I’ve killed a triple on geese multiple times, pheasants too. Seen an uncle kill 5 bob whites on a covey rise more than once. I shoot a double auto quite a lot. You can get by with a 2 shooter, but there are times where number 3 will be wanted.
Hunting in old Mex, very common to have a rooster flush, bang 1, and then the whole place explodes with birds. We are allowed to run without plugs there, and I can see even in those circumstances not getting to bang 5 very often, but 3+? Oh heck yes.
Emptied three at a covey flush of Cali Valleys last weekend. Dropped two, missed second shot.
Then, as I was reloading and sending the dog, first two and then another single straggler flushed. Had to hup the dog, and never did quite get another shell in the chamber in time, but, again, give me three please.
Merry Christmas gents.
"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated." Thomas Paine
I used an O/U for many years but now am O/U-less. mostly older Rem. pumps, a model 17 and a model 31 get a lot of play. 12 ga 870 for a lot of general duty, too. But, I do have to stop and think when going after migratory birds, "Is this one plugged?"
I have been watching videos of those Argentina dove hunts. simply amazing numbers of birds, if I ever go I might opt for an O/U just so I could shoot LESS, lol" looks easy to shoot over 1,000 rounds per day there.
How many times have you ever truly needed that third shot? Thinking about going to an O/U for all my hunting. Could you?
You can answer your question better than we can based on your personal experience. I like a light 12 gauge O/U for upland hunting that involves a lot of walking simply because it's easier to carry than a pump or SA. Yes on occasion I do miss the third shot. For waterfowl a SA or pump is my choice.
Most of the situations in Az such as doves, gambels or scaled quail the first two shots usually get a bird. Often too late to shoot more rounds as the birds are gone.
However when mearns quail hunting things are different. I take out the plug and have 5 shots available. While I did get 5 on the rise once, having the third through fifth round has helped. The mushroom explosion of a covey of up to 20 birds going in all directions causes confusion, add trees and brush and misses happen. Then there is the late riser. There usually is no time to load more rounds so we carry the extras in the gun.
It really comes down to on how you judge the hunt, is the number of birds killed or the esthetics of the hunt that determine the quality of the hunt. The loss of one bird because I didn't have a third shot is of no consequences to me, I just get a little more time in the field instead of having to quit having limited out and sometimes I quit for the day when I have enough for dinner. I've gone through the more shots are better phase, I have one pump left for shooting big shot at coyotes but even there my combo guns get called on 95% of the time to shotgun coyotes.
I enjoy shooting the sxs so much that all my O/U are almost gone save for one old friend that hangs out in the back of the safe.
It really comes down to on how you judge the hunt, is the number of birds killed or the esthetics of the hunt that determine the quality of the hunt. The loss of one bird because I didn't have a third shot is of no consequences to me, I just get a little more time in the field instead of having to quit having limited out and sometimes I quit for the day when I have enough for dinner. I've gone through the more shots are better phase, I have one pump left for shooting big shot at coyotes but even there my combo guns get called on 95% of the time to shotgun coyotes.
I enjoy shooting the sxs so much that all my O/U are almost gone save for one old friend that hangs out in the back of the safe.
It is a Bernardelli Elios 12ga, 25" barrels at 5# 15 oz., lightning fast at the flush and a pleasure to carry. What I like about this picture is the three different colored breast feathers on the roosters. All are wild MT birds. 2 1/2" B&P High Pheasant 1 oz 6's
It really comes down to on how you judge the hunt, is the number of birds killed or the esthetics of the hunt that determine the quality of the hunt. The loss of one bird because I didn't have a third shot is of no consequences to me, I just get a little more time in the field instead of having to quit having limited out and sometimes I quit for the day when I have enough for dinner. I've gone through the more shots are better phase, I have one pump left for shooting big shot at coyotes but even there my combo guns get called on 95% of the time to shotgun coyotes.
I enjoy shooting the sxs so much that all my O/U are almost gone save for one old friend that hangs out in the back of the safe.
Well said! I used to even hunt waterfowl with double guns. But have stuck to the Benelli M1 Super 90, not because I get three shots but because I don't care if the gun gets wet, dinged, etc...
