Author Topic: What game birds will you hunt???? (Read 2909 times)

Wyo. Coyote Hunter · « **on:** August 17, 2009, 07:14:52 AM »

Hey, fall is fast approaching, we have had frost the last 2 nites.

What game birds will you hunt this fall?

What shotgun will be your choice and what loads for that gun?

?? My goldens can hardly wait. Even the old male at 14 has a spring in his step that was absent during summer

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #1 on:** August 17, 2009, 07:55:23 AM »

This year,
Dove in Southern California
probably the Benelli Nova, or a Urgathatecha M30 Side by Side. Maybe my 1100 if I can get it back from my friend. Don't know I have some 25 shotguns to choose from. 410 to 10ga
with 1 1/8 oz # 7.5 I like the 7.5 shot size as I think they have enough energy to sail clean through the little birds.
Hopeing to have the oppertunity for a Dove Hat trick. mourning Dove, White wings, and that Euroasian banded thing.
So far the past three years it has only been Whitwings and Mourning Dove.

Quail- Central California
Stevens 311A in 410.
2.5" #9
The 5 pound walk around gun for the long walks up and down steep hills
Ruger Red Label in 20ga
7/8 oz #7's Home made stuff. Great size the 7's

Quail- North Carolina
What ever shotgun Dad is not using.
choice of Benelli Nova, the Tank of a Mossberg 835, Stoger O/U, Ruger red label, Browning Auto -5, Remington M-11, or some old single shot
1 1/8 oz # 7.5's

Woodducks- NC
Most likely the Mossberg with Heavy shot 6's 2 3/4" shells

Drae · « **Reply #2 on:** August 18, 2009, 01:52:15 AM »

I will start off by hunting ruffed grouse here in northern Minnesota. On Oct. 18 I will start heading towards AZ. I'm a snowbird! I plan to stop for a few days & hunt pheasants in southwest MN. From there I go to AZ. I plan to hunt Gambel,scaled & Mearns quail in AZ.
I plan on using a Beretta Silver Pigeon 20 gauge(will see,I'm not a fan of the 20 gauge) I bought this year. But my gun of choice ,which I have used for the last15 years, is a Beretta Ultralight 12 gauge.

Wyo. Coyote Hunter · « **Reply #3 on:** August 18, 2009, 02:46:07 AM »

Drae, Where do you head quarter in Az. We usually head down there but not until Christmas. Usually, the quail have been hammered pretty hard. Last year I only shot a few. Did real well on dove though.

Drae · « **Reply #4 on:** August 18, 2009, 06:56:04 AM »

I stay in a RV park near Tombstone for most of the winter. I have to drive at least 30 miles to get to Scaled & Mearns country. I am planninng on staying near Apache Jct. ( actually about 20 miles east of there)for the month of Nov., this where I have good luck on Gambels. The Gambel & Scaled numbers are down in the Mearns country. I guess I'm 20 years too late on the really good hunting!
I might be making my plans too early! Our youngest daughter may have breast cancer. I don't know where this going right now! It might change our fall & winter plans!

RIjake · « **Reply #5 on:** August 18, 2009, 09:43:37 AM »

I'll make my annual pilgrimage up to the north woods of Maine for some patridge. Hopefully this year will be better than last but with all the rain we got this spring I'm a little leery.

I use my favorite scattergun, a Remington 1100 Special Field 20g. It's got the English stock. Man, does that gun shoot nice!

That's it for upland birds. They're scare 'round here. The state stocks pheasant, and I may get out once or twice but they're so stupid , there's not much sport in them. $:-\$

Siskiyou · « **Reply #6 on:** August 18, 2009, 01:06:03 PM »

Blue and Ruff Grouse in September. Mountain Quail when the season opens.

If the opportunity comes up I will take a shot at Bandtail Pigeons. They are one tough bird

Tn Jim · « **Reply #7 on:** August 18, 2009, 01:44:10 PM »

Primarily dove, starting in two weeks. Maybe ruffed grouse in mid November once or twice. Both with my Mossberg 930.

spruce · « **Reply #8 on:** August 18, 2009, 02:29:29 PM »

Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock starting in September. Grouse until the end of December, or until the snow gets too deep! Woodcock until they migrate south sometime in late October usually.

Ithaca SKB 100 20 ga on the nice days, Mossberg O/U 20 ga on the nasty days. Both with 1 oz #7 1/2 for early season, #6 for late season grouse.

