326 FORKST AND STREAM. [Ajbo. 24, 1897 
fHtrie ^ng md ^ntu 
A DAY WITH THE ARIZONA QUAIL. 
BY T. 8. VAN DYKE. 
"Whtlb attending the Irrig-ation Congress, at Pbcenix, 
Ariz., in December ]ast, 1 took a run with some of the local 
"cracks" after that lively bird the Ajizona quail or Grambel's 
partridge. I had hunted them before in Sonora, and on the 
Mojave River, in California, on v?hich some are found as 
far west as Barstow. But those were birds that knew little 
or nothing about the gun. and I was anxious to see some of 
the educated chaps. 
Quail have been so thinned out in the Salt River vallev by 
trapping that it is now necessary to go several miles from 
Ph(Bnix to find many. Good shooting still remains for 
those who understand them. For those who love shooting 
not too easy this bird takes the lead. I like to hunt some- 
thing that can get away, and this quail can do it. The 
sportsman raised upon Bob White, or any other bird that lies 
well to the dog, feeJs only unbounded disgust when he first 
tries any of the running quail, as all the blue cr plumed 
quail that I have found in the United States or Mexico are. 
But with better acquaintance this feeling passes away, giv- 
ing place in the soul of many to a feeling of unbounded re- 
spect. While never willing to admit tfiat the shooting is 
equal lo that upon Bob White, the mere sight of whom is 
almost reward enough for considerable travel, any one used 
to the management of the running quail will still say that 
they are erery inch a game bird and worthy of any one's 
steel. No lazy folks or duifers need apply. Even a good 
shot wants to be in practice to make a creditable score, and 
even the best shot in the best practice wants to be careful 
how he attempts to show off before a friend. For all these 
birds with persecution have become the smartest of their 
race. And none of them are so thoroughly up to date on 
the range of guns and the length of man's legs than this lit- 
tle partridge of the chestnut cap, blue back, cinnamon sides 
and black shirt front on a vest of mottled white. 
The lovely winter climate of Salt River Valley was on 
parade, as usual. It has little else to do and rarely bothers 
one by being "exceptional." It is the ideal for fast hunting, 
being like the loveliest October day imaginable in New York, 
but with a far clearer air and sky than is ever seen there. My 
companions had not been out this year in the direction we 
tiok, so that we went past birds that we found on our return, 
and drove some ten miles before attempting to hunt. The 
valley was broad and flat for miles, with the timber of the 
river bottom yellowing on the one side and on the other side 
slopes rough with the huge candelabra cactus, whip cactus, 
cat-claw mesquite and other delectable features led away up 
with ever increasing boulders and decreasing vegetation into 
dry, ragged mountains. 
The walking was of the very best, the ground flat and 
hard, with openings large enough over the greater part to 
travel in comfort among the green clumps of greasewood, 
the bright verdure of' the palo verde and the screw pod 
mesquire, all of which formed the cover for the slippery 
little sinners we had come to convert. Before I had been on 
ttie ground ten minutes I concluded that instead of legs and 
gun i needed an old-time horse pistol loaded with shot and 
my bicycle. The average number of ounces of bird per 
man mile might be about as great as on foot, with the fun 
considerably more. The only doubt is about even the wheel 
being fast enough to hold the birds down. 
As on most of the quail grounds in California, the trouble 
of fiuding a flock is not great. The trouble is in keeping 
them in sight when once found. We had not far to go before 
through the low green brush, shaped much like tumble- 
- weeds in the Eist, a dark Ime sped into sieht just long 
enough to identify, and then whipped around a little dark 
green iron wood. Therjs were four of us in the party, but 
none shot at it, not because we were ashamed to, for he who 
thinks it pot shooting to fire at this lively little scrap of blue 
when running had better try a few shots some day when he 
is sure no one is looking. There is nothing in the whole 
range of hunting that can make a good shot feel so cheap as 
a shot at these quail when dodging around singly among the 
bushes. 
Four guns were too many and dangerous, so we formed a 
line, and spreading about 100yds. apart took after the birds 
at a f our-and a-balf-mile an-hour gait. My companions wei-e 
all young men, but 1 am myself younger than I was twenty 
years ago, and knowing what was ahead I was dressed for 
the occasion in light buckskin moccasins, overalls and shirt, 
while the rest were loaded down with regulation garments, 
fashionable sudoriflcs, heavy leggings and ponderous sole 
leather. These held them down to a pace that I could keep, 
and away we went. A large flock of quail was running 
ahead of us, we could hear them callinff, and occasionally 
one hopped into short flight above the brush, as if to take a 
look to see where we were, but always too far out of shot to 
reach. 
