag!!

AZMEAT

 

[Red Rabbit]

The last mearns hunt for me this season happened this past weekend. Larry/Scout'm joined me Saturday. We humped the draws and slopes for 6 hours with his GSP and my GWP to find one covey atop a ridge in the grass and out of the oak trees. Larry got a pair with his new Weatherby, and I got a nice male.

 

On Sunday after some attempted morning sunrise photos, I hunted a few hours and Rica laocated two coveys. A female and a mounter male came from the firs cove, and my terrible shooting gave the "scatter" gun its name, because that is what the covey did.

 

Some photos of the nearby country. I did not carry the SLR with me while following the dogs.

 

 

Doug~RR