Got a TXT out of the blue from a good mate on Friday...gist of it...wanna come and shoot a phesant????
ummmm does a bear pooh in the woods???
quick check in with war dept for permission for absenteeism permission granted return TXT Im in.
Sunday moring saw me waiting at meeting point 20mins early.
mate arrives and we drive to spot.
out come the ferocious Mutts...mine was intimidated by the sheer size and ferociousnees of my mates new dog...would have to watch carefully to prevent them having a right donnybrook,dont want vet bills and its always a risk when dogs havent been well socialised...my bitch sure hasnt been...
anyway we set off up river,first upa paarie comes over top of me,down she goes ,the 2nd carried on out into paddock out of where we allowed to go carry on up stream,next up a hare jumps up infront of me which I promptly miss twice,then to add insult to injury a gimme big blue rooster flies over top of me while gun is empty....muttered naughty words under my breath
carried on and saw another rooster fly way out ahead and land up on hills,picked up a freshly shot parrie drake...blood still warm and no frost on him...maybe that earlier shot that I thought missed wasnt so bad after all.
3 brown phesant hens broke infront of us but no longtails with them...carried on up and around...another parrie made mistake of getting too close and my eye was now in,the rusky mistress did the rest...by now the poacher pocket in my vest was getting heavy.two cats were seen hoofing it up hill...we saw this pair 4 times during morning but each time out of range.....where was the .223 when its needed???
another pair of roosters were spotted,pricked one but he managed to keep flying away out of sight,dog indicated at cabbage tree.... get out of it you bitch
plurry possum hole in trunk...mate wanted a possum to train his fearsome hound on so I took Meg back to where rooster had flown for a look to see if we could find it while mate dealt to possum...out of sight not stuck in mind for my bitch,she not allowed to do the possum thing.
no joy on finding pricked bird,mate still playing with donged possum so I wander over brow and up pops rooster,up swings the rusky mistriss and Meg gets her first rooster retrieve
we meet up with mate and carry on...a rabbit takes off in front of him but doesnt give shot,then number 4 parrie makes fatal mistake of coming too close to me,up goes rusky,down comes parrie.
nice wee under runner hole where it lands so after Meg runs it down and brings it back we sit down and breast the parries out...with much lighter bag we carry on...stroling carefully around hill mate calls out "coming your way" Im looking for rooster over head then spot wallaby flat tack bouncing down hill DIRECTLY at me.neither of us can shoot and I dont have bayonet fitted!!! at 5 yards it turns to left,finnaly a clear shot,up goes rusky,down goes wally,smashed with a 30 grn load of steel #4s not the usual wally load by any means but sure was effective!!!! dogs had a good sniff/scrag....all good training for mates new hound.
we carry on back towards wagon.stop at rubbish hole..full of dead cows and very scungy looking rats I cant resist schredding one with load of steel #4s...man steel loads are LOUD in close space.
we carry on back to river mate manages 2 phesants on way back to car,one was the big blue we had spooked earlier. flushed 2 quail but declinded to fire...steel loads at point blank wouldnt leave much for a feed and the little buzz balls were fast,really fast.
so mate fired 2 shots for 2 birds
I fired 15 rounds for 8 kills
awesome day all around.

roosters

Elvis, what kind of chokes do you use for steel shot?

Sounds like you had a great outing Elvis...a good hunt that netted a great feed of fowl mate.

Aloysius wrote:

Elvis, what kind of chokes do you use for steel shot?

well usually in my pump its a 1/4 winchoke or the factory extended modified 1/2 BUT yesterday I took the russian mistress for a wander and she has fixed chokes....half and full.....but them ruskies are built tough,I did however only use #4 steel and had dropped payload to 30 grms...I will use a 35grm load through it but dont use bigger than #3 shot
by keeping payload on lighter side and pellet size small the bridging thing doesnt happen...so far so good.

Often we think the same, this time I'm different: when I use steel shot in a full choke not-steel-tested barrel, I take 24 or 28 gram number 7 or 7 1/2... and you will be surprised at what distances this is still very effective... those #4 and bigger make your game so bloody it can be better used in a horor movy than in the kitchen.

we dont get steel smaller than #4s on the shelf here...Ive seen ONE box of clay size loads in ten years.