La Puela - La Cobia at Agua Blanca Dec. 10, 1979 (cont.) By the same token, areas that you would call highly overgrazed most years are suddenly undergrazed in a big rainfall year, which encourages successful quail reproduction. The fires make no contribution to quail welfare - on the contrary, they destroy cover which will take years to regrow. Quail forage around the edge of the burns and when driven by hunting they cross the naked hills running - highly valuable to predation no doubt. Going in this morning we jumped a white-winged dove; Coming out we saw one foraging in a sandy wash and jumped at shot it. After lunch we continued our quest for mourning doves, turning in toward Agua Blanca where I recall bothing down in 1978. A mile or so across the grain fields we saw a few dove on a fence bordering a narrow draw with thorn trees. Got out and started stirring them around and had some instant shooting. Then a regular flight started coming at me from the west, flying like arrows down wind, 20 to 40 yds high. We had a delightful shoot from 1:45 to 2:30, using plenty of shells but hitting enough of them to limit out meat 10 pieces before 3:00 PM. By that time the flight was over and all the birds were scattered out in the stubble fully feeding. We timed it just right. The amount of water in this country is amazing. Nearly all washers have intermittent pools and many have flowing streams. Often says from the air you will see many playas and bolsones sipping wet or even overflowing. Some aquifers were certainly recharged during those two rainy years.