Year End Mearns Hunt

I had the pleasure and enjoyment of hunting mearns for four days after Christmas in the oak grasslands surrounding Sonoita.


The adventure started by meeting Mark from Flagstaff, James and his wife Terry from CA, and their boys and Griffons for a day of hunting near Sonoita. Mark took us to his better spot somewhere (I was blind-folded and my GPS was confiscated). We located five coveys on a day after four inches of snow the prior night. A good lunch on the tailgate and some clay shooting made for a great day.

For the next three days, I hunted with a friend Jim, who lives in Williams, AZ. He brought his GSP's to help Rica, my GWP, find some mearns. First day we (more correctly, the two dogs we hunted behind, Rica and Abby) found 8 coveys walking the bottom of the oak lined draws. Almost got our limit, but we were held back by some shooter errors Most of the coveys were found feeding near the bottom of the sunny, southern exposures.

Jim and Abby after a morning's hunt.

The day was capped by walking back to camp with a horizon of snow-covered mountains turned pink by the setting sun.

The next day uncovered some more six more coveys in some side canyons. I even got a double from a sizeable covey that flushed under Rica's nose. Jim's young GSP named Rabbit pointed a covey at the end of the day with a solid lock-on, and was rewarded with a beautiful male Mearns.

Rica and Doug with a male Mearns


The final day, New Year's Day, broke with a beatiful sunrise that illuminated both the easternand western skylines.



We hunted only the morning. Right off the start, Jim found a nice coues skull. We ended the hunt with both Abby and Rica both pointing the same covey. Birds flushed and lead flew, and the birds kept going. We must have stuffed our chambers with PETA loads that time as nary a feather was touched.





Another trip to southern Arizona is being planned to cap the quail season.

Doug~RR

LAST EDITED ON Jan-02-07 AT 04:23PM (MST)[p]Doug,
Great pictures and story of the hunts down there. I picked James up last night at Oakland Airport and he was telling me the story of the hunt as I drove back home.
Said that Bella the Griffon did pretty good for her first time hunting. But she hated that trailer that Mark has for the dogs.

Guess Teri, Carter & Connor along with Bella will leave Flagstaff later this week to drive back home here. So I will get an ear full from the boys and Teri about Bella later next week.

Good to hear that all of you did good and had a great time down there. James said the vehicles were a mess with that mud after the snow and rain. Teri's Denali has never been that dirty before. LOL

Brian
P.S. Doug, Isn't Abby one of Mark's dogs? He has two, one is named Fritz and the other Abby?

Brian,
Yes, Bella really stunk up the trailer.
I did not get to see Bella work, but she showed no signs of being gunshy as we shot the .22 or clays. She's a good looking dog. The worst was the tube-like velcro stickers that took hours to comb from the dogs' hair. Rica still has some in the beard, but they get easier to remove when they dry out.

Jim's dog is also named Abby. His shorthairs did not have the sticker problem, but a GSP is not a "cute" uglyhuntingdog that only a mother could love, IMO.

I wish I had taken some pics when we were hunting Friday.

Doug~RR

doug rr,
great pictures!love the last one with your gun.makes me want to go back.thanks again for letting me and the "girls" tag along looking forward to our next trip.
averagejoe aka jim

Redrabbit, Excellent GWP. I'm on my third and that covers 25 years. I like the slick-coated ones and always pick the sleekest female out of the litter. How do the Griffon's range compared to the wire-hair? Mines 10 and although I still get 5-6 hours out of her in steep chukar country, she's slowing down and this April i'm gonna be the proud owner of a new dog. Would like to hear your comparisions of the 2 breeds. I've heard the Griffons don't range quite as far. Also, looking for someone thats expecting pups this spring.

Hunter,
My neighbor who is mentioned above in RR's story flew to Idaho and picked her Griffon froma litter from a Breader there. He is well known and in a small town outside of Twin Falls, ID.

Do a www.google.com on the breeders and I think his name should come up there. If not, wait till she gets back home this weekend and I will get the name from her and town. She went up there in like Jan.05 to get her dog and bring home.

Brian