on September 1, 2009 10:43 AM
Quick Summary:
Bagged: 5
Missed: 6
Shots Fired: lots
Fun: Check
Woke up 5:45, hit the road by 6:15, snagged a croissant and some coffee from the local donut shop, and pulled up to the lease about 6:50.
I was a little worried because I went out scouting late yesterday afternoon, and they just weren't flying.
I was walking out to the "dove weed" field, heading for a mesquite tree in the middle of it when a pair flew over me. I missed with all three. On the plus side, at least there was something to shoot at.
I had 4 more chances that I missed. At this point, I was pretty frustrated, but you know the saying, a bad day hunting is better than a good day at the office.
Bagged one finally, and that helped a lot. Got a little confidence, and started to establish the proper lead.
Got a couple more.
Saw a pair come in my field a ways off, and it was getting kind of late in the morning so I decided to try and flush 'em. Got pretty close to 'em before they flew and I dropped 'em both.
It no longer sounded like WWIII was going on, and they weren't flying anymore, so I decided to head home. I'll be back out this afternoon.
All in all, it wasn't too bad. I think some practice would have paid off big, as I would have more than doubled my birds.
Oh well. It'll come eventually.
Updated:
I forgot, I was going to discuss my shotgun a little bit. It's a 12 gauge Remington 11-87 Super Magnum Special Purpose, which is marketing speak for a 12 gauge Remington 11-87 with 3.5" chamber, cheap matte black finish and stocks.
I read a lot of negatives about this gun, but it performed pretty well today. It seems to dislike the 1 oz dove loads, but the 1 1/8 oz loads all ran fine for me. A lot of people knock it for being too heavy, and it is compared to some other shotguns, but I found it to be acceptable.
It's a jack of all trades gun, IMO, so while it doesn't do any one thing superbly, it gets the job done (and does a lot of different jobs).
Still, I couldn't help remembering how sweet that little 20 gauge Remington 1100 was from my youth (the last semi-auto shotgun I owned).
Updated:
I forgot, I was going to discuss my shotgun a little bit. It's a 12 gauge Remington 11-87 Super Magnum Special Purpose, which is marketing speak for a 12 gauge Remington 11-87 with 3.5" chamber, cheap matte black finish and stocks.
I read a lot of negatives about this gun, but it performed pretty well today. It seems to dislike the 1 oz dove loads, but the 1 1/8 oz loads all ran fine for me. A lot of people knock it for being too heavy, and it is compared to some other shotguns, but I found it to be acceptable.
It's a jack of all trades gun, IMO, so while it doesn't do any one thing superbly, it gets the job done (and does a lot of different jobs).
Still, I couldn't help remembering how sweet that little 20 gauge Remington 1100 was from my youth (the last semi-auto shotgun I owned).
Nice! For a first day and being rusty, that sounds like a good outing. :-)