Occasional guns are a 20 ga NEF Pardner, and a .410 Stevens pump I inherited when my brother-in-law died. Always try to take a bird or two with that one - just because.

hunt-m-up · « **Reply #9 on:** August 19, 2009, 05:34:03 AM »

Probably none, we had the lowest pheasant kill here(IA) last year that we've had in a long time. At $200+ an acre cash rent a lot of CRP has gone bye bye. I will admit, when all the CRP was still around it got to be more shooting than actually hunting, limit out by 10 or noon.
Plus the best days for bird hunting are also good days to be in the stand w/ a bow in my hand.

Wyo. Coyote Hunter · « **Reply #10 on:** August 19, 2009, 10:30:13 AM »

Drae, sorry to hear about your daughter. Hope it all turns out for the best. My last principal was a lady, she had the same problem. That was 15 years ago, and she is in perfect health today. My best wishes for you both.

We plan to go back to Az. again, but I am not sure where. Wilcox was my main headquarters for years, but the quail are tough to find there. We located a nice RV park north of Serria Visa, but I have not hunted quail much there. Have a good one.

Drae · « **Reply #11 on:** August 19, 2009, 12:30:33 PM »

Wyo.Coyote Hunter,
Thanks for the kind words on my daughter. Right now the only thing for sure is that she does have a growth in one of her breasts. She should know this Fri. if it is cancer or not.
If you are going north of Sierra Vista I am within within 10 miles of there. I don't know which RV park you are thinking of but I am going to be at Tombstone Territories RV Park. 8 miles east of Mustang corner(Jct of 82 & 90). There are Gambels right around there & scaled farther to the west. Mearns in the mountain ranges. I have never hunted Gambels in that area. But you are right near some every good Mearns country! In fact I'm always looking for a hunting partner. If all goes as planned I should be there Dec.1 to April 1. Send a PM with your email address if interested. You could always stay right in the same RV park as me. It runs alittle bit higher priced than those RV parks closer to SV.
Dave

tangob5 · « **Reply #12 on:** August 19, 2009, 02:24:47 PM »

September 1st and 115 degrees in the Imperial Valley of Southern CA for Morning, Whitewing and Eurasian dove. CA DFG has no limit on Eurasian dove again this year so I will be using a lot more shells then usual. October is the month to start hunting for Valley, Bob White and Mountain quail. Then comes pheasant.

Let the bird hunting season begin.

Wyo. Coyote Hunter · « **Reply #13 on:** August 19, 2009, 02:25:33 PM »

Drae, Will keep intouch. Dove season usually opens for the second go round in Nov. I think and usually last til the first weekend in Jan. We had some fine dove shooting last winter. I usually carry my 12 ga. ammo is cheaper, better kills, and due to the heavier gun less recoil. We will keep intouch. Good hunting til then.

popplecop · « **Reply #14 on:** August 19, 2009, 03:15:17 PM »

Start with doves then gouse and woodcock. Will also make an annual pilgrimage to SW Louisiana for waterfowl and woodcock. Might hunt some pheasants here in Wisconsin, but it's mediocure at best.

bluecow · « **Reply #15 on:** August 26, 2009, 03:52:50 AM »

grouse!
pre-topper 16g h&r that was my grandfathers frist and only gun.
no dog; my springer had a ear infection as a pup before i got him now has the hearing of a fence post. hell what i know about training a bird dog is like a bb in a boxcar

ctrout · « **Reply #16 on:** August 26, 2009, 04:44:38 PM »

Doves opens in a week. Then quail. Grouse opens sometime in there as well. I'll probably slap the brand new 20ga barrels on the Alcione for these and then switch to the 12ga barrels when I switch to pheasant and ducks. Not that you need a 12 to kill pheasants, but I need all the help I can get.

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #17 on:** August 28, 2009, 08:44:27 AM »

Just came back from Reno NV and looks like i will be adding Chuckar to the hunting list this year.

Wyo. Coyote Hunter · « **Reply #18 on:** August 28, 2009, 09:02:07 AM »

Have heard that Nev. has some fine chuckar hunting. Hopefully in the near future we will get out there to try it. One of my former students hunts coyotes and big game, but is not a bird hunter. He is checking them out for me.

Blue grouse opens here Tues. along with dove, and goose west of the divide. I will have to get the 28. ga. Rem. out for the opening of blue grouse.

The best time of the years is here.

Hope we all get to enjoy it to the max...

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #19 on:** August 28, 2009, 09:05:11 AM »

When you say best time of the year do you mean weather wise or do you mean
Bird hunting season?

