Mearns opens Friday Nov 27

[Red Rabbit]

Have a great hunt behind your best friend!

 

 

 

[CouesWhitetail]

Are you planning to be out there opening day Doug?

 

Amanda

 

[IHunt2live]

I CAN'T WAIT! I'm affraid I'll be making some deer hunters upset but thats just what we all have to deal with on public land I guess.

[lugnuts]

 

 

 

Going down South for sure. Trigger cant wait. RR nice gun by the way.

[scoutm]

Have a great hunt behind your best friend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

When your dog goes on point like that aren't you suppose to be holding your shotgun and not your camera?

[Red Rabbit]

Larry,

Nice thing about those mearns is that they hold and let me shoot with the lens before the scattergun, provided Rica doesn't get antsy, creep and flush them. Those Devil Bird Gambels are not so accommodating.

 

Lugnuts,

I noticed your choice in O/U also.

 

Amanda,

That is the plan, after spending Thanksgiving Day with the folks and sisters, to drive down Friday. Don't know where I am going yet, but I will get somewhere. Where I went last Christmas will likely be loaded with coues hunters.

[Kilimanjaro]

I'll be out Fri, Sat, Sun and Mon!! Best day of the year here in AZ by far.. The one hunt I know I can look forward to more than any other here every year. The dogs are choppin' at the bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[deserthntr]

man i cant wait! gunna try and get out next week, am helping some friends this week on a deer hunt down south. maybe i can find a new mearns spot

[Guest borderboy]

Those are crazy birds. I remember going with dad. He would cut firewood and I would hunt. I'd go out with my 22 looking for those big fat mountain cottontails. I would see a covey of Mearns and go back for the shotgun. I'd follow them into a little bush and they would vanish. I guess a dog would have helped. They made a fool of me often. So have Coues bucks. I guess I'm a fool huh? Crazy.

[Red Rabbit]

I went down south of Sonoita and Patagonia Fri-Sun. Got to the usual spot about 2 pm Fri and made a quick 1 hour swing down a draw and up the next. Rica pointed a covey of about 6 birds only 30 yards from the truck. The rest of the hunt was a walk.

 

Saturday, Hunt'm/Larry came down. We hit a draw that had a few good coveys end of season two years ago year, but it was empty in front of Rica and Maggy. We did find a nice 10 bird covey where it joined the main canyon. Only covey that morning. That afternoon we went further south and hunted 4 hours and located 4 coveys, all with 6-10 birds.

 

It rained and grappeled a little Sat night, but a new draw which I had not hunted before was barren Sunday morning. Hunted down one side and back up the other and Rica never got birdy. I figured the rain would help with her scenting, but guess one has to have birds to smell them.

 

Sure was dry otherwise. Tanks were empty and was surprised to see no water crossing the road at Canelo. I ended up with 8 males and 1 female. 7 of the 8 males were immature with brown mottled heads. Only one had the white clown face.

 

Seemed to be lots of bird hunters, with about 3/4 being from out of state. Heard some shooting, but not a lot to indicate a good season/bird population.

 

Larry found 5 bales of pot stashed under a tree Sat afternoon, gave BP the GPS coordinates, but they did not find them Sat night. The bales were still there Sun morn (and so were the mearns) so I gave the Lat/Long to USBP again via phone and at the check station. I was told they also picked up 5 bales Sun morning just a few miles from where we saw ours.

[Red Rabbit]

Only Photo was of the Saturday morning sunrise.

 

[Kilimanjaro]

It was a mediocre opener.. Bad weather (windy and DRY) precluded all of our hunts..

 

We had 7 covies on Fri with me taking 6 (w 3 misses) and my partner took 5. We counted the misses as shot birds and moved onto the next covey as to not blast all the youngsters.

 

Day 2 we had a 6 covey day with me taking 5 birds and my buddy taking 6.

 

Yesterday we had a better day with the moisture in the air and the cooler weather down there, plus the wind wasn't as vicious. We put up a 9 covey day and I took 7 (with a lost bird the dogs just could not find) and my partner took his limit.. Also found the biggest coues shed I've ever found!

 

While not an insane opener, it was great none the less just to be out.. I am looking forward to chasin birds clear through Feb.. I am planning on trying a bunch of new areas this year that are a bit further drive, but are supposed to carry good numbers of birds, with desert birds very nearby..

[AZMEATHUNTER]

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

[youngbuck]

Well I went scouting fri evening and sat morning for elk in the northern part of the state. Ive never shot a mearns but want to really really bad. I got into my gunsafe to grap a gun to haul along. I thought about the shotgun incase i saw a few mearns....No thats crazy your not gonna find any mearns. I grabbed the 223wssm incase a yote or bob cat showed up. Guess what!! 3 covies of mearns. One of the covies had atleast 2-3 dozen birds. Ive been kickin myself since

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

 

 

Seen a lot of mearns this year in Central AZ.... probably won't go huntin' any, but one lof these days I'd like to have a pair mounted.