I shot O/U's and SXSs for years.. I grew tired of the difficulty of getting both barrels to shoot to the same point of impact.. Also when hunting birds, pheasants, quail some times grouse, I fired the first shot.. Nothing happens.. I break the gun to reload and the world explodes with birds.. I mostly hunt public lands.. The chances at game are not to be wasted.. So I sold most of those shotguns almost a dozen.. Now I shoot pumps.. If I shoot a shot and nothing else happens, I can easily reload and still be ready for a chance at another bird.. Also to me, the pump guns handle smoothly, much nicer than over and unders..
Better quality sxs rarely have problems with regulation, buy with two triggers if your going to shoot unreliable ammo. In 60 years of shooting sxs's I've rarely run into the problems you have. My sxs's go off when I pull the trigger and hit where I aim, I'll admit sometimes I'm not aiming where the bird is but that isn't the guns fault.
erich, When I said I fired and nothing happens, I meant there were no more birds, when I broke the gun to reload, they exploded from cover and I stood there with an open gun... I had good ones, Fox Sterlingworth, Ithaca, Berettas and Browning...
When I had my Shorthair I killed 3 Quail with 2 shots on the rise with my Fox Savage BST in 16 ga. I sold both of my Remington Special Fields in 12 & 20 ga. after that
When I was Chukar hunting with a SxS. I dropped 2 birds and still had the flock within range, but was empty. Or other times I was empty after shooting at them and a late flusher jumped. Only with Chukars do I think this since if I want a limit I have to then climb another steep mountain. Any other time I would rather have by Merkel 16 ga. or Browning O/U 12 ga. With Chukars I think a 5.5 pound Benelli would be nice loaded with 5 shots.
How many times have you ever truly needed that third shot? Thinking about going to an O/U for all my hunting. Could you?
I once hunted with a guy that only used a single shot. He very seldom missed. Me on the other hand could use a belt fed shotgun. But in reality I use a sxs or over and under. I don’t like to liter my hunting area with empty hulls. I find them easier to find with a 2 shot. Hasbeen
hasbeen (Better a has been than a never was!)
NRA Patron member Try to live your life where the preacher doesn't have to lie at your funeral
How many times have you ever truly needed that third shot? Thinking about going to an O/U for all my hunting. Could you?
I used to shoot waterfowl exclusively and used a Remington 870. When I started upland hunting I picked up an O/U 20g as it was much lighter to carry on the hikes.
Next step was an O/U 12 to extend my time in the waterfowl blind -- no third shot so I was not dropping as many birds and could spend a bit more time over the decoys. Now my hunting is O/U's for all early season waterfowl and switch back to the 870 when we shoot in sleet / snow as that gun can handle the crappy weather.
I have picked up a 5 1/2 lb 12 g O/U that I use for late season pheasants. Nice to have the choices.
How many times have you ever truly needed that third shot? Thinking about going to an O/U for all my hunting. Could you?
Want vs. Need, in my opinion. I hunt mainly with O/U or SxS 16s these days. Do have a pump and an autoloader. There have been times when I've had opportunity to shoot a third round, and have been caught with an empty gun as a result of my choices. Where I hunt, most of my quarry has a 3 bird limit anyhow. As much as I appreciate being able to take a double or triple (and I have), I want my days afield to last a bit longer.....
Yep, love a repeater on chukar, though have killed quite a few with a double. Also like them on Huns, especially early in the season. (Daily limit is 8 here in Montana.)
Have also appreciated repeaters on early-season sharptails--and also "mountain" grouse, as they're called in Montana, whether ruffed, blues or the subspecies of spruce called Franklin's. All can get up in rather ragged or scattered flushes, and I like having additional shots as they do.
Once killed a 4-bird limit of sharptails from one covey early in September. when Eileen was working on her upland bird cookbook (commissioned by Ducks Unlimited, oddly enough, after she did their duck and goose cookbook). We both love to eat all sorts of wild birds. Under some conditions is practical, and sometimes it isn't.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.” John Steinbeck
I go back and forth between a Citori and A-5's, all sixteen gauges so I don't mix shells and its all fun. If you HAVE to kill that second or third bird, where's the fun?
"Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passin.'"
[quote=erich]It really comes down to on how you judge the hunt, is the number of birds killed or the esthetics of the hunt that determine the quality of the hunt.
I was going to say something similar.
