We were out for blue grouse this morning.. Here is Kate with the first bird of the year!!

Damn! Haven't even been yet.




Travis

Thought you just fished on Thursdays?? Nice fish..

Lamar on Thursday, want to go?

I would love to, but a long way to travel now.. Maybe another summer, plus it looks like it maybe a good year for grouse.. Haven't had one in a while.

Dove opener

Bling, from Today...

Nice!!!

Nice pic's. Wish I could post some of my success but I need some success first. 😉

I went out yesterday afternoon and took Charlie's shotgun for a 2 hour walk. Didn't jump any sharptails or huns but of course it was pheasant central(not open yet).




Little color already in some of the ash trees.





Headed back out here in a bit as soon as it gets light enough to see!

That Rizzini's a joy to carry on a long walk even if you didn't find any birds.

Beautiful country there Sam...


Field, that is a neat shotgun you blessed Sam with!!!!

That little shotgun is great, carried it about 5 miles in the last two days. It points like a dream....

Got skunked yesterday but had I remembered the limit is 4 sharp tails I could have limited out this morning. 3 birds is enough anyway.

Buck post.



First bird with the 'new' gun.



And I don't know what is better lookin', this handsome devil or the shotgun?!

Great photos.. Nice to have some grouse on the belt..

Keep it up.. I think I would vote for the 16 ga. The hunter doesn't seem to have any fine gold inlays!!!

Gold aviators though......haha



Grilled the grouse for lunch, doesn't get much fresher than that!

The gun is nice; the aviators are nice but,.... it's the sage my eyes are drawn to.

😊

Nice work Sam.

I don't have any aviators but I do have the same Filson game bag.
If you look in the back, there's a pouch to carry those birds in.


BTW,,,, I'm sure glad you ended up with that shotgun.
I don't think it could have gone to a better home.

Thanks Charlie, I appreciate that, and I'm glad I ended up with it too....grin




George, no shortage of sage in these parts!

Pretty high falootin' scattergun Sam...


Nash has got a couple sharpies so far, but I haven't been out.......yet.

Our dove hunting is pretty poor here.. Very few local birds, a few more when the northern birds pass though..
We got a couple of them the other day.. My real dove hunting will be in Az. in December..

Missed this opening day shot of Peach with some grouse..

Last evening we decided to go for a short hunt.. Just to get away and get some fresh air..
Tried one cover, and found a older rooster hanging in there.. Kate made a nice retrieve..

Can't beat that

Gotta love a filson product. Like Fieldgrade, I have that game bag myself.

Looks better on me though, sans aviators.

Well done!!!!!!

You need to give your 28 some chances.

battue, plan to do that, but for the next 10 days or so, we will be up north for deer & grouse... Space is limited so I will just take the 20.. Will have the 12 also incase we get some waterfowl shooting.. Have a good one.

I need to get one of those. I have a Browning version but it is orange and not as UBE.




Travis

I was able to do some damage yesterday evening. Should have had 4 sharptails though!






Dave

That's a nice mixed bag.

Well done Clark.

Was a good two hours.

I did end up with one more dove on the way out. Stopped by the grain bins...



Travis

I recognize that area, one of the spots we took you a couple years ago. Make sure you take all your friends and show them so it won't be private anymore...

Went love looking for Blues and ended up with a bunch of stinking Ruffed Grouse...

How do you think I paid for that Benelli in the picture?




Travis

This is a great thread, Rick should move this forum to the top of the list for the next 45 days...


The Filson would be even better if they made the front pockets 'deeper' and easier to reach into real quick like for more shotgun shells.

My Filson bag will have some asian transplanted COCK filling it in two weeks...in Nevada.

It's going to be a great time.

I gotta get one of these fancy Filson bags.



Travis

Blues and Ruffs from Washington

One Grouse and a half a cord of wood today.
That's all I can eat and as hard as I want to work so it was a good day.

They are so thick you can knock them out of the air with a S&W upland special...

I shot this trout out of the air the other day...

Damn near walked a whole hour this morning. Grin...





