Jump to content

heavy shot


jedd

Recommended Posts

my father is a recovering heart patient so his reflexes are a little slow and the bulk of his shooting starts at about 40yds(if they get past me!) and he used hs for the first time this season. WOW is all i have to say. i dont think i would ever use it or recomend it but he "pillow cased" one at 50yds! the bird jumped and i watched it and didnt even consider shooting and and he pulled up and fired on shot and the bird died before it hit the ground! luckily we have a few good labs that found the bird in the switch grass. he was using a hastings extended IM in a browning gold. i seen him shoot at least half a dozen birds that i didnt even mount my gun. the hs is great for and his situation. i use my home rolled loads of 4s in a briley X2 F and can cleanly kill birds at 40-45yds but the hs was wicked.

ill never use the hs on pheasants because i dont think i have the skill to be shooting that far and lead works just fine for the ranges i like to shoot. i think at thirty yards and under it could have been a mangled mess.

 

[ 01-08-2004, 11:14 PM: Message edited by: tj ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I reload waterfowl loads with it and grabed a few to test out on pheasants and had the same outcome as tj replied with. Guessing between 20 and 30yrds I all but ground up three roosters with some high reving #4's. So it worked well. but, to me it's a bit expensive to be throwing at pheasants. I usually use Federals premium Pheasants Forever loads 1-1/4 oz. of #4 copper plate when I'm out in the Dakotas and this has worked great too.

 

if the price ever comes down on the bulk re-load material I might switch to it but, i'll definately load'em a bit lighter and maybe jump up to 5's or 6's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

one of the dudes i hunt with only uses #6 high brass with a full choke for phesants in his 11/87 because his gun dosent like light loads. more than once ive seen him explode a bird into a bloody mess which is areal shame in pa because we only have a 2 bird limit. its kind of sad to see the dog trying to retreve several parts at one time

Link to comment
Share on other sites

birddog,

they were 2 3/4 #4s i think an 1 1/4 oz. they worked great for my father.

 

fez,

hunting wild pheasants is a whole different world then planted pheasants. my dogs work no farther then 10 or 15yds from me yet the birds will still jump 50yds and farther in front ou us. in one area we actually have to "sneak" up to, no talking to each other or the dogs. this is why we use full chokes and #4 shot. our season just ended with a total of 65 roosters and not a one was "shot up".

we ate every one.

i have hunted planted pheasants in wisconsin and it was not hunting but rather shooting.

you want to try some pheasant hunting try a late season iowa hunt.

 

[ 01-15-2004, 04:56 PM: Message edited by: tj ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hear ya fezman.. i have to laugh cause that's the way one of the birds looked... both wings broken (one hangin' by a thread)and it's back was a pile of mush... no telling what coulda been with a full choke - wouldn't want to find out out either... they're precious no matter the limit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

tj - yea there's a difference but they all run like carl lewis on crack! One of the reasons I like pointers vs. flushers in the field. don't get me wrong we still have plenty of wild flushes out in front of us. If I'm hunting alone or with someone that knows my dogs or is at least conscious of them I don't use a bell. If they're new to 'em or just not with it ... a small nickel bell gets added to their collars which accounts for a lot of those wild flushes.

 

Were those loads the factory pheasant loads by remington?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

birddog,

 

the shells were remington duck loads. i bought them at gander mountain when they came out.

 

i hunt over nothing but labs. they hold solid points and flush when i tell them to. then they go and retrieave the downed or wounded bird. i love hunting behind them, they work much slower then pointers and will retrieve in any environment.

i have two pure breed pointing labs, a yellow named taz and a chocolate named abby, and am currently raising another chocolate named alli.

 

the problem is that towards the middle and end of the season the birds get VERY jumpy.

 

i love my dogs. there are a couple of pups from my blood line in wisconsin i believe around Wausua(sp?).

 

im really looking forward to next season! how bad is that?

 

good luck

 

[ 01-15-2004, 08:12 PM: Message edited by: tj ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yea the jumpy thing is always a scorcher it's the same out in the Dakotas.

I've hunted private land sw of Mason City a few years back and had a good time.

 

Call it coincedence ... I had a vet from outside Davenport in Eldrige tote her husband up here twice to pick out a pup (Wirehaired pointer) last July. I'd have to look to make sure but Dar and Scott Beegern comes to mind. Good People! Get this....SHE HUNTS .. HE DOSN'T !! That caught me off gaurd. But I know the boys got it made there with 'em. No kids and plenty of room at their place west of town. So he's spoiled rotten I can imagine.

 

Next season will not come soon enough! haha

 

Leaving for north west Wisconsin tomarrow to chase the dogs around the grouse woods for the weekend.

