Maggie, a young German wirehair, made her first quail hunt the morning after my wife Lori and I completed the long drive south to our winter home in Arizona. I used to laugh at our local "snowbirds" while deriding their inability to cope with Montana winters, but I wasn't laughing now. The week prior I'd been hunting pheasants in wool and snow boots. Now I was in a T-shirt.
We have plenty of bird-hunting friends scattered around the Arizona desert, but I wanted Maggie's first desert hunt to be a quiet one — just Lori, the dog, and me. Maggie was still young and promising, having done well on Huns and sharptails up north. But I didn't want her distracted by other dogs or hunters as she met the desert for the first time.
After a short drive from our place, we parked in a spot I hoped would find some shade by noon. Maggie, wired from two days in the truck, could barely contain herself while I clipped on her e-collar. Finally, we set out across a desert scene that looked like it belonged in a John Wayne movie.
Within the hour she'd pointed and retrieved her first Gambel's quail.
While American quail hunting tradition began with bobwhites in the South, another quail epicenter lies in our arid Southwest. Everything is different there: terrain, weather, habitat, birds.
Even experienced bobwhite hunters will have a lot to learn on their initial desert hunts. When friends ask where to start their desert quail education, I always recommend Gambel's quail in Arizona.
Five species of quail call Arizona home. The masked bobwhite is endangered, protected, and only found on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. California quail exist in tiny remnant populations and are largely confined to the mountains of the state's far eastern edge. That leaves three huntable species: Gambel's, scaled, and Mearns. For hunters used to the bobwhite belt, that's a remarkable amount of variety.
Though Gambel's quail range across seven states, Arizona remains their stronghold. While you can find them statewide, the best hunting occurs in the southeastern corner where the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts meet.
Although Gamble's and scalies can be found together on the desert floor, they have distinctly different habitat preferences. While scalies prefer level grasslands, I find more Gambel's in broken terrain around the foothills of the area's numerous isolated "island" mountain ranges — not as steep as Mearns habitat, but with more up and down than what scalies prefer. They can be taken on the same hunt, and my father once killed one of each on the same covey rise.
For reasons to be discussed I prefer to hunt Gambel's, and that means learning to identify their habitat.
Gambel's quail do well in open desert, but they need security cover. Dry washes — those sandy, brush-lined arroyos that snake across the desert — are prime spots. The streambeds make for easy walking while the birds cling to the thorny edges. Dogs do the hard work in the thickets.
Over the years, I've noticed something curious: Gambel's often favor sidehills dotted with prickly pear. The cactus isn't a major food source, except in extreme drought, and yet the association persists. Maybe it's coincidence — some shared environmental factor favoring both species — or maybe it's something else. Either way, I look for cactus when I'm scouting new ground.
Although the point is uncertain, the consensus is that Gambel's don't need surface water since they can derive some moisture from their diet. However, all agree that they will take it when they can get it. They don't need much, so any spring, pipeline drip, or stock tank overflow will attract birds from the surrounding desert. If there are cattle inside a fenced pasture, there's water there somewhere. It pays to find it.
Like most open country birds, Gamble's quail can run. I don't know their top speed on the ground, but I know it's faster than mine.
However, they don't run as far or as fast as scalies. Once a covey is broken up, Gambel's hold better than scaled quail. They also occupy more biodiverse habitat with better scenery. While I've shot plenty of scalies and enjoyed the hunting, those are some reasons I'd rather make mine Gambel's.
On initial contact a Gamble's covey often runs out in front of even the best trained dogs and flushes beyond shotgun range. Don't abandon hope. The real hunt is just getting started.
On the initial rise Gambel's will flush simultaneously and fly in tight formation — the definition of true covey birds. However, they will eventually start to break up, with singles and pairs landing in the same general location but no longer acting as one. Because of the open habitat it's usually easy to mark them down.
Although it sometimes requires a second covey flush to break up the birds, scattered Gambel's hold almost as tightly as Mearns. This dramatic change in behavior provides pointing dogs with great opportunities to show their stuff. Singles and pairs are much less likely to run than they were as a covey. A staunch dog with a good nose can produce fast shooting in a short period of time. I generally limit myself to a couple of birds from one covey and then set off to find the next one.
Bird numbers can fluctuate dramatically from one season to the next. Since water is the desert's most important environmental resource, the key factor determining quail numbers is seasonal rainfall. In contrast to late nesting Mearns, which require good summer monsoons, Gambel's depend on earlier winter rainfall. The crucial period is during February and March when the birds are getting fit for the upcoming breeding season.
During quail season an inch of rain in the right place at the right time months earlier can spell the difference between fast shooting and hiking while carrying a shotgun.
Quail Forever biologist and Arizona State Coordinator Scott Poppenberger puts it plainly: "When matters more than how much." Smart hunters start checking rainfall maps months before opening day. Localized precipitation can vary dramatically in desert terrain, so intel from friends or biologists with boots on the ground is priceless.
While quail populations have always gone up and down, whipsaws in their numbers have been especially pronounced in the last decade. Drought conditions are largely responsible, but sharp declines in populations of any wildlife species are usually multilayered.
While well managed ranching can benefit wildlife (see "Cienega" on pages 11-18 in the 2025 summer issue of Quail Forever Journal), a lot of public land throughout the West is overgrazed, depriving gamebirds of important ground cover. I've heard knowledgeable sources express concern about invasive weeds like cheatgrass displacing the native grasses and forbs that desert quail depend on.
However, Poppenberger feels that desert quail are so adaptable he doubts this will become a population-wide threat. Although blaming predators for declines of any wildlife populations may be politically popular, science rarely supports the idea. All Gamble's quail need to thrive is rain at the right time and healthy habitat. Quail Forever can't make it rain, but it is putting plenty of time and effort into improving habitat and water enhancement projects.
Gambel's quail are made for bird dogs. While it's possible to hunt them without one, I don't know many serious quail hunters who do.
The excitement of a dog frozen on point after a Gambel's covey has broken up is worth more to me than the weight of any game bag.
Although all my quail dogs have been German wirehairs, I have hunted Gambel's with multiple breeds. The good ones always got the job done no matter what their pedigree. While wounded quail aren't as difficult to recover as gamebirds like pheasants they can be hard to find, especially with multiple birds down after a covey rise. The versatile pointing breeds can be especially useful then.
Desert hunting poses real risks. Carry more water than you think you need—for yourself and the dogs. Venomous snakes are a concern, though mostly dormant in winter. Still, I strongly recommend snake aversion training for any dog working this country. Javelina can be a danger, too, particularly to dogs. I've found that a beeping locator collar helps alert them and avoid conflict.
Perhaps my favorite thing about Gambel's quail is this: most of them live on public land. There's no better feeling than standing at the edge of a wash, scanning an expanse of cover you couldn't walk out in a week, and knowing you're free to roam.
The birds are there. The dogs are ready. The desert waits.
Make mine Gambel's.