Most of the crippling I've witnessed involves shooting at birds either out-of-range or at a distance the hunter is not capable of figuring the proper lead. If you can't hit a clays crosser at 50 yards, how do you think you can hit a pheasant at that distance? I don't hunt as much WIA or GMA's as I used to, but saw a lot of hunters shooting at any rooster that gets up in front of them, even it its 60 yards or more. The problem is a lack of discipline. The same logic applies to those shooting sub gauges. I hear the 28 shooters telling me how far out they kill birds with their pea shooters, but never how many birds get wounded and lost. Dirty Harry said; "A man's got to know his limitations". Those are great rules to live by, and especially when it comes to cleanly taking the birds. Hunting in the bitter cold/snow/wind last week in ND made me glad I had a 12 ga. No lost birds, and no shots taken over 35 yards.
Do you take a poke at the long range birds ?
- Thread starter McFarmer
- Start date
benelli-banger
Well-known member
I’m not the best shot, I admit, but I do shoot clays 5-6 times in August/September before I head out Sharptail/hun hunting, which is usually 13-15 hunting days in September…usually with a buddy at a time, sometimes 2 buddies. I start pheasant in SD the 3rd Saturday in October, some solo, some with 1-2 pals, some trips it’s 4-6 guys, like my last trip that I came back from about 8 days ago. Bottom line, I suspect many guys I hunt with, or around, haven’t shot since the last time they were out hunting…last year, 2-3 years ago, or 5-10 years ago. Obviously there’s some poor shooting going on, and some poor shot choices going on, etc…blinding flash of the obvious. Shooting skill to me trumps gauge selected…as does shot choices…good shooters taking wise shots minimize cripples, big time. And grabbing a gun that fits great, and feels great, that you’re confident in is huge, IMO…whatever works for you…I hope I live long enough that each guy that I’m hunting with/around understand chokes, ammo, etc…
