Mustangs Rule
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2021
- Messages
- 956
If you look at a map showing the location of mountain quail in the west and compare it to a map showing the location of Pinyon Pine trees, there will be a modest overlap.
Next, looking closer, you will see that there are some isolated “Sky Island Mountain Ranges” that just erupt out of the mostly flat Mojave Desert. They are home territory to Mountain Quail, these nutritious nut bearing Pinyon Pine trees and even Mule Deer with extra-large ears that act as cooling radiators during extreme desert heat.
For 28 years I lived on such a mountain, in a Sky Island Range overlooking the Mojave Desert. “My mountain” was one of a cluster of three, all around 8,000’ in elevation.
Back then all these three mountains had what seemed like endless populations of mountain quail.
Mountain quail there can be much larger than The Valley quail, and that being the case, their “crop” is able to process the ever so sweet, nutritious and large Pine nuts from Pinyon Pine trees. Never once have I found a pine nut in the crop of a valley quail. While over and over the crops of Mountain Quail were stuffed full of pine nuts.
It is my experience that some of the Mountain Quail feeding on Pinyon pines nuts in these Sky Islands grew as big as Chukars, or small grouse and were the best tasting quail I had ever eaten,
Mountain quail live at high elevations, and that they migrate when snow gets heavy. Finding where they migrate to, can offer some of the best ever upland bird hunting imaginable.
Lacking a dog I rarely hunted mountain quail unless there was a tracking snow of about four inches. Much less and they would run forever in the bushes, and much more and they weren’t there. They migrated to warmer, lower places with less or even no snow, but still with pinyon pine trees and their nuts.
I am getting too close to 80 years old now, and have been hunting for well over 60 years. I have long ago become convinced that hunting any animal with consistent success is all about knowing the plant-food foundations in various ecosystems.
Hunting success is not gained by knowledge of calibers but instead by a deep knowledge about calories.
When I was hunting mountain in deep snow one morning, with nary a quail or track to be found I changed plans. I dropped lower and lower in elevation, thousands of feet, on my snowshoes until I no longer needed them. I hung them in a tree and proceeded down another 500 feet in elevation till near all snow was gone, with my side-by-side SKB Ithaca 20 gauge in hand.
I discovered a long, natural solar reflective valley, that ran the way the sun moved. Grass stubble was coming up so fresh everywhere, under Pinyon Pines there were still pinyon nuts. This lower valley got abundant drainage from above. It was wet and warm at least during most winter days.
And OH MY! Were there Mountain quail aplenty, huge ones too. I almost took my limit of ten in an hour and flushed so many more and as well seeing lots of unpressured Desert Mule deer with those extra big ears.
This was the winter sweet spot. And of course there were the clear tracks of one dominant big Tom Mt. Lion. And of course, also typically absent were any tracks from sub-adult male adolescent Mt. Lions. A big Tom lion kills adolescent males 24/7. Kill him and this ecosystem will get overrun with young punk lions and the deer numbers drop.
I cleaned two smaller birds in a nearby creek. Started a fire with dry juniper branches, stuffed my birds with a plant named fillaree, 28 % sugar.
Ate my birds already sweetened eating Pinyon Pine nuts then headed back to my snowshoes, way up to my 4X4 then home.
That valley was dedicated Wilderness, not pestered with people. The quail season went till the end of January. Lots more snowshoe hunting adventures. There was also a traditional muzzle-loader deer season, almost went to Christmas.
I drew that tag for the following season. i shot a small spike buck way down there early the following winter. Hard trip back up. Too hard even with more compact snowshoes. Went back often for mountain quail, but never hunted deer there again.
Year after year, an extreme drought came, it was near impossible to find a mountain quail, even in that valley.
I did some research and learned that in times of drought plants protect themselves from being overgrazed by producing phytoestrogens. These are natural birth control hormones that cut back the populations of grazing animals large and small.
Also learned that even after the drought ends, some plants can continue producing phytoestrogens for years.