+1
The other question that comes to my mind is this: Let's say you're hunting with 5 rounds instead of 2 or 3. You hit a covey of quail and manage to hit one with each of your 5 rounds. Now what? Where I bird hunted, each bird was going to run you $15 apiece. You've just blown $60 in less than 10 seconds and probably shot every bird in that end of the field and possibly wounded a few more that you didn't find. Even the dog is looking at you like you're an Arschloch.
I normally hunted with a Rem 1100 with 3 rounds. If I got past 3 shots, I had to admit it was time to regroup my poop.
I used to have a buddy back then that would pull out his plug and shoot high-brass #6 at everything BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! by the 4th shot, he was no longer aiming, just making noise. He never got invited bird hunting.
To me, killing birds was rather senseless. However, hunting birds and watching a dog work a covey in cover was positively sublime.
I go back and forth between a Citori and A-5's, all sixteen gauges so I don't mix shells and its all fun. If you HAVE to kill that second or third bird, where's the fun?
Some can’t help themselves; they absolutely have to. If there are many Birds, what’s the rush? If there are not, why?
I go back and forth between a Citori and A-5's, all sixteen gauges so I don't mix shells and its all fun. If you HAVE to kill that second or third bird, where's the fun?
Some can’t help themselves; they absolutely have to. If there are many Birds, what’s the rush? If there are not, why?
Some guys like to eat quail more than follow dogs around. Others maybe only get the chance to go hunt pheasants once every year or two and want to maximize their chance of killing a limit. Different strokes.
I go back and forth between a Citori and A-5's, all sixteen gauges so I don't mix shells and its all fun. If you HAVE to kill that second or third bird, where's the fun?
Some can’t help themselves; they absolutely have to. If there are many Birds, what’s the rush? If there are not, why?
Some guys like to eat quail more than follow dogs around. Others maybe only get the chance to go hunt pheasants once every year or two and want to maximize their chance of killing a limit. Different strokes.
Following a Dog around is the essence of Quail hunting. They can buy dead Quail for less money if the eating is what is important.
Hunt once or twice a year and killing a limit is a priority? The reality of it says different...
Addition: Question? Does killing your limit make for a more perfect day afield?
Hopefully your thoughts are what they are because you are The Kid. In which case, there is potential....
Haha a smart condescending reply from a double toting dog guy, imagine that.
Yes to some people shooting a limit does make it a more perfect day afield. I’m sure you’ll claim I’m showing my inexperience by claiming so, but I usually recall the days I walked my butt off in subzero temps and killed a limit of roosters more fondly than the days I walked my butt off and only flushed hens or never put up a bird. I don’t HAVE to kill a limit, but that doesn’t make it something I avoid either. Many days I have a great hunt and shoot a handful or no birds. But some people enjoy the thrill of shooting a limit. It’s also been a pretty neat experience a few times to shoot a 3 rooster limit on a rise or even once in Kansas to shoot a 4 bird limit on a rise.
Along the same vein. Quail hunting is defined as following a pointing dog to some people but not others. I kicked up and killed a good many bobs as a kid with no dog or a Lab that only retrieved. My Grandfather and other guys I know shot truckloads of them when they were kids, with no dog and a 22 rifle as they ran down the edge of a cotton field. Some guys just like to shoot birds and couldn’t give a hoot about watching a dog “work”. When you live in an area where there’s birds and you see them while working on the farm it’s not impossible to know where they’re going to be and kick up a covey without a dog. And some people just like to eat quail. I’d also challenge anyone to find me a place locally to buy quail at the grocery store, probably get laughed out of anyplace around here.
Only hunting a couple days a year and shooting a limit is a priority? Why wouldn’t it be after I’ve driven 13 hours over slush covered roads and paid for an out of state license I’m only going to get to use for 3 or 4 days? I won’t resort to breaking the law to shoot a limit but what’s wrong with limiting out even if you only get the one hunt.
I generally hunt at least half the time with a 2 shot gun these days, even killed a triple of sorts on a staggered flush of roosters a couple years back. But I don’t see it as any difference if I feel like carrying an unplugged pump gun one day, the limit is the same regardless of gun type. Maybe look at it as, if you’re interested in killing birds a gun holding more than 2 shots might up your odds in some cases, if you don’t care then tote whatever you want.
How many times have you ever truly needed that third shot? Thinking about going to an O/U for all my hunting. Could you?