 

have a good one!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

doc my wiem is a perty close hunter if i make him 10-20 yd when theres birds in the field.. i live about 20 miles se of philly pa and quite frankly there are NO wild phesants to be found your best bet will be a hold over from the early season stocking by the state. and then you have to fight the rats and cats for them. as a matter of fact our phesant season with in about 75miles of my house has been closed since november 26 we had to travel about 100miles up state to hunt them and evan then there isnt many corn fields in Ne pa its mostly eastern mountans and heavy woods with the occasinal swamp. i would love to head out to the midwest for a real hunt but vacations have been few and quite far between for me most of my hunts are day trips at best and usualy on state lands or pay to play farms just so i can work my dog between field trials,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

fezman - I went to college at F&M in Lancaster, PA from '89-'91. A buddy and I used to grouse hunt quite a bit with descent success when we weren't hung-over. Have you ever thought about taking Doc out and giving it a try or have you already?

 

I don't remember where we were (I'd have to call up Jon and ask) but, we'd swing by his parents place and steal his dad's Brittany along with a gut full of breakfast then head out. I'm thinking it wasn't more than a few hours north of Lancaster... which could mean anywhere i know but i remember Philly only being an hour east of Lancaster on the turn-pike.

 

if we could see straight enough by the time we got out of the truck we had good luck finding birds... just thought you could suppliment your pheasant hunting season with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

grouse are now closed in pa and quail and phesant are closed in that part of the state. the only game in town now is pay to play for about 75mi in my part of the state.pa has wildlife management units and every differnt type of game is regulated in those WMU's. i live just over the border with delaware accualy exit 1 off i95 about 25mi s of philly. another big problem is the fact that most of lancaster and chester countys are beeing over run with subdivisions and strip malls. there are a few stategame lands that we hunt in Reading berks county that arnt too bad but it seems that hunting on privet lands is realy out of the question because of idiots that have turned most land owners aganest hunters and fishermen. more than once ive been asked to leave streams flyfishing buy land owners evan though if your standing in the creek they by law can't. i just say sorry pack up and leave. i'm planing a trip over to north jersy with at friend from the dog club to do a pay to play trip but we have to go soon because most farms are out of birds by the end of march. i'm entering doc in amature gun dog at the end of march

Link to comment
Share on other sites

gotchya - it's busting me up thinking of where it was that we went. I do know it was state forest ... but, couldn't say. Also thinking the season dates ran a bit longer too. I don't know ... seems like yesterday sometimes but reality just slapped me.

 

It's amazing how a few knuckle heads can really spoil things when dealing with private land owners. As if things aren't tough enough. It's taken a few times of just going and talking with a few folks and kissing a lil' hinder to gain access to a few spots I duck hunt... nothing a few cups of coffee and some jaw flappin' didn't cure in time.

Sounds like you've got a full plate this spring working Doc into am. gun dog ... Good Luck! Wish you success!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well i broke down and shot some #6s last sunday. we were hunting farm quail in nj and they were flying realy fast so i popped a #6 in the 2nd bbl just incase i had to reach out and touch somebody. i still stuck to the 8s in the 1bbl though. most of my long shots were quite long 40-50 yds i did hamburger a few though. doc enjoyed them

Link to comment
Share on other sites

sounds like a good time fezman. Doc must've loved those little morsels ehh?? ;)

 

I back up with 6's too - top bbl gets 7's though. I'd normally use 8's but, a few years ago I ran into a liquidation sale where the store had Federal Duck and Pheasant #7 steel loads for dirt cheap so I picked up a few cases of both 20 and 12. I'll be shootin' 7's til the well runs dry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yea he liked them a little too much i turned my back to answer the phone and he and duncan decided that the dressed birds on the cutting board were theres for the snacking. i didnt mind too much doc only scored one chucker breast before i caught them and i dont think duncan liked them very much he accualy took it off the counter and gave it to doc which is way out of the ordnary duncan is the more domanant of the two and usualy takes doc's food. duncan is a bit of a priss tho and dosent realy like raw meat i gave him some raw chickin once and he got a wicked case of the trots for a day or two.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yes duncan was our first wiem we got him from a puppy mill in lancaster about 4 years ago he's a great dog he just isnt the slightist bit birdy its a shame he is very well trained in obedience and is a certified therapy dog i take him the the old folks home every sunday. he just dosent like birds. we never introduced him to birds till after we got doc who was already trained when we got him Img3478_Picture_052.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

I'd stick with #4's unless you're getting deek shots. I use 6's too but that's usually on close smaller birds like teal and woodies ..

 

 

.. not sure where to get the loads on-line. I buy 'em over the counter at a shop by the case.

 

[ 09-11-2004, 05:49 PM: Message edited by: birddog ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

Im from Allentown PA. and remember hunting in New Tripoli ther was alot of fields and birds dont know if ther is now that was in the late 80's and early 90's. Ther was a place called the chuckery that we hunted but what my grandfather said no hunting ther any more. my grandfathers friends would stock pheasants every year to help with the pop. With the stocked birds we used#6's and when we hunted were ther was a good pop of wild birds we used #4's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...