Our pace soon began to tell on them, and one rose at about 
£Oyds. The man in line with that bird stopped so suddenly 
that he almost fell over, and by the time the gun came to his 
shoulder the bird was 70yds away He firedj however, in 
hope of scaring the rest of the flock and making them lie 
sooner. But they were too old hands at the business. A 
few rose above the bushes to be sure they were not running 
away from duffers, and a few more, sizing up the respecta- 
bility of our party, sped away behind some clumps of large 
mesquite and went we knew not where. But most of them, 
concluding we were a lot of chumps notwithstanding the 
tone of nitro from the first gun, kept the ground and neld 
the pace in great shape. 
Suddenly two became over-confident and lagged a bit. 
Right in line with me they sprung at about 30yds. 1 was 
shooting a borrowed gun, a fine Greener of the closest choke, 
but it was a little long in the stock, and 1 haa no chance to 
try it. So the first barrel tore the brush some 4ft. below the 
first bird. What was the matter with that? It might as 
well have been there as anywhere. There was no time to be 
paiticular where you wasted shot. In spite of the fact that 
I had shot nothing but a rifle for a year past, 1 got in the 
second barrel on the second bird without waiting to see the 
result of the first venture, and over went the blue ball of 
feathers at about 45 yds. like a wet rag. I have heard often 
about guns shooting too close, but always contended that I 
never saw one This was the closest shooting gun I ever 
tried, and the result was the same as it had always been with 
me. The dead killing of long shots outweighs in the long 
run all the misses at short range caused by over-confldencB 
or nervousness, which make you pull before you have the 
center fairly on the bird, Of course I aeyer had a cbauce to 
try such a gun in my young days, when I used to shoot al- 
most entirely in brush ; but I am satisfied the rule would 
work quite well there, and although some birds would 
be cut too much near by, more would be secured at the outer 
range that with an open gun would go awa,y crippled, or be 
lost in the dense cover without your suspecting you had 
killed them. The closer the gun's work the deader I kill 
what birds I do kill, and the fewer get away crippled or with 
only a few feathers on the air. The best gun seems far more 
merciful than the scattering gun, unless you try absurdly 
long shots, which one is not apt to do. But with a scattering 
gun you are more apt to be trying shots just a little out of 
the gun's true range. 
Having scored first blood, and found the fallen bird with- 
out difficulty, I trotted along with the line about a couple of 
Wndred yards before anything rose. Then half a dozen 
broke cover at one end of the line, and one of them went 
gyrating to earth. If one of thpse birds can wiggle at all. 
the chances are he is gone. Nothing but dead-killing will 
do unless you have a very extra retriever. One of the party 
had a fine-blooded cocker spaniel along that was a good re- 
triever, but he was too fat, and was already blown with the 
rapid pace in the warm, dry air, and this bird slipped away 
from him as neatly as a deer can slip outof the other side of a 
windfall, leaving you standing on some big log and wonder- 
ing why the deuce you can't see something in the line of 
venison after so much work. Dogs are considered of little 
use for these birds, though good salamanders held strictly at 
heel until wanted could do very effective work after the 
birds are well scattered. And many a bird that could be 
saved by a good dog is hopelessly lost to a man on foot. 
But most hunters use up the dog by lettiog him tear around 
in the heat and dry air too much, as well as by using him 
too much to retrieve birds they can as well pick up them- 
selves. When you see a bird fall stone dead it is folly to 
send the dog to retrieve it until you find you cannot do so 
yourself. Especially is this the case when the bird has fallen 
on the very course on which you are going. If he is dead, 
he is there; if only crippled, he is not there, and the dog's nose 
will be better for finding him if he is kept cool and walked 
up to that spot than if he is constantly heated by jumping 
over brush and dodging around hushes at full speed. With 
this care a good dog can be used to great advantage on all 
the blue quail I have ever seen, and after they begin to lie 
well the prettiest kind of work may be had with them. But 
very few keep the dogs in any condition for the work, so 
that about the time they should be hunting birds they are 
apt to be hunting shade. And it is almost impossible to 
carry water enough to overcome this overheating in air that 
carries al most the minimum of moisture. 
Two hundred yards more with half a dozen birds rising 
out of shot were covered, when there was a sudden roar at 
the right of the line, and a new flock of several hundred 
arose out of shot and settled in ahead of us right in the 
course of the ones we were running. We quickened our 
pace and very soon there was a whiz and buzz of wings 
with blue lines spinning right and left over the brush. 
Two went down at long shots from the sides, the reports 
raising more from the center, one of which I caught at 
almost 50yds., while all the rest were out of reach of the 
other gun. 
