Episode #71 Camping, Quail Camp Planning, And Growing New Hunters

We record from the camper with a set of honest updates on life, hunting prep, and what we’re building through Arizona Quail Today. 

We share why getting outside matters, how Quail Camp supports fatherless boys through mentor fathers, and what help we still need from sponsors, writers, and volunteers. 

• camping as a practical reset for hunters and families 
• solo reading and writing time in northern Arizona 
• prairie dog shooting as summer scouting and trigger time 
• Quail Camp setup, planted birds, dog work and campfire time 
• Fathers in the Field mentorship model for fatherless boys 
• sponsor thanks and what donations actually pay for 
• looking for writers, website contributors and podcast guests 
• idea for Upland Smoke gatherings at Fumar Cigars 
• sending dogs to Mollicone Kennels for steady work and fine-tuning 

To help further our work, please consider making a tax-deductible gift. Visit us online at azquailtoday.com and be sure to follow us on social media for the latest information and updates. 

Connect with us: Email us at ryan@azquailtoday.com —we'd love to hear from you! 
Follow us on Instagram at @azquailtoday

Transcript

Welcome And Quick Thanks

SPEAKER_02 0:07

Welcome to Arizona Quail Today, your go-to podcast for all things quail hunting in Arizona. We're dedicated to educating and inspiring the next generation of quail hunters. A big thanks to our supporters and proud partners. Thanks for tuning in, and now let's dive in today's program.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Alright, welcome back to another episode of Arizona Quail today. I am in the camper and having a good time. Here we go.

SPEAKER_04 0:56

There's an old man in the foothills. But he ain't dead. He's living there still. Love them little cutting horses. All in life. That's a high dollar habit. He don't mind.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

He's finance. Alright. Man, that's some culture wall. Woo!

Camper Check In And Why Camp

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Man, I'm coming to you in my camper. And uh just been out doing a little camping. And uh this is a freestyle podcast, so not really sure where this is gonna go. I'm just gonna roll with it and uh tell you what I'm doing. Well I'm out setting up just doing a little reading, doing a little writing, uh working on various projects. Um Welcome back to another episode of Arizona Quail today. This is going to be one of those episodes that we'll see how it goes, and uh hopefully it goes pretty well. I I want to talk to you just about camping and getting out. Um man, I remember when I first started getting involved with upland uh you know bird hunting in a more serious manner. I started running around with the Arizona Pointing Dog Club and saw all those guys with campers and dogs and thought, man, dude, that is so cool. That is so cool. Um tent camp for a long time, tent camping's not a bad thing, but uh if you can afford it and and you enjoy it, then uh buying a tent camper is uh pretty amazing, and uh I've had the privilege uh to be doing it for some years now. My wife and I started going after it and uh really enjoying it. We started uh traveling west. Um we bought a I don't know, a 20-something foot wolf pup, and uh went all through Yellowstone, went through all sorts of national parks, had a great time, brought my dogs along, and um just really loved that kind of experience.

Solo Retreats And Writing Projects

SPEAKER_01 3:24

And uh I've been coming out to northern Arizona for some time now as well, where I'll come in the summer and spend a couple of weeks. Uh I serve as a uh founding pastor, lead pastor of North Valley Church, and uh I'll spend a week just reading and writing. Um I've got a couple of books out. You can check them out online if you'd like on Amazon. One is called Blessed Hope. Um, another one is called um what's it called? Oh, think biblical about the geopolitical Israel, Iran, and America's future. Light, light reading there. Not it's good, all that's going on with the geopolitical. I just encourage people to think biblical. Um in regards to some of the other writing stuff I've done. I wrote Bible readings for bird hunters. You can check that out as well on Amazon. And uh I've sold quite a bit of copies of those. If I see you out in the field, I I'll usually, if I can remember, I'll just give you a copy of that little devotional booklet. It's 21 Days to Elevate Your Hunt, tell a lot of uh stories in there about hunting and and lessons learned in the backcountry. And I had a fun time writing that. I I wrote that on a little reading and writing project break and and whatnot. I I enjoy these times getting away, just me, just solo. And there's something I'd say good about getting out and doing that. I don't know if you're in a spot where you can get away. I'd never encourage you to abandon your responsibilities at home or with your spouse or or whatever, but I I would say it would be wise for you to go get outside. Uh that's a tagline at um Arizona Quail today is get outside. And I think it's so important to do that. I've been getting outside for a long time. It's just part of my mo of what I like to do, and um just really enjoy the backcountry and ex seeing all the the beauty of creation and exploring

