Your Toughest Shot -- Bird and Setting
 

We are iced in again, so to avoid going stir crazy, I'm going over my hunting journal notes and calculating my shooting success (er...failure?). I don't note everything about all shots taken, but I do note some details about particularly tough shots, whether I make them or not. My notes span over 30 years. I consistently note the difficulty when trying to shoot bobwhite quail in the timber. I did not calculate the percentages, but it's clear from my notes that when quail flush in the timber, they are pretty darned safe from me.

Grouse in relatively new and thick clearcuts (especially in steep mountain terrain), dove with a 40 mph tail wind, and woodcock in the plum thickets are all tough for me. Then there is the shot I almost always miss when I see the bird on the ground before it flushes (happens more with woodcock and grouse, but always hard for me, no matter the bird).

But in the end, quail in the timber is my toughest shot. Thankfully we don't find them there all that often.

Just curious what my colleagues find to be their toughest bird/setting.

The best/toughest shot I ever made was many years ago while dove hunting in late winter. In Tennessee we have a 3 segment dove season with the last being in December. I was hunting a farm that was within walking distance from my home. It was cold and windy and I was sitting in an overgrown fence row beside a cut cornfield trying to stay warm. I was looking out over the field and just happened to glance directly above me and saw a dove with the afterburners on flying from my right to the left. Everything about the shot was uncomfortable, with me being right handed and the dove flying from right to left and the fact that it was directly above me when I saw it made me think it was pretty much a waste of a shotshell. But I took the shot with my 20 gauge Winchester that my dad bought me in high school at the local hardware store and that dove just exploded in a gray & white cloud of feathers! I could take that particular shot 10 times and not make it again, but it has always stayed in my memory some 40 years later. Most of my toughest shots have been misses!

A grouse flushing from up in a tree is always a tough one for me.

Hardest shot? The first bird I killed. A drake ringneck over decoys with my poly-choked 20 gauge 11-48

The first time I drove up the drive at Morrison Pines I thought the quail in those long leaf pines would be a cinch compared to grouse and woodcock in the Upper Peninsula. I could not have been more wrong:shock::shock:

toughest shot
 

Since the quail are gone in my part of Virginia, I hunt grouse. The hardest shot for me is one flushing from a tree branch, the second hardest is one flushing behind me. On the rare occasion when there are more than one, picking the right bird to shoot is still difficult. Like a lot of hunters, I can hit the hard shot and miss the easy one.

woodcock spiraling up through a dense poplar slashing thicket. My brittany holds beautiful points, I always seem to be looking 20 yards ahead, figuring he has a grouse pointed. The first year (2 years ago) I always seemed to shoot to quick, and always seemed to miss. Finally I let the birds get right to the top of the slashing, and then took my shot with much more success. A grouse flying straight at me I have never hit yet, either on the inbound, or outbound:)

The toughest shots for me with any kind of game bird have always been the ones I missed....

Straightaways, crossers, incomers, dropping out of trees, quartering away or in doesn't matter.... heck, I even missed a big longbeard at 30 yards, full choke, with the bead right at the top of his neck.

Birds I've killed when all the odds were stacked against me, at the time seemed so easy when it happened but later when I thought about it I wonder how I ever pulled it off.... :shock:




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A duck seen at a great distance and watched as it approaches, all the time in the world,missed. A duck that surprises me is in trouble. A grouse or woodcock I see before it flushes gets a pass. A grouse roaring down the mountain side side slipping through the trees is a waste of ammo for 50 years but I finnally hit one this year 10 minutes after telling my sons about my frustration with them. It's why we love this game so much. If you got them all what would be the sense of that.

1st. Blue quail running in front of you and the dogs, flushing while your on the run at 40 yards.
2nd. Green winged teal flying from behind you, unseen, then straight away at mach 10.

A grouse flushing from a snow roost. By the time I recover from the surprise, he's halfway to the next county.

my worst shot was a day when duck hunting it was 2 degrees that day i had on hip boots standing in water just 2 inches below the top of my boots..along comes a wood duck from my left to my right...i turned very quickly my body moved but my feet had sunk in the mud they did not move with my body i pulled the trigger but missed as i was turning..i got off balance and started falling my feet came loose outa the mud and here i go trying to keep my head above water.. after 4 steps of stumbleing i caught a tree i had went up to my shoulders but only my head stayed above the water.... never touched that duck...it was over 2 mile back to the truck most of it knee deep water and mud covered in thin ice...finally got to the truck and turned that heater on high it took me a half aday at home setting right by the heater to get warm that day...never will forget that miss on that duck...charlie

Oh, the different ways we miss! I thought I knew them all, but you guys are giving me new options. I'm glad to see the "treed bird flush" on more than one post.

Yikes. Reminds me of some "over my wader" stories I could tell from my days as a trapper.

I've missed lots of grouse in the snow, but never been in on a snow roost flush. I'd like to add that to my "missed birds" list.:whistle:

I have to concur that the grouse leaving a tree is my most difficult, if not impossible. After 50 years chasing them I am not sure I have ever connected with a tree flush. And not because I did not know they were there as my dogs will routinely point them up in a tree.

