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Mike Connally

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Everything posted by Mike Connally

  1. The cabins are all owned by Libby Camps. The photo of me eating lunch at the river valley was at old Nmber One Camp. A historic cabin from the old lumbering days. Libby Camps had just purchased it but hadn't restored it at ithe time we happened upon it. None of the cabins are open for survival or use in inclement weather. The entire 3 million acre area is privately owned by timber companies. There are only a few individual holdings like Libby Camps up there. The side by side is a 20 gauge RBL by Connecticut Shotgun Company here in the states. A very nice boxlock.
  2. Yes, it's a 20 gauge. Almost all of my hunting is done with a 20. It is unquestionably the favored gauge for upland hunting in the States. Most ruffed grouse hunters try to use a double between 6 and 6 1/2 pounds.
  3. You sure could get lost. The Maine North Woods is 3 million acres of timber land owned by a consortium of lumber companies. All of the roads are gated and you pay a small trespass fee to enter. It is a truly wild place. The northern and western boundaries are on the Canadian border.
  4. The cabin in that isn't ours. We happened upon it while hunting. The scenery was so beautiful that we decided to eat our lunch there. We stayed in a cabin at Libby Camps, a very remote outfitter in the Maine north woods. Here's a pic of the cabin that we stayed in.
  5. A nice grouse courtesy of my English setter, Joy. Two grouse off one of Joy's points. A rare occurrence! Beautiful grouse fan. Lunch at a cabin deep in the Maine wilderness.
  6. There is a theoretical advantage to a 12 bore over a 20 bore. The smaller diameter of the 20 bore means that you will have a longer shot column and more shot scrubbing on the inside of the barrel. This translates to more deformed shot for the same weight shot charge. Notice I said "theoretical advantage". I have never been able to notice this advantage in the field. Almost all of my hunting is done with a 20 bore. I am always prudent to use the best cartridges available. Good hard shot and good wads. My hunting here in the States is probably of a different type than yours, but I think a 20 is a very useful bore.
  7. Wow! In Virginia open carry is legal. You can carry a gun in the open almost anywhere. I have a concealed carry permit and can carry a hidden pistol throughout the state.
  8. I live in Fairfax County. That's about 20 miles west of Washington DC. About 3 1/2 hours from Williamsburg. Send me a message a month or so before you come over and I'll find some places for you to shoot. Are you bringing guns with you, or does your father have some for you to use?
  9. Why would someone call the police? I assume you are hunting legally and have permission from the landowner.
  10. Good point about hunting private vs public lands. It's important during our deer seasons. Especially now that most hunters must shoot at least one doe before they can shoot their next buck. They don't have to look for antlers, and noises and shapes in the brush have been known to morph into something else. I really wear blaze just to be very visible to my hunting partners. When hunting ruffed grouse your shot window is going to be around 2 to 3 seconds after the flush. It's VERY important for everyone to know where the other guy is. In our grouse covers, visibility averages around 15 to 20 yards. If you can see farther than that, you are hunting in the wrong place.
  11. It's customary and required in most of the USA to wear blaze orange clothing while hunting. It's not required for bowhunting, waterfowl, etc. where it would be a major handicap. Almost all upland hunters gladly wear plenty of blaze orange every time out. It makes it easy for us to keep track of each other and surely prevents accidents during our deer seasons. The deer season in Virginia runs five months with no limit on how many you can take. This means we are always hunting with a deer hunter close by. This is a typical pic of a bird hunter (me) dressed for a normal day in the woods. I'm wondering....do you folks in the UK ever wear bright colors to make it easier for others to see you? I would think that two hunters following a flusher or a pointing dog would appreciate it.
  12. They are definitely smaller than the European woodcock. They pass through Virginia in mid November and are mostly gone by mid January. They do fly in a zig zag pattern but are not considered as hard to hit as some of our other game birds.
  13. The gun is an Ithaca/SKB model 100. It's a 20 gauge with 28" barrels. I had the chokes opened to .004 and .014. I bought it sometime in the 1970's.
  14. I thought I would post a photo or two of some American woodcock. This is Joy, my English setter. She's 10 now and slowing down a little. She pointed these woodcock for me a day ago in thick brush. Here is a better look at an American woodcock. I think they are quite a bit smaller than those in the UK
  15. I guess the ultimate recycling is just to reload them. I have about 40,000 empties in my basement and 5 different reloaders. I have several hundred pounds of shot and probably 20 pounds of different types of powder. Shells are inexpensive enough right now that I haven't bothered to reload for many years now.
  16. Yes. I know people who go there every year in three groups. They make no pretense of the fact that the birds are not used. Many, if not most, are not even collected from the fields and cannot be found. Even though they use some local boys as retrievers, they use no dogs and it's hit or miss. Sometimes they put on a show of a dove breast roast for the group. It's silly to think that several dozen roasted doves somehow represent using the bag when they shoot thousands. I have no problem with this aspect of the sport because it is done in the name of pest control. It's just not for me. Generally the piles of dead birds are treated as piles of vermin and disposed of as such. Think about this. Generally there is very little refrigeration available to the people who could use the birds, and the outfitter isn't carrying any around with him.
  17. Hi Jim. I know you from Upland Journal. Surprised to see you on this site. I just found it.

  18. I hunt a setter. She's a 7 year old Llewelin. She was sired by Highway Dan in Mississippi, USA. Here she is in Maine last year. Here she is pointing a woodcock last January in Spottsylvania County, Virginia. A pic of her in the snow while grouse hunting last October in Pennsylvania. I love this dog.
  19. I'm not knocking it, just trying to understand. Silencers cannot be used here. They are illegal. In the 30's, they were used by gangsters to to silence their murder weapons and were outlawed as a gangster weapon. Noise isn't generally a problem here while hunting. There are millions of acres of public hunting land and neighbors aren't normally a problem. It also seems that some people are hunting with air rifles. Is this common? Are they effective at long range?
  20. Here's a question from across the pond. I have seen photos posted here of rifles with what looks like a silencer or suppresor on the barrel. Is this required in the UK? Here in the states it would be illegal and ,in any event, unwanted. Pardon my ignorance, but I'm curious. I'm new to this site and find the differences and similarities in our shooting cultures fascinating.
  21. A few of my friends shoot in South America every year. I have had more than a few opportunities to go with them. I just can't see that much killing, even in the name of pest control. They used to make a show of collecting large numbers of dead doves to give to the locals for their dinner. It was all for show. The birds are all either left in the field or dumped somewhere. I don't have a problem with others shooting pests but I don't shoot anything anymore that I'm not going to eat. I'm past killing living things for target practice. I realize that in many instances it might be helpful, but.....it's not for me anymore. There is plenty of game where I live and it's all very tasty. Here's a pic of a Ruffed Grouse shot in the mountains of Virginia. Best tasting bird you will ever eat.
  22. Not really. Fairfax County. About 20 miles west of Washington DC.
  23. There are many millions of doves, but doves are considered a game bird in the States. All game has daily and sometimes season bag limits. Excessive bags are frowned on. Most hunters are brought up to eat what they shoot and not kill excessively. The American hunting tradition descends from subsistence hunting. Shooting "just enough" is traditional. We look down on game hogs. The joy is in the hunt....not the kill. This is a pic of me and my setter Joy. A day in the field with her is all I need. The bag is secondary.
  24. That's exactly what we did. I also put a slice of pepper cheese on top and wrapped it all with bacon. Delicious!
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