Originally Posted by smokepole
Originally Posted by Coyote_Hunter
Originally Posted by Just a Hunter
This is a terrible thing, but for those who won't have a round chambered while hunting do you do the same thing with your shotguns while hunting?
Quite often, yes, I carry a shotgun with an empty chamber. Mine is an 870 pump and I've used it for doubles at the range. (Not very successfully, I might add, but the occasional success is addicting.) Picking up the second clay is actually more difficult for me than starting with an empty chamber an picking up the first.

There are lots of times when an empty chamber makes sense for a shotgun. Engaging doves might not be one of them. Laying in a ditch waiting for geese might be (and often has been).

Although we hunt empty chamber most of the time with our rifles, the key word is "most". There are times when having a loaded chamber makes more sense and we choose according to our judgement.
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That's a little different answer than you gave the first time you answered this question a few pages back. Have you changed your thinking?


Not at all.

What I said above was I rarely "hunt cold" with a shotgun. I differentiate between "hunting" and "travelling by foot", whether carrying a rifle or shotgun. The two may overlap or I may be doing one or the other, depending on the situation. I don't see any need to have a loaded chamber while laying in a ditch or blind waiting for ducks or geese to come in anymore than when hiking to or from the hunting spots. I'm also hesitant to call waiting time "hunting" time except in the broadest terms. Hunting mode kicks in for me when the ducks or geese are in sight, not when the skies are clear, and there is plenty of time to load the chamber then if conditions warrant.

In any case, I haven't hunted ducks or geese in many (15?) years. Doves are a different story - one in the chamber and safety on.

Coyote Hunter - NRA Patriot Life, NRA Whittington Center Life, GOA, DAD - and I VOTE!

No, I'm not a Ruger bigot - just an unabashed fan of their revolvers, M77's and #1's.

A good .30-06 is a 99% solution.