Prairie Dogs And Backcountry Gear

SPEAKER_01 5:45

uh during the summertime. Here lately, I've been um getting out and shooting some prairie dogs. Just built uh a new rifle, a 223 with a suppressor, um an American uh Ruger. Uh it's a synthetic gun. It's uh good a good little rifle, and uh put a nice big scope on it. Um and it does a job. It's a lot of fun to do that just being outside, um seeing some different country. Um, oftentimes you'll find prairie dogs in some decent territory where it might be good for dog training on another day. But anyway, I'm out and about and in the camper and coming to you from my camper. I've got a 19-foot airstream, and uh my wife and I, it's our home away from home. It is a joy to to travel and see the different uh parts of the state and then uh uh see different parts of the country as well. So um, you know, I think it it's um pretty cool as well.

Quail Camp And Mentor Fathers

SPEAKER_01 7:07

I'm preparing for uh quail camp. So I'm just about ready uh as this podcast is gonna uh air and and come on out. This uh we're getting ready for Quail Camp. And um this year we've got a young man named JJ is in our program, and Todd Kehoe is our mentor father. Uh, we have a number of other mentor fathers and new boys as well, but not all of them hunt. And so JJ is gonna join us. Um, his dad is not in the picture and um not able to be. And so we provide a mentor father. We have a ministry that we work with called Fathers in the Field. It's a national ministry all around the country, some probably 800 different churches around the country. And the idea is to provide a mentor-father relationship for a fatherless boy. And what I do within Arizona Quail today is serve as kind of a guide, a sponsor, um, a host, so a coordinator in sorts. And so what I'll do is provide a few opportunities for those that that want to get into upland game or shotgun hunt, uh shotgun shooting, um, hunting, fishing, that kind of thing. I'll support them by helping rally resources or trying to find opportunities to get the boys out. And, you know, it's been fun. I mean, the last two boys we ran through the program, we had for both three years in the program and you know, started them out shooting tons of skeet, and then um, and you know, I don't I don't do the training, the mentor fathers do, but what I do is I provide just the encouragement and support and financial support and uh anything that I can between uh North Valley, our church, and then Arizona Quail today. We can pretty much roll out the red carpet. So keep your donations coming in. We just picked up a new sponsor. I'm really happy about uh um Babbitt's Backcountry, uh, outdoor supplies and Flagstaff. Keith is the uh owner of the company, um unbelievable guy. He's a neat fella. I met him in the backcountry chasing birds and just had a just hit it off. And um, he's been a sponsor and supporter, so he'll be coming out to our quail camp. And you know, his big special thanks as well to Riley Cross over there with uh CF Game Birds, uh Cross Family Game Birds out of New River. That guy is pretty cool. So uh grateful for him, grateful for for for the opportunities that we've had. Um yeah, it's it's been a ton of fun to see how different um people have kind of come in and and just really helped um kind of put it all together. So it's a lot of fun. Alright, I'm coming to you from a different angle just for a minute.

Music Break And A Listener Invite

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Um let's see how about this guy right here. I'm missing my sweetheart a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 10:48

I've been wondering when I'll find a moment to get away. Where noise can hear, no eyes in the light of day. Well I am the better I next to you side by side. Born to love you right to be that another leaf on the tree.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

That is Charles Wesley Godwin. Godwin or Goodwin, probably Godwin. Gosh, that guy is good. Anyway, he's talking about adding another leaf to the tree tonight. So getting home to his honey. So, anyway, lots of fun. Um good country music. I hope that you caught one of our last podcasts. We went through 50 years of rock and roll and rainfall with Kirby Bristow. That was really cool. I don't I don't know if you heard it, but I mean, it was uh I you know, the data and the research I put together, I it was pretty good. I I think it was it was pretty, I mean, you can only do so much with 50 years of rainfall data. So anyway, um I'm gonna be working on fine-tuning that over the years, so you can expect

