Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game First Pheasants of the Season

First pheasant hunt of the fall! My son and I took a couple of my dad's shotguns hunting, the Remington Model 32 and a 28 gauge CZ. We were on the Cooke Canyon Hunt Club, so these aren't wild birds. Not a lot of wild pheasant around here, so I hunt the raised birds here on the club.


Maverick the dog had a stellar day! Though it was warm and dry, his nose picked up on the birds just fine. His point was strong and steady. His retrieves were mostly excellent... Well except for one bird he wanted to keep for himself. LOL! He gave it to me easily when I asked again. He even got to go for a swim in the irrigation ditch! Mav's pretty pleased with himself.


Both shooters had a bit of a learning curve. We hadn't hunted with either of these shotguns before. The little 28 gauge double barrel CZ is so light and easy to carry! Deadly on pheasants too with Winchester's 2 3/4" 5/8 ounce #6 steel shot.


The 12 gauge Model 32 seems lighter than my Browning Citori over & under. I thought that I was going to need to remove a spacer from the buttstock, but am not so sure now. I hit well with it today. Missed the first bird, because I forgot how the safety on this shotgun worked! No shots fired, bird flew a long way. I did see a hawk very interested in something over where the pheasant landed, so I hope the hawk got a good pheasant meal. I was shooting Federal 2 3/4" Bismuth, 1 1/4 ounce #5 shot. It will absolutely whollop a pheasant! Hit one that I thought was on the ragged edge of "too far" and dropped it very quickly. I am impressed. This is the skeet barrel set.


All in all it was fun, and a good tuneup for future upland bird hunts this season.


















OH! Maverick's brother/littermate got DNA tested and it comes out to about 75% German Wirehaired Pointer & 25% German Shorthair Pointer. Not pureblood, but not a bad mix at all. Mav has turned out real well. I got him when he was about a year old, he was a "rescue" dog - meaning that his first family gave up on him, and on his brother. Well, he's become an excellent pet, companion, watch dog, hiking buddy, and pretty good at this hunting stuff as well. It was a joy to watch him work today.



Regards, Guy