two shots on the same Rooster ?

[birdshooter]

Bird still had his head up

This will always be an good indicator whether or not another round is needed. Head up and he likely will be a runner as soon as he touches down. Sometimes however, because of the angle it's not always possible to tell, head up or down.

If the bird does NOT appear to be hit well put another one in him. If you have a good dog this will be your saving grace either way.

 

[birdshooter]

If the bird is coming down with his head up, you have a runner. Even if you "legged him", he will still run. Seems like they can run on stumps almost as fast as they run on normal legs.

Now, as to a 2nd shot on a falling bird...it depends on a lot of things. Are you hunting alone? What's the cover like? Where's the dogs? If you are in a group, where are the others in relation to the line of shot?

In short, yes, I have shot falling roosters with their heads up. Mostly in short cover with clear sky all around them.

One has to be situationally aware but there are times when it is not a dangerous shot. Obviously, one would err on the side of caution.

Perfectly stated ! :thumbsup:

 

[Crossing shot]

Another aspect to consider is the quality of the meat. The best shooting year for me was a 20 gauge using 3" 4 steel with an IC. Most of the breasts were intact. Only lost one wounded. Had a close working britt with me that saw most birds fall. Was hitting most in the head/backbone and the pellets did not have the energy to enter most of the breasts. Nice to have a pheasant breast that looks like you bought it at a supermarket.

Later that season, on a late January hunt, loaded up a 5 shot lead that the reloader said would kill birds to 65 yards. Way out of my range. Hit one at 40 yards and had to discard it.[/QUO
Because I hunt behind my Draht , most of the birds I shoot are flying away or at least quartering away at some angle so I don't mess up many breasts.

That was the last year I used a 20 gauge. Not destroying many breasts with my 12. Stop mangling breasts when I started using both eyes. Easy to focus on the head with both eyes open. With one eye, always shot them in the butt.

 

[goldenboy]

I know this is probably going to start a rabbit trail on this thread but I have to add my two cents. When I used to guide a lot I can't you how many times guys told me I hammered that bird! Chasing roosters in the heat when I have 50 birds to kill in the morning wears a dog out quick. Then I give them a lesson on shot string. Bird shot in the head with the back of your shot string is still dead. bird shot in the tail with the front of the shot string means you left a lot of pellets out behind him and he will find a way to escape. Practice your leads and it will help you kill birds on the first shot. The best practice I know of is sporting clays courses. You have different angles, different ranges, and you learn what a lead looks like on a crossing 40 yard shot versus one that is closer in and angled. Practice, practice, practice!

 

[david0311]

David0311

I know this is probably going to start a rabbit trail on this thread but I have to add my two cents. When I used to guide a lot I can't you how many times guys told me I hammered that bird! Chasing roosters in the heat when I have 50 birds to kill in the morning wears a dog out quick. Then I give them a lesson on shot string. Bird shot in the head with the back of your shot string is still dead. bird shot in the tail with the front of the shot string means you left a lot of pellets out behind him and he will find a way to escape. Practice your leads and it will help you kill birds on the first shot. The best practice I know of is sporting clays courses. You have different angles, different ranges, and you learn what a lead looks like on a crossing 40 yard shot versus one that is closer in and angled. Practice, practice, practice!

No argument with that here--Can't count the times customers have told me they have a dead bird down--that either my dogs or I didn't see go down--after looking with the dogs and telling them they have a cripple--despite their insistence that it was dead--finally moving on only to have a cripple picked up before or likely at the end of the field--

 

[goldenboy]

No argument with that here--Can't count the times customers have told me they have a dead bird down--that either my dogs or I didn't see go down--after looking with the dogs and telling them they have a cripple--despite their insistence that it was dead--finally moving on only to have a cripple picked up before or likely at the end of the field--

David, you understand the frustration! Dogs are hot, working their noses overtime to find the bird you tell them is right here only to come up empty handed. Then sure enough at the end of the field they say, hey your dog caught one! No that was the cripple you "hammered." The guys who listened to my short illustration about shot strings shot better after that and tended to hit more birds. They look at you and say I never realized that about a shotgun shell. We gotta get out sometime and do some guiding and dog work together.

