Feb. 12, 2009  Use of a Quail Call.  Over this last season I've heard lots of questions regarding using a call.  I've never had luck getting scaled quail or Mearn's quail to respond to a call, but Gambel's are another story.  At times, they are vocal.  I use a Lohman's wooden call. 
Just a few notes about calling: don't overcall. All you're trying to do is locate a covey. I always start with very low volume covey clucks. Not warning clucks. Covey clucks saying, "I'm over here, all is well, is everybody still with me?"
Wait. Listen. Give the dogs a break. Sometimes the give-away return cluck is very soft and only a single cluck.
After a minute or two or three, give your first Chi-ca-go covey call. Low volume. You'd be surprised how far Gambel's can hear it. Another covey cluck or two.
An example from this season:
I clucked. Nothing. I gave a Chi-ca-go. Nothing. After a few minutes, began hiking again. My Max stopped all alert and "pointed" across the draw with his ears perked up and his head held high.
Then I heard them also. Max had pointed the covey cluck sound.
Led me to a nice covey of ~25 all under one staghorn patch. We would have completely missed them had we continued on the path I had chosen to hike.

Mar. 7, 2009  Desert warming & green. No mating calls yet.  Have heard a few sounding off in the Florence area, but none yet in Globe. Desert looks wonderful entering this spring. No reason at all for NOT having a Gambel's hatch.  Valley in the 70's for a high this week, so not quite warm enough to start it off I'm thinking. 
My Rusty is now neutered.  From everything I've been able to find, now that he's not going to sire any more litters, it'll be better for his overall health and length of life.
Have not been able to find a suitable female to breed my Max to this spring.  Bummer.  It's important to keep his genes alive and passed on to my next pup.  I'll have to keep looking.  Was hoping to have a pup this spring to start him off next season at about 6-8 months old.

Mar. 22, 2009  Isolated mating calls. Spring storm pushing across the state this weekend.  1" - 2" of snow predicted in the high country above 7,000 ft.  Have noticed a few pairs going through mating behavior.  No pattern at all.  Roosevelt Lake still at 100% of conservation pool.  Am hoping to see batches of baby birds about late April or first of May. 

April 2, 2009  Perhaps driest March on record.  Nesting activity still a question mark?  Hearing male mating calls on a regular basis, but who knows what the dry month of March will do to the hatch.  Even had a pair trying to make a nest in the rafters of my garage!!!  We had such high hopes in Jan and Feb with the good snow pack and rains in the desert.  Interestingly, the desert wildflower "show" never happened.  We were expecting wildflowers everywhere, but it dried off so suddenly, the show withered.

April 14, 2009  Male mating calls now are in chorus.  . . . . a good sign.  Had a 0.5 inch rain yesterday.  Nice timing to keep things green for a bit longer.  Birds are paired and pairing.  On my hike yesterday, saw a new hatch of grasshoppers.  Good for youngsters and the protein diet needs "when they hatch."  Optimism, eh??

May 3, 2009 Gambel's nesting. Males in chorus.  Found a nest with 11 eggs while weeding yesterday.  Males still calling especially early and late, but females mostly on nests.  Lots of reports of snakes out now.  I don't take the Britts for a run unless it's real early in the morning and cooler.  A dangerous time for rattlers.
Had one heck of a time locating shot and powder for reloading.  Finally ordered from a mailorder place in Kentucky.  Fears of restrictions and new fed regulations are leading to hoarding I'm thinking.  Never did find a good hunting female Fr. Britt to breed my Max to this spring.  The Corley Kennel is down to three -- Duff, age 12 1/2; Max, age 6; Rusty, age 4. 

May 13, 2009  Observed our first brood of Gambel's hatchlings today in Globe. . . . . a whole passel of 'em!!  They were fast, but counted between 12-14 about 2 inches tall.  Mom and Dad were herding them across the road in front of the house.  Gorgeous!!!  Made the ol' heart beat faster!!

May 23, 2009  Three days of slow, soaker rains. Male calls still sounding off.  Guarding the nest while the female warms those eggs.  The majority of the "hatch" is still to come.  I've seen three broods now of town birds, between 8 and 12 per clutch. Last May we had three cold days of rain and most agree that many of the brand new nestlings died because they got wet and could not maintain their body warmth.  These rains make us a bit nervous, but unless the birds were hatched just in the last day or two, my guess is they should survive just fine.  By listening to the males, I'm also convinced that the majority of the females are still nesting. 
The desert smells wonderful.  Rain on the Sonoran desert -- ya gotta love it.

June 20, 2009  From the Ariz Republic:  "Coolest June since 1913 !!"  But the 100-110F temps are on the way.  On my hike yesterday with the Britts saw two Gambel's family groups with 8-12 youngsters about 1/2 grown.  Teenagers.  Saw another family group around the neighborhood this week with hatchlings much smaller.  So hope is in the air.

Sincere condolences going out to our friend and English setter guy in Tonto Basin, Roy Pool.  Roy lost his beautiful wife this month in an unbelievably tragic semi-truck/bicycle incident in Wyoming.  Roy, our hearts cry with you.

July 4, 2009 Independence Day.  Monsoons crossing the state the last few days.  2" soakers in Globe and many other spots. Pinal Creek running good yesterday. Just in time, I'm thinking, to improve survivability of young birds and PERHAPS begin nesting cycle of Mearn's and scalies.  Rains the remainder of July and into August will give best indication of hatches for those species.