Dave

Mo better eating. I blew that sandwich right off the limb he was sitting on and he did a face plant right there. Should name a beer after him...

Glad to see you guys have been slaying some birds....

Indeed!


I took my dad's heeler dog for about a 5 mile CRP walk the other day and only jumped 3 birds. Didn't even get a shot off but still fun.

Got within about 40 yards of a bedded 4x4 mule deer before the dog sniffed him and scared the chit outta the deer.

Tres mas.

(Jeb Bush Font)

SamO,

I'm seeing lots of birds but not many deer.

Antelope still seem to be hurting too.




Travis

Damn SamO, you are some kinda good with that old Kodak.

Flave, you need to put a rubber mat on the floor of your truck to keep the beer bottles from rattling. Scares the birds.

Jus Say'n

W. Bill

Good photo, good looking Lab.

First bird this fall, and a pic of my hunting buddy and his dogs.
The ruffies are still in deep cover as of yesterday, the dogs put up seven birds but were very flighty and did not hold well.
by the time we got to them , most of them were flying!
Three held for us long enough to get into the thick stuff however.
Cat

Nice smoke poles. Looks like your pard has his eyes SxS too. ;-{>8

Too fugkin' funny.




Travis

Oh yeah!
I have been trying to trim my collection down and so has he- it ain't workin' out too wellLOL
Cat

Yesterday was the opening day of sage grouse season... We headed out to one of my favorite areas.. After a couple dry runs, Kate flushed a nice covey.. Two shots from the old 870 12 ga. field gun, and we had our limit for the day..
Federal 3 1/4- 1 1/4- 6's did a fine job.. Planned on taking the 20 ga. but the old 12 has been killing birds for me since '75..

This morning was pretty much a repeat of yesterday.. Hit a couple good spots nothing.. Then while driving to another area, Kate began whining.. She had her head out the window so I figured she smelled some grouse..

Got my 870 Trap gun out and loaded it with WW 3 1/4 1 1/4-4's.. We started off though the sage and didn't make 50 yards when she bounded the first bird.. As she was retrieving it, she hit the rest of the covey.. A second shot and we had our limit..

Nice birds- we can't hunt sage grouse up here, they have petered out in Alberta.
BTW, love that Wingmaster!
Cat

Nice shooting and guns WCH.

Sometimes a morning goes too good....

Enjoy the beautiful high country chasing grouse

Congrats and Nice pics guys. Let my new "best friend" out this morning before leaving for work and he decided to have some fun. Had cut some trees down and threw everything down the bank off the driveway. Thick puts it mildly, it is Rabbit/Groundhog central and NBF dove in and decided he was staying. Lot of yipping going on and one time I had a visual he was head and neck into a Groundhog hole. After 20 minutes I had to go in after him in my good clothes before something ran across the road.

In another 10minutes I had him. Clothes took a beating so had to change. Should have worn the Filson. Actually I'm an LL Bean guy, but don't tell Shrap; I don't want him to look down on me.

Keep it up, our season opens shortly and heading to Mich pretty soon.

Made work an hour late.

battue, what area of Mich. are you heading to?? My wife is from the Straits area. Pretty country, but too flat and swampy for this boy..

Never been there, but I remember my Bud mentioning Atlanta, Mich. Looks swampy on the map and they mentioned it was flat compared to W.Pa. Mainly going to get the new Pup into a bunch of Birds. Probably will mainly be Woodcock and I could care less to shoot them, but it is more of a training run than shooting. Right now he needs to have some fun, figure the game out and get in as many flushes as possible.

Wont be passing up too many opportunities on Grouse if they show up, nor will it compare to the Montana/Canada crew numbers. Still should be worthwhile.

Addition: Congrats on the 870. That's the real 870 as you know.

Been to that area a bit.. Have a great hunt and hope you get lots of shooting..

Opted for my 10 year old b day present(1972) $70 single shot since was griff's first grouse hunt


Shot some with bow too as I was archery elk hunting

Griff looks like a really neat pal... Nice little single barrel..

Nothing like a full choke Mathews bow...

Couldn't get them to fly, so I ground sluiced them....



The Hummer had to get in the act too....

