Toughest bird to knock down
Toughest bird to knock down
I wasn't sure whether to put this under the Hunting forum or this one. But seeing as how this one has had recent posts on upland loads I'll take a shot at here.
Which upland species of bird in your experience is the toughest to knock down? I'm not taking hardest to hit, but the one that seems to absorb the most shot to knock it out of the air.
My vote for overall fire power needed is the pheasant, but oz for oz of body weight my experience has been the hun is the hardest to knock down.
Which upland species of bird in your experience is the toughest to knock down? I'm not taking hardest to hit, but the one that seems to absorb the most shot to knock it out of the air.
My vote for overall fire power needed is the pheasant, but oz for oz of body weight my experience has been the hun is the hardest to knock down.
- Bird Dog 67
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
I'd have to go with a late season pheasant.
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
Depends upon whether you're a wingshooter or a body shooter. Those pheasants go down pretty easily when hit in the wing. For training young dogs I like to flush pheasants out of tall grass or cattails but shoot them in the wing or leg over an adjacent mowed field. Cripples that a young dog can see really gets their prey drive & retrieving instincts kicked into high gear in a hurry.
Mark
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- uglyleaper
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
I'd have to say pheasant are the hardest to recover for sure and for what I've hunted the hardest to bring down dead.
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
PHEASANT
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- Ricky Ticky Shorthairs
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
Late December Iowa Rooster on a going away straight shot.
Doug
Doug
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
So how do you take a swarm of shot and only break wings or legs and not hit the body?
marshboy
marshboy
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
Is this a joke?-You have got to be kidding,right?BigShooter wrote:Depends upon whether you're a wingshooter or a body shooter. Those pheasants go down pretty easily when hit in the wing. For training young dogs I like to flush pheasants out of tall grass or cattails but shoot them in the wing or leg over an adjacent mowed field. Cripples that a young dog can see really gets their prey drive & retrieving instincts kicked into high gear in a hurry.
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
My thoughts exactlySo how do you take a swarm of shot and only break wings or legs and not hit the body?
marshboy
- tommyboy72
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
I have to say pheasant but I think it has a lot to do with the age of the bird as well. Those 2 year old mature birds are like battleships but some of the younger first year birds go down fairly easily. Definitely pheasant though.
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
Don't know about you guys... but I think Pigeons are a pain to bring down. I have failed to knock down more pigeons in training sessions than anything else I have gone after.
Rydaddy
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"Levi" Vizsla
- uglyleaper
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
Pigeons are pretty tough too. We shoot em over a mojo in the fields for some earl season warm up. You better bring 6's or bigger.
- birddogger
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
WOW!!! I would not want to hunt with you. I would get a complex.BigShooter wrote:Depends upon whether you're a wingshooter or a body shooter. Those pheasants go down pretty easily when hit in the wing. For training young dogs I like to flush pheasants out of tall grass or cattails but shoot them in the wing or leg over an adjacent mowed field. Cripples that a young dog can see really gets their prey drive & retrieving instincts kicked into high gear in a hurry.
Charlie
If you think you can or if you think you can't, you are right either way
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
I grew up hunting pheasants.
I think if you voted pheasant you have never hunted Chukar:-)=
I think if you voted pheasant you have never hunted Chukar:-)=
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
california condor just kidding guys
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
pheasant, pigeon, chukar i have had the same pigeon for 2 training sessions i have hit it 2 from about ten feet away with 71/2 shot. and late season pheasant are pretty hard to knock down. and chukar i shot a one last year 8 times and i walked all together over 700 yards after that one bird needles to say i have that bird hangin on the wall
kick'em up knock'em down
- birddogsunlimited
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
i dont know about upland but when i comes to ducks ive seen some divers suck up alot of shot and i had a goose that was shot 13 times and was still floping when the dog broght him in
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
chuckling- good one Bigshooter
wondering about all these hard to bring down birds- seems some tall tales
wondering about all these hard to bring down birds- seems some tall tales
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
you have pointing dogs correct-cody wrote:My thoughts exactlySo how do you take a swarm of shot and only break wings or legs and not hit the body?
marshboy
ever been out with someone who can shoot who has a good dog-
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
Shadow, what are you inferring? That you can actually break wings and/or legs without hitting the body?
