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Thanks to AZOD.COM I was up well before first light and on the road to my favorite piece of desert in quest of a jackrabbit or two so that I could try my hand at making Jackrabbit Enchiladas per Linda Dightmon’s recipe posted on this web site. The fact that another posting, reporting that rabbits in general were abundant, helped fuel the desire for the delicious sounding repast. So, as the first signs of light began to appear on the eastern horizon, I downed one more cup of coffee and began to load my trusty .22 rifle. I was at a water hole (actually a stock tank) about four or five miles west of Grand Ave and North of Patton Road. I don’t know if this land is private or not but there are no “POSTED” signs and no gates to open or close. The only signs were those posted by the Fish and Game Dept warning that “no camping is permitted within ¼ mile of a water hole.” When it became light enough to see well and shoot safely I left my truck, and walked up to the edge of the water hole to see if I couldn’t catch a rabbit or two in the surrounding brush. As I approached the brush I immediately began seeing movement in the shadows. This movement, unfortunately, wasn’t the game I was after. It was Quail, about 25 of them just leaving the waters edge. Well, being as I was out there in pursuit of rabbits I decided to return to my truck and move on to the next water hole hoping to maybe see a few moving about in the early morning in the brush in between. The mile or so drive between water holes produced no rabbit sightings but did produce 3 more covies of quail. When I arrived at the next water hole more quail moving through he brush greeted me. Now, that makes 5 covies in a distance of maybe a mile or so and the sun wasn’t even up yet. I was beginning to wonder just how many quail were in this area. As the morning progressed, and I moved from one stock tank to the next, I was greeted by the same phenomenon. Quail…. lots of Quail! As the morning wore on and the temperature began to rise I started seeing flights of Doves overhead. By 7:30 I had exhausted my supply of water holes to visit and was seriously considering going home but decided to see just how many Quail and Doves I could find before the heat ended their activity. What I found totally amazed me. I drove a total of about 50 mile that morning over existing roads and desert trails until about 9:30 or so when the heat was really beginning to manifest itself. I saw in excess of 30 covies of Quail (I stopped counting after 30) and flock upon flock of Doves. By this time however, most of the Doves that I encountered were feeding on the ground. There was never a time when there wasn’t a flock of Doves in sight on the ground and in numbers from 10 to 12 to flocks of 30 and 40 birds. The Quail that I encountered were in covies of from 5 or 6 to 20 or 30 birds. All of this was within a half hours drive of my home in Surprise. I am aware of how things can change due to weather conditions and rain fall amounts but, after last year, it was encouraging to see this many game birds concentrated on so small an area. Even though I have to do without any Jackrabbit Enchiladas, I am looking forward to inviting my friends over for a meal of Quail and Doves. I might even pop the cork on a bottle of good wine to wash them down. Tom Kampert Surprise, Ariz. |
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