Do you guys eat those Rabbits?

Was in Wyoming once and they were everywhere. I mean thousands of them. Little, bigger and dead lying everywhere. Asked the rancher if they ate them and he said not unless he was real hungry in that they carried a lot of disease.

More with the S&W Upland Special, a real grouse getter...

Yes. I do!

Love them.



I was in Wyoming last week and you're right...they were everywhere.
We didn't have as many in montana, but they are definitely on the high point of a cycle.

Shrapnel was right about the grouse.

The skies were black with them!

I got this one out of a passing flock...he was at the head of the "V" formation.....

I took this one as he flared, coming into the decoys. Few people know how effective decoys are when hunting Ruffed Grouse...

Very few people are aware of decoying bunnies....


This group came into a "J" hook spread...

I got this one using a Foxpro cottontail calling feature I downloaded from the internet...

Damn your hide!

I was gonna be the first to try that!


I did notice the town fox squirrels and magpies heckle each other relentlessly so I put the Foxpro ( true story) out by the Havahart trap and played magpie sounds.


Had a squirrel in ten minutes.

Last evening Kate and I headed out for some sage grouse hunting... Need a few more for my friends.. Took a couple walks, and Kate put up a double.. For my part I missed three easy shots.. Bummer... We headed to another spot, and I glassed a bird sitting on a sage probably 300 yards away.. Kate and I made a bee line for the spot.. But when you start walking across a sage brush flat, it is difficult, for me at least, to hit the exact area.. But this time we were dead on, at least Kate was.. A couple birds got up, and I missed three shots!!! Had been doing so well at the beginning of season!! Crap.. Dropped another WW 3 1/4- 1 1/4 -#4 in the chamber.. As Kate came back to me she hit half a dozen more birds.. This time I kept my head down and shot.. Perfect hit, FIANLLY..

Kate was pretty hot so I took her to a spring for a drink and swim.. I got out of the truck, and was going to take a photo, when I thought birds might be here before going to roost.. Just dropped a #4 in the 870 when Kate crossed the fence to the spring.. Half a dozen birds hit the air.. Took my time and dropped one at about 35 yards..

Here the photos that go with the above.. Hit the submit button too soon..

Kate after getting the second bird..

Couple more photos of our hunt: My old 870 12 ga. and the birds:

As we headed in, the moon came up in the east...







The sun was setting in the west.. End of another hard day of retirement...

Here is the moon rise!! I hope!!

Taking a page from Shrapnel's book, I took my small guage S&W Upland model out this morning with a friend of mine and shot a couple spruce hens. 90gr Lee SWC over 5gr of AA5 32 H&R magnum.

Pretty grouse, never shot a spruce grouse, don't think I ever saw any in Wy. Sharp little small bore..

They are pretty good eating, very dark meat similar to a dove. They only eat spruce needles in the winter and can get pretty gamey, most folks don't shoot them after the snow flies. They are dumb as tackhammers and no sport at all with a shotgun. The little 32 does good as it is scary accurate and doesn't ruin much if any meat even when you shoot them through the wing butts like I normally do. I'm not good enough to consistently hit that little bobbing head.

We're supposed to have some Spruce Grouse here in ID (ID F&G lists a season for em anyway) but you couldn't prove it by me. Never seen one.

Is that the 870 wingmaster trap model?


Good job looks like a beautiful area to hunt

ribka, no that last photo is my 870 field.. It does have nice wood.. The trap model is shown on an earlier post.. It has excellent wood..

Been out a few times

Nice photos !!

Upland in the river bottom:

Holy moly 28! That looks like a ton of work skinnin that many rats. Be lots of good eats to follow for sure though.

Got 5 of them in the crock pot right now. I prefer Squirrel to any other wild game I've eaten.

Grouse so thick, you can't miss them...

Dang it Shrapnel. Last week I see your pictures and go shoot grouse with a S&W to emulate you. Do I have to buy AK shotguns so me and my dad can go tomorrow?

Btw. What kind of grouse are those? We have spruce and ruffed in my part of Alaska, mostly spruce.

