Greybeard
Member
Pheasant/Quail weekend in TX Panhadle
' Managed to get 14-year old son out to drop his first wild cock on opening day a couple of weekends back. He had discovered the advantages of a 12 gauge over a 20 during dove season, so I gave up my 870 (modified choke insert) for the better part of the weekend.
I've had good experience before with some of the copper plated 3" "turkey loads" (4s and 6s) on long-range pheasant, but no opportunity to try the new Remington "Hevi-Shot" until that Saturday. My son's first and only good opportunity of the day was a crossing shot on a cock at around 35 yards. Promptly very dead in the air! Quite impressed with that 1 5/8 ounce load (1300 fps?)
Saw gobs of hens (about 20 miles SW of Guymon OK), but all but 3 of the cock evaded 4 of us (no dog) before we got tired of walking in the muck and broke out the prarie dog guns ...
1/2 day of quail hunting in beautiful weather before the trip home Sunday netted 8 birds out of 4 covey. After first covey busted and resettled, we put my son in midst of where they went down - knee-high grass and semi-heavy trees 12 to 16' tall. He got solo shots at 3 singles - and missed 'em all! Not that any of us "geezers" could have done much better in the very brief "windows" of opportunity in that type of cover.
Overall, a great weekend with friends and family. My son gained some confidence on the cock - then promptly got some bang-bang lessons in humility from the quail!
' Managed to get 14-year old son out to drop his first wild cock on opening day a couple of weekends back. He had discovered the advantages of a 12 gauge over a 20 during dove season, so I gave up my 870 (modified choke insert) for the better part of the weekend.
I've had good experience before with some of the copper plated 3" "turkey loads" (4s and 6s) on long-range pheasant, but no opportunity to try the new Remington "Hevi-Shot" until that Saturday. My son's first and only good opportunity of the day was a crossing shot on a cock at around 35 yards. Promptly very dead in the air! Quite impressed with that 1 5/8 ounce load (1300 fps?)
Saw gobs of hens (about 20 miles SW of Guymon OK), but all but 3 of the cock evaded 4 of us (no dog) before we got tired of walking in the muck and broke out the prarie dog guns ...
1/2 day of quail hunting in beautiful weather before the trip home Sunday netted 8 birds out of 4 covey. After first covey busted and resettled, we put my son in midst of where they went down - knee-high grass and semi-heavy trees 12 to 16' tall. He got solo shots at 3 singles - and missed 'em all! Not that any of us "geezers" could have done much better in the very brief "windows" of opportunity in that type of cover.
Overall, a great weekend with friends and family. My son gained some confidence on the cock - then promptly got some bang-bang lessons in humility from the quail!
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