A year older, same result

[Walt lister]

Wasn't going to go out today because of sore back but sucked it up (and took Aleve) and went out for a couple of hours. Saw more birds than last year but only bagged one.

Steppin' out with a 16ga model 1912 that's 21 years older than me.

Couldn't get the camera out on time but a 50/60 bird covey flew over that rise about 100 yards away.

They scattered and spread out all over the hillside ahead.

Not as bad as some chukar country but bad enough to make old legs go slow.

Missed a long shot but a pair flushed at about 30 yards and I knocked one down. By the time I got to it all I could find were feathers where it landed. Started circleing and looking under every bush and there it was about 20 yards from where it hit. These things are tough and it tried to bury itself in a cactus just as it was dying. It's hard to see--just right of center pic.

I stomped around the area for a while kicking bushes/cactus because I was sure there were more birds in the area. Only had a couple of wild flushes so I started wandering to a different area and as soon as I was a few hundred yards away the #@%&# birds started calling their heads off right where I had been (the area just above the shadow on the hillside).

Shadows getting long so time to head out.

Happy 73rd birthday.

 

[Oak]

Neat country, Walt. Thanks for sharing the story.

 

[mdunc8]

Not a bad way to spend a birthday. What's the story on the gun? Been in the family a while?

 

[Walt lister]

Not a bad way to spend a birthday. What's the story on the gun? Been in the family a while?

I've had it about 30 years. It's not all original, an old upgrade to Tournament Grade specs. It was a basket case when I got it.

 

[shoots-straight]

Keep going! Great job.

 

[fowladdict]

Neat story Walt. Were you hunting without dogs? My father has that same 16ga model 12. It belonged to my great grandfather.

 

[Devil Diver Down]

Happy Birthday, Walt. Some good pics there and a fine narrative to go along, as always. Where do you get 16 gauge shells? I have a heck of a time finding them.

Bird numbers seem pretty good this year. Some big coveys and still willing to talk after you roust them a bit. Quite a few are pretty skittish by now and they're flushing a ways out of range, with or without my dog working them. I haven't really been actively hunting them but I have brought my 12 gauge along with me the few times I got out in December for archery deer and the one time (so far) I went for javelina this month.

I ran into good numbers south of Globe near Dripping Springs. They weren't skittish at all. Three big coveys. They'd only flush about 30 yards and hold. Unfortunately, my shotgun was in my truck. I jumped a covey on my way back, hustled and traded bow for shotgun and nailed a couple. South of the Superstitions I got 4 out of one covey (about 60 birds) at lunch time before heading to another spot to try to put a stalk on some evening whitetails.

Not as many birds near Sycamore Creek up the Beeline but I have resisted the temptation to fire a broadhead at a few. Don't need anymore wrecked arrows.

I can only hope I'll be able to put in a full day on quail when I'm 73. Great job!

 

[wingman1]

Cool hunt. I hope if I get to your age I can still go do what you are still doing.

 

[Goldtip]

Excellent write up and cool pics. Happy Birthday and congrats on getting out after it once again.

 

[jlmatthew]

Hope to be doing the same thing at that age. Only got 34 more years to go

 

[cowboy]

Happy Birthday young man - hope you have many more to come. How come you don't have all that snow down there like the rest of us?

 

[NChunter]

Happy Birthday. May you spend many more days in the outdoors.

 

[avid_outdoorsman]

Quail

Congrats on a great hunt. Sounds like it was a lot of fun and a bit of exercise to boot. I only hope that I can still be getting after them when I'm 73! Happy Belated Birthday.

~ AO

 

[pointingdogsrule]

Congrats!!! Alway enjoy your photos and stories.

good luck to all
the dog

 

[mtmiller]

Great pics Walt. Are you hunt with someone or setting a timer? You the man.

 

[HUNTMAN]

Happy birthday and great pics and hunt

 

[tarheel]

Sounds like you had a good day anyway Walt. I grew up in Eastern NC where quail hunting used to be so good that parties from the Northeast (Yankees) would take the train down for the hunting and stay in a local lodge. My grandfather and other locals would guide for them, and the stories were spellbinding for a freckled 11 year old with the smell of Hoppe's No. 9 in his nose. Nowadays the land owners no longer burn off their big pines every 3-4 years ( if you can find any big pines), agricultural practices have changed in ways not friendly to quail, Mexican quail have been brought in and are crossed with the bobwhite so if you get a covey flush they head for the thickets and light in the trees, and the recent influx of coyotes have all resulted in it's being near impossible to find any decent quail hunting unless it's pen raised birds released 25 at a time for a couple hours of shooting, and that sucks!
Sorry about the long-winded comment; just wanted to express that if you have a ready supply of native birds in their natural habitat which you can hunt, you are indeed fortunate.

 

[desert shadow]

Great pics walt happy birthday