Let's shoot the bull....

Oh yea.

Ahh, a nice idea, but the “good” qualifier kinda leaves some of us out of luck.

I guess we have had a good early Upland bird hunting season, butt the day before our planned date with Blacktail -late buck, I blew out my right hip / sciatica, and still gimping around in recovery, I am.

Looking fwd to the late birds with the Dawgs after the cleanup from the bomb cyclones.

Got deer season out of the way and a buck in the freezer. Now been harassing the local quail with the new lab pup. She’s progressing well, with less than 20 hrs under her belt and averaging better than a bird/hr. This past weekend we hunted her on Hun’s and she produced 3 limits using the new 28ga. Lots of birds, and she really likes their smell. Can’t complain so far, except it goes too fast.

Awesome!!!

Congrats, snit!

Have many fond memories of erupting roo'ters, Columbia R. breaks quail and chuckars coming to hand from a pard's young Springer, and limits of waterfowl with good friends and my ice breaker Chessie. Looking forward to vicariously sharing in your times afield....

Getting quite white in the facial hair department but still made lots of boot tracks in the snow playing hide and seek with alpine elk a few weeks back. One of my favorite pursuits as a guest on their home court. In spite of not seeing a spike at less than way out yonder, my soul was refreshed.

Happily accepted the gift of a plump and healthy trey BT late Saturday afternoon on the wet side late hunt. Hung him for 5 days and did the butchering myself as always. Working on 'nother Euro mount at present. Feels good to have the freezer reloaded. Something to be indeed thankful for. As a wise one once humbly imparted to me, the greatest gift one can ever give or receive is the gift of life. Shifting one's perspective can make miracles possible....

Is it Driftin’ & Snit, or Snit & Dritin’ ?

Either way sounds good !

Happy Thanksgiving and Congrats on the Hunting.

So Snit’s got a new pup, and she be a lab female too boot ? Again, congrats, that’s about as good as it gets, but then - And possibly a new 28 gage ? Sounds more like a great Christmas than thanksgiving, but it all works. So what’s the 28 gage bird gun look like ?

Well Driftin’ , it sounds like you are already dipping into the seasonal Good Hunters luck with gifts with a nice Blacktail and all. Gotta luv those Blacktail rack mounts, and it sounds like a nice three pointer. Both you guys Need to share some of the pictures of your hunts, so Gimps like me can smile, and look fwd to the remainder of the this year’s hunting seasons.

Cheers

Panfried venison is a weekly staple for us, and normally we utilize (2) deer/yr...but with the boy away at college we can squeak by with one in the freezer, as no out-of-State tags were drawn this year.

Speaking of the boy, he came home for T-day and then we went out Friday to see if we could rustle up some more Hun's. (Of course, I had to go "scout" Thanksgiving morning, and the dog and I were able stuff another 6-pack of 'em quickly in the bird vest and be back for dinner ). We hunted a few different areas, and while our shooting started off quite poor, we rallied as the day continued and fortunately we had a 12-pack of Hun's in the truck by mid-afternoon. We actually saw a couple of wild roosters too, tucked safely within the confines of the farmer's corral...but that was a positive sign.

Not much to see with the new 28ga (and I don't believe I've ever posted a pic on PP in 25 years, come to think of it, lol)...It's just a Wingmaster from the early 2000's, with choke tubes, and decent wood. I had just bought a Sporting Clay 1100-28ga also, and while it was sitting in Insleaz's jail waiting to "cool off" for 10 BUSINESS DAYS (so I didn't cause hate & discontent with it), the 870 popped up for sale out of State..so I drove there and bought it, and drove home in the same day and shot quail on the return trip...FU Insleaze! (just like folks will be doing with new/used diesel-RV rigs starting in 2025...)

I continue to be amazed at the local Hun hatch! I've heard the pheasant hunters have been doing well S. of Spokane too, but haven't made the journey yet. Going to Orofino next weekend with a buddy to fish the Clearwater...haven't done that in a couple of decades. Still haven't chased the local Upper Columbia (worn-out) summer runs yet, as hunting season has been too fun. I figure I'll pester those slimers when it gets really cold, and then fish the main stem in my boat. It's something to do, but I seldom keep one unless a guest wants one.

May shoot some skeet this morning (the HORROR, lol) as I just got my 20ga Diana back from having the wood refinished, or shoot the 28ga-1100 as I haven't shot it yet. I told myself I'd give the pup a day off to rest her tender feet...but maybe we'll just go for a drive in the afternoon...options are nice to have this time of ear. Hope everyone is enjoying the Season!

