Tough birds in D13

[SteveHazard]

Damn these birds can take a licking and just keep on going sometimes. Guess it might of helped if my shooting had been better that day too. A few foul words uttered at the one bird cause I hit him hard and I was in disbelief at how he sponged them up.




And if you want to check out my opener from this year too. Got a crazy flight after death for my first bird on this one.

 

[TheGDog]

Diggin' the "2 in the Bush" video Steve! Man those little bastards can run fast can't they? While waiting for Rabbits with my .17 HMR, had a whole Covey traverse a 20ft opening I was focusing on waiting for the Rabbits. They'd cross one at a time... and really hot-foot it across the open.

I haven't bothered to get an Upland stamp yet since haven't had the time to go pattern the shotgun I got yet.

Curious... in that video, is that a 20ga? Or something even smaller? It's deceptive with the perspective of the camera, the barrel looks quite small in diameter. But the shells didn't look like .410's so I figure it's a 20ga, right?

 

[just_ducky_1]

Great vids. I need to go on walkabout soon

 

[WaterDawg]

Losing downed birds is so frustrating but common. I’m choking up now to hopefully hit em with more pellets.

 

[TonyS]

Yellow shells means 20 ga. Suggestion- Get a dog.

 

[SteveHazard]

Yeah the "blend in the dead grass" yellow is 20g.

And as much as I would love to have a dog that could come out and hunt over it just not an option now. I don't have the time, stability, etc to commit to doing right by a dog. Hopefully some day. But yeah a good dog would help getting those birds that wander from where they went down.

 

[TheGDog]

RE: Getting a dog to help with fetching the birds. I'm assuming there are traits that dog must have, yes? Like, not just any breed could be used?

I'm asking because I have a Rat Terrier, and although she'd probably lock on to 'em no doubt, she's terrified of loud noises and fireworks so that wouldn't work.

Plus, I figure a dog has got to be of a certain size so just in case a predator gets the jump on em they can hang until you can arrive to help out, no?

 

[longduck]

When I didn't have a dog, I would just shoot singles and walk straight to them to recover. Unless it was a totally open area..

 

[Smokey58]

Great video of ur hunt. I will say this, my brother used to have a Jack Russel Terrier "ol Duke". That dog would sniff out coveys and then flush em out of thick thorny cover and then he would find the downed birds. Obviously he wouldn't point birds so we used to stay on his Butt when we knew that he was on scent so we could be in range for the flush.

 

[IECentralCoast]

Damn these birds can take a licking and just keep on going sometimes. Guess it might of helped if my shooting had been better that day too. A few foul words uttered at the one bird cause I hit him hard and I was in disbelief at how he sponged them up.




And if you want to check out my opener from this year too. Got a crazy flight after death for my first bird on this one.

Great video! I had a cripple run into a huge juniper tree yesterday out in the rain. I heard him flapping his wings but I couldn’t see exactly where he was. I left it to go chase the broken covey and fortunately found the bird when I doubled back. I was thinking of your video the whole time, hoping I didn’t lose the bird. Hunting solo with no dog is tough.

 

[SteveHazard]

Great video! I had a cripple run into a huge juniper tree yesterday out in the rain. I heard him flapping his wings but I couldn’t see exactly where he was. I left it to go chase the broken covey and fortunately found the bird when I doubled back. I was thinking of your video the whole time, hoping I didn’t lose the bird. Hunting solo with no dog is tough.

Good job on coming back and finding the bird. I think that is the correct decision to make a lot of the time.

If I can't find a bird relatively quickly I think a few things may of occurred. First is the bird was a cripple and it is simply not where I thought it went down. Depending how it was hit it could be completely gone or just of gotten out of the area I thought it should be. Second I'm looking in the wrong spot. And sometimes the lighting is just such that the bird is extremely difficult to see.

For me stop searching does a few things. I'm no longer wasting excessive time searching. Stopping also sort of frees me of the mental tunnel that I have to of been searching the right spot etc. While I'm hunting other birds I'm able to think more relaxed of the other places the bird may of fallen or gone. And you'd be surprised how much difference the sun moving a little bit can make or clouds coming in, etc on shadows and your ability to find the bird.

Often when I come back and search a second time I just walk straight to where the bird is somehow. I think it is because instead of looking for it I've had time to think of where it could be.

 

[ilovesprig]

Remember.....Quail and other such upland birds are almost always further away than you think they are from where you think they fell.....No dog.....Shoot one bird and go directly to it.....If you do shoot 2 birds.....Leave your hat where your shot from and go directly to the 2nd bird.....Then go back and get the angle of the 1st.

ps.....There's an old saying...."Any dog is better than no dog".....This is old Mike the mutt (beagle).....One of the best upland dogs, I ever owned.

.

 

[Bowman]

Forgot about that one, great tip.
I use a red bandana drop it on spot I shot. Also for pheasant hunting.
Forgetting stuff. After you walk away
Good luck finding it. If you don't mark the spot. Pick up my expired shells while I am add it.

 

[TheGDog]

Gotta really really look at the vegetation features very very well and commit them to memory when your pack is camo'd-out and you decide you need to leave it somewhere for a second. Especially the closer it is to night.

 

[Smokey58]

I read years ago that once you drop your bird, you should quickly trace a line into the ground with your boot pointing to where you saw the bird drop. Since I haven't gotten any birds this year, haven't tried yet. Last year I dropped a quail which turned out to still be alive and he got into a rat wood pile, I kept digging into the wood pile and the bird kept going down the rat tunnel. Finally got him but felt bad and admired him for his sense of survival. Thats hunting...

 

[TonyS]

To not get the bird I have to hold the collar of my Llewellin.