What is your go to pheasant gun?

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go to gun

Have a 20 ga red label used for grouse and woodcock but couldn't do so well on pheasants with it. so I bought a 12 ga red label for pheasants. Having a few extra BB's plus shooting over 1000 rounds of skeet and trap durring the summer months the have helped out alot on the pheasants.

My friends and I like to count up how much each shell cost and how many shells it takes to kill a grouse or woodcock or pheasant. I think the most expencive bird to shoot for me is the woodcock with the grouse being a close second

maybe I need to put bicycle grips on my guns
 
back to guns...

My latest is a Webley & Scott 12 gauge side by side with a straight stock and splinter fore end. It has interchangeable chokes and 28” barrels.

I love the way it points and swings and so far when I can find birds it does the job. I swore off side by sides after owning a Fulton Hunter in 16 gauge briefly. I could not hit squat with that gun. I walked into the gun room at Bass Pro Shops and saw the Webley and it spoke to me. :D

Before that it was a B. Rizzini O/U in 12 gauge. My backup is an old, battered, Beretta 686 O/U 12 gauge.
 
RK Special K said:
On dogs: I've never been completely convinced that hunting animals with other animals is "fair chase". A more pure form of hunting is man alone against animal. Man and dog is TWO against ONE. If it were just a recent idea, it would be labeled "unethical" by a purist. But since it is overwhelmingly tradition, I certainly accept it. But I avoid it for myself.
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I've hunted over 50 years w/o a dog and only recently had to accept one because my fiancee insisted I "needed" one. I've hunted a lot with friends who had excellent dogs and can offer this. It's not the same experience hunting with a dog as it is w/o. W/o a dog you are both hunter and shooter and every bird is a trophy. With a dog you are a shooter/chauffeur and the dog is the hunter. I keep records of bagged and lost birds that cover decades and the result has averaged out the same. In our cover conditions it's about 10% lost birds with my dog or friends dogs retrieving or without a dog. W/o a dog I see and hear everything. With a dog I'm fixated on the noisy panting dog and have become blind to what's around me. With a dog it's easy to slip into the mind set of, "If I can just bust a wing my dog will get it" and shoot at birds too far away resulting in hit and lost birds that are uncounted as cripples(dead actually). It's two ways to go but if you think you are a good hunter leave your dog at home and see how many birds you get.
Where's the pictures of that gun? I can't stand the suspense and won't leave this thread alone until we see them.
As far as hi-jacking the thread, it became much more interesting after we got away from just talking about expensive arcane doubles.:D
 
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calamari said:
I've hunted over 50 years w/o a dog and only recently had to accept one because my fiancee insisted I "needed" one. I've hunted a lot with friends who had excellent dogs and can offer this. It's not the same experience hunting with a dog as it is w/o. W/o a dog you are both hunter and shooter and every bird is a trophy. With a dog you are a shooter/chauffeur and the dog is the hunter. I keep records of bagged and lost birds that cover decades and the result has averaged out the same. In our cover conditions it's about 10% lost birds with my dog or friends dogs retrieving or without a dog. W/o a dog I see and hear everything. With a dog I'm fixated on the noisy panting dog and have become blind to what's around me. With a dog it's easy to slip into the mind set of, "If I can just bust a wing my dog will get it" and shoot at birds too far away resulting in hit and lost birds that are uncounted as cripples(dead actually). It's two ways to go but if you think you are a good hunter leave your dog at home and see how many birds you get.
Where's the pictures of that gun? I can't stand the suspense and won't leave this thread alone until we see them.
As far as hi-jacking the thread, it became much more interesting after we got away from just talking about expensive arcane doubles.:D
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I don't discount your feelings. When I was a kid I hoofed out may quail encounters. My dad did not hunt, my grandfather did, shot quail out of full choked Iver Johnson, he killed red wolves with, and a long way off! No dog. I aspired to have a bird dog, reliving the stories of Burton Spiller, George Evans, Havilah Babcock, Charlie Dickey, and an old neighbor, Charles Waterman. I got an English Setter, sired by Mississippi Zev, and never looked back. With great dogs, I became a shooter, in the scope of the painting, I kept my shooting window open, and directed the show. I have lost the edge as an on my own hunter. truthfully I wouldn't go back, I am older now, don't want to be my own dog, thrashing around in the bush, getting up birds in the far side of a bush, or a "probe and hope" shot. I am happy to say the dogs make me a better hunter. I like arcane doubles too. I don't shoot them well. But there it is. It's more about the way you do it, as much as the result. That's arcane I quess, dogs are expensive as well.
 
Yes, dogs can be so inconsiderate with all that panting, the oafs!...and they like me to wear that chaueffer cap for which I have not the face.
It is a terrible imposition when one must "accept" a dog....the ignominy of it all.

