Readers of Spiller and Evans will only think one way, they make no bones about the impoverished souls who ground shoot.A$5000.00 gun to shoot 5 oz. of meat makes no sense.Those who spend $5000.00 for an ATV and $89.00 for a gun will not be dissuaded either.I only get what I seek for my own reasons.I pity those who get so little where so much is to be had.Yes they are mythical and magical too.

We are not really talking about birds. We are talking about ourselves and who and what we are.

But some folks, in northern Maine, struggle to make $15000 a year. The are shooting $200 shotguns and are happy with the meat they get. I think you, sir, are a snob and do not get it. You are a "sport" from "down below". Sorry.

Hey- Fight fair! No cheap shots about where somebody hails from.

Raising free range chickens is a lot cheaper too, so why waste time driving back roads ?

shooting birds on the ground that can fly is not for me. i have never done it and i hope i never will. i shoot all year long so i don't have to shoot a bird on foot or afloat (unless a cripple or a turkey). I have never been that hungry and birds chew better with less shot in them.:) scott

But Dean, if you struggle to put food on the table, as many folks in northern New England do, a bird in the pot is worth two in the bush. It is protein, pure and simple. I cringe at folks passing judgment on those less fortunate than us. I know wardens in Northern Maine that look the other way at certain families that poach a deer or moose because they truly need it as food for there families. Please do not judge them by our standards. Be dam the critter if it fills the belly of a hungry child.

I don't begrudge a destitute family the occasional deer or maybe a moose - in fact I support it and I would stand beside him if the law took him to task under those circumstances... but a wild native gamebird like a grouse or woodcock, not so much.

Now if he were more sporting about it and took nothing but head shots with a .22 it wouldn't bother me as much - but to drive back roads with a 12 gauge sticking out the window when he could more easily and cheaply have free-range chickens running around his place that he can kill any time... he needs to be charged for the crime and pay the penalty.

About the sporting practice of 'catch and release' Lee Wulff once said that "A salmon is much too valuable a gamefish to be caught only once." I have similar beliefs about our ruffed grouse - they are much too valuable a gamebird to be ground-swatted.

Perhaps we can shake and agree to disagree :cheers:

I understand in Scaled quail hunting, if a bird has one foot off the ground it is considered "in the air".
......that is hearsay for my part.
Any Texans?.....:corn:
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...V_OKSB6WjN9uHb

a bird is a bird is a bird no matter what the wrapper. We tend to let the flesh man come out thinking my hunting is the best and the hardest I'ts so easy to let everything become a contest.