The second most missed shot is a grouse that flushes in front but flies quartering to the rear. Instead of moving my feet I seem to insist on getting corkscrewed into the ground.

Fast high flying pigeons give me the most challenging shots. When you do connect what a great feeling. They can be dead in the air and still sail for a long way.

I think any fast crossing bird over 30 yards out is very tough shot. That happens mostly with ducks for me, occasionally I'll get that type of shot at a pheasant, more often with doves. I find those long passing shots tougher than quick flushes in close -- what I'd call snap shooting -- you sometimes hear the bird before you see it, the gun snaps to the shoulder and fires. For some reason I do pretty well on those -- it's all instinct with no time to think. But if I see the bird coming and then it passes in front of me out there a ways, I have too much time to think and try to figure out the lead and I would most likely miss. I'm better at that shot now that I shoot sporting clays a lot. But it is still the toughest shot on the course.

As a young teen ,I wasn't really permitted by law to hunt not until I was 16,but the old single shot behind the porch door when I got home from school each day was too tempting -my older brother had always told me to never load the gun, just carry it cracked open with a shell in the chamber -so I did ...

My buddy Pete was over after to school to tag along for this "illegal grouse hunt " -doing bad stuff was cool !....the winding river behind the house was frozen solid ,but we had little snow and after a little walk as we rounded the corner, the exclamation of "Grouse !" rang out -it was standing about 10 feet from me ,I cocked the gun before I closed it holding both the trigger and the hammer ,closing the gun as I was bringing it up ,at about waist high I let go the hammer but in my excitement still holding the trigger ...it went off ,from the hip taking the head right off my first grouse ! my buddy thought I was a crackerjack ,I said there was nothing to it -it was the first grouse I ever shot and I can take you right to the very spot today.


Another time , my older brother would take me on the barrens with our old setter Ben,( not to be confused with my modern Ben ) lead shot was the norm and we could use it on anything that jumped up ...I would carry at least two full boxes of 12 gauge imperials ,and with my trusty H&R single I got the shit kicked out of me and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn ,most days running out of shells, it was pitiful -our favorite quarry were Ptarmigan and snipe ...this one lone snipe gets up over a point at least a gunshot away ,my brother yells " don't shoot!" ( because of course I was running low ) ..the bird keeps getting further and further ,im lining it up ...boom !! there was a moment of hesitation it fanned out flew straight up about 3 feet and dropped dead -one pellet in the back of its head .

There was also my first day in Arizona with Phil Carr,jump shooting ducks from puddles on the way to the mountains for mearns ,the first puddle held a few we thought ...it was actually hundreds ,when it settled down I had five ducks laying out there ...I only fired two shots !

Chris' story of the head shot snipe reminded me of the rare occasions that I have shot a bird and a pellet hit it in the head (by chance of course). On each occasion -- and it's happened with grouse and quail -- the bird towered very high, straight up, and then plummeted straight down...dead. I believe the bird was "dead, but didn't know it" as my father used to say. It's an interesting phenomenon.

I've also shot birds that have flown on as if not hit, only to discover them (well, the dog discovered them) some distance away, quite dead. I remember an Iowa pheasant in particular that I shot at and, not thinking I'd hit it, followed up with the dog to see if we could get him up again. I'm sure that bird flew at least 400 yards and we found him quite dead with no sign of a hit.

In another "weird shot" incident, I took a Hail Mary shot at a flushing Fall turkey with my Ithaca magnum 10 gauge. The bird dropped dead at 77 paces. I never did find where it was hit. My wife told me that it probably died as a courtesy to my "reputation."

Mearns quail in the oaks on steep ground. I also can't hit them if they fly towards me and then over my head where you have to spin around and shoot!
:bigbye::bigbye::bigbye:

Take 'em as incomers. I did that with a woodcock once - stupid mistake on my part...

I never did find the majority of that bird. :whistle:





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How ironic this thread. Although our grouse season is closed, today was just too beautiful to pass up; 15 degrees, light wind, sun shining, and just the right amount of recent snow for good track looking. So, off I went with the dogs to some grouse cover to get us all some exercise and enjoy the day.

Near the end of the first real good cover I saw four sets of fresh grouse tracks. The dogs were working out further so I waited for them to get everything covered. Yep, they found them. When I walked in both dogs were locked up looking skyward. And away they go from about 15 feet up the tree. I am absolutely, positively sure I would not have connected with any of the four birds. It seems they are going mach 1 as soon as their feet leave the branch.

A bit later they nailed one on the ground. Now that is a different story. That bird is lucky I did not have my Parker repro. Oh well, maybe next year we'll meet again. At least the dogs had fun.

For me, doesn't matter what species, if it flushes unexpectedly and goes hard right, almost beyond 90 degrees. That's my toughest shot. Having replacement parts makes that harder. I tend to do what Gary Laudermilch does, instead of stepping to the shot I too corkscrew myself into it and run out of swing. I know better, but in the heat of the moment my brain takes a vacation! :shock:

Yup, Mike, I can corkscrew on a shot with the best of them...and, of course miss. Hey, when the bird gets up, especially without "prior notice," the old muscle memory frequently forgets. Having said this, I've made some memorable shots from the ole corkscrew method. Luck is as luck does.