On we went and still the game kept rising wild. The day 
was warm and still, just such a day as ought to make birds 
lie by this time. But they evidently wanted to lest our legs 
and they did. Suddenly one broke from a bush not SOyds. 
ahead of one of the party and over he went. Then another 
sprung at about 30yds. in front of another and over he went. 
Another followed from the same bush at the report of the 
gun and over he went — over a distant row of raesquites 
without leaving a feather. They were beginning to lie a lit- 
tle, just the time they select for fooling blockheads They 
send back a few to make you believe they are beginning to 
lie. Those detailed for the work seem to submit to their fate 
without a mui'mur, that is when fate overtakes them at all. 
I believe the rascals rather like the job on account of the 
glory involved. It is certain that the next one did, for he 
jumped up in front of me at about 20yds , while I was 
carrying the gun on my shoulder, and whipped around a big 
green ironwood that would stop half a sacli of shot with a 
keg of dynamite behind it, just as I succeedf^d in checking 
the high speed at which I was traveling. And he whizzed 
away, rejoicing on the other side as my load of shot tore into 
the dense green on a line with where the bird should have 
bepn, but was not 
On the right of the line was a broad patch of ground that 
had just been irrigated, and on much of it the water still 
stood in a thin sheet, while all the rest of the ground was 
very sticky. Two of the party thought they had "a snap" 
on the birds in this for in the distance we could see them 
walking across it, Down they went upon it, while I stayed 
on dry ground. I had seen quail travel on the irrigated 
ground in Durango years ago, and last year on some muddy 
flats along the hottoms of the lower Colorado. If any man 
tells you their feet get stuck in the mud so that they cannot 
run, send him to Phoenix. One of the pursuers swears they 
had snowshoes on, while the other did not see any of them 
long enough to tell whether they were shod with lightning or 
plain wind. All the same, they turned out to be another big 
flock, and they drove them right into the course of the 
others. 
By this time there must have been 1,000 birds not over 
200yds. ahead of us, and all still trusting to their feet instead 
of their wings. And what better reliance could they have? 
What puzzles me most about this quail is to know why he 
ever flies at all? A thousand birds within SOOyds. does not 
mean 1,000 in your pocket, as 30U will quickly learn whpn 
you get behind them. Nor does it mean anything like 1,000 
shots. But with plenty of work and knowledge of your 
game it means some very fine shooting. But there is no time 
to lag, There is nothing to do but keep after them at top 
speed, taking such long shots as you can get until they begin 
to lie. Exactly wh§n this will be is not yet written in the 
book of quad, but sooner or later the knowledge is bound to 
come to those who have the patience— and (incidentally) the 
legs. 
On we pressed for some 300yds. , with scarcely a bird rising. 
The tyro would have said; 
' ' They ha ve beaten us 1 Oh, that I had back the.leg energy 
I have wasted!" 
But not so with our party. Thus far we had averaged 
about loz. of bird per man-mile, but we knew the tide might 
turn at any moment, and that is one of the great sources of 
pleasure in the pui'suit of this little scamp. 
On we pushed another 100yds., when suddenly b-b-b-b-b b 
went one almost from under my feet. His long black plume 
was bent back with speed over his rich chestnut cap, and the 
svyift wings inade a blue liaze on each side as he sped over 
the greasewood about waist high ahead of rae. B b-b-b-b-b 
went another from the second liiish, over which the first one 
passed, and his mottled bniast shone in the bright sun as he 
wheeled around and upward. By good luck the gun came 
up on the center of the first as I raised it, and as I pidled the 
trigger a puff of feathers followed the light crack of the 
nitro, and the bird whirh d to lest in the top of a bush. 
Never does this quail look more pretty than when he wheels 
in the sun as the second one did with his long jaunty plume 
clear-cut against the sky; and never does he make a more 
pretty mark than just as he describes that mysterious arc, the 
proper end of which you can so easily fail to locat=* along 
the gun. But he was almost in line with one of my com- 
panions, and 1 could only watch him speed on his winding 
way, his rapid wings fanning his rich brown sides and the 
big dark patch on his breast seeming to vibrate in the haze 
he made around him. 
Meanwhile there was a b-h b-b-b b-h b-b from a bush a few 
yards ahead of a companion, and over went a whirl of blue. 
Then b b-b b-b b went another roaring out of a mesquite some 
25yds. away, and over he didn't ero, though two barrels 
barked fierce thunder at him. B b-b-b b-b-b-b-b went half a 
dozen out of the same place at the report of the guns, and as 
two more barrels rent some feathers from them four or five 
birds burst from the cover within 10 ft. as the guns were 
open. I snapped the eun shut in time to pull down one 
stone dead at about 50yd8. and make a clean miss on an- 
other that rose almost from under my feet at the report. 
