Great hunting season so far. I ended up giving back my Bull Elk tag because I also drew a party Buck Mule Deer tag with my friend Garth. I made this video of all the excitement in Oct-Nov including Cow Elk hunting, Mule Deer and of course Gambles Quail. Contact me any time if you'd like to get out and hunt with us!

Oct Nov 2016 with Jager Kapitan and Friends

Spring review and Elk hunt prep

Big Hunting news. I finally drew a bull elk tag. Lucky for me, it includes an area that I've hunted (or scouted/guided) 32 days in the last 3 years. With other friends also drawing Elk tags this year, lots of prep is upon us especially if expecting help for the hunt and hopeful recovery.

Kapitan finished 6 weeks of school up in Beaver UT at bestgundogs.com. He was tired and missing part of his ear due to misbehaving in class, but recovered nicely.

Here's more Spring review:

Ryan and Jager enjoying the spoils of a spring Striped bass fishing trip on Lake Mead. 

Jager enjoying the view on Lake Mead

After returning from school, Kapitan was still in hunting mode! 

flowering cactus just west of Summerlin (Las Vegas)

Getting the back yard, aka dog sanctuary ready for Summer! 

Jack Ass sneaking into the photo. Kapitan sticking out his tongue at the situation. 

Northwestern Grand Canyon. Hard to get to, but worth the effort. We had 2000' drop offs on 3 sides of camp. 

Kapitan napping in a precarious location 

Jager napping in a safer location 

Grand Canyon camp 

First Creek, Red Rock

Forced fetch work with the boys (Jager holding a Chukar, Kapitan a Quail) 

California desert just south of Death Valley. The flowers blooming is a once every 10-15 year deal due to the lack of rain. 

Death Valley camping trip 

Jager missed Kapitan so much while he was in school, he helped me celebration st paddy's day

Kapitan on graduation day from session 1 at bestgundogs.com 

Death Valley camping trip

Tammy and Jager having their morning coffee

Spring fun

Kapitan is in his 2nd month of school up at bestgundogs.com. 

Big game draw is now open in Nevada. Let me know if you'd like to join in on a party hunt.

Kapitan and Jager kicking back the week after the end of Quail season. 

Jeeping day with Tammy, Emily and the boys up and over Rocky Gap Road. 

Jager pheasant wing practice. I try to do this at least once a day to keep him working. 

We lost Rudy the morning of February 27 (as posted in Facebook, thank you friends for the nice words).  Thank you Rudy for 14 amazing years. 

Jager letting this pigeon know who's boss. Practice practice practice! 

2 day camping weekend in Death Valley. YES, on rare occasion, there is water running through death valley. Apparently, it didn't taste good because Jager would not drink it. 

New Mexico Blue-Scaled Quail hunt

Tammy and I had a great time out in Alamogordo NM with our long time friends, Michael & Laura Precure. In addition to revisiting times of past we had some great hunting!

Jager standing tall, looking for the Blue Quail

Checking out the Blue Quail. As far as I can remember, this was my first one ever. 

Kapitan checking out the Blue Quail

This was a great sequence to follow, would have been great in video. Jager was over to my left with Michael, Kapitan was just in front of me. Kapitan flushed 2 Blue Quail, and they flew to my right, I shot one, Kapitan sprinted over to it, picked it up, and looked as if he was going to bring it to me. Everybody was cheering for him along with me trying to call him to me. He held it for a second, then dropped it and waited for me to come over. I gave Jager the "dead bird" command and he went and got it and brought it to me. Kapitan is going to be great! Definitely not gun shy and aggressively pursued the birds. Just gotta get him to understand retrieve to hand (he already does it in practice, but the real thing is different the first time).

Kapitan picking up the Blue Quail, I'm trying to call him over, Jager walking over to see what lil bro is doing. 

Kapitan picked up the bird and looked at me for a moment, but he didn't bring it to me. This was the only photo and unfortunately, out of focus, but worth saving. I was proud all the same.

After Kapitan didn't bring me the bird, Jager trotted over and took care of it.

Jager retrieving, me praising him, Kapitan observing and learning

Tired puppies, Blue Quail & Browning Shotguns. 

Tammy did a great job with the photos. Note the great telephoto focus on the tiny bird on the cactus.