Upland Smoke Concept At Fumar

SPEAKER_01 12:14

more of that. I enjoyed it tremendously, and Kirby's a great guy. So um, I'm looking for some writers though. Maybe you're a writer, maybe you would like to write and add knowledge, or maybe you're kind of a quail guru expert, or maybe you're in the industry and you want to like, I don't know, share your knowledge with people, then call me up or instant Instagram message me, uh azquail today, and uh just let me know. Say, hey, I'd love to jump on the pod. You could that's the that's this lingo. I'd like to jump on the pod, and uh we'll get you on the pod, bro. So you can just call in. You could, I mean, if you're in the Phoenix Valley and it's not blazing hot or whatever, um, we could sit on my back porch, smoke a cigar, and uh do the do the podcast. Um, and I got another spot, Fumar Cigars. That's a good spot. That's where I'll go. And I'm looking at doing something called Upland Smoke. I don't know, and I might change the name of it, but I'm thinking about doing this thing called Upland Smoke, where it's like just gathering some guys and um smoking some cigars and then just doing a podcast, and then have guys in the room, and maybe just a couple of guys doing the podcast, and then um and then just talk and have a hangout. So we'll see. If you're interested in that, go ahead and message me and be like, hey dude, I'd love to do that. Um and we'll go from there. It's gonna be at Fumar's. Um, I've got an unbelievable location. Those guys hook me up. Fumar Cigars are located in uh like Pinnacle, excuse me, Pinnacle Peak Area and like I-17. So that's North Phoenix. And uh, yeah, we're looking at doing something like that. So Fumar Cigars, you can check it out. They're pretty cool. I've known those guys for like 15 years or something like that, so quite a long time. Yeah, if they've even been open that long, but but close to that time frame. Anyway, uh, if you don't smoke cigars, and I don't know what to say, it might not be a good fit for you since we're calling it something like the Upland Smoke. If you've got a better name for it, I I'm curious, you can toss it out there. And who knows? Um beyond a podcast and updating the website and sponsoring boys and doing all that, I'm not able to do a whole lot. I'm