 

[sidecar]

Good lesson, GB ! as I want to become a headhunter, I'll now practice with more of a purpose.

Thanks to all for your thoughts and suggestions. Obviously, safety in making that second shot would be most important. I am reminded once again of the old English poem...something about a Sportsman's Code...all the pheasants in the world not being worth one errand shot...

 

[A5 Sweet 16]

I hammered that bird!

The ones that kill me are where the 1st shot drops a leg or 2 & then the 2nd shot brings the bird down. "He went down hard! He's not a runner, so we'll be able to find him EASY!!"

A dropped leg does not necessarily indicate a broken leg. And even if it did, they'll still run (or at least bury themselves in the worst crap around). It doesn't really matter the extent of a rooster's injuries. If he has ANY life in him at all, he will either run or make himself disappear to the point that only a dog can find him.

 

[BritChaser]

Thanks for all the replies. I shoot a 16 ga. SxS with skeet I and Skeet II chokes. 1 1/8 oz lead shells.

Try tightening up on the chokes to, say skeet and IC or IC and modified and use no. 4 or 5 lead shot. I don't think you're giving them enough of a whack.

 

[BrownDogsCan2]

Skeet2 is light mod. A friend of mine used to have a sweet16 with a skeet1 and a skeet2 barrel with matc hing serial #s . He is a lot better shot than I am but man he would nock the snot out of them with the skeet 2 barrel.

 

[BritChaser]

Skeet2 is light mod. A friend of mine used to have a sweet16 with a skeet1 and a skeet2 barrel with matc hing serial #s . He is a lot better shot than I am but man he would nock the snot out of them with the skeet 2 barrel.

Did not know skeet 2 = light mod.

 

[Dakotazeb]

Did not know skeet 2 = light mod.

I wasn't either but in researching it this is what I found.

http://parkerguns.org/pages/faq/ChokeSize.htm

 

[Crossing shot]

Improved modified surprised me

 

[Hub]

Without a doubt you would be better served practicing to make your first shot count than you would to make your second shot fast. Any of the clay games shot with regularity will improve your game shooting, but that improvement will be multiplied exponentially if you shoot low gun safety on. Mounting issues cause more misses than just about anything.

1 1/8 oz of shot is just a bit light for Wild Roosters out of open chokes in my opinion. I would push the payload up or tighten the chokes a bit or maybe both. It's all personal opinion, but I am a big fan of 1 1/4 oz of 5's choke ic/mod. When I fail to kill a bird inside 45 yards with one shot it's me not the gun or shell.

You've gotten great advice on shooting for the head. 'Belly-Beak-Bang' is what my friends and I tell the new guys.

Here is a video of some of my pheasant hunting. There are even a couple of instances of me 'double tapping' pheasants I feel I didn't put a square hit on the first shot. I really tend to do that in heavy cover where cripple retrieves will be challenging.

https://youtu.be/qhqmT3qZ0SQ

 

[870-Lefty]

Great video!

 

[mgorvi]

Video

Geez good video. Really fun to watch. After watching the shots I realize how bad I suck.

 

[sidecar]

Great Video ! thanks for posting.

 

[Ranger Rick]

Mounting issues cause more misses than just about anything.



You've gotten great advice on shooting for the head. 'Belly-Beak-Bang' is what my friends and I tell the new guys.



https://youtu.be/qhqmT3qZ0SQ

A couple things I noticed in this video that are instructive:
On one of the early birds, when it went down, you didn't take your eye off the spot it dropped as you walked in to find it. A lot of people don't do that, then aren't anywhere close to where it fell! a lot of times the dog can use some guidance getting on the downed bird.

Another one that doesn't have to do with the original topic, but I've seen a lot of comments on this site about pheasants not holding for a pointing dog. That's a bunch of bunk, sure they'll run like track stars, but they'll hold tight. We saw some birds that held real tight in the video, including one big rooster in sparse cover that you walked right by before circling back and he flushed out of next to nothing.