I have carried an O/U for most of my pheasant hunting over the years. Started with a pump and tried a semi-auto a couple times. If I was sitting in a duck blind I might think differently, but for pheasants, two shots is plenty. My old Superposed feels good in my hands.
For most upland birds, a third shot is of no interest to me. With a limit of three pheasants or two sharptials, I don't want to be done hunting that quickly anyway. For forest grouse it is seldom an opportunity. When the snow geese are bunched up in huge flocks, the limit is 20, and you may only have one or two big flocks come into the decoys properly, I have sometimes wanted more than three shots. I have shot many many triples on geese, quite a few on ducks, not so many on partridge or pheasant or grouse. Just as I like it.
I typically use an autoloader for pheasants when hunting in Minnesote for a couple of reasons. First, typical pheasant habitat is swamp/marsh lands which often adds ducks to the options when the water is not frozen. This necessitates non-toxic shot and my autos are the only 12 ga guns I have that will handle steel shot. I guess my clays O/U is steel safe but I don't wish to subject it to the rigors of marsh hunting.
The second reason is the third shot can be helpful in finishing off a winged rooster. That third shot will spook fewer birds than a dog chasing after a cripple. When a hard day of hunting produces two to three opportunities for roosters one does all they can to keep the odds on their side.
These opportunities may come all at once as pheasants tend to flock up late in the season. One might tramp all day without seeing a bird and then have dozens of birds get up with one step. It is a very real possibility those will be the only birds you see, particularly as one is often hunting public land, so having extra rounds can be helpful. It falls much in the same vein as hunting mountain chukars as mentioned earlier. U And we all know the quintessential upland bird hunting experience occurs following a pointing dog...;)
I am with kid0.. I had a collection of at least a dozen o/u's and s/s.. 28 ga/ though 3 1/2 " 12 ga. I sold them all.. Now I use older pumps or 870's.. Not so much for the third shot as these guns hit where I aim.. Although doubles are suppose to shoot to the same point with both barrels, they seldom do.. Or only with one load.. I had a nice Browning s/s in 3" 12g.. It shot ok with trap or light field loads, but a turkey load shot a foot low and left.. A nice 12 or 20 or 28ga. pump can be as light as the same gun in u/o.. I am convinced that doubles are like fly fishing status.. Because they have a double, they look down on everything else..I do mind loosing a crippled bird.. so if the third shot helps me with that, I am pleased.. Crippled game is awful.. I will be happy to hunt the rest of my days with a nice straight shooting pump...
2 shots or 3 shots doesn't matter much to me I just like them all!! Current inventory includes 3 pumps, 2 gas guns, 1 inertia SA, and 1 O/U. Want to add a 686 soon and have recently found an interest in older American SxS doubles. When I win the lottery next week I am going to add a Parker, LC Smith, Fox, Blaser, to my collection and will be going to London to get fitted for an H&H.
For upland game it's been O/U's for me since the early '70's. 6 years ago I went exclusively to a lighter 20 ga. and love it paired with Kent Fast Lead ammo. I hunt with a flushing bird dog. Situations where I could get off a third shot usually arise when I screw up one or both of the first 2 shots and when the bird's at a marginal range anyway. In that case, the bird wins and we continue the fun of the hunt. We have a two pheasant/day limit in Pa. so 2 shots should be enough 😉 .
For waterfowl it's either a 12 ga. O/U for ducks or an auto loader for decoying geese. (Note: glad I caught the fact that spell-checker kept changing "decoying" to "decaying")
When I trained pointers and hunted bobwhite I started with a 20 gauge 870. It wasn't uncommon to kill five birds on the covey rise. But you fill a limit too quickly that way and your hunt is over for the day. After I switched to a double I would concentrate on killing two birds on the covey rise and then hunting the singles. That was much more fun and extended the hunt and the training.
Without a dog to retrieve, the third shot will cause too many lost birds. It's just difficult to mark three downed birds and find all three.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke 1795
"Give me liberty or give me death" Patrick Henry 1775
For each his own, I have used doubles for all my life at everything from chukars to geese and turkeys too, never needed anything else. I have lots of friends with pumps and autos and they can do whatever they want...
I hunt ruffed grouse and woodcock with a Franchi AL48 28ga. I do this because it's the shotgun I shoot the best in "woods" hunting conditions. MN doesn't require a plug for upland so long ago I did pull the plug, so, it holds 5 rounds, but, I can't think of any time I've shot them all.
