Dave's 2010 Bird Forecast ..I can't wait !

                  Martha Muffin pointing a covey of Huns in Saskatchewan 

 Before I go shooting my mouth off on how good bird numbers are going to be ,I wait until I hear reports from farmers ,ranchers and my own observations ,here is what I know .
Two weeks ago a fishing client's Setter was pointing a 12 bird covey of Huns right behind the Glenmore Inn in South East Calgary, this  urban green space looked like it would hold a covey or two and Peso found them.Further east in Saskatchewan Linda Petersen was out Combining
with her Hubby , lots of birds where jumping out in front of the Combine  reports Linda ..impressive.
Later on in the  week Hammy was running his Setter from town to the dump  (Hammy drives ,the dog runs  the ditches in front of his truck) , the distance from town to the dump  is 2 miles ,Hammy's dog had three points on separate coveys ..good . I am going to call Sk as this ,spotty but average for Huns and Sharptails ,off the charts for Waterfowl .
Southern Arizona looks like Ireland right now , we have had a good Monsoon season so  my guess is Mearns numbers are going to be average (depending on where you go) the same is going to hold true for Gambles and Scaled Quail.

 

                                 Buddy and Cruz  on a covey of Mearns Quail 

  

                                Gambles Quail are on the "road to  recovery " in AZ

North West Oklahoma  was a tough  7 coveys per day last year , my Rancher who generally is extremely cautious about her bird predictions  is doing the "Happy Dance "right now , I guess is it is going to be a 10-12 covey per day deal ..not bad  more if you can walk.

  

  N.W. Oklahoma is one of the last "wild "Bob White strongholds  in the U.S.A 

 

                             Wheat Strip "Ted " pointing a covey of Bobwhites 



At the end of the day the season is not looking bad ,I am stoked and so are my Dogs,however  it will be challenging but  that is what it is all about ...see you out there !