Ever patterned a shotgun before? All those little holes on the paper are where a bb of shot went through, right? So where do you throw that pattern to intentionally only break wings or legs?
marshboy
Ever patterned a shotgun before? All those little holes on the paper are where a bb of shot went through, right? So where do you throw that pattern to intentionally only break wings or legs?
marshboy
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
me- naaaaaaaaa I can't shoot worth a darnmarshboy wrote:Shadow, what are you inferring? That you can actually break wings and/or legs without hitting the body?
Ever patterned a shotgun before? All those little holes on the paper are where a bb of shot went through, right? So where do you throw that pattern to intentionally only break wings or legs?
marshboy
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
I love keyboard commandos
A self-proclaimed defier of a pattern of shot...gotta love it.
marshboy
A self-proclaimed defier of a pattern of shot...gotta love it.
marshboy
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
ahhhhhhhhhhh a bite- care to find outmarshboy wrote:I love keyboard commandos
A self-proclaimed defier of a pattern of shot...gotta love it.
marshboy
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
Sea ducks, shot one once and it dropped like a rock, 2 seconds later took off from the water again like nothing was wrong, my buddy from maine told me you gotta keep shooting on the way down to killem
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
I have patterned a shotgun before - several of them. I have also witnessed with MY OWN EYES several friends consistantly and CLEANLY hit birds where they wanted to. In fact, at a recent hunt test I know of a running bet between the gunners on being able to knock the head of of a QUAIL - and they did it by the second brace.
Now, I'm not calling you a liar. I am just saying, I've seen it.
And, you all who have said pheasant have never hunted grouse in the UP, eh?
Grouse. 99% of the time you don't even get a clear shot and if they hit the ground alive they have 50 times more cover to disappear in.
Now, I'm not calling you a liar. I am just saying, I've seen it.
And, you all who have said pheasant have never hunted grouse in the UP, eh?
Grouse. 99% of the time you don't even get a clear shot and if they hit the ground alive they have 50 times more cover to disappear in.
We have done something with nothing for so long we are now qualified to do everything with anything....
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
take a 3" shell, load a 2/4" load, insert a small stick in the center- glue the shell closed- shoot arround the bird
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
I'd have to say grouse in the north woods. Two reasons. Heavy cover. Will stop most of the shot coming out. Reaction time from flush to shot is only a second at best.
- Ruffshooter
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
The hardest bar none is the Eider sea duck.
Ruffs are soft birds if one pellet hits them they come down, no getting that one pellet to them can be the difficult task.
Ruffs are soft birds if one pellet hits them they come down, no getting that one pellet to them can be the difficult task.
The best part of training is seeing the light come on in your little prot'eg'e.
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Rick
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
I don't know Ruff, I think a pterodactyl might be a bit harder to take down than an Eider duck.
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
Grouse
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
I guess it must be what you consider hardest to knock down. I will admit that grouse and woodcock can be hard to hit but they are extremely easy to bring down when hit. For the unplqand birds I don't think there is a bird that will compare to the cock pheasant. But my opinion is based on putting a bird in the open for a good shot and which one will keep right on going after being hit. Which is haredest to hit is a different question.
JMO
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It's not how many breaths you have taken but how many times it has been taken away!
Has anyone noticed common sense isn't very common anymore.
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It's not how many breaths you have taken but how many times it has been taken away!
Has anyone noticed common sense isn't very common anymore.
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
I am such a bad shot it doesn't matter. They are all tough to knock down.
I'd rather live on the side of a mountain, than wander through canyons of concrete and steel.
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
sounds like just the guy I'd hunt with- we just turn arround and go after those birds again- ahhhh what a day for pointing dogs
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
I have watched some sage grouse take shot and keep going. This year my buddy shot one early on the flush and you could see it react but still managed to regain itself and fly off.
I found him a half hour later a ways off and finished him.
I found him a half hour later a ways off and finished him.
