Head up off the stock is, I think, my most frequent, ruinous error.
On the brighter side, you're out there, and you're seeing birds . . . which also means you have a ready chance to get back on track.
With cover-thick ditches like those, legal access, and the countryside to yourself, as far as the eye can see, why wouldn't a person hunt those ditches? Beautiful, and obviously productive that day.
What was the approximate range on that third shot?
Snow is the dogless hunter's friend, so the Winter Wonderland forecast for 19-20 December (coinciding with a couple of weeknights off) got my attention. I bought the 2012 license. Printed out and numbered a dozen 2011 WIHA Atlas pages. Viewed maps. Considered destinations, routes, drive...
What are some of the best ways to learn to accurately judge target distances? Seems that skill must be important in trying to take only reasonable, ethical shots.
On a recent outing, a hunter had the wrenching experience of an unrecovered fly off on a going away shot . . . even as feathers...