After I go with the customers I will let you know how the hunting is.
I mentioned Quail and they guys said heck we have them here in the back yard you can go shoot them with a BB gun.
Chuckar is what we hunt.

Wyo. Coyote Hunter · « **Reply #20 on:** August 28, 2009, 01:34:39 PM »

;)mc, by the best time of year I guess I meant both the weather and hunting. Sept. and Oct. are the main hunting months in Wy. By Nov. it is winding down, usually, I try and go somewhere else for a couple mth. then a trip to Az. in the winter.

Good success on your chuckar hunt.

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #21 on:** August 31, 2009, 07:58:12 AM »

thanks.

woodsman44 · « **Reply #22 on:** October 09, 2009, 05:19:31 PM »

Here in nor Cal, in the sierra nevada mts. It will be, mountain quail, "sooty" blue grouse and turkey's.

In the valley it will be Doves, pheasants and valley quail.

The gun of choice will be my Rem. 11-87 premier 12ga.

Tonk · « **Reply #23 on:** November 24, 2009, 02:22:19 PM »

Well folks, Tall-Oak-Kennel will be hunting quail in Kansas later next week over some of our excellent bred German Shorthair Pointers. We have a couple of litters of puppies, one litter is almost all gone and the other one will be here in a couple of weeks. If your looking for a great GSP pup or started dog, you can view some of mine at Gundog Breeders.com and anyone from this sight that places an order, I will knock off $50 US American dollars.

Rock Home Isle · « **Reply #24 on:** May 17, 2010, 08:27:45 AM »

Quote from: Wyo. Coyote Hunter on August 17, 2009, 07:14:52 AM

Hey, fall is fast approaching, we have had frost the last 2 nites. What game birds will you hunt this fall? What shotgun will be your choice and what loads for that gun My goldens can hardly wait. Even the old male at 14 has a spring in his step that was absent during summer

The answers depend greatly upon who my hunting partners are I that am with...

This last fall I began my year with a traditional family dove hunt in eastern Colorado...We do this opening weekend every year and it was a blast, both literally and figuratively. We began by castrating the seasons young bulls, and dinner that night was Rocky Mountain Oysters. Dang I love family. My guest on this trip had never done this before and I'm sure that it left some memorable impressions. He still talks about what we did and what we saw. The hunting was awesome as usual; Family has ~5000 acres of land, and the neighbors are just wonderful and let us hunt their lands as well. There was more land to hunt then we had time.

This year I used my Ruder Red Lable 20 gauge, my son used a Biakel 20 gauge Over/Under...

Fall Duck season was actually pretty good hunting warm water sloughs and private land. Nice limits of wood ducks, teal and later, mallards. Wood Duck has got be the best eaten duck I have ever harvested.

This last fall I switched between my Ruger Red Lable 12 gauge and my Pietta side X side 10 gauge Blackpowder...My son used a Remington Youth 20 gauge pump. Blackpowder is by far the most fun for me, but not all my buddies appreciate the nostalgia of the firearm. Their loss...

Then we were back out in eastern Colorado hunting pheasants...I stepped out of the truck at the first field and OMG, there must have been 60+ rooosters take flight.

I took my Ruger 12 gauge again for this hunt. My son used a Biakal 12 gauge over/under. On a later Christmas hunt I used a Pedersoli side X side 12 gauge light upland gun. Thankfully the birds on the late hunt held tight and didn't run to much...I gotta say, once you get the smell of blackpowder firmly into your lungs, you will be hooked.

Goose Season is what I live fore...and it started very very slow this year. Its amazing how philisophical and open a person gets with thier buddies on a slow day of goose. We didn't start seeing regular action until after the 1st of the year...and then it went bonkers almost over night. Flight after flight after flight...amazing hunting. We use layout blinds and shell decoys...we put a dozen or so full-bodies around the blinds. If I could just say that if I were to forget one item and its absence would not greatly impact the hunt...it would be my Goose call...But I will not go hunting without a flag of somesort. Flagging Geese is just so amazing.

Throughout the goose season I used my Gazelle 12 gauge side X side, Ruger Red Lable 12 gauge, Pietta 10 gauge Blackpowder and a Pedersoli Brown Bess Flintlock carbine. My son used a Biakal 12 gauge Over/under...I had way to many toys out this year. The guys that enjoy BP were the ones that I hunted with the most, So my Blackpowder guns saw more action than the other firearms.

All told, it was a great year. Can't wait to do it all again.