“Plants have lot of tricks up their leaves”
This is just being recognized as a hidden factor in declining wildlife populations.
MR
Next, looking closer, you will see that there are some isolated “Sky Island Mountain Ranges” that just erupt out of the mostly flat Mojave Desert. They are home territory to Mountain Quail, these nutritious nut bearing Pinyon Pine trees and even Mule Deer with extra-large ears that act as cooling radiators during extreme desert heat.
For 28 years I lived on such a mountain, in a Sky Island Range overlooking the Mojave Desert. “My mountain” was one of a cluster of three, all around 8,000’ in elevation.
Back then all these three mountains had what seemed like endless populations of mountain quail.
Mountain quail there can be much larger than The Valley quail, and that being the case, their “crop” is able to process the ever so sweet, nutritious and large Pine nuts from Pinyon Pine trees. Never once have I found a pine nut in the crop of a valley quail. While over and over the crops of Mountain Quail were stuffed full of pine nuts.
It is my experience that some of the Mountain Quail feeding on Pinyon pines nuts in these Sky Islands grew as big as Chukars, or small grouse and were the best tasting quail I had ever eaten,
Mountain quail live at high elevations, and that they migrate when snow gets heavy. Finding where they migrate to, can offer some of the best ever upland bird hunting imaginable.
Lacking a dog I rarely hunted mountain quail unless there was a tracking snow of about four inches. Much less and they would run forever in the bushes, and much more and they weren’t there. They migrated to warmer, lower places with less or even no snow, but still with pinyon pine trees and their nuts.
I am getting too close to 80 years old now, and have been hunting for well over 60 years. I have long ago become convinced that hunting any animal with consistent success is all about knowing the plant-food foundations in various ecosystems.
Hunting success is not gained by knowledge of calibers but instead by a deep knowledge about calories.
When I was hunting mountain in deep snow one morning, with nary a quail or track to be found I changed plans. I dropped lower and lower in elevation, thousands of feet, on my snowshoes until I no longer needed them. I hung them in a tree and proceeded down another 500 feet in elevation till near all snow was gone, with my side-by-side SKB Ithaca 20 gauge in hand.
I discovered a long, natural solar reflective valley, that ran the way the sun moved. Grass stubble was coming up so fresh everywhere, under Pinyon Pines there were still pinyon nuts. This lower valley got abundant drainage from above. It was wet and warm at least during most winter days.
And OH MY! Were there Mountain quail aplenty, huge ones too. I almost took my limit of ten in an hour and flushed so many more and as well seeing lots of unpressured Desert Mule deer with those extra big ears.
This was the winter sweet spot. And of course there were the clear tracks of one dominant big Tom Mt. Lion. And of course, also typically absent were any tracks from sub-adult male adolescent Mt. Lions. A big Tom lion kills adolescent males 24/7. Kill him and this ecosystem will get overrun with young punk lions and the deer numbers drop.
I cleaned two smaller birds in a nearby creek. Started a fire with dry juniper branches, stuffed my birds with a plant named fillaree, 28 % sugar.
Ate my birds already sweetened eating Pinyon Pine nuts then headed back to my snowshoes, way up to my 4X4 then home.
That valley was dedicated Wilderness, not pestered with people. The quail season went till the end of January. Lots more snowshoe hunting adventures. There was also a traditional muzzle-loader deer season, almost went to Christmas.
I drew that tag for the following season. i shot a small spike buck way down there early the following winter. Hard trip back up. Too hard even with more compact snowshoes. Went back often for mountain quail, but never hunted deer there again.
Year after year, an extreme drought came, it was near impossible to find a mountain quail, even in that valley.
I did some research and learned that in times of drought plants protect themselves from being overgrazed by producing phytoestrogens. These are natural birth control hormones that cut back the populations of grazing animals large and small.
Also learned that even after the drought ends, some plants can continue producing phytoestrogens for years.
“Plants have lot of tricks up their leaves”
This is just being recognized as a hidden factor in declining wildlife populations.
MR
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