Sponsors And Helping Boys Hunt

SPEAKER_01 15:08

a full-time, like I say, pastor over at North Valley Church. And if you don't have a church, you should join one, man. Or just come to come to one, you know, make sure they're preaching Jesus and reading the Bible, teaching the Bible, and uh you don't need another TED Talk. You just you need straight truth, brother. Or sister. And if you're a sister listening to this, I'd love to do a podcast with you too. Grab your hubby or your significant other, or um, you know, or just message message me and I'd love to hear your story. So um Yeah. Um you know there's a you know one of the girls that's uh pretty good hunters, Keith's daughter up in Babbitt's, uh her and her husband. I saw them, they're young, they're in their twenties. I saw them out in the backcountry somewhere, and we were all quail hunting, and uh they were decked out in marsupial gear. It was pretty cool. And um that's how I got to start talking to them and befriended them, and so we've been friends for some time now. And you know, just the other day we had lunch, and Keith and I uh down in Flagstaff, just what a cool store. If you have not stopped by that store, you should. It is epic, it is classic, it is vintage, it is a piece of Arizona history, and I I kid you not, because the the it's Babbitt's is is like one of the big ranchers in northern Arizona, and so anyway, I'm actually looking at doing a podcast with that guy too, so that'll be fun. Um he's a big rancher, just a cool guy, um, business guy, and um apparently I haven't even met the guy. Uh Keith was telling me, Oh, you gotta meet uh, you know, uh whatever the guy's name is, something Babbitt. I said, bring it on. So anyway, um, yeah, but I'm looking at, like I said, doing that upland smoke thing. Um I'm still uh working with marsupial gear. That relationship is going well. We've done a number of years of doing stuff, and you know, so um usually I'll have a couple of vests, you know, and uh I'll loan one out here and there, and then you know, I'd like to get more to some of these dog trials and hand out vests and let people try them and whatnot. So um, I don't know. Anyway, if you're like a steady diehard listener of Arizona Quail today and you want to get more involved, like, you know, I don't know, help go to some dog trials and promote Marsupial Gear. I mean, they're our good friends and sponsor us and in in all sorts of ways, huge help to the what we're doing. Um, really appreciative of those guys. Um and spread the word about what we're doing with fathers in the field as well. You know, we're um working with those boys, and it's just been an awesome experience. Like I said, those two boys, um both of them learned to shoot and hunt. Both of them, I think, uh well, I I helped both of them shoot their first quail. So I mean, that's super it's super rewarding. I mean, I I was there with both of them on their first quail with their mentor father. I mean, and I bet we they shot hundreds of rounds out of their shotgun. Um they went to Ben Avery's, they did a had a blast. I mean, we just had so much fun. So, anyway, it's just a blast. And we I've taken them to Quail Camp and they did a great job in Quail Camp, and um it's just so cool. So um, Quail Camp, you might be asking, like, what is Quail Camp? Quail Camp is setting up in the backcountry. Um, I invite the guys in, they come in for a couple nights. It's a you know, one or two mentor fathers, it could be two or three. Um, and then I'll have some support team support guys like Nate usually comes, uh, the OG of Arizona Quail today, the guy who helped me start the podcast. Um he's gonna be with us this year. He's bringing his old, old dog, Sam, old English pointer, really good looking dog. Um, so that's that's gonna be cool. And then we'll have uh we'll we'll set up we'll we get birds from Riley Cross, like I said. I'll run birds out right now on an e-bike. I'm working on my horse, but I can't even get the dang thing loaded in the horse trailer. So uh it's all part of it, so you can't you can't do it all. So here we go. That's Charles Wesley Godwin. So I'm back at it. Um,

Dog Training Plans And Field Setup

SPEAKER_01 20:49

yeah, I can't even load the dang horse in the horse trailer right now. I mean, it's got all I guess all sorts of trauma from whatever happened to it, you know. So um working on it, working on it. Uh, but I'll use an e-bike to get those birds out in the field, you know, working a field of about 50 acres or so of doing dog training. I mean, it's it's a hundred-acre field, but I'll I'll use about fifty of it. So anyway, it's a lot of fun. Um, you know, we'll we'll get dog work in, we'll sit around the campfire, we'll um shoot plenty of birds. Um sometimes they bring paintball guns too, and we we uh do that. This year I think we're gonna be shooting some prairie dogs as well. Um we'll just just have fun. Just getting getting outside, enjoying the backcountry. And so, you know, that reminds me uh the guy, Ariz Arizona Outdoor Adventures, Dan Priest, is the guy who really started Arizona Quail today. And um, you know, I would be missing the opportunity not to just mention him. Arizona Outdoor Adventures. You can check them out on Facebook or online. They do a great job. Dan's been doing this kind of stuff, getting kids out in the backcountry much more than I have in greater numbers. You know, I'm just working with one or two kids a year. Uh, and that's like sometimes it's a couple of kids for over three years. So it's not a lot with when it comes to that, but we we just can't. Yeah, I mean, you know and I know when as far as you're if you're gonna teach a kid to hunt, like really, not just in an event, it's like full-on like discipleship and firearms and safety and ethics and whole nine yards, because we take them through hunters education and all that. But Dan gets tons of kids out in the backcountry all the time, and I would encourage you if you don't have like uh you know a philanthropic or uh uh a part of your giving portfolio if you're a giver, um, then I would include them even above and beyond Arizona Quail today, because we wouldn't be here without Dan Priest. And so anyway, I'm not making a living on Arizona Quail today. I'm just trying to pay the bills. So um all the donations do help. We don't get a ton, but maybe you want to help ratchet us up, then come on, we'd love to have your support. So um it's not uh uh shells, birds, gas, food, fuel, accountants, bookkeepers, uh administrative costs. None of that's cheap. So anyway, love to have your support. But you know, the other thing I want to make mention of, I'm all over the place, but um I am working with as well dun dun dun

