Something to not brag about

carptom1

carptom1

Well-known member
Thought since we were all sharing a little bragging, I would start one that we might not want to brag about. I won't even talk about the dozen or so times I have tried to shoot, only to realize I didn't have a round chambered. (that happened last year)

Whiffing on a rooster four times in a heavy 40 mph wind in Iowa. Rooster got up along a fence line going away from me. I missed him twice, then he caught the wind and came back over me at mach 1 so I could miss him two more times.:thumbsup:

I took a buddy up to SD that hadn't hunted roosters too much about four years ago. It was nearing dark and we were one short of a limit so we decided to find a place to pee, and maybe clean the birds so we didn't have to do it at the hotel. As we stopped and I was leaking I looked down and about ten feet to my left were a pair of cocks sitting in a little patch of grass no bigger than a backyard swimming pool. As I looked in amazement I noticed there were many more birds there. I told him to get his gun, as he was short a bird. There were a dozen or so in that patch. He emptied his gun, and never pulled a feather.
 
Has happened way too many times to mention. The most recent was last year, landed a group of 10 geese at 10 yards, didn't have any rounds chambered.
 
shooting

while after lot's of years i have learned to shoot quite well but it wasn't always the case, while if you can't hit much i know what it is like but after awhile when your shooting gets better it also become fun to miss and those missed shots provide a lot of small talk on the hunt. while i have had some great runs on pheasants i would lose a lot of excitement it i hit most all of them most of the time, i would probably also end up hunting with no buddies also, the other thing, if you shoot too well and your hunt end early, what ya going to do the rest of the day, drive, block, drink or poach??

cheers
 
A couple years ago I was Prairie Chicken hunting with Ace in his 1st full season, on big WIHA. Ace went on point and I walked out in front of him and nothing came up. I had seen a couple of Meadowlark fly from about the area we were in, so I figured that's what he had pointed.

Well, I walked back to him and tried to release him, and he would not move.
I tried to release him again and have him relocated and he didn't move. So now I am getting irritated as we hadn't seen a PC, it was getting hot..... Then much to my surprise, up comes 2 Prairie Chicken about 30 yards in front of us.
Would have been some of the easiest shots on PC I have ever had, and I blew it not trusting my dog. :eek:
 
.....one quick on..
A couple of years ago , I stepped on 3 roosters on a dike. At the flush the bunched up like f16s at the airshow. A better oppurtunity for a triple, I've never seen....nothing!
 
There is one that comes to mind the most, the one time i followed my dog right to where there were five or six roosters that flushed all at once, within about 15 feet of me. Easy shot. I shot three times at three different birds and missed every shot. If my dog could "facepalm" i think she would have.
 
The main one that haunts me is the first rooster my brother and I ever saw. It was 6 years ago and we had no dogs but we did have shotguns and boots. We had hunted all day for the 4th time and still never saw a bird. Heading back on the dirt road I heard some rustling in a small patch of grass. I walked back and forth in that patch for 10 minutes begore giving up and walked back to the road for a smoke before heading to the truck. Just as I finished my cigarette a big old rooster flushes from the grass no more than 10 feet from us left to right and my brother and I both proceeded to empty our guns in vain only to watch him fly off without a ruffled feather. That bird still haunts my dreams and I swear his spurs were 2" long and tail feathers over a yard.:D:cheers:
 
As a teenager, I used to carry a full box of shells in my vest while pheasant hunting. I can remember at least two occasions where I ran out of shells and had to borrow... And I'm thinking I probably still didn't get a limit... :laugh:

Thankfully I shoot much better now. I only carry 8 shells now, and figure if I run out then I should have made better choices earlier in the day.

Unfortunately I think 8 shells might last me the whole season this year.:(
 
trust

SetterNut said:
A couple years ago I was Prairie Chicken hunting with Ace in his 1st full season, on big WIHA. Ace went on point and I walked out in front of him and nothing came up. I had seen a couple of Meadowlark fly from about the area we were in, so I figured that's what he had pointed.

Well, I walked back to him and tried to release him, and he would not move.
I tried to release him again and have him relocated and he didn't move. So now I am getting irritated as we hadn't seen a PC, it was getting hot..... Then much to my surprise, up comes 2 Prairie Chicken about 30 yards in front of us.
Would have been some of the easiest shots on PC I have ever had, and I blew it not trusting my dog. :eek:
Click to expand...

been there done that. if your dog has been hunted more than just a little bit it would be rare that his owner in the field knows more of what is going on then he does. trust the dog

cheers
 
Some years ago a huting partner of mine and I were asked to hunt by a couple of guy's we met through our business. The two turned out to be a couple of jacklegs, but they did have some nice property access in southern Iowa:). Any way we had decided we would work the same large property in pairs. Me and my buddy and our dogs would take the high side, and they would stay down low. My buddy and I had shot a couple birds, and finally we watched them put one up and actually hit it. They were high fiving, and congrats were flying. They hustled back to the truck ( that was part of the problem, they walked at mach1 and swore that was the way to be successfull) and took off their vests and were sitting there talking and waiting for us. About the time they were probably wondering what was taking us so long, we noticed that one of the ding-dongs vests was starting to move. We were maybe 50-60 yards away when out pops the roosters head. We started yelling to them that their prize was still alive! Then the cock fully emerged from the vest and ran about ten feet before taking off at full speed. They grabbed their guns and fired several shots at the fleeing rooster, to no avail. They were cussing and not understanding that a cock aint dead till it's dead. I swear the whole thing should have been set to the tune of Yakety-Sax, you know the Benny Hill music?. I had a hard time not laughing my arse off when we got to the truck. I don't care who you are, that's some funny stuff right there:D
 
