C'mon grousers, I know a few of youse must have stories--like Ernie.
I hunted Tug Hill for the duck/woodcock opener this last Sat. I camped (illegally) at the reservoir/beaver pond west of the Gruntley Rd coverts and scouted in the evening hours Fri . Lots of geese came in to the classic northwoods hole, but few ducks. Come morning, I had three woodies buzz me right at shooting time and as I positioned to shoot at them, I stepped into a deep beaver channel and did a Nestle plunge into the pond. Needless to say the woodies escaped unscathed...I was of course soaked and besmirched, my cell phone ruined, my tobacco rendered useless, and my pride seriously bruised. And did I mention it was hot and the mosquitoes were ferocious? I saw one other group of mallards fly over, but they were not interested in my pond or spread.
As for upland, I fared much better. I ended the day with roughly 15 flushes, (4 or 5 were re-flushes) on grouse, two of which (one gray phase, one red) came home with me. Artemis also had two woodcock points, one of which was also potted. The other one I somehow missed...not sure what happened there. Artemis did well, but, again, it was hot. All in all, a nice "quickie" to the Tug, though duckless.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
5 comments:
Nice going, KG. You and your dog did much better than Gordie and I.
But, since you axed: "C'mon grousers, I know a few of youse must have stories..."
There might be one here:
http://colduck.blogspot.com/2007/10/gordies-first-grouse.html
I wasn't able to post earlier on my early hunting experiences this year due to a computer glitch. I.E., I couldn't long on to my blogsot account.
Be that as it may, I'm back.
On blue grouse opener, my son and I went up and we each bagged one. As that's all we saw, we were pretty happy with that. The provided a delicious meal that night, fried and breaded, and served with Chianti.
That same weekend we went out and shot a pile of shells at doves. Again, we each got one.
Since then, last weekend, the two of us went out and got our antelope (he's not old enough to shoot at antelope). I usually get two to three, but my freezer is full this year as I also got an elk last year, so we only shot the one. We went out well after the season opener, as I was trailing cattle for a week. There were very few hunters out, but the antelope were certainly wise to us. The ranges were a little long as a result, but we did fine.
Was going to go out for waterfowl for the first time this weekend, but I can't find any bismuth shot for my son's ancient 20 gauge, and I'm rebuiling the other 20.
damn, that Nestle plunge doesn't sound like much fun. but good going on the grouse.
Yeoman, have you heard the rumor that Bismuth is/has gone out of business? Know anything about that?
Keith,
I hadn't heard that rumor, I hope it isn't true.
Frankly, Bismuth shot is outrageously expensive, in my view. But I've bought some starting as of last year.
The reason I bought it last year was that Midway Shooting Supply actually stocks .410 Bismuth shot, and my son was shooting .410 at the time. I was surprised that anyone loaded .410 bismuth, and I was even more surprised when he knocked a duck down in flight with it. I have three of those shells left.
This year I was further surprised when I found that a local, chain, sporting goods store had .410 Bismuth in stock. Of course, I'm no longer looking for .410. Last spring my son switched to my late father's ancient Remington Model 11 20 gauge, and I can't get him to switch away from it. He actually declines offers for a new shotgun, as he likes that one. It takes 2 3/4" shells, so I've been looking for 20 gauge bismuth, which I can't find in 2 3/4". But the store had every other kind of bismuth.
Is tungsten-iron shot okay for the older barrels?
Post a Comment