July 24, 2009  Central and Southern Ariz receiving some good showers with monsoonal storms.  Reports of several different sizes of baby birds from friends.  Females nesting at different times?  Females re-nesting after losing their brood?  By all accounts females pulling off a second nest or hatch is not usually the norm unless they lose their first brood.  Ariz Game & Fish optimistic about our bird crop.  I'm usually a "wait and see" kind of guy.  I'll be studying the precipitation totals to find the most likely spots soon.  Soon is the operative word.  Oct. is just around the corner.

Aug. 18, 2009 A dry August so far in central Az. Not sure how it well affect the Mearn's and scalie hatch.  SE corner receiving more showers, but certainly has not been a good month for monsoons.  Prickly pear fruit coming on and should be ripening by late Sept. Time to check the rainfall data by month for best prediction of Gambel's.
My left shoulder surgery was Aug. 11.  Recuperation is slow. Guessing 4-6 weeks before I can do any kind of strength or weight training Even hard to get the Britts out for a hike.  Physical activity really limited.

Sept. 13, 2009 Cooler finally. Some monsoonal showers moving across the state.  A little different feel in the air.  BUT, went to see my shoulder doc, and he wouldn't let me leave.  Six hours later had my appendix out!  More recuperation and recovery time.  Ugh!!  Hope I'm completely done with this whole surgery thing for a while!!!
Britts are wondering what's going on.  Why are we not hiking the hills and getting exercise and into shape??? 

Sept. 18, 2009 It's been a drier than usual monsoon for us.  Sure hope for the sake of the Mearn's and scalies, that SE Ariz had better summer rains.  Check your precipatation sites for where the rains fell.  We have a good prickly pear crop.  The fruit is red and ripening.  Finally getting cooler temps especially in the early mornings. On my morning hike with the Britts yesterday, did not see many birds, but did see a small covey with young about 1/2 grown.
It looks like the decision to neuter Rusty was a good one.  He's gained a little weight, but we'll run that off as we get into hunting shape. He seems more settled down and by all accounts he will have fewer health issues as he ages.  Speaking of aging. . . . . ol' man Dufff is now almost 13 and doing remarkably well (he was neutered at about 1 yr old).  Slow, but still has the desire.  The senior diet with glucosamine/chondritin the last few years seems to have helped him. 
See photo below with Dad and Duff in 1998. Duff was a 1 yr old and Dad was 76 and a picture of health.

Oct. 13, 2009 Opener w/ mixed reports. Some apparent pockets of decent bird populations. Others having a very tough tiime finding even enough birds to hunt. Haven't been out yet. No release from doctor.  Bummer! :-(  

                                    The Corley Kennel, October, 2009                                                         L-R Ben, Rusty, Max, Duff after a 6 hour hike

Oct. 23, 2009  First hunt of the year for me. Was good for my soul !!! Left shoulder did fine. Iced it down with some Naproxen, and a little stiff, but fine.   My 14 year old man, Duff, made our first point.  I was WAY proud!  Birds were in pockets as expected. Would hike for an hour with nothing.  Then nice covey.  Couldn't get 'em talking either.  Quiet.
One triple was very exciting.  Max had the point with Rusty and Duff backing.  Double on the rise, then without taking a step, reloaded the beretta O/U and took the late flusher.  Happy talk and lots of hugs all around on that one!!   Rusty's best points were on coveys!   He would angle off down the ridge and freeze with the breeze in his face.
Rusty also hunted WAY better after the first hour.  The adrenalin rush was gone and he settled into his "homerun" gait. 

Birds of the year were at 60%.  Lots of dirt tanks were dry.  A reflection of our lack of monsoon rains. Crops were filled with a mix of prickly pear fruit and mostly seeds. Very little green.   Jury is still out on this year's bird population compared to last season.  I did find pockets.  But, in general, hoping at least that it's the same. Will see in future hikes. . . . soon.  Bob C.

Nov. 7, 2009  Tried some traditional scalie country with two good friends.  The Britts and I did a 2-hour hike and saw nothing. . . not a bird.  We were in good cover, good huntable habitat, but extremely dry.  Stock dirt tanks were dry. And not a bird in 2 hours.  Worrisome.

Later in the p.m. I hit some Gambel's coveys and pushed them onto a rocky ridge with good ground cover.  They stuck but the shooting was very tough. Big rocks rolling underfoot. Birds popping up over the ridge in trees.  Tough, even with a Britt on point.  Survivors.  Birds in the bag were at 36% birds of the year. 
It was a beautiful day in the field though.  I was tired at the end of the day.   But it was a very good tired!  It is shaping up to be a tough year for Gambel's. AG&F predicting poor to fair.  And I'm starting to see just that.

Nov. 11, 2009  Hiked some hills with an old family friend from Payson, Tom L., today.  Was great to re-live some memories of places that I had not been in since the mid-'70's!!   We found plenty enough birds to make it interesting for the Britts.  The  country is so very dry.  We found the pockets of Gambel's in the general area of two springs.  And better yet, two springs that are not on anybody's map.  Priceless.   Tough shooting, high hills, lots of boot leather work.
Old Man, Duff, age 13, made a beautiful point for Tom and then tracked the crippled bird downhill about 50 yrds for the retrieve.  Happy talk, photos, and lots of ear scratches.  (Translated, age 13 is about 91 in human years, eh?)  Amazing. Needless to say, Duff got lots of Alpo gravy with his Senior Diet this evening! 
Hiking hills with old friends and good bird dogs.  Ah yes.  These are the best times of the rest of our lives.

                                Dad, Olan G. Corley, 1922 - 2001                                                   Son, Matt, with Flocko his French Britt, age 6.
                          Photo:  1998 with his black beauty, Duff                                           Flocko -- the slender black one from the Far North.
                                                                                                                                   Matt -- Alaska SmokeJumpers in Fairbanks, Alaska