Last Day of Quail Season

[Eldon Goddard]

I went out to Arizona on Saturday for the last day of quail season. I loaded 14 8 gauges of my own design, 4 1/4 drams of 777 and 1.5 oz of 7.5. We saw nothing the entire day until we reached our last stop. I walked north my partner south. I came over a ridge to a valley and was quite certain quail would be present somewhere. Walked up upon a bush and flushed a covey. First shot was a miss but I knew they would flush again, sure enough another 4 came out about 30 seconds later. Finally connected with the 8 gauge on quail. It was quite the experience throwing a cloud of smoke out and connecting on quail. I was glad to see the old girl back in action after who knows how many years. I chased the covey for another half hour and only had one decent shot at a single quail that flew out practically under my feet. It scared the heck out of me and I made a clean miss. It was a great end to the season. I hope more people get to enjoy hunting with these old 8 gauges. They are a blast.