Snit, good on ya, lotsa bird hunting , a new pump gun, your new puppy, and Huns to boot ! It also sounds like your getting them with the little pump gun ! Last season we were over to the dryer side of the state, and having had a couple good days chasing phez with the dawgs, we found a couple covey /flocks of Huns up in edges of the sage, so we decided to have go with pointy dogs on our last day over. I also decided to switch my 28 gage side x side, ( an old Ugi ) for my little Model 42/ .410 to see if I might get a shot or two with the old gurl. Well I got lotsa shots, and very few hits ! Seems like I could hit the birds with the first shot however, keeping that little pump on a flyer, trying to pump the gun for a second, and totally loosing it , was quite humbling , but oh so fun .....

This season, I’m pumpgun ready, practicing a lot with the old pumper, hitting a few clays with the 2nd shot and finally getting used to the fwd placement of the safety. The Huns better be ready this season, if we find them again ........

That reminds me that my Dad and I used to hunt pheasant (in CA) on Thanksgiving morning before the turkey feed. We may have even gotten a bird of two.

At least back then, I think pheasant opened at 9AM and closed at 4. Was a very comfortable, low key hunt.

I've fondly followed your bird stories over the years 28G, as I haven't really bird hunted since the boy was born, 20 years ago. It was "easier" to be a "single fishing dad" and go deer hunting with him, rather than incorporate bird hunting into the mix too (and train a new pup in there too)...is what I told myself. When the best ever lab-pet was passing just over a year ago, I had to re-dog and I told myself that I'd hunt this one. Therefore I'm making myself hunt, and I'm having to re-train myself after a long hiatus. I can still shoot, but I'm having to "think" like a bird hunter, it's not 2nd nature, yet. It's been challenging, plus working with a pup who's got real big shoes to fill, from my first 2 labs...albeit that's from a long time ago.

I will say that your more recent stories here were inspiring to me. They helped me think about how much fun I had chasing birds with a dog. I was really into it since I was a boy up into my mid 30's...and I really owed it to my son to expose him to it. It was great getting him into his 1st shoot on T-day.

As to the guns, I applaud you shooting your 42!! I've shot enough 28's that I feel like there's basically no difference between a 28 and a 20 for "me" shooting one. Now, a .410...no bueno for me! There's a significant handicap using one IMO. Is your 42 a field model with no rib? I NEVER shot that model worth a hoot, I've shot the dressed-up SKEET model with the rib and different stock/forearm and I shot it "ok", but still not close to 50% I'd venture. I'd guess for a 2nd shot on a live bird, I'd prob be in the 25% category. We're planning an Argentina trip for 2/26 and now that I've been, I hope to improve my average knowing what I now know. I shot decent, but analyzing afterwards, there's a technique I'll (hopefully) use that should up my average.

I just love family traditons; hearing about them, participating in them, starting them! My son has been going deer hunting with me since he was 5, he's 20 now. He's killed a bunch of bucks. I think he'll always deer hunt, and maybe more now that we have this silly lab....which makes me happy! I'm giving them a break, we beat them up pretty good the last week. Going to go to the Clearwater (ID) the middle of this week. Haven't fished it in a long time. Hope you guys can get some birds kicked up!!

Don't know if it is a good hunting story or not but finally made it out for something. Went to Johns River WRA for waterfowl. In the immortal words od Parker, it was an armed nature hike.

Saw a few geese and fewer ducks. All but two Hooded Bergs were at >100yds. The Hoodies were maringally in range, maybe, but the skedaddled quickly and who wants a Merg?

But, I saw, among other things, a couple of Peregrines and a couple Northern Shrikes, plus a few other odd birds, One elk skeleton and one Cackling Goose partial skeleton. Nice weather, nice drive.

Johns used to have lots of birds.

This is one of my favorite hunting stories. My wife calls it, “Two Hunters, Two Dogs, Four Shots, One Rooster.” And this is how she saw it…

We were hunting down a draw in eastern Washington – one of our favorite spots. It was a wide draw between two fields about a third of a mile long. The field on one side was plowed dirt. The other field was cut corn. The draw sloped downward until it came to a point at the bottom. The draw had Russian olive, willow trees and heavy grass type cover. Some areas were fairly open, but most was the type of cover that late-season pheasants love. By then the roosters know all the good spots and what the game is all about.

There was a crosswind that afternoon. My lab Jonz, and I took the upwind side of the cover giving my husband, and his Brittany, Franki, the downwind side.

This hunt was more open, yet a bit long and narrows down a bit as we hunt down the draw as we get to the end, so we decided we to leave the two-way radios even though we wouldn’t see each other or be able to communicate until we reached the bottom where the draw comes to a point. Late season roosters are so wily and noise averse, a hunter needs to be as quiet as possible with a minimum of whistles and no voices and radios.

Jonz our Lab worked the cover as I walked between a huge cut corn field and the draw. He popped in and out of the heavier cover and I could see he was getting birdy.

