November President’s Corner

-Desert quail numbers are poor.  Much of the habitat looks pretty good and we had decent rain this year but not at the right time for the chicks.   Very few first year chicks are being taken.  One exception appears to be San Carlos Indian reservation where gambles, scaled and mearns quail are all open and available (but still not a great year) – the reservation has different seasons, bag limits and requires a tribal license.

-Mearns opens 7 Dec, their numbers are always hard to predict until we get dogs in the field.  AZ G&F has 5 wing barrels out in visible locations (Gardner Canyon, Ruby Road, Highway 83 south of Sonoita, Harshaw Road and Hog Canyon).  Use of these barrels helps the department track bird information and sets you up for an annual digital hunter survey.

-Please support local merchants when hunting in the Sonoita or Patagonia areas.

-U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge [BANWR] has released a little over 400 Masked Bobwhite chicks. Last report was that survival has been fairly good. They are looking for some help Thursday the 29th and Friday the 30th of Nov with some habitat work.  Contact Joe Bozzo at jcbozzo253@gmail.com if you can help with a few hours of “sweat equity”.  It’s a chance to ensure a species does not go extinct.

-Hog Canyon.  Currently there is only an agreement to keep Hog Canyon open and the agreement for Adobe Canyon is still in work.

-San Rafael Valley.  The public has lost driving access to a large area in San Rafael Valley.  The meeting with CNF and AZ G&F on 6 Nov to look at alternatives to build new roads on public land to gain back access showed a lot of progress.  We are working to have reps from AZ G&F and CNF at our Dec meeting to discuss this closure.

-Please respect the land and landowners whether you are on private or public land.  Leave the gates in the proper position, pick up you trash (and trash from others), keep speed and dust down, be careful around livestock and don’t trash roads by driving on them when they are very muddy.

-Our initial work with Borderlands Restorations on loose rock structures about 30 miles SE of Sonoita is complete.  Additional work is under consideration but will likely wait until we can get matching funds.

-We met with AZ G&F along with VOS chapter to assess habitat projects.  No decisions were made at this meeting although the consensus is more research needs to be completed on AZ quail to determine what habitat improvements have the highest payoff.  Scaled quail were identified as the species most in need of help.  We are meeting with AZ G&F again next week on this subject.

-I forwarded the Montezuma (mearns) Quail diet study that Dr Alberto Macias and a grad student have been working.  He has asked to do more work on that which we will assess once we get a few questions answered.  We are even considering to get the permits needed to take a few spring/summer birds to see what they are feeding on.  We are giving him a small amount of additional funding to continue his work.  His grad student and Alberto will be at QuailFest to collect crops and answer questions.

-Our first road cleanup of the season is 9 AM on 5 Dec.  We will meet at the intersection of Highway 82 and Hog Canyon Road.  Wear long sleeves and bring gloves – other safety equipment will be provided.  Let Ron Walp (couesaz2011@gmail.com) know if you are able help out.

-Wade Zarlingo has left his position as the head small game biologist for AZ G&F and taken another job as landowner relations in NW AZ.  He will be sorely missed by both AZ QF chapters.  The department is working to hire a replacement.

-QF and AZ G&F has opened a position to work riparian habitat in AZ.  The position will be in Phoenix and will work primarily on riparian areas and the upland habitats in and around the Salt, Gila, San Pedro, and Verde rivers.

-Megan McWard was recently hired by QF as a biologist to work landowner relations for AZ G&F out of the Yuma regional office.

-Our second Quail Festival co-hosted with AZ G&F will be held 1-4 PM 8 Dec which is the opening weekend of mearns at the Sonoita Fairgrounds.  It gives you an opportunity to get out and hunt in the morning and stop by in the afternoon.  Well behaved dogs are welcome in the building.

-In addition to AZ G&F and the chapter several other organizations will have tables including; US Fish and Wildlife, Sky Islands Alliance, AZ Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Q5 Outdoor Products, Mule Deer Foundation, National Wild Turkey Foundation, Pima County Parks and Rec, Coronado Outdoors,  Alberto with Mearns Diet Study, BLM, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association and others.

-We will sell hats and shirts to offset some of our costs, we have the volunteers we need to help out.  See examples of the shirts below – the logo is special with all three species of AZ quail.  If you are looking for a very small or large size or something special let me know and I will order and hold them for you.  We did not order a lot of women or youth sizes but can get them quickly if you ask.

-Bring your quail in to have the crop collected for the diet study.  You will need to provide your license number and lat long with the crop – this info will not be shared outside the study.

-Nick Besenick and the Southern AZ German Shorthair Club will sell burgers and dogs (hotdogs vs GSPs).

-Our first meeting of the year in Sahuarita/Green Valley was very successful with 23 people attending and Rana Tucker from AZ G&F as guest speaker.

-The 12 Dec (a Wed), 17 Jan and 21 Feb meetings will be at the fairgrounds in Sonoita.

-Brit Oleson will discuss the San Rafael road closures and other items at our Dec meeting.  We will also have Misty Newman from Arizona Outdoor Adventures.  Walt Keyes, the Coronado National Forest road engineer is also invited to the meeting but has not confirmed his availability.

-We will hold our last meeting of the year 14 Mar in Sahuarita at the American Legion Hall Post 66.

-Bill Brake, one of the AZ G&F Commissioners has agreed to speak at our 17 Jan meeting.

-All meetings will be 7-9 PM with social starting at 6:30.

–Please send me your thoughts on our meetings to help us provide what members want. 

Our 7th annual banquet is Sat 2 Feb at the fairgrounds with doors opening a little before 5 PM.  If you or someone you know can help with items or money to donate its not too early to start working it.  We have several mechanisms in place now to support habitat and youth.  Maybe you and someone you know might be willing to underwrite one of the youth shotguns we give away – we are looking for one more gun.  We have received a pledge or checks for three guns to date.  We already have several great prizes inbound for raffles and auctions at the banquet.  If you have ideas or have something in work let Steve Geerligs (sgeerligs1@yahoo.com) our new banquet chair or myself know.  Banquet tickets are on sale at https://pheasantsforeverevents.org/event/3354 . We have already sold about 25% of our tickets and will sell out again this year.  Early bird pricing will expire at the end of Dec.  For those that want to stay in Sonoita or Patagonia do not wait too long to make room reservations.  If you buy tickets and let us know at least one week before the event you are unable to attend we will refund your ticket price and resell your ticket to someone on the waiting list.

We work to keep our sites current.  If you see an error or recommendation for improvement please let us know.  We are always looking for pictures, stories or articles to add.  Many of you have seen our slide show that we show at QuailFest and the banquet – if you have pictures that would be a good addition please send them to me.

Please consider volunteering to be a member of one of our committees.  We need help on habitat, banquet and youth committees or you can just help out with an event like QuailFest, the banquet, road cleanup or BANWR habitat.  Thanks to those that stepped up to volunteer for the habitat committee at our last meeting.