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
you know Marshboy- I was only joking- never tried it-Shadow wrote:take a 3" shell, load a 2/4" load, insert a small stick in the center- glue the shell closed- shoot arround the bird
being that pheasant season is getting close to opening here- what's everybody going to have in their gun first morning, how far do you intend to shoot, and are you going to shoot at birds held on point, or flushed
myself- 8 shot light loads
- tommyboy72
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
Wussy Kansas Pheasant.
I tried 7 1/2 shot and moved up to Winchester Super Speed 6's last year but this year I am having Dave reload me some 5 shot for pheasant. 12 gauge by the way. Seems like a couple of years ago I used 7 1/2 20 gauge all year long and killed everything dead as a hammer. Last year though I had a lot of poor hit birds. Thank goodness for the dogs.
I tried 7 1/2 shot and moved up to Winchester Super Speed 6's last year but this year I am having Dave reload me some 5 shot for pheasant. 12 gauge by the way. Seems like a couple of years ago I used 7 1/2 20 gauge all year long and killed everything dead as a hammer. Last year though I had a lot of poor hit birds. Thank goodness for the dogs.
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
ahhhh Tommy- when I send 355 #7&1/2 in a 30" circle they fall pretty hard
going to get pretty crazy arround here in a few days- I'm debating sitting in a lawn chair and watching
going to get pretty crazy arround here in a few days- I'm debating sitting in a lawn chair and watching
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
Hmmm...
Pheasant
or
Chukar
I'm gonna say Chukar. You don't experience vertigo hunting pheasant.
Pheasant
or
Chukar
I'm gonna say Chukar. You don't experience vertigo hunting pheasant.
- Chaingang
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
Hands down a rooster pheasant.
Cagey old roosters have a will to survive more than any other game bird I can think of. If they are not anchored by a lethal hit you can count on that bird doing what ever it takes to escape. How many times have you thought that the bird took a hard hit only to go over to the spot and the bird is nowhere in sight.
One thing that I look for is the head when the bird is hit. If the head drops in the air the bird is dead. Head up and it's game on.......
Cagey old roosters have a will to survive more than any other game bird I can think of. If they are not anchored by a lethal hit you can count on that bird doing what ever it takes to escape. How many times have you thought that the bird took a hard hit only to go over to the spot and the bird is nowhere in sight.
One thing that I look for is the head when the bird is hit. If the head drops in the air the bird is dead. Head up and it's game on.......
- birddog1968
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
Ive seen cans take a beating.
Put em down upside down head under water for 3 minutes or more and go to retrieve and pop up and fly off like unhurt.
Skid em, cartwheel em and they gather themselves up and off they go, swimming or flyin.....Tough birds on the wintering grounds.
I've also seen Goldeneyes fly thru barrages that would bring down Japanese zero's. Look like off the side of battleship with full Ackack fire goin.
Put em down upside down head under water for 3 minutes or more and go to retrieve and pop up and fly off like unhurt.
Skid em, cartwheel em and they gather themselves up and off they go, swimming or flyin.....Tough birds on the wintering grounds.
I've also seen Goldeneyes fly thru barrages that would bring down Japanese zero's. Look like off the side of battleship with full Ackack fire goin.
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
that's good- can agree on Buffle Heads/Goldeneyes- think it had something to do with their small body and the mixture of 2's and 4'sbirddog1968 wrote:Ive seen cans take a beating.
Put em down upside down head under water for 3 minutes or more and go to retrieve and pop up and fly off like unhurt.
Skid em, cartwheel em and they gather themselves up and off they go, swimming or flyin.....Tough birds on the wintering grounds.
I've also seen Goldeneyes fly thru barrages that would bring down Japanese zero's. Look like off the side of battleship with full Ackack fire goin.
- Chaingang
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Re: Toughest bird to knock down
Come on guys... were not talking about waterfowl here. The original poster stated:
Which upland species of bird in your experience is the toughest to knock down?
Re: Toughest bird to knock down
I believe the gamble Quail to be the toughest bird to take down. I have actually watched a gamble's get knocked out of the air land on it's back hitting the ground at full speed jump up and take off running we never found the bird even with dogs. If you have hunted gamble quail in Southern Utah or Arizona you will know what I mean!