A couple firsts, a couple questions

Congradulations.I remember my first one, I was 10 years old, near Hilger Montana. Used a 20 gauge side by side.
 
Bob Peters said:
I was so happy to finally get a bird, its still been on my mind all the time. Brandy the brittany is getting on in years but she is as nuts for hunting as any dog I've ever seen. On this bird I was looking through a willow thicket and noticed she was paused. My sight picture of her was partially obscured by the cover but I could see parts of her fur and orange vest. Sometimes she was just paused to sniff, but I continued to watch her and realized she was locked up solid. What little I could see of her crept forward 2 feet and then I heard the burst of wingbeats and a bird zooming out of the cover. At this point I turned, and saw my buddy finishing his mount, the rooster hightailing it straight away towards thick cane grass, and then a boom as my buddy launched a shell. I spun and moved my muzzle in an arc to the bird, saw his dark head and let loose and got a solid hit. When the bird dropped I looked at my buddy with my eyes as wide as they'd go because I couldn't believe it. The other dog is a field bred golden and she is my regular hunting buddy. I gave my friend a hug and we took the pic right where Rudy the rooster fell. I really love pheasant hunting, and I really love these dogs.
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Great picture! Great smile! Thanks for letting us in on your story. I would hunt with you any day. Lets get our goldens out together.
 
Munster927 said:
Also some friendly shooting advice from someone who has missed his fair share of birds I'll admit, but I try and pause and count to 1 in my head before pulling the trigger. I've been doing that the last 2 years and have been dropping more birds than I ever have and nothing else I've done has changed. I just shoulder my gun, get on the bird and pause for a second, it forces me to keep my gun moving if I want to stay with the bird.
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I need to do this. I very commonly miss on my 1st shot, sometimes on my 2nd, and usually knock it down on my 3rd. All because I rush. Whenever we flush hens I always put the gun up just so I can practice following it, and every time I do that I feel like I would have had a 100% hit just because I am not rushing anything and am simply following/leading the bird.
 
jackrabbit said:
I need to do this. I very commonly miss on my 1st shot, sometimes on my 2nd, and usually knock it down on my 3rd. All because I rush. Whenever we flush hens I always put the gun up just so I can practice following it, and every time I do that I feel like I would have had a 100% hit just because I am not rushing anything and am simply following/leading the bird.
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I used to be the same way. I shoot an auto and my first shot was almost always a miss, I'd get it my 2nd or 3rd shot. Another thing I've been doing is the same thing when I shoot my bow, aim small, miss small. I aim and look at the beak of the bird (if it's not way way out there).

One of the plusses of me shooting better, less cripples my dog has to track down. Every bird I've gotten this year was dropped dead right where I marked it. Makes it easier on the dog that's for sure.
 
Last year I lost a few birds because of taking long shots.Ive always been a good shot, but I miss judge range out on the prairie. Its easy to get caught up in the excitement of pheasant hunting.
 
Congrats!!!! My first bird was ar age 11 with a single shot 4-10... was so excited I think I cleared the fence i was walking and had to get over to self retrieve by 3 ft.

One hint on the misses. Pattern your gun! There are shells (such as Prairie Storm) that are usless to me and I wasted a whole box of rooster flushes on them...i would of been as effective throwing them. I have 2 different "makes and models" one in 3 inch and the other in 2 3/4 that shoot perfect out of my gun ( double, IC in top, Mod in bottom)..
If no time to pattern, get cooper or nickel plated. Unless you are a crack shot and it dosent matter what you shoot (which ain't me) they will definatly reduce the number of your crippled birds and give your dog an easier go at it.
 
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