New grouse gun
 

New to me 20 ga VHE got the job done this weekend. I did miss a really easy one in the wide open because I decided to dump both barrels when it was a screaming crosser at about 5 and 8 yards :banghead:

George Bird Evans once commented on a miss saying he had fired both barrels before a sane man could have mounted the gun :rotf:

nice gun and a hunt to remember

Have often noticed, I that seem to miss the easiest shot I have all day.

good hunt and a nice gun to boot it seems as daniel said the easyest shots are the hardest to make....charlie

I had two Grouse and a Woodcock fly right at me this season and I missed them all:rotf::rotf:

That is probably one of the hardest shots there is since it is rare in the way most of us in US hunt, especially in an upland setting. Its also a hard shot to safely set up at a sporting clay range, so you just don't see it too much. Unless you hunt a lot of those Continental Pheasant hunts. You may see it some in a dove field as well. Its just a tough shot to pull through and lose sight of bird and then pull the trigger. I found it was just better for me to let em pass and get em as they are even or going away if you its a safe shot, but then you could be faced with one of the hardest shots.

I think the absolute hardest shot that even some English shooting experts agree on is a driven pheasant that is tailing and quartering away from you. See an awful lot of powder burned on those misses on those.

Think Station 8 Low House Rich - I break those birds shooting low gun(at my waist) with some regularity.





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While hunting in Maine this fall my pooch went on a perfect point and the grouse flushed flying dead straight away from me down a open old logging road. I pulled up and the first round failed to fire, so I quickly fired the second barrel only to have that round fail to fire. After cussing :cuss: the loads I opened the gun to change them only to find I had failed to load my gun:rotf:

I think I have missed every dead incoming shot over the years, one on a woodcock last weekend. If I could just tell myself to settle down and wait....
I have also missed on an easy bird where I forgot to load the gun...
There are many other excuses I have found over the years hunting these clever little birds.
I am thinking about putting together a numbered list of all the potential reasons I have missed, that way my hunting buddy and I can just list them numerically when we get back, like that was the old 2-1-7 (translation) 2-stepped in a hole, 1- miss mounted the gun, 7- flew right behind a tree.

To bad Parker didn't make triple barrel guns, that would solve all our problems--except for Steven's who didn't load his gun. Hate to say it, but have been there done that.