Mike Connally

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.

That's just a matter of semantics. If I couldn't shoot, I would still hunt. Luckily, our right to bear arms is protected by constitutional ammendment. Our State constitution protects our right to hunt. Thanks for all the good cheer!

Sorry, I don't know him. I live a long way from South West Virginia. I live in Northern Virginia, near Washington DC. I have a good friend from the UK who came here on a work visa as an engineer. He works in the wireless industry. Almost all of his shooting in the UK was driven pheasants. When he came here he self taught himself to hunt our mountains for ruffed grouse. In four short years he became the keenest mountain grouse hunter I know. Our hunting is probably quite different from what you folks participate in. We have millions of acres of public land, mostly mountainous, with no restrictions as to trespass. Although I shoot entirely over pointing dogs, Ian ran springers. We learned not to run our dogs together and had wonderful shooting with both types.

I just have one right now. She's 7 and she's a rocket ship with a nose. She works anywhere from 100 to 300 yards from me, depending on the cover. I run her with a beeper to stay aware of her location and tell me when she's on point. A Llewelin is just a pure strain of English Setter. They have their own registry with the FDSB. She's a sweetheart. Here she is in Maine last October with a ruffed grouse. A couple of grouse she pointed for me this year in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A woodcock we took yesterday. 4 points in very thick cover. I managed shots at two and managed to get this one.

I just thought I would say hello. I found this forum by accident and thought it would be a great way to find out about hunting and shooting in another country. I live in Virginia, USA and believe our two cultures hav a lot in common regarding the sporting life. I hope to learn quite a bit. I've been a hard core bird hunter for over 40 years. I hunt with a 7 year old Llewelin Setter and hunt mostly ruffed grouse, pheasant, and quail in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Mike Connally