Molicone Kennels And Dog Progress

SPEAKER_01 24:09

dun. Here we go. Oh my gosh, that wasn't what I was looking for. I'm working with Molicone Kennels, baby. Yeah, uh a few moments later. Okay. Boy, I just hit all my sound effects all at once. Um, I'm working with Molicone Kennels, so yeah, they're they're helping me right now. So the fun thing is, is oh my gosh, I feel like it feels so weird. It's like I don't have some of my kids. So my two dogs have been gone. It'll be four weeks coming up real soon. And so I'm about to go pick them up, and we've been working on they've been uh guy's been working on steady work with my dogs, and so um I'm excited to see kind of how things progressed, you know. And so if you have not uh heard of Guy Molicone, he does a fantastic job with dogs. Here's there's Guy Molicone Senior and Junior. Senior is the OG, he's the guy down in Sierra Vista, and uh you can check him out. I think it's Molicone Kennels that are on Facebook. Um, but yeah, I drove my dogs down there a few weeks ago and then dropped them off several weeks ago. Dropped them off first time I've ever done anything like that. I I did all my own training, but I figure, you know what? I'm traveling west and like getting out on the river. I was out on the Arkansas River kayaking, and we did some hiking. We went out to be in a vista. I used to work there for summers on end for some time, but anyway, traveled out there, went out to tell your ride as well, had an awesome time, and and you know, I will say it is nice not sometimes not having your dog. So we had this little uh Corgi, uh Ollie is his name. That's our my wife's dog, and um that dog's great, actually. We drove us side by side all the way up Imogene Pass, Imogene, I think Imogene or Imogene, Imogene Pass. That was sweet, dude. It was like 13 something thousand feet. It was pretty rad. And uh went up Yankee Boy as well. That was pretty hardcore. The guy was like telling us, like, hey, yeah, don't flip these things over, like whole family died doing that, and then another guy rolled his Jeep down the mountain from Phoenix, just you know, like two or three weeks before that. And then, like, as soon as we went went and did that, and tell you right, literally the Ure fire broke out like two days later, so it was crazy. But anyway, I didn't have my dogs, haven't had my dogs, um, and it kind of makes sense because during the summer I'm taking uh a vacation, I do a pastor's retreat, I do uh reading and writing projects for books, um, and then I run quail camp. So it's like I'm busy in the summer and try to stay in high altitude. And so it was kind of nice, but I'm missing my dogs, I ain't gonna lie. I ain't gonna lie. But I bumped into a guy the other day, and uh I'm gonna tell you his name. He's got a the guy's name is Mike. And uh yeah, I bumped in bumped into this guy named Mike and Vicky, sweet couple, uh out of Prescott, and they had two English pointers, really good-looking pointers, and uh one was just some rock star dog, real young pop, real young dog, but really, really good. And uh then this other dog, another English pointer, so it was really kind of cool. The guy knew far more about his dogs than I do. I I actually I have papers on Zona, and I've got the whole pedigree and the whole thing, but I honestly don't keep up with that stuff. So I think it's really cool for the guys that pay attention to that, but like I just want to know can that dog hunt? Can it hunt? Can it point? Can it retrieve? Because I don't like I don't like hiking down those mountains all the time. When I shoot a bird, especially in Murren's country, shoot a shoot a bird, and it goes way down that canyon. Like, I want my dog to retrieve that sucker