In open ground for pheasants, Huns, or Sharptails I use a 20ga Beretta. 302, 303, 391, or often a SxS 626. In ND, we're limited to 3-shots for all bird hunting so it's either 2 or 3 shots no matter what. Once in a great while if I know I'm hunting exclusively cattails late in the season I'll switch to a semi-auto 12 to reduce the chance of a cripple. Wild late season crippled pheasants in cattails can be a real bugger to find so deader is better.
I can walk on water.......................but I do stagger a bit on alcohol.
I typically use an autoloader for pheasants when hunting in Minnesote for a couple of reasons. First, typical pheasant habitat is swamp/marsh lands which often adds ducks to the options when the water is not frozen. This necessitates non-toxic shot and my autos are the only 12 ga guns I have that will handle steel shot. I guess my clays O/U is steel safe but I don't wish to subject it to the rigors of marsh hunting.
The second reason is the third shot can be helpful in finishing off a winged rooster. That third shot will spook fewer birds than a dog chasing after a cripple. When a hard day of hunting produces two to three opportunities for roosters one does all they can to keep the odds on their side.
These opportunities may come all at once as pheasants tend to flock up late in the season. One might tramp all day without seeing a bird and then have dozens of birds get up with one step. It is a very real possibility those will be the only birds you see, particularly as one is often hunting public land, so having extra rounds can be helpful. It falls much in the same vein as hunting mountain chukars as mentioned earlier. U And we all know the quintessential upland bird hunting experience occurs following a pointing dog...;)
+10 this is also my philosophy , I own more than a few shotguns and enjoy hunting with all of them. On sharptails and pheasant I usually use one of my Sweet 16's and there is no plug in any of them. Or any of my pump guns unless I'm waterfowling. I am getting old as well as my dog ,we both enjoy the day more if were not out all day, way it is. Usually hunt by myself and the dog just because I don't care to have to listen to someone tell me how to hunt my dog, what gun to use ,how many shells it has in it or what kind of shells they think I ought to be using. Yes, I have some o/u's and sxs types too and use them when I want too, accepting their limitations to do so. You see I'm getting old and I just get go**amn tired of any sob telling me how I need to do something I've all ready spent most of my life doing the way I want too. Magnum_Bob
" Cheapest velocity in the world comes from a long barrel and I sure do like them. MB "
Bob you said that perfectly. I almost always hunt alone. Often my wife waits in the truck while the dogs & I hunt.. But any more we never hunt all day for anything. Oftentimes I make a hunt in the morning and again later, or we just go for a pleasant ride in the evening before having supper. Great being retired.. Next day we do the same thing!!!!!
Well thanks guys for the vote of confidence on my thoughts and values. 30-338 if my daughter wanted to hunt I'd take her 8 days a week..... WCH in 2months 4 days 2hrs and 6 minutes I am gonna be retired also, right now I'm just tired. Lotta light in the end of my tunnel right now and it is getting brighter by the day. MB
" Cheapest velocity in the world comes from a long barrel and I sure do like them. MB "
3 shots is the only thing wrong with my Benelli ultralight ...
I’ll take 5 anyway ... I may swap it back out with a M2, which it replaced... but surprisingly my SBE 1 isn’t much heavier (7lb 3oz) than my ultralight so I guess I’m good.
I had 1 of those 40 years ago in 20 with a full choke and the Sid Bell grip cap. It swung to fast and was choked to tight for me so It went down the road. Years later made the same mistake with 20 ga M870 21" Special field it had Rem Choke but was to short. a few years later made the same mistake with a 24" barreled 12 ga Benelli Montefeltro that I got cheap. Finally I'm smart enough not to buy anything no matter how nice with less than 26" barrel length. Slow learner I guess. 1 of my field guns I do use is a 28* barreled M37R in 16 ga. It has a full choke but I can open the pattern by using older Federals without shot protection and some custom reloads. Damn good shooting on your part . MB
" Cheapest velocity in the world comes from a long barrel and I sure do like them. MB "
Well I have been shooting a 1100 12ga for 44 years now and have had several triples on Wild Iowa Pheasants, Quail , and Hungarian Partridge, And Ducks & Geese, and two quads one on Quail and one on Hungarian Partridge. I have only had one chance for 5x5 and I had half a dozen Roosters in Western Iowa get right up in front of Me and I shot a triple and stopped because that finished our limit that day hunting with my Dad. I was shooting a 1100 28ga that day and did have five shells in it. In Reality in the Uplands you do not get a lot of opportunities for triples less for quads and I have only had the one chance at a 5x5 the once on Pheasants. The third shell does become important when Duck hunting but more for killing a cripple on the water when not hunting with a dog. I shoot Trap and Skeet both in the summer to stay sharp. The above is all wild birds in Iowa.