in the bag

carptom1 said:
Some years ago a huting partner of mine and I were asked to hunt by a couple of guy's we met through our business. The two turned out to be a couple of jacklegs, but they did have some nice property access in southern Iowa:). Any way we had decided we would work the same large property in pairs. Me and my buddy and our dogs would take the high side, and they would stay down low. My buddy and I had shot a couple birds, and finally we watched them put one up and actually hit it. They were high fiving, and congrats were flying. They hustled back to the truck ( that was part of the problem, they walked at mach1 and swore that was the way to be successfull) and took off their vests and were sitting there talking and waiting for us. About the time they were probably wondering what was taking us so long, we noticed that one of the ding-dongs vests was starting to move. We were maybe 50-60 yards away when out pops the roosters head. We started yelling to them that their prize was still alive! Then the cock fully emerged from the vest and ran about ten feet before taking off at full speed. They grabbed their guns and fired several shots at the fleeing rooster, to no avail. They were cussing and not understanding that a cock aint dead till it's dead. I swear the whole thing should have been set to the tune of Yakety-Sax, you know the Benny Hill music?. I had a hard time not laughing my arse off when we got to the truck. I don't care who you are, that's some funny stuff right there:D
Click to expand...

kinda the converse of counting chickens before the hatch, funny, a couple of times i have had them come loose in the truck



cheers
 
Left my shotgun at home one morning when I went duck hunting with my brother. Dropped them off and hurried back (we were only about 30 minutes form home) to get it. Didn't fire a shot that morning.
 
Lots of stories to tell. The one my buddies tell about me is this. My wife comes on a pheasant hunt, wants to learn what all the fun is about. Dog gets a bird up right in front of me, my wife at my side, I missed him cleanly both times! All my buddies swear I never miss but loved that memory. They keep inviting her back so they can watch me miss again and again. Some friends:mad:
 
I have Always reloaded my shells for trapshooting. That being said I got a super whammy shell One year. Took them out west. First rooster gets up ten feet into field. Truck already one mile west at other end of field. Yep wad halfway down barrel. Birds every other step for a mile. Had forty six shells in vest all the way to the next road where I decided to go back to shooting factory ammo.
 
Had a bullet proof big buck standing in the wide open about 75 yards from me broad side one year. I fired 8 times at and he just stood there. He did not know what way to go. My sights were off, no idea how, as we target shot. I kept raising up, and turns out it was shooting high, LOL. Should have been a slam dunk, 8 shots and still stood there. I was out of bullets. So I stood up and waved to him as he looked at me and ran off.:eek:
 
Last year I was hunting in NW Kansas half of the WIHA had great CRP. The other not so much. My 3 year old male shorthair had some wheels and went out to the short side of the field before I noticed. I turned to find him and he was LOCKED UP. Big time. I'm thinkin, "there's no way a bird could hide in that. He's messing with a mouse or small rabbit." I walk over there, the whole time he literally looks like a statue and is looking straight down almost in between his legs. I finally get over there, the whole time thinking I'm going to whoop his butt for jackin with a field mouse during the golden hour of hunting, and I get up next to him, look down and see a big ol rooster laying as flat as he possibly can to the ground, wings spread and everything. I was stunned and even more stunned when this thing blasted up out of the ground. It flew straight dead away from me and I missed 3 easy shots. Then feathers start coming off and he's got the may-day flight going on, I had barely hit him with my last shot. The bird flies 200 yard with ol Tucker haulin a$$ behind it. It lands about 25 yards in front of him and he starts frantically searching. We never found the bird. I felt so bad for my dog. Then on March 5th he got out of the fence and hit by a car. Dead in the street. The scene with that rooster eats at me. It would've been his last bird. What I wouldn't give to get to take those shots again, or trust my dog and be ready.:(
 
CowboyBirdDogs said:
Last year I was hunting in NW Kansas half of the WIHA had great CRP. The other not so much. My 3 year old male shorthair had some wheels and went out to the short side of the field before I noticed. I turned to find him and he was LOCKED UP. Big time. I'm thinkin, "there's no way a bird could hide in that. He's messing with a mouse or small rabbit." I walk over there, the whole time he literally looks like a statue and is looking straight down almost in between his legs. I finally get over there, the whole time thinking I'm going to whoop his butt for jackin with a field mouse during the golden hour of hunting, and I get up next to him, look down and see a big ol rooster laying as flat as he possibly can to the ground, wings spread and everything. I was stunned and even more stunned when this thing blasted up out of the ground. It flew straight dead away from me and I missed 3 easy shots. Then feathers start coming off and he's got the may-day flight going on, I had barely hit him with my last shot. The bird flies 200 yard with ol Tucker haulin a$$ behind it. It lands about 25 yards in front of him and he starts frantically searching. We never found the bird. I felt so bad for my dog. Then on March 5th he got out of the fence and hit by a car. Dead in the street. The scene with that rooster eats at me. It would've been his last bird. What I wouldn't give to get to take those shots again, or trust my dog and be ready.:(
Click to expand...

That's a tough memory and circumstance right there, brother. I remember him getting hit by the car, which is sad enough in and of itself, but I hadn't put the 2 stories together until you laid 'em out in this post. It's enough to make me:(
 
It made me learn the hard lesson that treat every hunt or flush with your dogs like its their last. Even if you aren't finding many birds or putting many in the bag, enjoy being with a hunting partner that would run through fire to get to hunt for you all day every day. First South Dakota or Kansas bird I shoot this year will be in his honor.
 
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