Miss squirel hunting

Drawback living out west

Squirrel in the crockpot with mushroom soup, wild rice

Very nice

The good old days are back!


The skies are black with rabbits!

Great pics! Love the squirrels!

Unsportsmanliked another fool hen this morning. Cheated and used my 77/22.

Great photos!!!!! I would hate to skin that pile of squirrels.. Shooting would have been blast, but skinning those little devils?????????????

The Pheasant opener wasn't the same without ol Pete but we went out for a couple of hours anyway. Sophie managed to point a young rooster in his memory.
75 degrees....yuck.

Most of these are Ruffed Grouse, but the Blues are the best. Bigger and take less to make a fine dinner. Here is a size comparison. Blue Grouse will literally make 2 of Ruffed Grouse...

Nice shooting there field..

Tough loosing one 's hunting pal.

Go up into the Lochsa towards Montana. Basically any sideroad off of the Lolo Highway. Shotgun Creek, the Papoose Lake Road or anywhere else up there. They're pretty thick up in the higher elevations around there. They seem to like the dark, dense areas. I used to kill the heck out of Spruce grouse up there. They're as dumb as Piddler.

I'm not big on eating them...too dark for me. Much prefer ruffed, though as Shrap says, the blues are are good too and much bigger.

Last week Kate and I had a bit of success on chukar.. Not much, but they didn't skunk us this time..

We also had a bit of luck on huns this year.. Again not much, but they didn't shut us out!!!!

Wyo, I was down on the border above you shooting bunnies and could have sworn I saw a covey of chukars....saw lots of Huns. I was only about 3 miles from Wyoming, and I know our F&G planted chukars in the Pryors, way back in the day. Didn't know of any recent efforts, and these ones were about 15-20 miles west of the Pryors.
Could it be? Or are my eyes deceiving me?

When I went for birds in the late 1990's in Montana, I remember being told that chukars were not common in the state, but there were some in the area you mention.. I didn't hunt there but mostly up around Winnett, and Roundup..
I'll be you did see chukar.. Going back for more bunnies and some huns????

No plans at present..got a freezer full of bunnies and Im just not much of a bird shooter, though I do like to eat them
Id love to get back down there but I just plain don't need any more bunnies ( though I might pop a couple locals...)
That country would no doubt be good for some coyote calling too....

We will be in Northern Wy. some this next mth.. May try calling that area if you don't care!!

All you need up here for yotes is a conservation license ( I think its $8) and if you head up, let me know, I'll point you to a couple spots on the map

Thanks!!!

mtcurman and downstream were kind enough to invite me out last week.

We done pretty good.

Holy buckets!!

Shrap is shooting something that is not Sako and not wood-stocked.

5:02 bird from this afternoon. I would never hunt on the clock.
(notice the trimmed alfalfa, the deer having been having a literal heyday down there)

Congrats Sam.

Nice dog as well, I've always wanted one of them or the blue version. While working in a refinery in Oklahoma years ago, I made friends with a rancher and his lady friend and got invited over for dinner. Watched his dogs(blue heelers) corral some cattle--beautiful thing.

Heelers are nuts...


Cock display.

Aviators drink!

Nice congrats

What make and model is that shootin iron? Pretty nice looking. Looks like a beretta but I'm blind in one eye and can't see out the other

I. Rizzini that Fieldgrade was nice enough to part with.

I about get a woodie every time Sam posts a pic of that Rizzini! What a gorgeous shotgun that is!

Long tail feathers and Aviators...

Did you use your handy winch, or quarter it to load in your pickup?

Holy cow! Don't ever mention an easy way to haul out an elk, you could get lynched on the Campfire...

I needed Shrapnel's handy winch last winter to load a giant Igloo cooler with 54 roosters floating in ice water into the back of the truck after a week in SD.

Nice longtail by the way Shrapnel.

Good-looking Vizsla, Duckster!

Thanks.

She is a great dog. First time back in the field after a season ending injury last year on the day before Thanksgiving.

H joins 700CLUB (non-denominational), from Today...

Nice shooting and great photos.. Nice to get caught up on the events of the last 10 days.. We had fun, but no birds.. Keep them coming..

