Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Good Ol' Wild Birds....

I'm more or less new to upland bird hunting with dogs, I've hunted Snipe for years at home in the marshes and know them to be fast and quick maneuvering but mostly fly over mud/ water without any obstacles to shoot around. In the process of training up our first gun dog we've shot some pen raised quail and pheasant with a good bit of sporting clays shooting mixed in. This "practice" had me feeling pretty good about my wingshooting....

Got into some wild quail up in the thick brush/ woods these last few days and I'm here to tell you they have put me right back in my place!!!! Jumped one covey yesterday and got off only one shot for one bird. Jumped a covey this morning then put up a single on the second pass, three shots fired today with 0 birds in the bag!!! All misses today were well within range, I was just plain not ready or too slow on the flush. Anybody else beat up on pen raised birds and Clay's then get a lesson in humility from a covey of wild feathered rockets?

It happens to everyone and more often than once. Best advice is to ignore the intervening brush and shoot as normal.

In another post you mention having your three young sons tag along. That is admirable but having to account for the kids, watch the dog, ready for the shot, and then position yourself to take the shot is pretty time consuming not to mention placing a large strain on the brain. In fairness to the dog, which is young and inexperienced, fewer distractions to you and it would be very beneficial for its progress. A couple trips with the kids is good for them but there have to be some in which the dog is your primary focus so you can judge the dog's progress/failings and to learn the dog's habits and signs upon contacting game.

It may cause disappointment on the part of the kids to be left behind on some occasions but it would be advantageous to the dog and you as well as providing a learning experience to the kids. A dog is with us a very short time and the window for having the greatest impact on its training is relatively narrow so one needs to decide what their priorities are. Once that decision is made, there really isn't a bad one.

Woodmaster,

The brush absolutely boogered me up more than I'd like to admit! Some mental training is in order for sure.

I understand your next point completely, I will admit working a young flushing dog and accounting for three little guys leaves very little time for readying to shoot. The amount of time I have to impact my dog is definitely narrow. The amount of time I have to impact my young sons is likely the same. In all aspects of my life I'm a Father and Husband first. If that means I'll likely always miss birds and have second rate bird dogs then so be it. As much time as I spend away at work I choose not to lose any more of my time off away from them unless they choose otherwise ( usually only a week stay with grandparents trumps hunting/fishing). They've been with me through every step of training and it's been great fun for all of us so far, hopefully I'll tighten up on my rough shooting and all will be well!

They are tough for me. My dog forgives me and the freezer is full of venison so we just keep harassing them. A few fall and I am happy. Sure make pheasants look a lot easier.

Pen raised Quail don’t fly as fast as the Wild Birds. You were in the thick and most times the pen raised ones will be more in the open. With Sporting Clays you decide when the bird will go, while Wild Birds make the decision, and SC again will usually be more open attempts. As mentioned you were watching the Kids. And you were using a flusher.

All combined is a recepie for rough shooting.

Addition: Sporting clays is more than advantageous for developing fundamentals. However, if one is hunting where snap shooting in the brush is the order of the day, then practicing the "move, mount, shoot" method on the course would be more than advantageous also. Also you could let the puller decide when the target is released rather than you calling pull. And as it applies to the shooting you just did, choose targets with a small window to break the clay. Most Wild Quail hunting would best be done with "move, mount. shoot" in that there is little time for pull away and sustained lead. Especially when you are in the thick. Swing thru, perhaps.

30338,
My only experience with Pheasant is one pen raised bird that was a "leftover" in the field we shot pen raised quail in. Compared to the Snipe and Dove I've come up shooting it was definitely not a big challenge. Though it was so tasty that I'm adding a few to our preserve trip today. I'm sure the wild variety are much more challenging to shoot.

battue,

I was certain wild quail would be faster than pen raised birds, I just underestimated how much! By nature I prefer to snap shoot at birds on the jump and usually do pretty well. I believe at the preserve today I'm going to try and let my wife shoot first at every opportunity and limit myself to longer shots. Thursday I downed one bird on the initial flush before they got up too much speed, Friday they flushed more wild and already had the after burners on and crossing by the time I shot, historically the worst for me.....

Snap shooting is move, mount, shoot, but like most things done well it takes practice.

I may be using the wrong term, I've always shot best at both birds and Clay's when I focus on the target throw the gun up and shoot while it's rising or stalled and beginning to accelerate. Subconsciously mount, point and shoot. Long crossers and slow incoming shots I seem to "think" too much and miss quite a bit. Long straight aways I really have to focus on "aiming" or I'll miss also!

I'll attribute one of my misses Friday to looking back to check the boys location at the flush. The initial covey rise was in just over head high brush and the birds came out crossing at full speed. While it would have been different if I'd been paying better attention on the one flush, as a shooter I think I need to get better at the type of shots I missed.

If you can find this fellow-should be easy, since he resides in Florida-then hook up with a lesson and tell him you are mainly concerned with field shooting. Move, mount, shoot is his speciality. Tell him Harry, Bob, Mel and the crew said hello.

https://www.woolleyshooting.com/about-john-woolley/

One of our trips home I may try to look him up, St Augustine is within driving distance. I've honestly never had any kind of formal shotgun training, just shot sporting clay's, birds and small game using mostly the same old shotgun that dad showed me how to operate and turned me loose with as a boy.

Most Americans think they are "The Natural" when it comes to shooting. The vast majority are not. Even the best in any sport got there with instruction and tune-ups along the way.

Most of the Quail hunters from Georgia and N. Flordia , shoot pen raised, then come here to S. Texas to hunt wild birds, and really get their pants taken down. We hunted all day yesterday got up 21 coveys avg. 10 birds per covey avg., came back with 9 birds, wild birds really humble these guy's. Rio7

Battue,

Despite my nationality I hold no illusions about my abilities 😂😂😂.

RIO7,
I never shot pen raised birds until this year training our Lab. I was very surprised at how slow to flush they are and the overall low acceleration. If they were all one had ever shot I'd imagine they'd likely be as ineffective as I was yesterday 😂😂😂

Yes, there is no substitute for wild birds.
Over 50 years of hunting various species of upland birds, I have heard many guys who hunt pen-raised birds claim they are as tricky as wild birds, to the point of wanting to argue about it. Ive hunted both, and hunting preserve birds is nothing like hunting wild birds, in a number of ways.
Enjoy the fun!

Even pen raised Bobwhites can make one look foolish . . .

OrangeOkie,

That looks like a good day! I'll admit I've had a couple of pen raised birds fall to the last shot in my auto loader 😂😂😂

Reading these post has brought back many good memories. Sadly, I haven't pick up a shotgun in 18 years.

20 ga with cylinder bore or skeet and 1 oz of #8's

It's even worse when you hunt wild chukar after shooting few pen raised birds. The only thing that's "easy" about chukars is the open country where they live. The biologists who plant them found out the hard way that pen raised birds seldom take when planted in desert areas. But if they trapped wild birds, they did very well in their new homes. E

Up here in Maine there are a few put and take birds, mostly Pheasant.

We have to resort to hunting true wild birds, Ruffed Grouse. We do have Spruce Grouse they are however protected.

Female, Male, different color phases, hold steady for dogs this far north.