Hi everyone,
Just thought I'd drop in for a quick hello. I hunt pheasant (as well as ruffed grouse and waterfowl) anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours from my home in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I got away from hunting due to my living and financial situation during university, but started getting back into it slowly when I moved here in '02. In '05 I got my first gun dog (yellow lab) and started her on waterfowl that fall. I participated in my first pheasant hunt that fall, but didn't get any birds. Since then Ihave been working alot with my dog and on my shooting and the dog and I got our first, and very memorable, rooster last fall.
The season closed soon afterwards and we got a few more birds on a preserve over the winter, but what we're REALLY waiting for now is the fall wild bird opener! They seem quite abundant here this year, perhaps because we've had a pretty moderate spring with not too much rain (by Nova Scotian standards anyway!).
Although I enjoy lots of other bird hunting, I'm focussing on pheasant this year. I spent a morning last weekend doing some off-season scouting and talking to landowners, with some success. I'm trying to get a two "milkruns" of spots together with 3-5 spots on each. So far I have one spot in each area, but a few leads on spots where I saw birds but the owners were not home.
I used to shoot a clunker of an old Stoeger 12 O/U but it started kicking off both barrels at once a few years ago (from the salt-marsh hunting for waterfowl out here) so I sold if off to someone who just wanted a cheap old banger. Because of the messy waterfowl hunting I figured a nice upland gun would have to wait, and I bought myself something that I thought would stand up to the salt marsh abuse - a Beretta XtremaII. It fits the bill very well for that, and I shoot well with it, but it's a cumbersome gun to carry for long upland hunts, so I'll be looking for a nice O/U in the not too distant future. Does anyone here have much experience shooting a 20 gauge for roosters? I hunt ruffed grouse a lot too, so a 12 is a bit much, and I would like to go lighter if I could for long days afield for pheasant. I thought that I might go with a 20, but most folks around here seem to shoot 12s for pheasant. I'd appreciate any thoughts on this.
Anyhow - that's it for now. I look forward to lots of good discussions here.
-Crockett
Just thought I'd drop in for a quick hello. I hunt pheasant (as well as ruffed grouse and waterfowl) anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours from my home in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I got away from hunting due to my living and financial situation during university, but started getting back into it slowly when I moved here in '02. In '05 I got my first gun dog (yellow lab) and started her on waterfowl that fall. I participated in my first pheasant hunt that fall, but didn't get any birds. Since then Ihave been working alot with my dog and on my shooting and the dog and I got our first, and very memorable, rooster last fall.
The season closed soon afterwards and we got a few more birds on a preserve over the winter, but what we're REALLY waiting for now is the fall wild bird opener! They seem quite abundant here this year, perhaps because we've had a pretty moderate spring with not too much rain (by Nova Scotian standards anyway!).
Although I enjoy lots of other bird hunting, I'm focussing on pheasant this year. I spent a morning last weekend doing some off-season scouting and talking to landowners, with some success. I'm trying to get a two "milkruns" of spots together with 3-5 spots on each. So far I have one spot in each area, but a few leads on spots where I saw birds but the owners were not home.
I used to shoot a clunker of an old Stoeger 12 O/U but it started kicking off both barrels at once a few years ago (from the salt-marsh hunting for waterfowl out here) so I sold if off to someone who just wanted a cheap old banger. Because of the messy waterfowl hunting I figured a nice upland gun would have to wait, and I bought myself something that I thought would stand up to the salt marsh abuse - a Beretta XtremaII. It fits the bill very well for that, and I shoot well with it, but it's a cumbersome gun to carry for long upland hunts, so I'll be looking for a nice O/U in the not too distant future. Does anyone here have much experience shooting a 20 gauge for roosters? I hunt ruffed grouse a lot too, so a 12 is a bit much, and I would like to go lighter if I could for long days afield for pheasant. I thought that I might go with a 20, but most folks around here seem to shoot 12s for pheasant. I'd appreciate any thoughts on this.
Anyhow - that's it for now. I look forward to lots of good discussions here.
-Crockett