Triples on pheasants? Multiple times? Are you kicking them out of the box on a preserve? I would like to see a triple flush of wild SD birds in the wind,...and all fall to a single gunner. Not that it’s not possible, but it’s quite improbable.
I’ve made doubles on wild pheasants and Huns, but not “multiple” times if that means many, and I’ve hunted them for over fifty years.
Anyway, in all that time, I cannot say I needed more than three shots. Mainly because even in Iowa in the sixties, flushes were usually singles; some doubles but then often just staggered.
Even currently, in SD, while you may see any number of roosters flush together in range, that would be the much less common than staggered singles or some doubles. So a SxS is fine for me or in a SA I’ve gone to the Benelli Ultralight — a 20 and a 12 — with one in the pipe and two in the tube.
Doubles, triples, quads, etc.....only counts when they all get up at the same time and you take the number out of the air....Have had up to 8 Ruffed Grouse come out mostly one or two at a time and got three.....it wasn't a triple...
A true double or triple is two or three Birds, all of which flushed at the same time and all of which were dead in the air before one hit the ground.....Which most times changes the count....
Have seen more than one person claim a double. when it was two Birds that didn't get up even close to the same time.....Not the way it works....stragglers don't count....
Doubles, triples, quads, etc.....only counts when they all get up at the same time and you take the number out of the air....Have had up to 8 Ruffed Grouse come out mostly one or two at a time and got three.....it wasn't a triple...
A true double or triple is two or three Birds, all of which flushed at the same time and all of which were dead in the air before one hit the ground.....Which most times changes the count....
Have seen more than one person claim a double. when it was two Birds that didn't get up even close to the same time.....Not the way it works....stragglers don't count....
Have you spent much time on the prairies hunting huns and sharptails? True doubles and triple opportunists happen all the time.
No, but I don’t know what that has to do with defining what a true is....
Not arguing with your (correct) definition of what a real pair is.
But to say most times the count changes because that’s how it is with ruffed grouse is a little short sighted. There’s a whole world of upland birds out there and plenty of them flush is coveys.
Again. I'm only defining it.... Make of it what you want and how it applies to the Birds you hunt.....You want to correct me on that, then that is fine with me....Because naturally, if one hunts a Bird that tends to flush in numbers your odds and chances go up....
It is not only rare with Ruffed Grouse----most of the time it is the way of wild Pheasants, and try going for a triple on Woodcock. I've had the fortune to hunt Wild Quail a few times with a Guy that has probably shot more Wild ones than most people alive today....The guy owns one of the premier wild Quail plantations in the South for reference----Put a Semi Auto in his hands and three will often come down on a 20 Bird covey----damn few times will he call it a triple....He may say, "I got three on that rise." May, but it not that big a deal with him any longer, and most times he is carrying an O/U.....
Good for you, that you have the opportunities...But, I'm not going to sugar coat it just to be nice....I'm fed up with it at this place....So here is the fact of it-doubles are always doable given enough opportunities-however if three dead in the air on one flush are common....then it isn't all that hard.....Hell, most will have a hard time consistently smoking three clays, all in the air, that come out spread out, and unannounced....
You don't want to argue, but you call me short sighted and you can do that....but I'm the one that knows different...."opportunists" and doing it are two different things....If only obviously....And doing it was what I was defining....
We shoot a lot of sage grouse, some sharp tails and seldom huns.. The huns I have killed were usually singles.. But often a late riser would produce a double.. I most often hunt with a pump .. So killing a double is some thing that happens fairly often, but only once in 60 years did I kill a true triple.. That day I had an 1100 12ga.. I stepped off the ditch bank in to an uncut field, and sage grouse burst out everywhere.. I got a true triple .. I can still see them dead in the air..
