So I met up with a friend again yesterday to hunt for grouse in the mountains. Mast nuts and berries are scarce this year at least in this part of PA, but we found the birds at a cover I call "Lilac" where I found some blooming lilac bushes a long time ago while scouting for spring turkeys. It's an old homestead way past a road gate on state game lands out near the cabin. A long but easy walk along an old mining road that's closed off. We decided it would be 16 gauge day, and friend was using a really nice Ithaca NID and I had my A grade Fox.
Lilac has plenty of crabapple bushes, and we sure found the birds. A brace flushed well in range but behind some hemlocks, no shooting. A single was missed, time for one shot only. Then another pair flushed together and I took this big cock bird with the first barrel. Interesting story, I like paper shells and I usually hunt with vintage papers or the new RST papers. Yesterday morning was pretty cold and I was in a hunting coat I haven't worn since last year. I found some gum wrappers in the pocket along with a single RST plastic, and I had it in the right barrel for good luck since its color is lilac and that's where we were. The red colored shell is a vintage Super-X roll crimp paper. (People often pirate my pics so I added the copyright info on this one). Bird's crop was FULL with 6 small crabapples along with bits of sweet fern and green leaves.
While taking pics my partner noticed the RST plastic was labeled "Woodcock" and it had been loaded with 3/4 ounce of # 10 shot. Then I remembered last year I'd put some 10's in my coat when we hunted along a wet area where woodcock can be found. Apparently I missed taking the shell from the coat pocket afterwards. Anyway, 3/4 ounce of 10's at 32 stepped off yards with a factory IC choke sure did the trick on this bird. I won't be loading them deliberately when out for grouse but all I can say is that RST sure puts up a heck of a shell! I'll be sharing this story with Alex, Jill and Morris too! I hope you enjoyed it.
Frank
A salute to our friends at RST
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