Gambles Quail seasons end

Last weekend for Gambles Quail in Nevada and Arizona. Jager, Kapitan and I set out to Wikieup AZ for an overnight trip and all day hunt. We jeeped down into a deep canyon close to where I had camped previously but closer to the area I suspected to have a lot of birds. The downside of these areas with lots of birds is exactly the reason there are a lot of birds. VERY rough cover, coyotes, hawks and others can't get to them, which of course is why there are so many birds! Next year I plan to significantly upgrade my cactus protective gear, but for this trip, I decided to bring Kapitan with me, and primarily hunt the river beds. This made the walking much easier, but the birds were primarily up and outside the banks of the stream hiding in the scrub oak and other cactus like plants.

Jager and I headed back to AZ, had a nice overnight in the back of the jeep, up early and had a nice 6 hour hunt before heading back. I pieced together some of the highlights into this YouTube video: Hunt with Jager in AZ

AZ Javelina and Gambles quail hunt

Kapitan FeldJager had to stay home on this trip, big boys only. Jager is well behaved enough and follows commands well enough that I trusted him to potentially be close to Javelinas. He's been around Coyotes, Mustangs, Donkeys, Deer, Elk and Pronghorn up close and behaved very well. Of course, I just like having him along.

Scott was the resident expert, so Garth and I followed him out into a fairly remote part of AZ about 80 miles south of Kingman. Very cold, with some sleet, snow and freezing rain - good times! Scott and Garth headed out with their bows and Jager and I made some circles and immediately got into some fantastic Gambles Quail. Great time by all!

Rough stuff out here in AZ. Note the cactus has been nibbled on by the Javelina. Was in the 30's but  very nice with sunshine the 2nd day. Garth was certainly geared up and ready, sporting Sitka layers up top, upland thorn proof on the legs. No Javelina taken, not from a lack of trying and hitting every canyon in the area. 

Jager on point of Gambles Quail. There were about 40 in the covey and Gambles Quail do not sit still. I use the whoa command to keep Jager still as the quail scurry around in the bush immediately in front of him. I had a few shots on the ground, but waited until one flew above the bush. Very rough terrain, at least for me. No problem for Jager of course. 

Posing for a photo with Jager

Garth and Jager posing for a photo. Cold and wet the first day! Makes you appreciate your gear when you get it right!

Jager checking out his Gambles Quail take for the afternoon, Garth enjoying an Ice Cold Coors!

Jager doing some "forced fetch" practice after a hunt session. Gotta reinforce what you learn! Doubles as a great time to take photos! 

Scott prepared some nice prawns, Pronghorn chops and tenderloin. He took the Pronghorn at 650 yards up north of Ely. 

Jager, doing what Jager does, be spoiled. Tucked in the warm sleeping bag next to the heater. He deserved it, he hunted very hard all day for 2 days. I know traditional bird dog guys that think I "ruin" my dogs by never using a kennel but Jager has turned out great so far. Ya just have to dedicate 2 hours a day to working them so they won't burn the house down! A tired bird dog is a good bird dog. 

New Years hunt with Tammy and the boys

We celebrated New Years the best way possible - by getting out of Las Vegas! Tammy and I took the boys up to Pahranagat for a couple of nights and hunted Key Pitman, the surrounding BLM land and Middle Marsh of Pahranagat Wildlife Refuge. Very cold and windy as the broken ice blowing up on shore depicts in these photos! Owning up to it ahead of time, YES I did take a dive in the ice cold water to pull Kapitan back in after he fell in. Nothing can prepare you for 32 degree water pouring down your bibs!

Kapitan, Jager and a coot taken from Middle Marsh.

Tammy, Kapitan & Jager at Key Pitman

Key Pitman

Key Pitman frozen over

Kapitan and Duck (Black and White Mallard size, I still need to identify it)

Getting my exercise at Key Pitman

Kapitan testing the 2" thick broken ice, blown up by the wind at Key Pitman

Kapitan tasting the snow up on Mt Irish, which over looks Groom Lake and Area 51

Hunting for Gambles Quail East of Pahranagat

Kapitan gettin busy! 

Dry lake bed North of Kane Springs Road and East of Pahranagat. Water froze and it sounds like thing glass breaking. 

Jager on point, Kapitan learning!

Jager on point

 This is where I shot the coot, Jager paused, didn't jump in after it, Kapitan of course barreled right through on the ice, fell through at the edge before he got to the Coot. He turned to swim back, but couldn't quite lift himself up on the ice (look through the reeds in the photos). Of course when I tried to crawl out on the ice, I fell face first into the water, breaking out plenty of ice for him to swim right back up on shore. Got the coot out though, cooked it in the pressure cooker, removed the bones and fed to the dogs. (Coots don't taste very good)

Jager and Kapitan drinking some of the ice cold water in Middle Marsh after a long couple of hunting days