How many bird hunters in the BoB?

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Idlefellow

Idlefellow

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Kansas prairie
The fly fishing thread begs another question, as bird hunting and pipes just seem to go together too. So: how many of the brethren are bird hunters? Gauges, guns? Autos, pumps or doubles? What birds, how, where, why? Me, I'm a side-by-side shooter and a desciple of the Queen of the Uplands, the 16 gauge. My go-to shotgun is a Fox Sterlingworth, c. 1935, 28" barrels, choked IM and full. I hunt the high plains of western Kansas, mostly for pheasants and quail. You?
 
Love upland gunning. Saw my favorite game bird at twilight this morning migrating north, the American woodcock or as we say Timberdoodle up here. Open choked 20 gauge fox sterlingworth, or my favorite 28 gauge Citori English stock o/u. Gotta wait until October which is a long way off. So for now the focus is on fishin' soon as the ice clears.
Doc
 
Pheasants used to be plentiful in my area and we enjoyed hunting them, but with the massive decline in farming, the habitat just won't support a good population. Now we just watch the few we see fly away and remember the good old days. Partridge (ruffed grouse) hunting has always been a favorite of mine. With a lot of regrowth areas bordering old hardwoods due to the logging they thrive, although they seem to cycle somewhat.
 
mark":bdn3loel said:
Pheasants used to be plentiful in my area and we enjoyed hunting them, but with the massive decline in farming, the habitat just won't support a good population. Now we just watch the few we see fly away and remember the good old days. Partridge (ruffed grouse) hunting has always been a favorite of mine. With a lot of regrowth areas bordering old hardwoods due to the logging they thrive, although they seem to cycle somewhat.
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Same thing happened with the quail in Southern Indiana, back in the 70's. The elimination of fence rows and afew bad winters coupled with a blizzard or 2, and the half a dozen coveys that I fed instead of hunting died out.

I sure do miss quail and toast for breakfast :(
 
Hoth, I mean Bowman (cough), is a international destination for fezzunt shooters.

When driving around here it isn't uncommon to have to slow down or even stop to keep from driving through a flock of the critters boiling out of the brush on the shoulder. The biggest group I've seen so far was easily several hundred.

The funny part? I used to be an avid upland hunter, but stopped a while back. Now I just watch 'em.

 
Upland bird hunting has always been my favorite type hunting. Quail up until the early 80s then the populations declined to almost nothing here in north GA. Then I took up grouse hunting in the mountains about an hour away and used to take a trip to Iowa, Nebraska for pheasants, quail etc. or combined bird hunting with a big game trip to eastern Montana. A stroke about 5 years ago stopped my grouse hunting and long walks, but now can hunt some on fairly level terrain.

For shooting I use a Winchester O/U Featherweight 20 or a CZ Grouse 28 in the eastern US but have a Benelli M1 in 12 for western shooting.

For dogs, I've had a Brittany, 2 English setters, a pointing lab, and now have a Griff (which I wish I had a long time ago... great dog!)

Jim....whose brother hit a pheasant just north of Bowman while going about 80 mph at dusk. Didn't break the windshield but did break up my nap. :lol:
 
I don't do as much bird shooting as I once did, mainly due to work pressures at the moment. I have an old Alex Martin side-by-side & love it.
 
shootist51":ddcztm5a said:
mark":ddcztm5a said:
Pheasants used to be plentiful in my area and we enjoyed hunting them, but with the massive decline in farming, the habitat just won't support a good population. Now we just watch the few we see fly away and remember the good old days. Partridge (ruffed grouse) hunting has always been a favorite of mine. With a lot of regrowth areas bordering old hardwoods due to the logging they thrive, although they seem to cycle somewhat.
Click to expand...
Same thing happened with the quail in Southern Indiana, back in the 70's. The elimination of fence rows and afew bad winters coupled with a blizzard or 2, and the half a dozen coveys that I fed instead of hunting died out.

I sure do miss quail and toast for breakfast :(
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Oh...I used a 12 ga. Browning S/S I/C-Mod for Quail with a 26 in. bbl, 30 in. F/Mod for duck and geese. Also killed quite a few doves with the 26 in.....That was fun, one time I killed 25 birds with 25 shots, sober.
 
I think ducks are birds, so I guess I'm a bird hunter. I get to hunt 85 -90 days a year. I hunt in SD, WI, MN, IA, IL, MO, MS and LA. It's really a sickness.


Rodney
 
Pheasants and ruffed grouse are great but I have a passion for waterfowl. I hunt as many days as I'm able and have been from Manitoba to Arkansas. I love the history of duck hunting the most and my favorite days are spent in the blind with my best hunting buddy and our Fox 12 bores over his hand carved wooden blocks.
 
I don't get to do enough bird hunting, weather or other things interfere. We share the house with a pair of Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. Last year went to a game area for the "retrieve only" period. No guns, just a dog. The dog found us two birds, a wood duck and a hen mallard. The mallard was under the grass trying to escape and the dogs kept scratching. Both of us walked right past the bird, the scent didn't escape the nose of the dog. I plan to do more duck hunting this fall and more grouse hunting.

Stinger
 
:lol:

7 and a half out of 10. Definitely a good pun, but puns can only go so far ya know.
 
Frost":8l32o7z6 said:
:lol:

7 and a half out of 10. Definitely a good pun, but puns can only go so far ya know.
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Hard to resist. 7 1/2? I should get at least an extra quarter point for effort.
 
Probably so, yeah. I suppose you probably deserve another quarter point also, since it took me a minute or two to decide whether or not it was really intended to be a joke.
 
Frost"...since it took me a minute or two to decide whether or not it was really intended to be a joke.[/quote said:
Exactly, and therein lies the crux of the attempt.
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I love dove and turkey hunting. A good dove hunt can be hard to find but when I can find one with a good food source nearby, it really whets my appetite for deer season. My favorite dove gun is my Remington 870, and my turkey gun is a Harrington & Richardson 10 ga. single barrel.
 
I like to dove and quail hunt. I grew up hunting the two in Oklahoma with my dad and grandpa. I still try to go back on opening day of dove season every year. My favorite gun is a Remington 1100 12ga with a mod choked barrel that my grandpa passed down to me. My dad has made some incredible shots with a little 1100 LT20 that blow me away, no pun intended. I only hope that some day I can pass on the love of the sport to my kids the way he and my grandpa did to me.
 
TBone,
That's great. Carrying on the tradition of enjoying the outdoors with the next generation and the fine art of marksmanship is one of lifes great pleasures. We certainly can't relive the past, but we can make the present more memorable like you do by celebrating opening day and future hunting seasons together with family and close friends. And at the end of the day, enjoying a good meal, a fine pipe, and saving those memories til the next time afield.
Doc
 
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