It seems like we have had snow on the ground forever. I got away from it, for a few days, in February, by going to Oklahoma, for a hunt. When I got back the snow was almost gone but in a few days we got several snows. We have had at least 3 snows deep enough for me to push with the blade on the 4-wheeler and there is still snow on the ground.
Tur Bo on point.
Mann on wild quail.
Luke pointing with Drifter backing.
I told about shooting my 410 on a quail hunt several years ago and not being able to shoot it very well. I shot half a box of shells and had 3 quail. I traded it for my 20 gauge and was able to finish a limit of quail.
The 410 is a side by side with two triggers. I’ve shot it on the skeet field and did okay but not great. I took it to Don Hansen, my gunsmith friend, today to have him check the chokes. I felt like it either was choked really tight, although it’s marked improved cylinder and modified, or it needed to have the stock bent. Don can fix either of these problems.
I have had this gun for several years and it was sitting in the safe not being used. With the weather, I can’t get outside, so I was looking for things to do. I took my guns out of the safe and decided I needed to get the 410 worked on.
Don checked the right barrel and got a reading of .020 and he found the left barrel to be .025. I went on Briley’s website and it showed that in the 410, .018 is full and .020 is extra full. So the right barrel was extra full and the left was off the chart full. No wonder I couldn’t hit many quail. I left it with Don. He will open it up.
It’s nice to know someone you can trust with your guns. Before I met Don I had a 16 gauge L.C. Smith that I wasn’t using much because it was choked too tight, to use quail hunting. A friend suggested I have the chokes opened. It was a nice gun but nothing that a collector would want. I took it to a well known gun shop in Kansas. I told them I wanted the right barrel to be skeet and the left improved cylinder.
They must have laid the barrels on a rack upside down. When I got it back the right barrel was improved cylinder and the left was skeet. Just the opposite of what I wanted. I never noticed it but when I showed it to Don he pointed out that they had also bored the barrels from the end instead of running the reamer all the way down the barrel. The chokes were off centered as well as being backwards. It still shoots good but it would be nice if I had what I wanted.
I was hunting with the L.C. Smith in northern Missouri several years ago. I was crossing a wide deep creek. I slid down a steep bank and as I watched where I was putting my feet as I crossed the bottom I saw a strange looking piece of wood in the gravel. I picked it up. It was the forearm for the L.C. Smith. It came off as I came down the bank. Had I not been looking in the right place I would never have found it.
Sally Jo came into her heat cycle the fifteenth of July so she should come in January the fifteenth if her cycles are regular. I have found at least 3 dogs that I wouldn’t mind breeding her to. And each day I change my mind on which one. January has come and gone and we are almost through February and she hasn’t come in yet.
Sally honoring Tur Bo.
Two different friends have dogs they weren’t even thinking of breeding, that have come in. One of them decided to go ahead and breed his and the other had a lab get in with an English setter. The latter is hoping that his isn’t bred.
The last season was pretty good for me and the dogs. We were able to hunt in 5 different states. We only hunted quail and pheasants. I had a turkey tag in Kansas and in the past have managed to shoot a few. This year I never saw a turkey while I was hunting. I saw a few when I was driving but none while I was out.
My young dogs, I always start them on pigeons, in release traps. Sally is now almost 3 years old but when she was 7 months old I decided to take her hunting. She started off pointing quail and letting me walk in front of her to flush them. She started young and has got better.
Mann has been worked on pigeons since he came home with me. He, too, found his share of quail this year. When he points, if necessary, I can walk 30 yards in front of him. If a bird doesn’t flush he will not move. He should get better over the next few years.
Babe is a litter mate to Mann. I hunted her less than him because she hasn’t matured as fast as he did. Normally, the females mature faster but not in her case. When she points the pigeons she wants to circle them. I’m still trying to convince her all she has to do is stop. She pointed one covey in Kansas and I walked 325 yards to her and just before I got to her she flushed the covey. It worked for me though. The covey was off the walk-in property and flew back across the fence. Her and Mann are both really young so they have plenty of time to learn their craft.
Hopefully, we will get rid of this snow and it will dry up enough that I can go back to working dogs. Sitting in the house, waiting, is not my strong suit.
Mann on point.
Babe pointing a pigeon.
Three quail and my W.R. Pape side by side.