Upland Hunting, Bird Dog and Shotgun BS Thread

Lost the hunting bug when I was young...didnt lose the dog or gun bug however.

Peeled island has a good grouse hunt yearly. Have to either fly in or by boat... I'd recommend flying in

 

Yep, absolutely true.

For some reason I thought it was the other way around. I must have gotten confused when reading information on the controlled crossing of Irish setter lines into Red and White breeding programs needing fresh genes.

 

Well they aren't dumb, they don't call grouse limb chickens without good reason A friend of mine hunts with French Britts and they are so fast they bump a lot of grouse into the trees. And will bark "treed" LOL. Great pheasant dogs but on grouse crowd them hard. Still great to hunt with.



Early morning constitutional walk at the 2014 Upland Journal MidWest shoot and Yuk fest in Wi. with 3 of his FB and an odd ball.

The Setter\Britt mix was a rescue dog he picked up from a breeder that had an Uh Oh breeding. And turned out to be a heck of a dog. Had to get the tail bobbed though as he kept breaking it in the woods on trees hunting grouse. He doesn't bump grouse though and has learned to relocate and pin the runners.

And John with a brace of his Springers.



I do like watching Springers hunt especially on crip phez. Game over.



I love my Tollers, but also love all bird hunting dogs. Well most of them.

 

My Vizsla pup is coming along nicely. I was able to get him on some birds during training a couple nights ago.

 

Got back up the hill today and found some amazing mountain quail cover and found three coveys. September can't come soon enough.

 

Sept 8th is not so far off. Scouting and exercising the pup is intensifying, been seeing quite a few mtn quail!

 

These are some great pictures! I need to step up my dog photography game haha

 

When we can’t get any quail we go after the dove. Getting close to that time

 

Unfortunately quail are a thing of the past around here. And I don't consider those pen raised, sorry excuses for birds as quail.

 

Thank you. I've been making an effort to take better pics each season. This year I'm going to TRY to carry my camera while actually hunting.

 

Agreed just not around anymore. We pretty much dove and duck hunt. We used to do some pointer trials but got out of that bc of all the driving involved bc none were ever close to us.

 

Went and visited a friend today that manages a private duck club in the north valley. The amount of quail out there was insane! There was brood after brood after brood.

 

Got my pup out on some birds again the other night and he is coming along great!

 

Here’s my 13 week old gsp pup

 

Not a lot of straight stocked 12 ga. O\U's around, been trying to find one for my 687UL without much luck. Coles of course is the best bet but spendy.

Of all places Cabela's has a Sig Arms Aurora TR20 for $1,500 and will ship guns between stores for a reasonable fee.

Straight stocked O\U in 12 ga. aren't very common. And it is important to know if you shoot a Browning or a Beretta (or other Italian guns) better first IMO. I do better with the Italian guns. Exception being the new Browning A5 Sweet 16 it fits me perfectly. The Sig Arms Aurora above is made by B. Rizzini their first entry into the US was through Sig Arms. They are one heck of a gun I have 2 later model B. Rizzini guns one my youngest son placed runner up at the Mn. State Trapshoot more than a few years back.

If your interested in it would ask how many choke tubes are with it. If it isn't 5 then I would tell them because of that take at least $200 off. You can still get them although Seminole made them back then and they are out of business. But there are other options.

It is only a 26.5" (metric) barrel however. Now days most people prefer 28-30 in an O\U and likely why it has been sitting around. In thick woods for grouse I prefer a shorter bbl. but out on the open prairie I too prefer a longer bbl. My new Sweet 16 is going to be for grouse and has a 28" bbl. which is equal to a 32" O\U way too much for grouse. It is making a trip to Texas to have Briley cut to 23" and thinwalls put in. After hunting season the steep radius grip will be changed to a straight English grip. That is about $400 by both stock makers that do the conversion. The wood has to be recheckered and refinished. Having a pistol grip converted is another option if you find an O\U you like.

For what ever reason there are a lot more 20 ga. English stocked O\U guns than 12. But for wild pheasant in Nov. that have a PhD in hunter avoidance I want 1 1/4 oz. of #5 so stick with the 12 ga. Thinking you do also which is why you are looking for a 12 ga. I own a number Beretta's including a Joel Etchen Guns custom target Combo with upgraded EELL wood. JEG is now selling straight stocked 20 & 28 combos with EELL wood. If you want to drool... JEG combos with English Stock

I keep telling myself this one does NOT have my name on it



But getting a DU Sweet 16 and Winchester 23 in 20 ga. first. That will break the bank for this year. And next LOL.

 

Went up scouting yesterday. We decided to leave the mountain quail alone and look for grouse instead, a bird I've never had much lick finding. Low and behold we hit the jackpot and found over 20 birds around a few sub alpine lakes around 8,500'.

 

I have only shot one Italian gun one time and it had had the comb lowered so I really don’t know if I shoot Italian guns well. I do like how they handle however. They seem more sleek to me. That being said I have a fair amount of experience with Brownings and they fit me well. I just found a 12ga Citori with an English stock and 26” barrels. I think I am going to pull the trigger on it (no pun intended). Like you mentioned the more educated ring necks call for some more lead in the late season. That is the main reason I am leaning towards 12ga. I have also always shot a 12ga so there is that too. Maybe I will try picking up a 20ga Beretta for quail. I will take any excuse to buy another gun haha

 

Anyone here hunt doves? Most places the season starts 9/1

 

I think Huk has fine tuned his dove skills and is ready to bust them up this weekend.