Few errors, C....a hunter hunts....even with a birddog.
A hunter with a dog is not blind to everything around them....one could say just the opposite in fact.
I have never shot to "hope I bust a wing" nor have I ever hunted with anyone of that mindset.
I have taken shots that were ill-advised....I did that during the years I hunted dogless and now with any of my three setters....I can always make better decisions.

Hunting w/o a dog is a choice for some and a requirement for others.
Has nothing to do with sporting or ethics or equating the bird with some degree of trophy....or even one's skill as a hunter.
Like those "arcane" doubles(an odd description for such a simple tool).....it may be that a dogless hunter of choice chooses not to try and learn the many advantages a pup brings to a day afield....and so, the dog remains arcane or mysterious.
Those unwilling to learn different or other....saddest of the sad.

By the way, your fiancee was wrong...for the pup's sake.
 
My first 18 years of pheasant hunting were without a dog. Back in those days there were very few hunters that had dogs. The last 38 years have been with a dog and I can't imagine going to the field without one. A dog just adds so much to the hunt in addition to the unconditional love and friendship they provide. The only reason I still hunt birds is because of my dogs. I don't feel the need to "hunt' that bad to head to the field without my four legged companions. As I've said many times, I could leave the gun home and just follow the dogs in the field and have a great time.

I guess each to their own. If you would rather hunt without a dog that's up to you. But my guess is that people who prefer that method have never owned and/or hunted behind a good hunting dog.
 
Maybe reading skills are in the shop but I said I have a dog. She's an excellent hunter, a great companion and loads of fun. She sleeps in my sleeping bag when I go hunting so it's not like I don't like "dags."
What I said is that it is a different experience hunting without a dog as opposed to hunting with one. If you think you're the hunter when you're following your dog I can only say that denial isn't just a river in Egypt. I can tell all that have an open mind that the noise that a dog makes affects how pheasants behave when hunted. They run only when noise masks their movement and when you hunt w/o a dog using appropriate methods the birds you flush are at your feet and not at or beyond shotgun range.
It's funny how some dog owners are so reluctant to give their dog the credit they deserve and instead want to think that they, the human, are more important to the endeavor than they are.
As far as guys who say the don't have a "bust a wing" mindset they are in the same group who say they "never sky scrape ducks" and yet there they are wailing away. One guys "bust a wing" mindset I guess is another's simply "ill advised."
 
calamari said:
I've hunted over 50 years w/o a dog and only recently had to accept one because my fiancee insisted I "needed" one.....
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I believe your fiancee was wrong, as and for why I stated.
I'm sure she is a lovely lady tho.

Sorry, a dog does not negate a hunter as a hunter.
In fact, some dogs receive a helping hand from the hunter...."team" is a word often used amongst those that understand the realities of a dog and appreciate what a dog does and needs and....is.

Noise...all noise can affect a gamebird.
Most understand that fact.
Most don't fret about the panting pup noise or other factors that accompany a dog and dog ownership....for a birddog is not just about killing gamebirds.:thumbsup:
Most use noise as a plus with many finding profit in working with any negatives found during any day from any source to have a swell time....anytime.

Most dog owners, those not having to accept a dog perhaps, willingly and profusely give their dog and the dogs of others credit. In point of fact again, most birddog owners side their dog as they realize what each dog can go thru in a season and a Life....and value and love and...credit are freely given....at every turn.
If that is not the case, I reckon the individual dog owner may be the real issue.
IMHO, some folks should never own a dog.

Sorry again, but I do not bring to a day afield a mindset of "just busting a wing".
I do try to bring honesty to the day...and to a message board's posting which has me admiting making a bad shot on occassion and, sometimes, I reckon I should have known better than to give 'er a go in the first place.
More should consider that honesty route.
But, I'm guessing that like dog ownership...some may require having honesty foisted upon them.

As I hunted w/o a birddog for years(as I said) it is indeed a different experience.
And, as I know, it can be a successful experience as, quite frankly, killing a gamebird is seldom rocket work....especially in blessed times, with some birds in some coverts.
Hunting w/o a dog can also bring insights to a hunter which are valuable when they do have a dog.
But, success at killing stuff is a poor sole reason for a birddog in one's life....and for most, it lies down the list aways.
If it doesn't....well, those folks stick out like a bad banana on a cribbage board.
 
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It's always amazing to me the lengths that people will go to defend their self image. Snide and sarcastic comments made without knowledge of those who question that image often seem to be their first choice.
So, where's the picture of that gun RK?
 
This thread has really strayed off course and starting to go down hill. I suggest we get back to the original purpose/question of this thread and ditch the argument about hunting with or without a dog.
 
If you want to talk about these topics, start new threads to keep them seperate. Thank you........... Bob
 
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