simcgunner

I f anyone is looking for a chance to hunt wild ruffed grouse in beautiful Pennsylvania. Here is a great opportunity. November 2020. Email me for details if interested 20UBHinPAWilds.pdf

I have a SX3 and never had a problem with shooting 2.5 inch loads that i use in my antique SXS guns up to 3.5 inch waterfowl heavy shot.. my experience is the 70mm shells deliver excellent paterns and the 3.5 inch loads are unplesant to shoot. as an aside comercial Dove loads are typically full 3 Dram loads and are not what I would consider Lite loads. and are a bit of overkill in my opinion. lighter loads work fine on Doves

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These practices are leagal here. They are common on shooting preserves and only allowed in areas where there are no wild populations. We have learned to our dismay that intermingeling wild with pen raised birds has a disasterous effect on the wild population. that practice led to the decline of the wild turkey almost to extinction . that bird has recovered to the point that it is almost cosidered a pest. and they are predatory on wild bobwhite quail a bird that once flourished and is in serious danger of disapearing..Habitat loss is the main culpret, but this wonderful ground nesting bird is in danger from skunks. coons.housecats, rapters, possims even whitetail deer(another species that has boomed to record highs) We have several organizations trying to help but with the declining number of licensed hunters who support our efforts and the growing number of anti hunting people is rapidly causing many of our forrest lands to become wildlife desserts.I can only hope your country keeps managing your Grouse moors by rotational burns.

They are raised in flight pens and caught just before use.We dizzy the bird just before "planting" it they will sit tight for about hour unless if not disturbed. then they walk around and fly off at will. the big downside of this is they are not used to finding natural food and if not called back to a recall pen . They will most likely not survive. There is an abundance of large Hawks that live pretty good off our bad shots around our training club. the training birds we use are Quail, Phesant, and chucker Patridge. If the dog holds a solid point and the bird flushes they are rewarded with a shot bird to retrieve.

After the season we are allowed to use pen raised birds. to train our dogs. The drawback is a smart dog soon learns that it can get closer to and even catch a planted pen raised bird. which will never happen with a wild bird. In the picture below is an example the young dog has crept in on the bird. we can do this to about April and the birds start to Molt. Do you do this in the UK?

of course you are correct

One yanks perspective on steel shot. We are seeing an increased amount of classic double shotguns ruined by firing steel shot through them. When looking at guns one must carefully look down the outside barrels and inspect for ring bulges just behind the choke area. on occasion it can break the rib loose but not always. I have not seen a shotguns bore damaged but have seen dozens with ring bulges. the steel shot must leave the bore at higher velocities and being much harder than steel will not compress in the choke as well as the softer metals. I would never fire steel through a gun not proofed for it even if the chokes had been opened to try to keep the bulging from happening. Thankfully wildfowling is the only place that I currently shoot that requires No- Tox Ammunition. I load expensive bismuth shot that performs as well as lead and can practice with lead at clays. I don't mind the extra expense for the few actual shots we take at wild fowl. and actually like the idea of replacing the plastic components with biosafe materials. a blanket lead ban for all shooting would be the death Knell for sportsman. we can buy 2.5 inch Bismuth low pressure loads from a classic ammunition manufacture (RST ammo) but it is much cheaper to hand load the small amount you actually fire at waterfowl. below Belgin Browning A-5

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The Classic SXS championship and exposition is in April. In Sanford North Carolina USA .In recent years there have been More and more British participation. If there are any PW members coming over I suggest a meet up. PM Me if interested. Al P.

My advice is to ge a 4x4 that can be switched into one of several 4x4 modes. I bought this vehicle( Lincoln Navigator) in 2003. It carrys a load of people and dogs to shoots and can pull a massive load over the mountains. When it had 200, 000miles on it I went looking for a replacement but could not find anything i liked better. I put a new engine and transmission in it and still love driving it over another 100,000 miles later.In the next couple of years i will finally replace it (It is the suv in front of the caravan) good luck on the search

Yes we old friends get together for a few days near the end of wildfowl season at a property on the eastern shore of Virginia USA. It was a oyster packing station in the 1800s and the remnants of an old general store from that era is on the property. A very large marsh with many small ponds and access to the main creek feeding in from the Chesapeake Bay is ideal habitat for attracting duck geese and Swans . I am fortunate to have a friend that purchased this place many years ago.. We usually bring along a Grandson or Nephew to do retrieving in the Marsh where we don't want to risk a dogs eyes on the needle grass growing there..

Guess who brought the venison Jerky.

winchester duck guns I use for wildfowl.