Much,

That is a great photo.

No kidding!

That's a classic.

Thanks for posting it.

.....And there we were kiddies, I'm tellin' ya, there were pheasants EVERYWHERE- big as Schnauzers they were but cagey!
If it weren't for me and louie the GSP those danged handlers of ours wouldn't have picked up a danged one of those critters!

Looks like some awesome shooting.. Certainly an awesome double!!!!!

Hunting with some buddies near Kimball SD last week - had a great time, plenty of birds.

My 7 month old brit is starting to figure it out. Here is her first limit.

A Mornings Walk in the Grouse Woods

CSMC RBL 16

[img:center]http://[/img]

Nice work!!!

Ruby on point, getting ready to kick up a rooster

That hammer gun is a beaut! What is it?

Nice pic. Looks like at least one bull Grouse and the shotgun is pretty nice also. Well done.

And another good one.

And yet another. Wish we had those wild ones over here.

Thanks battue.

That RBL is such a pretty gun that it makes these days of low bird numbers seem brighter.

I have been enjoying your posts re yr new boy, Merlow. A cute pup and he's been getting some great experience in his first season.

Thanks Battue. My brother and I shot 6 more today but forgot to take pictures. Dog is improving each day but for some reason my shooting is getting worse everyday. Shot great in my sporting clays and skeet league this summer, I don't know what's going on.

Don't feel alone. Went into a little slump myself the last couple outings, while a Bud is knocking Birds down with ease. And they were not all that easy of shots either.

Some pix from Grouse hunting (so far) 2015:












[img]http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj82/fourtrax57/lynx-2.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj82/fourtrax57/GR-GRS-R17.jpg[/img]

Dude, you got it going on beeeeg time!!!!

Awesome!! Heard Minn. has good grouse hunting sure looks like it.. some beautiful guns and dogs..

Posted on the other thread, but will join in here also.

Battue, nice work there and a couple beautiful friends!!

Fourtrax and Battue - nice dogs gents! And good pictures too.

Some southern Saskatchewan birds that I got this week

and a couple more


my Pudelpointer Chewie strikes an aristocratic pose...

more mallards redhead buddy shot and roosters

nice trifecta castnblast!

great looking dogs

Great dogs, guns and photos!!! Enjoy seeing your successes!!

Its a Westley Richards, circa 1878. :>)
Cat

Some more roosters that my brother and I shot today. We hunted the last four days and were able to get our limit everyday. I can't wait to get my pup out next weekend.

Nicely done photo's - dog looks happy.

THIS is a cool pic!

Dats a big GD catfish for anywhere in Montana!

Some water isn't safe...

Nice to go old school with the Sharps!

Catfish will give you something to shoot till the Great Herds migrate back down from the north....

Thanks Cat! Nice Griff as well!

Getting a PP right at Christmas. I hope he's as good looking/hunting as that one! Great looking dog!

[img:left][/img]

NICE pic!

Where did the left birds tail feathers go? Was he a runner by chance? Great pic BTW

Here is what an 8 year old can do with a single shot .410. Shot two within about 15 minutes of each other. The last one was after a barage of 12 guages down the line and he calmly lets go with a 'plink' and down falls a wild Kansas rooster. Won't wipe the smile off his face for a week. Last week he got 3 quail while hunting with his year old flushing lab-





One of many points we had. Need better photographer......

Man, I'm sure enjoying these pictures - Cheesy that is good stuff!

Our first rooster of the fall:

The little one is loving it!

Had a great morning. Walked one draw and had my birds. Didn't even get the dog tired.

Win,

I had the opposite. Walked 11 miles and found one rooster... No complaints though because it's been a low mile year when it comes to birds overall.

NICE looking Brittany!

I've had a pretty low mile year as well. I've had a couple days of really really bad shooting where I had to put a few extra miles on. I have some good GoPro footage I need to edit and figure out how to post it.

Thanks she just turned 8 months old. She is doing really well. I need to work on retrieving. She is picking them up but not bringing them to hand.

She reminds me of somebody I knew....a long time ago in a galaxy far far away...