You cannot help getting rattled with these birds, especially 
when out of practice. You get mai at yourself for shooting 
long shots when there are so many more birds close to you, 
yet you are liable always to get left if you do not, because 
you never know where the little vagrants are. This minute 
they may be whizzing out around your feet, and the next the 
close shooting may stop as quickly as a real estate boom, 
leaving you holding the empty sack. But when you do take 
long sho's and other birds break cover beside you when the 
gun is empty, you cannot help feeling mad, espoeially when 
you have to go so far to retrieve the fallen bird that you have 
forgotten where it fell— a little matter quite liable to happen 
to the best quail hunters when out of practice. 
But now the game was lying close — that is, some of it. for 
some birds are always plying their legs for safety. B-bb-b-h b 
went a bird not 3ft. from me and I whirled it over with a 
quick snap shot into the top of a low ironwood Rf aching 
down into it to pick it up, another burst out almost in my 
face, wheeled over my head, rose I5fl;. in air and then shot 
away downward, leaving my charge of hastily aimed shot 
just far enough behind to save the meat on his tail and only 
cost him a few feathers. 
For ten or fifteen minutes the shooting was quite lively, 
but many of the best chances were lost by birds going toward 
one or another of the party. Four were too many, and we 
could not afford to take any chances on an accident. The 
rascals would wheel around in the direction of somebody 
and then wheel off before going close enough for him to 
shoot at. So we had to wait on a good many shots to be 
sure there was no danger. By that time there generally was 
none — for the quail. This period— when the birds first be- 
gin to lie— is one of the most lively in all field experience. 
Nothing except an old fashioned evening flight of ducks 
around some Western lake can equal it. 
Yet it often stops with wonderful suddenness. The birds 
seem suddenly to decide to lie verv close, to run off" on the 
sides or to rise out of fair shot. The latter two they have 
been doing all the time, so that part of the play is simple. 
The rest then lie about as clo"^ as any quail on earth, and 
even seem to hold their scflF.t. Now is the time when a 
good dog, kept fresh, would often be as valuable as any- 
where on earth. Such was the game these quail played us. 
Dozens and scores were hidden in every acre of the cover, 
yet our most diligent tramping would start nothing close 
enough for a fair shot. And yet every minute or two a quail 
would whiz out of a bush behind or on the side that some 
one of us had lately passed and perhaps kicked. But the 
bird took good care to see that wc were well out of shot by 
the time it rose. The spaniel was so blown that he was of 
no use to flush any birds. Quail would rise out of shot from 
the very bush around whicli he had wheezed and snorted 
and snutfled and barked but a few seconds before. Every 
once in a while a bird w^oulii miscalculate the range of a gun 
and there were several that had not heard of the arrival in 
the valley of the eun I was cairying; so we ftill had shoot- 
ing, though not what it might have been. But on the whole 
I have rarely enjoyed a day more with the shotgun, though 
one not used te birds of this feathei would have felt quite 
otherwise. 
Though quail have been trapped so much here that they 
are quite scarce in comparison with the numbers of former 
years, they are still plenty, as plenty would be understood in 
the East. I could go over that country almost any day with 
one companion and bag a hundred or over. But I would 
take a light open wagon, fast team and a good driver, with 
one good dog that could be kept quiet in the wagon until 
wanted. Stay in the wagon until you see quail and then 
drive them with the wagon as long as you cau. Then t>ike 
them afoot as above described and do not use the dog umil 
they lie close. Even then keep the dog as quiet as possible 
and do not exhaust him by allowing him to retrieve birds 
you can as well pick up yourself, or by letting him run or 
jump to pick up anything, unless a cripple. By driving in 
this way one day to Teuipc, a fine settlement at the upper 
end of the Salt River Valley, staying over night and driving 
back the next day, two men who are good shots and good 
travelers could bag 250 birds But even with a run out 
from Phoenix, as we had, one can get all the shooting one 
has any business to waut, besides having a fine drive in a 
most luxurious climate, lunching on tables spread with the 
pottery of the oldest civilization of America and drinking 
from canals that carried watei to thrif ly fields before the 
great grandfather of (Jolumbiis decided to get born. 
A Stray Sliinplaster 
Comes to us once \n a while for a copy 
of "Game l^ws iirij»Briei;" but shin- 
plasters no jvadays tivz scarcer than Moose 
in New Yo^k; and cecits in postage 
stamps wiSi Ac \mt as w<^ll. 
