[Ruffed grouse hunting in Maine]

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.

[Ruffed grouse hunting in Maine]

And it is nice to see what looks like a smaller bore side by side shotgun being used in the field. Nice pictures.

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.

[Ruffed grouse hunting in Maine]

WOW what beautiful place. I bet you could get lost for days out there!

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Col

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.

[Ruffed grouse hunting in Maine]

Nice pictures there Mike. Your tri-colour ES made me smile as I have one who just loves being in the back country as Joy obviously does! Do you have any pictures of your cabin that you would be willing to share? I'm in the process of building a 16x24 remote cabin that backs onto a nice pond with trout. Once I get the hang of resizing my pictures I'll put some up!

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.

 

[Ruffed grouse hunting in Maine]

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.

 

[20 Gauge]

You may be right, I don't know, thats why I'm questioning it really.

 

I just thought that whilst they might be the same weights of lead that they would perform differently depending on bore sizes, perhaps pattern on a flat plate might be similar at a set distance once all the shot has hit home but surely shot string would be different?

 

If a 20g really does perform the same as a 12g then I can't see why 12g ever became popular, except for clays where the extra weight might help if you're putting hundreds of cartridges through it in a day and/or using really heavy loads.

 

For game shooting I would imagine many people would chose a 20g if its peformance is exactly the same as a 12g.

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.

[Clothing,here and there]

Unfortunally in good old england we have a lot of doo gooders who don't have a clue so anytime they see anyone with what might be a gun, they get on the phone to the police

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.

[Clothing,here and there]

Hi Mike,

 

Where about's in Virginia are you from? My Father lives in Williamsburg, I will be visiting him in June, I am looking for a clay shooting/rifle range place near to him that I can visit while over there.

My Father is not a shooting man and is getting on a bit now, so he can't find anything out for me.

 

Regards,

 

Reggiegun

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?

[Clothing,here and there]

Where I shoot, if you are spotted the police are called. Lol so no the less the anti people see the better imho

Why would someone call the police? I assume you are hunting legally and have permission from the landowner.

[Clothing,here and there]

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.

[Clothing,here and there]

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.

[Woodcock hunting in the US]

Rather nice looking shotgun there. American woodcock look a similar size to what we get over here. Do they fly the same, in a zig-zag pattern?

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.

[Woodcock hunting in the US]

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.

[Woodcock hunting in the US]

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

 

[Uses for spent shotgun cartridges]

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.

[look at this you will drool!!]

I believe he knows as he is a american and his friends have been on the said shoots so I guess they told him .

 

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.

[Anyone using Setters?]

I know we've got all the Springer and Labs we could ask for around here but I was wondering if anyone was running Setters of any kind. Tell us what you've got and post pics if you can. I'm interested to hear about their lineage too.

 

Take care,

 

Jim

 

 

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.

[Question on rifles]

hi mike yes we do fit silencers or moderators it not a must but some forces are starting to ask if we will fit them .you say you dont want them why there are some realy good plus points to haveing one fitted reduced noise so you could get multi kills on say foxes(i have shot the vixen and five cubs in one sitting as have many others on here ) rather than one boom and everything for 2 miles goes into hiding for a week .

theres very little recoil so you can watch the round strike the target with ease and everyone for three miles plus doesnt kow what your up to .very good on hearing too no having to ware ear defenders when shooting targes or quarry

 

as they say on this side of the pond dont knock it till you have tryed it

 

atb andy

 

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?

[Question on rifles]

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.

[look at this you will drool!!]

Do the shot birds enter the food chain over there ? or are they just dumped ?

 

BBL

 

They are just dumped to rot.

[look at this you will drool!!]

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.

 

[The closest thing we have...]

Are you near the coast?

 

Not really. Fairfax County. About 20 miles west of Washington DC.

[The closest thing we have...]

buddy can a come to your house for dinner am getting hungry just looking at that sounds like a good day out to me why only limited to 15 are they in short supply or sumit :blink:

atb andy

 

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.

 

[The closest thing we have...]

That looks great. What way did you cook the doves? I watched an American shooting DVD once and they suggested spliting the breast in half and putting a Jalapeno Pepper in the middle.

 

That's exactly what we did. I also put a slice of pepper cheese on top and wrapped it all with bacon. Delicious!

[The closest thing we have...]

I thought I would throw out a photo of a bag of doves. I assume it's pretty close to your pigeon shooting. We stake out a harvested grain field and pass shoot the doves when they come in to feed. If the hunters are positioned correctly we can move a flock around by bouncing it off the shooters, instead of having it just fly away after the first shots. There is a 15 bird limit. Dove shooting is normally a social affair with a barbeque lunch thrown in and a lot of good natured ribbing over missed shots.

 

 

After the shoot my son and a friend came home and threw the dove breasts on the barbecue and had a grand meal. The two chicken breasts were for my wife. She normally won't eat wild game.

 

 

This activity is what we would call shooting. When I walk the fields and woods with a pointing dog....that is hunting.