I don't know much about upland hunting, but who would of thought it: Matt Damon shoots birds and with a Benelli 20!

I'm much better looking than that loser.




Travis

Same bird from above. Different photo.

Nice shooting guys.. Keep it up.

We have been bird hunting for a few days.. Saw this sign and decided NOT to ask him to hunt, but a great sign!!!

ingwe, beautiful dog in that long ago time!!!

While we are mostly after ringnecks, we have been getting into coveys of huns pretty often.. Got a double the next trip...

Here is some footage from this year. First attempt at editing GoPro videos.

[video:youtube]OdclBF4WABU[/video]

On our trip, we finally got into some pheasants.. This time we did well..

A day later Kate and I got into another pocket of roosters.. She did her work well...

We are on the last stop on this trip.. I had a whitetail tag yet to fill.. Had an excellent spot for nice bucks, but the last few years more and more hunters are in the area.. So the size and number of bucks has gone down.. Cold this am.. The temp was 1 degree.. It took three hits from the .2506 to bring this guy down.. He was in very high grass so my shots were quite limited... Glad to get him, but more and more I like birds.. A guy can put them in his pocket and go on..

The icing on our cake was finding a flock of turkey.. I picked one off with my .22-250.. Thanksgiving dinner is settled.. 63 gr Sierra and 4350 did the job.. More than a dozen turkeys have been taken with this load..

Head shot or body shot? And if its the latter, hows the meat damage?


Maggie is Loving it!

Its really good that you take Maggie on all your outings. It will pay huge dividends down the road. Seeing your pics makes me miss my Ingwedog, who did everything with me for a lot of years...

ingwe, I take my dogs almost everywhere.. Sometimes they must sit a while in the pickup while I am off hunting, but they always get to be part of any action even if it is after the fact.. ingwe dog looks like a very happy dog!!! He knew he was loved..

I hit the turkey right at the wing butts.. Both wings were broken.. It just nipped the one breast a bit.. Very little meat was lost.. I get great satisfaction out of making a good shot on a turkey.. Plus I love to eat them...

ingwe, didn't you have a special draw deer permit this year?? I missed alot of the action here since we are away.. Hope you got a nice one..

No special tags...I drew a buck permit in an area where you must apply, but you will get it, then you aren't allowed to hunt mule deer bucks in any other area.

Season isn't over yet, I haven't been out and not too sure if I'll go. I'm saving myself for hunting Axis in Texas in the spring.
When its warm.......



And Ingwedog was a she....I prefer females too. Rommel, my current GSD is the only male Ive ever had.....and I was hoping for a female that time......but the dog was picked for temperament over everything else.

I like those mulies best.. But I have a harder time getting out in the cold than I used to. Must be the soft retirement life!!!

That axis hunt would be fun..I haven't shot one for years.. When I was teaching, I often hunted them on spring break.. Then after I retired, a pal and I made a couple hunts in May, I believe.. We shot some very nice bucks for $750. Have a hard time at today's prices.. We shot a lot of culls for meat for as little as $150...

Still, I want to make another trip sometime soon..

"Thanks for not missing"

I love you too Rush!

Excellent!!!!!!

Nice going WCH. You're gettin' it done.




Travis

win,

I want a Go-Pro but I'm scared I'll start missing the moment I turn it on.




Travis

I'll say....the new pup seems to be a good luck charm....should of named her Lucky.....

Henry with some grouse up in NW Wisconsin. Worked our butts off that day.

Field, I got this pup,for my wife's birthday... She got to pick her out and name her... Lucky would be an excellent choice, but not to happen.. Thanks she is a great dog.

Z nice dog and brace of ruffs!!!

Beats a day at work. 5 hour drive out. 5 hour drive home. And get to work the holiday. Good day today for sure.




PETA doesn't mind her carrying a gun but my dog isn't giving kisses either.

Five mile morning.

One hen. One rooster. One shot.

We got a chance to go out again for ringnecks.. Got in a good pocket this afternoon.. Kate was the main dog, but Maggie got her nose in the feathers when we got in..

NICE!!!!