Sponsorship Needs And What Funds Cover

SPEAKER_01 28:34

because that is a long hike down, and um, yeah, and those gambles quail, man, they run, dude. And if they're wounded, and I love sticking my dogs on them things when they're veg here and seeing them come and get that bird. So yeah, it was um yeah, this it's been pretty cool seeing. So I met Mike and Vicky, real sweet couple. They've got these English pointers as well, and uh, I just recommended him to go down to Guy Molicone as well. So I'm recommending all you guys get your dogs down there if you haven't. Uh he fine-tunes them. Uh, I've spent time with him, working with them for years on and off, just here and there. Uh, but this is the first time I've dropped them off for four weeks at a time. So pretty cool. Uh, it was a relief in some ways and grateful for it. And um, yeah, we'll see. So, next up is Quail Camp, man. Just getting some of the guys out here with Fathers in the Field. Um, hopefully, we'll have John Smith Baker. He's the founder of Fathers in the Field. You can go back and listen to one of the episodes uh on Fathers in the Field and John Smith Baker special guest. Um, I don't remember which episode it is, but you could go check it out as well. So um, yeah, really cool. Really, really cool. So good stuff is happening. So uh Keith over at uh Babbitt's backcountry is starting to um this is his second year to help uh support some of the causes that we're doing in a significant way, and so maybe you want to help in a significant way. Um, we are looking for sponsors anywhere from a hundred to two hundred to three hundred dollars a month, and uh that helps just keep everything moving. Um puts on helps uh support and sponsor our our quail camp, the ongoing support that I provide for uh the boys and their backcountry adventures, and um I think this year looks like we're gonna have at least two, if not three, boys that are gonna be hunting and growing with their mentor father. So when you support us, and it helps me to support them, and then I help do some of the shortcuts and make sure they're getting out at Ben Avery's, make encouraging them to do their hunters education, and then encouraging them as well to find get on some birds, and then so if we we'll put them on um we'll put them on planet birds first, and then we'll we'll get them out on wild birds, but it might not be until year two or even three, because wild bird hunting is a whole nother deal. When you're a little kid, you're a little kid, and you bet you gotta you gotta keep up. So we'll see. You know, every every kid's different, and no kid is the same, and so um, but yeah, these boys are young. Um, they'll be nine, ten, eleven, twelve, um, something like that. And then uh we'll work with them for several different years if they make that commitment. So really cool stuff. Really, really cool. Very grateful for the opportunity to do it. All

Volunteer Call And Closing Reminders

SPEAKER_01 32:02

right, guys. Well, that makes a uh another episode. I don't I don't know what to call this. Uh random updates. Some of you might find it incredibly helpful, others, I mean, it kind of tells you a little bit about what's going on with Arizona Quail today. Again, I think you should be able to expect um you know, updates on the website. Again, we're looking for writers, um, people that are, you know, maybe you're an op-ed. Uh you're um helping just provide some opinion uh editorial pieces for the website. Love to have your contributions on there. And maybe you'd like to be a guest on the podcast. We've just hit uh, I think it's 10,000 downloads. So that's a lot of time. People have been listening to this this podcast, so that's kind of cool. It's a little mile marker, and uh, I'm enjoying doing it. I hear stuff about it out here and there, and just people saying, Hey, I really appreciate the podcast, or thanks for your support, or thanks for all you do, and um, you know, and special thanks to all of you who do give online and help support the cause, every little bit does help. I'm hoping that we can open up a um a store, an online store, uh, so you can get hats and shirts and merch and all that. So I'll be working towards that. But again, if you're interested in volunteering if uh some way or another, helping getting out to those dog trials and promoting some of the gear and some of the work that we're doing with Arizona Quail today, let me know. I'd send you out with a tent, I'd send you out with some water bottles, some gear, some information about fathers in the field. I'd send you out with whatever, whatever paraphernalia, uh the merchandise that yeah I could get put in your hands, then uh I'd send you out there with that to just give stuff away and let people uh encourage them in their yeah uh uh upland endeavors and all that good stuff. And then um, like I said, if you're interested in being on the program, love to explore you being on the program. Uh you just write, write me and let me know what your uh, you know, what what you'd like to share with people, and we just go from there. And uh yeah, I think that's about it. So visit us at azquailtoday dot com for more information. You can expect that we'll put out some more information in regards to forecast and stuff that's going on um in the season, you know. I mean the monsoon, some we are getting some rains, and so that's been pr pretty cool. Hopefully we keep it up uh across the state, and uh that that'd be pretty awesome. But you can count on us doing some more of that. And uh, yeah, man, that's about it. All right, so we'll close out with this.

SPEAKER_00 36:17

Well you guys take care. Remember, get outside.

SPEAKER_02 36:26

Thanks for listening in. To help further our work, please consider making a tax-deductible gift. Visit us online at azquailtoday.com and be sure to follow us on social media for the latest information and updates. Till then, remember to get outside.