The annual quail check stations were run in southern Arizona at the Freeman Road and Willow Springs Road locations during the opening weekend in October.
"Hunters coming through the stations logged a total of 510 hunter days compared to 475 last year. This number is down considerably from the 911 hunter days in 2001,” says Jim Heffelfinger, a biologist in the Tucson regional office. Hunters hunted a total of 1,967 hunter-hours, which is also about the same as last year. The overall hunt success was two birds per day, which was twice that of last year, but not as high as the previous year (2.75 birds). “This indicates a below average year, but the hunters stopping by the check station were happy with the number of coveys they were finding. After last year, anything looks like a good year,” Heffelfinger says.
Combined check station data from 1973 through 2000 shows an average of 3.4 birds per day for Freeman and Willow Springs.
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