a covey of grouse
 

When I was in my early 20's I hunted behind a wire haired pointer that a friend had. The dog went on point, 4 or 5 grouse flushed, I took a shot and 2 birds fell. My buddy and his wife were there, she said he got 2 birds!! Fast forward 40 plus years later. We have had our brittany for 3 hunting seasons now. My first hunt with him 3 years ago he pointed 8 grouse and a woodcock on opening day, 5 of those were in a covey and those birds flushed one right after the other. I never took a shot, I thought they were to far away for a shot. Two days ago, I went out for an hour hunt, cash pointed 3 woodcock that held, I missed every bird I shot at. I went to another area that was what I call a mid growth woods with a lot of poplar trees, ferns, some crabapple trees etc. He went on point, as I walked in a grouse flew right between us and behind me, a very hard shot, but it was the most open shot I have had this year. I missed that one too, we went to where I saw the grouse fly and hunted that whole area to make sure I didn't kill that bird. (I did the same for the woodcock I missed earlier) I was in an area of this woods I have not hunted yet, I saw about 5 acres of ferns going down into a small valley, not many trees, a perfect spot for woodcock. My brittany cash went on point, I walked towards him thinking I might actually get a shot in here. A grouse flushed to my right, I pulled up and 2 more flushed I swung on those two (thinking double) and pulled the trigger, then I pulled the rear trigger, I realized I did not take the safety off. I was dropping the gun, cash was still on point another grouse flew, I pulled up on that one, then another one flushed, gun still won't fire, the 6th bird flushed and flew right up into a tree about 20 feet away and 20 feet high and just looked down at me. I opened my gun, shut it, pushed the safety on and off and figured out I must of had a bad case of buck fever, or my thumb just slid off the safety and didn't move the safety lever forward. On the way home, I stopped by my brittanies breeder and he said "buck fever" was the cause. Yesterday I hunted for 30 minutes before work. Cash goes on point, woodcock flushed everything worked fine. I am kind of glad I had buck fever, I will have a smile on my face the rest of my life thinking about that moment with my brittany cash.

Sadly, there are lots of folks who will never experience the exhilaration of points and flushes...and the wonderful befuddlement they sometimes bring. Ed, I think we all have had our share of excitement-induced "safety" issues, I know I have. It's also interesting that I remember those as often as I do the times when I shoot well.

Glad to read you're getting out and having good action. I'm sure Cash is OK with finding so many birds.

The stuff memories are made from. And I have lots of those stored away.





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Buck fever is a common affliction! My first year with a hunting license (1958) I pulled up on a nice buck with my model 94 and ejected three live rounds and never pulled the trigger. In my mind I must have been saying bang, bang, bang!

You harvested some wonderful memories, all said and done that’s what we are hunting.

Nice to hear that you and Cash are seeing some birds.

thanks guys, that first time I got two birds with one shot never made that much of an impact on me until now. The forty year lay off has really helped me put things in perspective. I just started laughing after all those flushes, my dog never moved until the last one flushed and the scent started dispersing. I was more proud of him than ever. Today I hunted with one of the guys that work at a large high end gun shop. He has a young brittany, and cash was extraordinary today too. I think we had 3 woodcock points and 2 of those held, and 7 grouse, 3 grouse held, and we had a couple of shots. My hunting partner couldn't believe how well cash held a point. Jeff S. the flight birds should be coming soon, but we have a lot of woodcock around here anyways it seems this year, and the leaves are starting to come off the poplar slashings. You are welcome to come up again. I have had some rough hunts too, with none or only one or two points. Most of my buddies are are doing well overall, a lot of woodcock, but they also have some tough days too. I still cannot believe how lucky we are to live in this area where there are so many birds....

Ed:

Are you sure it was all buck fever?

This is what I believe happened with me, and it seems reminiscent of what led up to your ecstatic moments of hesitancy:

1) In the morning I had missed every bird.

2) Apparently spent powder residue or foreign matter was accumulating in the action, or breech and barrel faces, leading to a threshold point later in the day, so that when I thought my gun was closed, it was NOT fully-closed; thus, the safety would not move.

3) I was not aware of the developing condition in the gun, nor what I was doing wrong with my manipulations at critical moments when birds were going up. I was not pulling the trigger, did not know why, and just attributed it to a late-afternoon climaxing of vague ineptitude, Buck Fever.

4) The problem with the gun was remedied when I recognized that I had to snap the gun closed after reloading, and not close it gently, as I would on an empty-chambered gun.

