Mearns

[Phil C]

Being a native Arizonan, having spent most of my life chasing quail I know where I can go to avoid the crowds. In 18 days of hunting you only saw 1 group of hunters in the field is nice to hear. That has not been my experience unfortunately. The one group I would have liked to have seen would have been Arizona G&F officers in the field checking limits and licenses, as well as gathering data on the harvest.

[Quail1]

Phil,
I am amazed by that myself.
Each time down I expect to see someone of authority.
Even the couple of fellas that had Coues tags were never checked.
We set up camps, both east and west of Nogales, so someone was present in camp a pretty fair amount of time. Not one person in the parties was ever checked by a warden.
I don't mean to minimize the number of hunters or the effect that it has on the quail. It takes some effort for us to get away from the crowds. The birds get "hammered" in many areas.
Is there any type of conservation group in AZ for the Mearns?

[C.O.B.]

as a Grouse hunter in Michigan's Upper peninsula I see a lot of out of state hunters. Most don't practice any kind of conservation. I heard one guy bitching in a local restaurant that he had been there for two weeks and hunted every day and had only killed 30 or so Grouse when last year during the same time period he was over 40 IMHO every Grouse is a trophy bird. I guess there are game hogs no matter where you go. Some people are hunters while others are just plain killers.

[Quail1]

I've done a bit of hunting around Houghton. Deer and grouse. The grouse are like rockets compared to our ruffles in the west!
Beautiful country.
I love the smell of the woods in the fall. The musty wet woodsy odors remind me of younger days in Vermont.

I don't know why that guy would be in a restaurant.
I'd think he'd need to be eating grouse day and night to stay under his possession limit.
Must be a helluva shot.
I have not had the opportunity to overhear someone like that before, but it would make me wonder if they were telling the truth,or just a blowhard. I've never seen those numbers of grouse in the woods in the UP when I've been there.

[C.O.B.]

The limit is 5 birds per day but unfortunately there is no possession limit. I looked it up as I was going to give the DNR a heads up with his plate number. I'm sure most of these guys shoot them Yooper style...in trees, on the ground etc.
It's hasn't been uncommon to get 20 plus flushes per day and I guess if you shoot at everything your going to hit something esp with an open choked 12ga These killers must be tough guys as I see the 2 3/4 12ga hulls with 1 1/8th oz of shot on the ground. I once saw six hunters coming out to the their truck so I stopped to chat. to a man they all had Rem 1100's. I much prefer my little VHE 28 or light weight 0 frame 20ga.