Leaving for Arizona.....

[Drew Hause]

Just received a cryptic message from Destry. Phil ran him up and down hills chasing Mearns all day totin' "The Preacher", and now he looks like one of those Biggest Loser contestants after 11 weeks on The Ranch. Unfortunately, they met some meth haulers with La Familia who thought they'd get a good ransom for his carcass. He's now in a drop house somewhere in Phoenix in his underwear with 15 Guatemaltecos. At first they demanded nothing less than a BHE, but I got them down to a C grade toplever hammer gun only if Dale Edmonds refinished the barrels. I gave them Kaas' home phone number. The FBI was trying to trace his cell GPS, but sorta lost interest when they found out he grew up in downstate Ill. More to follow!

[Drew Hause]

UPDATE
Well the coyotes are tough guys, but Destry in his underwear was a bit more than they could handle, and Kaas wouldn't answer his phone.
Now they're holding out for a 20g Trojan, but I thought I'd stall a bit and maybe they'd go for a Lefever Nitro Special.

[Drew Hause]

UPDATE
With Destry's winsome personality, the gang was going to give him up for a Stevens 311 when some Mara Salvatrucha fellas busted in to steal the load of meth and took Destry with them BUT he's still wearing Phil's Garmin Astro tracker and is headed back south down I-10.

[Drew Hause]

GOOD NEWS
Destry was whining about being hungry, so the gang gave him a bean burrito and the resultant emissions in the back of the Tahoe caused them to drop him somewhere on the Tohono O'odham Rez. La Migra has him, but they're not buying the "I'm from Michigan" story (esp. since he's still in his underwear) so we all need to call 1-I KNO DESTRY and vouch for his good character. BTW: now Phil won't answer his phone.

[Bill Murphy]

Doc, as soon as you said that Destry was chasing Mearn's quail, I knew that this was a bogus report. Destry doesn't chase birds, his statement, not mine.

[Dean Romig]

Drew, you're killin' me...

[Drew Hause]

Phil's online now so we should shortly have the REAL story

I'm still trying to get over the image of Destry in his U-wear

[MarketHunter]

Preacher,

Apparently on your last quail hunt there in the desert you must have chewed on some of that special cactus the Injun's call peyote. It was nice talking to you today on the phone though all your reqests for photos of me in my union suit are officially denied.

To All The Rest,

The cranes proved elusive today so after a half days efforts we decided to hit the low desert hills and gullies for some quail. The dogs handled a small covey we found with grand style though my quail shooting skills are mighty rusty what with about a 15+ year lay off. Phil let me do all the gunning over the points we got and I managed to miss a single clean and only killed one out of a chance for a perfect double. The birds were scaled quail, a first for me, I'd never even seen one before outside of a glass case. I think I only managed to kill the one quail through the graces of having shot at it with Dad's old Stevens 311. That gun has killed more bobwhite quail than most folks have a chance to see in a lifetime. It knows it's business even when handled by a professed and very sinful duck hunter.

After that bit of success we made a move to a dove shooting spot for the evening flight but managed to run onto another big covey of the blue scaled birds before we got settled. The dogs were loosed again but the birds proved to be wild, running a long way before finally flushing wide. Phil made a tremendous long shot on one that impressed me very much. After the dogs did us the service of finding it in a dry creek bed we continued on to the doves. Not many flew but I got a barrel in at a couple and managed to scratch one down.

All in all a great day, seeing new country and new game I'd never seen before, good company, and excellent dog work.

We're going to give the cranes a try again first thing in the morning them move off to a new spot that Phil claims in the prettiest piece of land in the state to try the Mearn's Quail. As you all know, I'm not a bird hunter and haven't been for a long long time. I was a little worried about not being able to keep up in the rocky ground and cactus covered slopes but I managed well enough. I think Phil was easy on me and the air here must be filled with some remedy for bad knees and a fat belly. Hopefully I'm able to keep us as well again tomorrow because I'm mighty keen to get one of the strange little quail with the hawklike claws.

More reports to follow unless I get snake bit. If that happens I'm praying the whiskey holds out.


Regards,
Destry


P.S. Phil's lovely wife just treated us to the finest pot of split pea and ham soup I think I've ever had the pleasure to dribble down my whiskers. One more drink, a quick resorting of gear, and I'm off to bed.

[MarketHunter]

Here's a few pics to prove I'm not making this up.

This is one of Phil's dogs, I just snuck in to show off:



Another to show off the beauty of the bird and this mighty fine bird gun. It ain't nothing fancy but if I ever had to sell off my guns it would be the one I couldn't bear to part with:

[Dean Romig]

Good stuff Destry... I think we have an upland hunter in the making! I'm rootin' for ya Destry. When I close my eyes I can see you scramblin' after a brace of fine pointers come onto a pretty point on those Michigan grouse.