I have nothing to say because all of my "problem shots" have been enjoyed on this thread already. How entertaining, especially Charlie.

Yes, Charlie’s toughest shot experience I will continue to reflect on the longest; missing the bird was just the beginning. And he never even got into what happened to the gun.

The thread has worked nicely as an encounter group for bird shooters, entertaining and therapeutic, too.

Picture an abandoned barnyard, overgrown with brush and red cedars, wet and thick. A grouse is seen at 10 yards behind a 10 ft. red cedar and flushes using it for cover. I step to the left to clear the cedar and hang my foot on 2 strand of barb wire, take the shot while falling forward. I was not hurt the gun was not hurt and the grouse was unharmed.

Daniel, substitute tree limb for barbed wire -- all too familiar. It's comforting to know that there's some universality in missing shots.

To me, it brings me down a peg or to, plus it brings out the sense of humor about how could I have missed such an easy shot. :)

Well here's mine. Bird is a very large dove. Setting is among several round bales on a three legged dove chair. Shooting is slow as we sit and chat. Suddenly there is a bird about ten feet coming in for a landing on my hay bale. I see the bird the bird sees me. The bird throws his brakes on and stops in mid air at about four feet with its wings spread very wide.I do the fastest gun mount ever seen and pull the trigger. Me and the chair tumble backwards with me upside down missing a hat and glasses. The bird goes on its merry way. My friend laughs his fool head off. He likes to tell the story in large crowds. That bird had a wing span of about three feet when he hit reverse.

Gerald, what a great account of a miss...and better yet that you can tell it on yourself. (BTW, I have long ago gotten rid of my three-legged stool for dove hunts.)

that made me laugh for a while...charlie

Toughest wild bird shot? No question ............ wood ducks coming into a little beaver pond at first light. They land on the water at, what seems to be, at least 50 mph, dodging between trees, darting back and forth, until finally plopping down within 5 yards of you oftentimes.

I've shot doves for 60 years here and South America, wild quail in Georgia and Arizona, green timber ducks in Arkansas and Mississippi, but nothing is as consistently tough as those woodies coming in to land in a little beaver pond in timber in the predawn light.

SRH

I forgot about another tough shot I had hunting. A couple I got to know back in the 70's helped me train my first beagle. They offered to take me grouse hunting with their bird dog. I think it was a wire haired griffon? I remember watching the dog quartering, I remember him going on point, Bob directed me to an area to the right of the dog, Bob walked in towards the dog and several grouse flushed, maybe 5 or 6 if I remember correctly. My first wife had just gotten me a browning over/under 20 gauge for my birthday, and this was my first hunt with that new shotgun. I aimed at a grouse, took my shot, 2 grouse fell, the dog went and retrieved both of them. Bob was standing there with his mouth wide open, his wife Patti was just smiling. I tried to act like it was no big deal:) the next shot I took was one of my toughest shots ever.

Shot at a Goldeneye on Truman Lake back in the 80's.... I still remember it like yesterday.

I was shooting south of the blind coming towards us with a nice tail wind. I lined up pulled away for the lead, and just as I squeezed the trigger, it made a hard left, as only a goldeneye with a tailwind can do... Because the bird was out my end of the blind, my dad had not even pulled up his gun, and was just watching me for the shot... He just started laughing and said, I think you missed that bird by two counties.... :D

Pat, Dad's can be blunt, but I wish I could hear mine again.

I'm glad that there is not another shooter around when my bird "zigs" when my shot "zags."

Ya dad passed in 95, and my uncle and I dumped out his ashes on a point of Thomas Hill lake 2 weeks later as sun was rising, and we prepared for one of the best days of duck hunting I had ever had. I'd had years of frustration trying to kill a sprig pintail, well guess what I did that day, and many more since. Uncle and I both limited out with very colorful bag of birds ranging from wood ducks, red heads, pintails, Mallards and blue bills. What a great day of wingshooting that was, and I couldn't help but feel my dad sitting there in the blind with us.

I was treasurer of our local ducks unlimited chapter back in the 70's, one of the guys that was heavily involved with d.u. asked me to go duck hunting with him. I told him I would make a blind at skeegmog lake near where I lived. It was quite a nice blind, easy to find during the day:( not very easy to find pre dawn:( I put the blind on the south side of a small island of mostly cattails. As dawn came, I said oops as I was squinting into the early sunrise to my left. I remember just seeing a bird coming right at me from my left, I pulled up my 20 gauge, literally shot from the hip, the greenwing teal dropped at my feet splashing both of us. My new buddy had the strangest look on his face:) later we took turn poling each other around the backwater, he was poling, I was sitting up front when a mallard took off about 30 yards ahead, I thought it was to far away, he yelled shoot it, I remember giving a little extra lead, the duck was probably 40 yards by then, I think one pellet must of hit it in the head, it just dropped out of the sky and never moved. At every d.u. banquet I attended after that, I got a nice introduction from him, the two luckiest shots I probably ever took.

Tough question to answer.

SRH