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01-04-2018, 09:04 AM | #3 | ||||||
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I wish I could choose between the two, but it's impossible to choose my favorite.
I prefer eating woodcock but too many of them need to be killed to make a meal. So I simply sautee woodcock breasts as hors d'ouvres after a day's upland hunt. I used to be able to bring down most of the woodcock I shot at, but these days I seem to miss more of them..... must be related to aging. Grouse, on the other hand, are the most gallant (but sneaky) of gamebirds and I do pretty well, but their numbers have declined somewhat in the past few years. But I am not a meat hunter... Even on those rare opportunities I've had to shoot my limit, I just won't do it. Call me crazy, but... .
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"I'm a Setter man. Not because I think they're better than the other breeds, but because I'm a romantic - stuck on tradition - and to me, a Setter just "belongs" in the grouse picture." George King, "That's Ruff", 2010 - a timeless classic. |
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The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to Dean Romig For Your Post: |
01-04-2018, 09:15 AM | #4 | ||||||
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I live in a little farming community in North East Clark County NV. For me, Gambel's Quail is a short walk.
It's the same thing, every time. A couple of German Shorthairs, my old hunting partner Chuck, and an old Parker VHE, and we're off. The beauty of growing old is, I don't need a lot of birds to make me happy. Four birds between the two of us is a good day. |
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The Following 9 Users Say Thank You to todd allen For Your Post: |
Chukar are my passion |
01-04-2018, 11:05 AM | #5 | ||||||
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Chukar are my passion
For me it has to be wild chukar with California valley quail a close second. Living in northern Nevada there is unlimited areas to hunt and I just like walking the hills and watching the dogs. Numbers are down this year but we seldom fail to get into birds. Attached is a picture of my Brittany and a friends pointer pointing a few quail in a cut field. My hunting partner is trying to get a picture of the flush.
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The Following 9 Users Say Thank You to Alan Phillips For Your Post: |
01-04-2018, 11:21 AM | #6 | ||||||
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I have yet to find a wing shooting quarry that I dislike! But, Snipe hunting and Dove hunting are in a dead heat, with wild Bob's in third these days. It used to be Bobwhite's hands down, but hyper expensive lease prices for decent quail country, wildly fluctuating populations have driven me out of the Setter business, and I switched to Vizsla's, a few years ago. We have grown to love these unique, multi talented dogs.
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" I love the look Hobbs, my Vizsla, gives me after my second miss in a row." |
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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Mark Ray For Your Post: |
01-04-2018, 11:26 AM | #7 | ||||||
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Mallards over decoys
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"Striving to become the man my dog thinks I am" |
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The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to John Dallas For Your Post: |
01-04-2018, 11:44 AM | #8 | ||||||
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Grouse are what fuel my upland passion. Growing up in SE Ohio, i really didnt know much about those funny looking long beaked birds until my Uncle Sam explained to me that many people pursued them with bird dogs. We were rabbit hunting at the time and would flush quite a few woodcock over the course of a hunt in Nov and Dec. I became addicted to grouse hunting, and shot my first with an old Stevens 12 ga sxs--one of those with the nylon stocks.
I have never developed much of a taste for woodcock however, and often pass up shots on them if we are moving good grouse numbers, it just doesnt sit well with me not to eat what I shoot. If I am training a young dog, I do make an effort to get them into woodcock. It was a strange season for woodcock this year in the UP. Those who went early had hot temps, and told me they didnt do well. I was there the last week of Oct, first week of Nov, and only moved 4 woodcock in 2 weeks--but the grouse hunting was very good. I didnt move many woodcock in Ohio this year either.
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"How kind it is that most of us will never know when we have fired our last shot"--Nash Buckingham |
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The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Harold Lee Pickens For Your Post: |
01-04-2018, 12:03 PM | #9 | ||||||
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Last year was "The Lost Fall" for me. Daisy wasn't able to hunt and the month of October spent in the U.P. was pretty much a dogless venue. As Harold noted it was hot and it rained..a lot. If I were to put a label on my upland bird hunting endeavors it would be as a Grouse hunter. I like Woodcock also but the Grouse is king for me. Next fall I'll have a young shorthair with me and I hope to be able to get him into some flight birds just for the practice if nothing else.
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There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter...Earnest Hemingway |
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The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Rich Anderson For Your Post: |
01-04-2018, 01:10 PM | #10 | ||||||
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It's all about grouse and woodcock for me. But, no longer do I find the need to kill to have hunted. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the hunt as much as I ever have, but these days it's all about the dog.
My most memorable hunts, however; have been sharing a blind duck hunting with a good friend.
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Wild Skies Since 1951 |
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The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Greg Baehman For Your Post: |
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