I does get quite tiresome battue.. I can believe if things fell right with an auto, many 5.. But it would be rare.. The rifle section is no different.. It seems to be getting worse everyday.. The guys worth reading are dropping off at an amazing rate.. Hang in there not many left that I care to read what they have to say...
Well my favorite upland gun on the grass prairies of western SD where I live is a 1959 A-5 Brownig "Sweet sixteen" 27.5 " VR mod choked barrel because it is sweet. My all time favorite bird is the Sharptail Grouse. For the first week or two of the season you can get covey flushes about every other year a opportunity for a triple comes up and I will take it everytime I can. Most of the time your opportunity for a triple is canceled because you all ready have a bird or 2 in your game vest. The last time was the very last hunt I made with my 14 yr old Gordon Setter. She didn't have much stamina left in her so I held her on heel until we got out there in the alfalfa where there were some knee high clumps left that gave the birds some shade and vertical cover from raptors. Her nose was twitching when I told her to hunt them up. 30-40 seconds later she locked on point and I walked in straight down wind. A covey of 15-18 birds came up an I swung from the left working right 3 birds 3 shots all the birds dead in the air at once.1 to 1.5 seconds that little Browning sang her song. Don't get the chance very often but that's one of the things that make it such a special event that you allways remember. You know I just don't care if someone else doesn't like it either. MB
" Cheapest velocity in the world comes from a long barrel and I sure do like them. MB "
I just found this thread. Hey quick question, since I like to eat wild quail, and don't mind ground sluicing them. Does it count as a quadruple if I get 4 quail with one shot? I've lost track of all the technicalities.
For when I do actually hit some quail in the air, do I have to have slow motion footage to make sure that they all flushed at the same time, in order to qualify for a double?
Single shots most be the most elite type of shotgun, which is cool, because I used to hunt with a single shot 12 gauge. But I never hunted with a bird dog so none of it counts anyways.
I have had lots of occasion's to run out of ammo, while shooting cripples on waterfowl or busted covey's getting up under your feet. Always thought the 3 shot limit for waterfowl was more for a second law to make sure you didn't break the first law.
I just found this thread. Hey quick question, since I like to eat wild quail, and don't mind ground sluicing them. Does it count as a quadruple if I get 4 quail with one shot? I've lost track of all the technicalities.
For when I do actually hit some quail in the air, do I have to have slow motion footage to make sure that they all flushed at the same time, in order to qualify for a double?
Single shots most be the most elite type of shotgun, which is cool, because I used to hunt with a single shot 12 gauge. But I never hunted with a bird dog so none of it counts anyways.
Sure; you might even qualify for the E. Fudd lll Award which includes your achievements above if out of a truck door. It’s all good.
How about getting back to the truck after chasing a covey of scaled quail, to find that all four doors are still open from everyone bailing out for the chase? grin.
Hope you'll all forgive my sarcasm. But to see TheKid get picked on because he's younger than these guys, and doesn't define doubles or triples "correctly", so he must be inexperienced. The experiences he's posted say otherwise.
How about I'll tell about a few of my proudest "doubles", or rather "two birds out of the same flock/covey".
Jumping ponds for ducks with a younger brother, we flushed a few mallards at close range at one pond, we both knocked down drakes, a hen flew in a circle behind us, I reloaded my single shot and dropped her into the field. To some inexperience boys that was a pretty cool "triple"!
Driving through some oaks/grassland, again with a younger brother, saw some mearns quail run into a patch of grass. We bailed out, him with a shotgun, me with my bow. Had to use my binoculars at ~10 yards to find the quail in the grass, I shot one, one flew, little brother missed. Third bird flew, and he dropped it. We considered that a "double", didn't know any better, but I do now.
Oh yeah, this fall, took some distant cousins hunting for coues whitetail deer. Neither had killed anything prior, both teenagers. We hunted through a desert snow storm, and ended up in range of some small bucks. Visibility was terrible, finally she could find the buck in the scope, made a great shot, her brother hopped on the rifle, second buck stopped, another good shot. The two kids pulled a "double" on coues bucks. I don't think i'll tell them it might not count due to a technicality. grin.
I never hunt upland birds with anything but a double any more, and often bring a double even for waterfowl. I'd rather hunt longer than limit out early. But sometimes a happy accident comes along. Three huns on the flush with my citori 16 ga. and one shell. Only happened once. I was so surprised I didn't even shoot the second shot.
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