Wing Shooting

Hunting of Arizona's game birds takes the wing shooter to farmlands, to desert, to mountain, to river and bayous. Doves, both Mourning and Whitewinged, begin the greatest of all hunting sport each fall, namely wing shooting. Vast acres of valley land, tilled and irrigated for raising of small grain, produce thousands of doves, both Whitewinged and Mourning or Turtle Doves for harvesting each season. The quality of "pass shooting" furnished by the flying doves of the arable valleys of Arizona is comparable to the best found anywhere. The Mourning and Whitewinged Doves' habits of flight, migrations from field to field to water and roost seem to follow a regular, patterned route. They are rapid and tricky fliers and offer a fast elusive target that only the skilled can hit and bag. Early morning and late evening are the best times of day for this hunting; it is then the dove is in flight-on his way. Up in the mountains, during Indian summer, the hunter liking really fancy wing shooting finds the Bluerock or Bandtailed Pigeon. This slate colored game bird is found in deep, sheltered canyons feeding on the mast of the forest. Acorn crops attract him and he stuffs himself with these nuts. The Bluerock hunter finds his game, not on the ground under an oak tree, but usually perched high in some tower The peer of any upland game bird, to those who know, is the Gambel Quail of the Southwest desert regions. He is a colorful, resourceful fellow.ing pine. This bird is exceptionally alert and it takes clever stalking to get within scatter gun range. If and when you do, he tips off the high bough and plummets toward the ground in a long, steep glide which give him impetus for a rapid flight. Powerful thrusts from his wings send him hurtling out through the trees and across the canyon. At best, the target he offers is either flickering between trunks of trees or disappearing behind some sheltering foliage, or hurtling over a cliff's edge to wing away down the canyon.

The peer of any upland game bird, to those who know, is the Gambel quail, the best known desert quail. This colorful fellow is a native of the desert land and as resourceful as a coyote. To illustrate with a few stories: Desert quail in the earlier, wanton days of Arizona were trapped for the market, both on the West Coast and Eastern states. His numbers must have run into the millions, for an investigator reported thirty-two thousand dozen quail trapped and shipped from one point in Arizona alone.

Not only were the Gambel's numbers decimated by the market trapper, but it was subjected to unlimited hunting. And, more than that, the very country that was its favorite habitat was cleared off by the settlers and turned into farm lands. All the bird's favorite haunts under heavy mesquite growth was destroyed for firewood. The grass that furnished it cover from enemies and food in the form of seeds was grazed off by the settler's stock. It forced the quail into marginal land, up on the foothills and into rougher country. Yet, in spite of all these depredations he is the Southwest's best upland game bird. Pursuit, and we mean pursuit, of the desert quail is not comparable to hunting for any other species of quail. The man who seeks to bag his limit of them is a sprinter, marathon runner, and skilled aircraft gunner all in one.

First, he must locate a covey and that means walking up hill and down, scouring the country side. When a covey is located it means a sprint-some will flush, some will scatter under the cover. Then back and forth over the country to flush the hiding birds. It is fast work, it has to be because desert quail move off and do not "set" as their cousin, the Bobwhite of the Eastern state.

Desert quail come up with a roar, thundering like a P-80 on the take-off. The flight is evasive and takes a variety of courses that furnish all angles of shots.

After it is all finished and the hunter has his limit he will realize that he has exercised as never before. The experience of computing angles and lead on fast flying quail will make him forget many troubles and refresh his mind.

Out of the north and in increasingly greater numbers each successive year come high-flying ducks and geese. Even though Arizona is on the extreme castern edge of the Pacific flyway for migratory waterfowl, more ducks, more geese are finding Arizona's lakes and rivers each year. Observers say that since Boulder Dam has been constructed and the Colorado River has deposited its silt in upper Lake Mead the waterfowl flight has doubled.

Lagoons and bayous along the Colorado, lakes created for irrigation, waste water from irrigated projects, stock tanks, and rivers furnish feeding and resting grounds for Blue and Green-Winged Teal, Pigeons, Pintails, Canvasbacks, Mallards to name a few.

Later in the fall long wavering lines of geese cross the low winter sun. Probably no sight is so thrilling to a hunters inner man as to sit in a blind and realize that above him are a string of honkers, Canadians, from out of the far north, out of the land of snow where only the fittest can survive.Bag a goose, a brace of them, and you can qualify with the best of hunters the yarn spinners around the stove or those in the field.

But, whatever they are Doves, Bluerocks, Quail, Ducks or Geese when you hunt for them here in Arizona you will have enjoyed a truly American sport-wing shooting at its best.