Looks like Maggie is filling out. Nice to see you getting both into Birds.

Better than the stink eye

Nice pics guys

Thanks guys, we were at it again today.. Used my old 870 12 with WW 3 1/4-1 1/4-4's.. But luck we got on to a private sections..
Kate did fine.. Maggie will be coming on soon..

Cool beans!

Good job

Nice

I was up in NW WI middle of October grouse hunting and the ticks were the worst I have seen in 40 years!

We made another long hunt yesterday morning.. After covering much of one of my most productive covers and coming up empty, we decided to try another one close by.. As we were getting ready to leave this area, I spotted a rooster walk into the far end of the cover.. I hadn't hit that little section, so we headed down there.. It was just a heavy little patch of brush on the side of a hill.. There were open fields to the north.. Kate and I waded in with in seconds she kicked up the first rooster of the day.. I had my old 870 12 ga. loaded with 3 1/4 - 1 1/4- #6.. a Federal factory.. The next two were WW with everything the same except #4 shot.. The first bird dropped with the load of 6's.. As Kate went to pick it up, she kicked out a second rooster.. It dropped in the open field.. My wife was watching through binocs, said while we were shooting the first two, 4 or 5 more flew across the field into the brush.. With two in the vest, I decided to work the little patch again because we had only covered part of it.. Heading back though, Kate got a bit far ahead, and flushed another rooster and two hens.. I miss that one, but at the shot another rooster flushed, and a couple hens.. He was well with in range, and the #4's dropped him like a rock.. That little patch of brush was loaded with birds.. I am not sure how many were in there.. We didn't complete the walk though it.. Figured it was a good spot we might try later in the week..

Kate did all the work, but Maggie had to get her photo taken...

Nice going WCH.

We got fugked on roosters. Managed a couple Huns. I hate Huns... grin.






Travis

Huns are fun.. Haven/t shot any this trip.. Huns are better than nothing!! Good shooting they are fast little devils...

Nice to see this thread is still going strong!



I walked for over 2 hours after work yesterday and jumped a bunch of pheasants but they were all out of range. Still a great afternoon, 50F and zero wind, beyond nice for December.


Then of course this morning 3 roosters almost flew into the side of the pickup when I drove by the silage pile. They landed about 50 yards away but I didn't think shooting the pets would a nice idea.

Maybe tomorrow.....grin

Sam, you have great moral standards!!!! These roosters are too tricky for me to give them many breaks!!! Great luck on the next hunt..

Sam's a purist.

Shrap would have mowed 'em down with his Nova.




Travis

Two shells, two huns.

I still hate 'em... grin.




Travis

My son and our dog, earlier this evening, after our day of hunting pheasant in the rain:



A few pheasants from around Thanksgiving time:





And chukar as well. Had to work for those rascals!



Chukar hill:



Regards, Guy

Been slow the last few days.. Got a hun yesterday with the 870 20g. and Kent 1 oz, 7 1/2's..

Travis, in your twenty ga. you shoot 5's... 2 3/4 or 3"???

Later I hit one rooster we lost.. First one this fall.. Bummer.....

Hun from yesterday..

The baby dog is going for it!

Copper plated # 4 shot is the best thing I have found for late season cock!

jimy, I have been shooting quite a few 4's from my 12 ga. Not for greater range, but they seem to knock birds down with few cripples at average ranges.. Probably my average distance of the shot is farther than a guy using a pointing dog..

They hit hard and tear up a lot less meat than # 6s, I shoot them in my O/U 20 gauge with improved and modified barrels.

Last hunt of the year in Central Washington was good in the snow..

Looks like it was a good day!!!

Yes it does. Nice pic!!!!

Agree! Great photo, and looks like it was a great hunt!

Got out for a days Phez hunt while in S. MN. at Christmas time. Just bought this Remmy Sportsman 48 in 16 ga. First shot & this Rooster landed on his back doing the death flap. It's a keeper. Really like these "New - Old guns".
Hero shot/s:

Nice work and a nice gun.. Great looking dogs too...

Nice work and a nice gun.. Great looking dogs too...