Mearn's Hunt Near an Old Ghost Town

I had a wonderful opportunity to tag along on a Mearn's quail hunt with my Father-in-law and a friend of ours from church. My usual hunting partner has a new girlfriend, so he's about as worthless as my labrador is right now. I am holding out hope that he will one day come around and want to get out and hunt. Anyways, so he stood me up on a hunt 2 weeks ago, I got a text a little after 6 a.m. telling me that he wasn't going to be able to make it by 6 a.m... So I was able to react quickly and get in contact with my Father-in-law who was only about 4 miles down the road, on his way to hunt quail with this friend of ours. They agreed I could tag along, so I grabbed my quail kit and my 20 gauge and jumped in my rig to meet them at a drug store near by.

Upon meeting up with Jon (Our "guide" and owner of 2 fine bird dogs) we departed. As soon as I took my seat I was sworn to a pact of secrecy. Jon explained to us that he has only taken 2 friends from church to this spot, he does NOT want this spot to get out at all. I had no idea he was taking us to his favorite Mearn's quail spot. He told me I could tell our friends from church which old ghost town it was near, but any more than that and I would "really hurt his feelings." So I honor my promise in doing so, but here on the net let's just say its an old mining town near the Mexican border and is in unit 35B. This is as close as I feel I can ethically discuss his spot.

The hunt was fun. The country was very flat and the weather made for perfect hunting. It was about 40 degrees and had rained the night before. The dogs were getting bird scent everywhere which led to a few false points.

We found a covey around 9 a.m. Dewey, a German short hair was locked on point and the hawk scream on his collar had been blaring for about 10 seconds as we tried to run up to catch up to him. Ginger, a mixed dog (no one knows what she is exactly but I'm convinced she's definately more English pointer than anything) honored his point but was getting nervous. We positioned our selves around a small cluster of young oak trees. The interior was dark, and Dewey was 12 o'clock from us locked in like a rock. I took the left flank, and waiting for the command to flush, however Ginger's nervousness got the better of her and she jumped the covey a little early which made for some quick action. I tagged the first bird to come my way at about 20 yards, a second bird was missed as it darted hard to my left and went down into a draw. The old guys had emptied their guns and didn't hit anything. I convinced them to follow us down the slope into the draw where I knew at least 4 or so birds had gone. I was able to jump a bird on the slope and bag it as well.

At the end of the hunt it was getting very cold and we decided to call it a day there. I bagged 2, the first bird I hit was badly shot up. I was using 20 gauge Estates with 1 ounce of 7 1/2 shot. I must have hit her with the center of the pattern because her breast had about 12 pellets pass through it. The second quail had 2 pellets and was presentable enough for a photograph.

This was my first Mearn's hunt , and hopefully not my last.

Gear

Gun: Charles Dailey 20 gauge semi-auto

Shells: Estate Heavy Field Loads - 20 gauge - 1 ounce - 7 1/2 shot