Your comment about poor shouldering technique; one thing you do really well is get the barrel to target, and in slow-mo it looks like you pause to calm the barrel as you obtain sight picture on the bird. One of my problems is being too quick and after the shot I can replay in my mind how I swung too far, slapped the trigger too quickly, wasn't on target. I have to tell myself to relax.

Great video.

 

[Hub]

Rick...you picked up on a couple of things that are in my mental checklist for finding pheasants.

1. Never take your eye off spot the rooster goes down. I pick out a specific blade of grass or cattail stem etc.

2. Even with the spot picked out don't beat the dog to the fall. Let dog get there first so you don't muddy things up. He is the one with the nose. If they don't come up with it walk to the spot you marked and make sure the dog works past it. Give the dog adequate time to work...I have seen a lot of newbies shock their dog a track to come and look where they, 'know the bird should be'.

3. When you miss a bird you think you should have hit, keep your eye on it as long as you can. A lot of birds that barely react to the shot drop dead 500 yards out from blood loss from a body hit that didn't break bone or a wing. If you have a good hunting partner who also marks the fall and marches a strait course to the downed bird as you do the same you will find not just the line but the distance. The bird should be pretty close to where you cross your friend. I picked one up that flew a half mile this year...thanks god for snow.

4. I don't care how good a shot you are or how good the dog is. Everybody loses a pheasant once in a while if they shoot enough of them. If I can't come up with a bird, a lot of times I will come back through later. I don't know if it gives scent time to settle down, or if bird crawls out of a hole after you leave, but over the years I've picked up a number of birds a few hours later on a second pass. I always have orange flagging tape in the vest to mark a spot.

5. Read the cover and act accordingly. I might try a hail mary of a shot at a rooster that pops out a .5 acre slough in the middle of a cut bean field. I know that basically all I have to do is knock him down and the dogs will do the rest. When I am standing in the middle of 600 acres of head high kochia and the dog has no ability to see the bird I am shooting at I only take shots where I know that I will absolutely crush the bird. I want them coming down like a wet rag in the thick stuff.

 

[Kansas Bound]

Rick...you picked up on a couple of things that are in my mental checklist for finding pheasants.

1. Never take your eye off spot the rooster goes down. I pick out a specific blade of grass or cattail stem etc.

2. Even with the spot picked out don't beat the dog to the fall. Let dog get there first so you don't muddy things up. He is the one with the nose. If they don't come up with it walk to the spot you marked and make sure the dog works past it. Give the dog adequate time to work...I have seen a lot of newbies shock their dog a track to come and look where they, 'know the bird should be'.

3. When you miss a bird you think you should have hit, keep your eye on it as long as you can. A lot of birds that barely react to the shot drop dead 500 yards out from blood loss from a body hit that didn't break bone or a wing. If you have a good hunting partner who also marks the fall and marches a strait course to the downed bird as you do the same you will find not just the line but the distance. The bird should be pretty close to where you cross your friend. I picked one up that flew a half mile this year...thanks god for snow.

4. I don't care how good a shot you are or how good the dog is. Everybody loses a pheasant once in a while if they shoot enough of them. If I can't come up with a bird, a lot of times I will come back through later. I don't know if it gives scent time to settle down, or if bird crawls out of a hole after you leave, but over the years I've picked up a number of birds a few hours later on a second pass. I always have orange flagging tape in the vest to mark a spot.

5. Read the cover and act accordingly. I might try a hail mary of a shot at a rooster that pops out a .5 acre slough in the middle of a cut bean field. I know that basically all I have to do is knock him down and the dogs will do the rest. When I am standing in the middle of 600 acres of head high kochia and the dog has no ability to see the bird I am shooting at I only take shots where I know that I will absolutely crush the bird. I want them coming down like a wet rag in the thick stuff.

So many good points especially number #1 and #5!!!!!!!