As I worked my way down the draw, several times I thought Jonz would push a bird out and my adrenaline level was on high. But we got to the bottom without seeing a single hen, let alone a rooster. I signaled for Jonz to heel and looked for my husband and our Brittany Franki. As I stepped around the point and onto the edge of the plowed dirt field, I could see my husband, a couple hundred yards up the draw, just standing there, with his gun casually draped over his shoulder, and it looks like he is eating his sandwich and picking through whats left of his potatoes chips ? He was looking my way. I gave him “the universal shrug” body language - translated into, “What ARE you doing?” He’s still got the best part of the draw to hunt.

Then to my surprise, he yells, “Well! It’s about time you guys showed up!” I’m stunned. He’s not only talking, but he’s really loud! I was so surprised; I just stood there looking at him as I expected birds to flush wild - none did. Then he continues, and blurts out, “Franki has been on point in this thick stuff for about 20 minutes or more. I can barely see the white end of her butt. She must be eyeball-to-eyeball with a bird because I can’t get her to flush it and me making noise isn’t working. It’s like a jungle! Send Jonz up here. I need a flusher!” So, I told Jonz, “Go!” And off he went leaving dust clouds on his way up the dry field.

I saw my husband send Jonz into the nasty thicket, and immediately things exploded! A very large and noisy rooster came out at head level directly towards my husband's face, with a “flying” black lab at almost the same height right on the bird’s tail. Franki was also in mid-air right behind Jonz. My husband ducked the bird and dodged the dogs. As the rooster barely cleared his head and took off gaining speed, my husband took a shot from a “spinning-around-while-ducking” position. As he is (normally) an excellent shot, I expected the rooster to fall. It did not. In an instant, he fired his second shot as the rooster gained altitude and curled to the left down the draw toward me. I couldn’t believe he missed it, again! I’m standing there flat-footed watching this scene unfold.

Both dogs are in full pursuit - they know when my husband shoots, birds fall. Not this time. I, on the other hand, am typically a lousy shot. As the rooster comes my way, I blow the “sit” whistle (twice) and Jonz stops. I take a shot. I miss. The rooster is flying high and fast by now and is getting out there. After uttering a foul/fowl word, I take my second shot and -Yes! There is a Hunting God! The rooster falls, making a big dusty “poof” as he hits the plowed dirt. Frank is still in hot pursuit. My husband is hooting, hollering and laughing. Jonz doesn’t want to sit, and it takes another two whistles to get him to comply. Franki closed in on the rooster and as pheasants are known to do – it suddenly came back to life.

Just as Franki reached it, the rooster jumped about three feet into the air with Franki right behind him. Rooster and Brittany come back down in a cloud of dust. I watched as the rooster jumped up again, and Franki after it, again. Then they started rolling down the slope with the dust so thick I couldn’t see if Franki still had the dragon or not! A few seconds later, out of a large dust cloud came a little orange and white dog with one very large rooster! Score one for all four of us!

A true story experienced and written by me, Jonz’s favorite gunner and hunting partner - Sissy. ☺

Snit, sorry for the delay in answering, but the uplands have been calling us daily.

The little .410 Model 42 is a pretty little pump gun with a rib, and a fair bit of engraving. I think I like to look at it more than shooting it some times, but when I do take it out for little go, I never regret the walk.

28. Ah, dog stories.

We had a Britt, Susie, who did amazing things. Two stories from CA and one from WA.

My Dad and I were hunting a tule ditch, one on each side. I heard a whirl of wings, looked down and there was Susie with a rooster by the ass. Once he got wound up she het him go, he flew up over the tops of the tules. Dad missed at least twice. Susie glared at him like she wanted to bite his leg off.

A group of us, six of us, were in a plowed filed when Susie joined. We were all in a mob. Rooster flushed, we all shot. Bird died. The last guy to shoot said that he knew in his mind that the bird was dead but the message didn't get to the trigger finger.

In the Warden area of E WA my father in law and I were walking through some sagebrush near some cattle pens. My Lab and Britt both pointed. I kicked at the brush to flush the bird. There was an explosion of wings, a flash off color, and a "quack". Crippled drake Mallard.....

Sissy & Driftin, great stories…great stories, thanks for sharing! We’re still punching the Hun’s and got a couple of bonus roosters yesterday..long spurs too. They both were hold-over birds.

Well, gentlemen, sound like a few of us repeat spawners made a some fine memories in '24. Appreciate the vicarious adventures.

Having dallied with elk in MT and WY in years past, I'm contemplating a return to MT this fall if'n I can convince a local to share in the alpine pursuits. We'll see.

My dog days are likely past due to present life stages and other priorities. Should any of you wish for a willing witness to your upland adventures later this year, I'd be happy to contribute to the efforts and expenses. There's a sweet Italian 20-bore o/u that's appeared hereabouts that needs to have the dust blown out of the tubes. Shoot me a pm.

Wishing y'all heaps of happiness in the new year! Both the kind that makes a spontaneous appearance, and the kind that requires varying degrees of effort....