Does that sound possible in your case? Has anyone else had the same experience?

The top lever not being centered should have been a give-away that the gun was not closed, but I don’t know where it had stopped-short. My eyes were elsewhere, with a bird about to go.

It is still a strain of Buck Fever, as I analyze it, but with a mechanical assist.

Russell,
I am so glad you posted this!!! I have had one other time when my gun did this, and I believe I had a small twig or pine needle stopping the gun from fully closing. I had taken 2 shots at 1 woodcock earlier that hunt, and one other shot at another woodcock. In the heat of the moment things were not making sense. If it was a "mechanical assist" version of buck fever I am ok with that too. I will tell you that I will admit buck fever every time I ever get in that situation again, if I am ever lucky enough to have that situation happen again. I am sure that 40 year lay off has something to do with how excited I am getting. I ask a lot of questions in here and with my buddies because of my lack of knowledge/experience hunting. I will take more time now making sure that gun is closed properly. I am glad you posted this. Thanks, Ed

This is a good thing i think. This year marks 60 years i have been able to hunt on my own and I still get the same feeling of excitement when a bird rises.
Every year that first bird of the year leaves me flummoxed , shaking, confused and asking what just happened. By the end of the day, yesterday, I have come back to my hoped for state of mediocrity.
If it ever changes i will give it up but that excitement is why we do it.

Thanks Daniel, I feel the same way about being excited, I usually can't sleep the night before very well if its a big fishing trip, or hunting, or a first date:) ( my wife informed me I will never have to get excited again about first dates with other women, so I don't ever have to worry about that again:) Today I took a guy out who has never hunted over a dog, he took the first shot over a woodcock point he waited until the bird was probably 30 yards out before shooting. Then he suggested that we take turns when the dog goes on point:) He learned pretty quickly that it just doesn't happen that way. He had an older stevens 12 gauge I checked his chokes after, he had modified and full. We talked about that after the hunt. We moved about 20 woodcock I shot 9 times, I carry ten shells, so on the way back to truck, I only had one shell in my side by side. I never got a bird, I really only had 2 real clear shots. My friend had several opportunities to shoot, where the bird was going away between both of us. He only took that first shot. It was an extraordinary day we had. I told him we usually don't move that many birds. We hunted just over 3 hours, cash ran over 10 miles, he was usually in the thickest stuff you can imagine, about 1/3 of leaves were off the poplar slashing trees which is why I even shot as much as I did. When the wind picked up, you could see cash working out the running birds, he would hold until we walked all around trying to flush the bird, then I would release cash, we got some shots or another point when he figured where the bird was running. The guy is about my age, and he really got excited when that beeper was going off. It was quite a day. This is the longest he has hunted this year, we are both pretty tired, he may get a day off tomorrow, its supposed to rain most of the day.

My friend had so much fun, I believe he might get a 20 gauge grouse gun. We talked a lot about the drops in guns, the stocks, being neutral, off or on etc. One of the guys at a nice gun shop nearby has hunted with me quite a bit. He has explained a lot of stuff to me and showed me how their gun fitting stuff works a little bit. I suggested that he call that gun shop and talk to my friend. He is a left handed shooter so I am hoping my buddy can help him find a gun that fits him relatively well. I still can't believe how many woodcock we moved, that was a record for us. I told my friend that might of been the best hunt with a bird dog he may ever have and it was the first time. That was quite a day.

It sounds like a wonderful hunt. I just hope our VT woodcock numbers are as good, or even close, this fall. We hunt pretty high country and it’s very dry this year. I hope the flight gods are good to us.





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Ed, sounds like you're having a lot of fun this fall. I'm guessing that you were hunting with Derek the other day. Thanks for the invite and I hope you catch the migration. I would love to be up there with you and Cash, but Thursday I'm heading to South Dakota to hunt pheasants with the honorable Daryl Corona. Please post some pictures of Cash with a woodcock. Jeff

Dean,
My hunting buddies both have commented that they think the woodcock numbers are up around here probably 20 percent or so. We hunted private property that morning for an hour first with no birds, then the other spot for 2 hours, which was about 20 woodcock we moved. The private property usually holds both woodcock and grouse, it was early in the morning for grouse, but I thought we would move some woodcock. The other place is literally one half mile from the private property we hunted. Jeff, Darren from fieldsport did not hunt that day. He and I have been out a couple times. He is off for almost 2 weeks starting tomorrow. We will probably go a few times then. Have fun out there.