16ga.com Forum Index
Author Message
<  16ga. General Discussion  ~  Instant limit: agony or attainment?
WyoChukar
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 9:45 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 16 Jul 2015
Posts: 2124
Location: Hudson,Wy

One of Riflemeister's posts about two sage grouse in the bag right out of the gate got me thinking...again. When hunting birds with a bag limit of only two or three it is entirely possible, even likely at times that the bag will be filled within minutes of arriving at the hunt location. Is it a blessing, or a curse realized moments too late?

When I have little time to hunt and must soon be elsewhere to fulfill obligations or just don't get out until the day's final hour, quick action is great. It beats spending gas money to run out somewhere distant and see nothing, for sure.

However, I have been on those hunts when I drove over an hour from home and never walked far enough to even warm up on a cold, crisp morning. Darn, now what do I do with the day? I really didn't get to enjoy all that much hunting and the experience is the important part. The more the better. Of course, without birds the experience is lacking and incomplete. As in all aspects of life, balance is key.

Of course, if other birds are in season and available, the problem solves itself. Then there is the matter of taking a fishing rod along. This may be the original impetus for the "cast and blast" concept. Who knows?

Thoughts? I would ask Rusty, but his dialog is a bit lacking; he just looks at me and smiles with a mouth full of feathers.
[[URL=http://www.jpgbox.com/page/52437_512x768/] [/URL]][/img]

_________________
Only catch snowflakes on your tongue AFTER the birds fly south for the winter...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Two Pipe Shoot
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 11:04 am  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 25 Jun 2008
Posts: 1863
Location: Wisconsin

I call that a blessing and a challenge to one’s imagination. Quick limits are the exception in most hunting and fishing scenarios so you may as well pay homage to good scouting, woods/plains/fieldmanship, nefarious/notorious luck, marksmanship and just plain living right. On that day you are at the top of your game, relish the fact that this memory will outweigh the lesser days and sub-par performances.

“Count your many blessings, name them one by one.”

Reno

_________________
If you speak ill of farmers, don't do it with your mouth full.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
skeettx
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 11:20 am  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 15 Apr 2007
Posts: 9455
Location: Amarillo, Texas

AND I remember the days of the waterfowl point limit system
where ONE mallard hen would be the TOTAL limit
Mike

_________________
,
USAF RET 1971-95
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
AmericanMeet
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 12:28 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 26 Apr 2010
Posts: 3172
Location: NCWa

There's something to be said for Aiming to Miss.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Two Pipe Shoot
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 12:41 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 25 Jun 2008
Posts: 1863
Location: Wisconsin

AmericanMeet wrote:
There's something to be said for Aiming to Miss.
”That dog would bite you!”
-Lewis Grizzard

_________________
If you speak ill of farmers, don't do it with your mouth full.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Dogchaser37
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 1:14 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 08 Aug 2011
Posts: 1946
Location: Central CT

I like being out for awhile......I want to see the dog work. Most times my wishes are granted like yesterday........two roosters 2 hours into the hunt.....the only two we saw!!! A few new inches of snow on the ground, good dog work and a 2 1/2 hour hunt......can’t ask for much more in my book!!






_________________
Mark
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Cheyenne08
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 1:59 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 09 Dec 2009
Posts: 1370
Location: Cheyenne, Wy

I kind of look at getting my limit early as payback for the many days I walked, through the mud, snow, hands freezing, same with the feet numb, and never even getting a shot.

I have hunted with dogs, and in my early life, with out them. Dogs don't enjoy long days with no shooting either.

Long story short, bring on the good days, I can stand shooting well and filling out early.
As previously stated, I will remember this day, and it will bolster my love of hunting.
Somehow, the cold, non productive days fade in my memory.

Dale

_________________
One man with courage makes a majority.

...Andrew Jackson...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Ray-citori
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 2:28 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 05 Feb 2015
Posts: 267
Location: New Braunfels TX

skeettx wrote:
AND I remember the days of the waterfowl point limit system
where ONE mallard hen would be the TOTAL limit
Mike

You were there at my very first duck hunt? Shocked Razz
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
last dollar
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 3:29 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Jul 2008
Posts: 765
Location: Great State of Kansas

Several days ago, I got out to hunt a narrow strip of milo stubble which bordered a row of Cedars. Flash pointed before I left the road. Roosters started boiling out, I doubled, missed one killed one , and killed another without moving more than 10 feet. All fell dead in a wheat stubble behind me.....My shortest day ever...Coffee in my to go cup wasn't even cold yet...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Dave in Maine
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 6:19 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 12 Sep 2010
Posts: 1972
Location: Maine

I'd take it as a blessing, knowing full well that there will be many more days when you see nothing, shoot nothing you do see, or hit nothing you get to shoot at.

Or, just relax and enjoy it.

_________________
“A man’s rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.”
Frederick Douglass, November 15, 1867, speech in Williamsport, Pa.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
kgb
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 6:41 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1256
Location: Nebraska

The time I doubled on Prairie Chickens I was in an area with a 3 bird season limit. Reloading and walking ahead I put up two more and missed one of them with both barrels then realized the day was really done with the double.

I try not to think a single performance, of any kind, indicates any sort of reality beyond that particular incident.

_________________
Bore, n. Shotgun enthusiast's synonym for "gauge" ; everybody else's synonym for "shotgun enthusiast." - Ed Zern
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
cowdoc87
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 6:46 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 20 Jun 2006
Posts: 749
Location: Kelso, Tennessee

The perfect hunt is the last bird from the last patch of cover in the last field in the last hour of the day in front of a glorious sunset and flushed and brought to hand by someone who hates to see the day end as much as you do, sore feet be damned.

_________________
i reckon so. I guess we all died a little in that damn war.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Dave In AZ
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 7:45 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 13 Oct 2015
Posts: 348

cowdoc87 wrote:
The perfect hunt is the last bird from the last patch of cover in the last field in the last hour of the day in front of a glorious sunset and flushed and brought to hand by someone who hates to see the day end as much as you do, sore feet be damned.


Last year on my daughter's 9th birthday, I asked her around 3:00pm what she wanted me to cook her for dinner-- steak, lobster, mac-n-cheese? She said, "Quail with rice pilaf in brown butter sauce!" Apparently she was paying attention earlier in the season on one of my successful hunts, and really liked that.
"Outstanding!," I thought, "But I almost don't have time!"
So out I rushed to a nearby place. I walked for hours, 5 or 6 miles... didn't see any quail. As the sun set, and the last few minutes of legal shooting light dwindled, I found myself back at the 1/4 mile from an occupied building limit. I had given it my all. I stood there for a few minutes wishing I had been able to pull through for my daughter, then raised up my gun and broke it open to unload.
Well, as you've all experienced, sometimes all it takes to make hiding quail flush is to stand still next to them long enough-- they get nervous and flush. And so it happened that night, just as I broke the gun, a covey of quail flushed out from twenty feet away! I snapped the gun closed, pulled up, and shot a double!
I made it home and cooked up that quail, just like my daughter asked, and when I said grace and gave thanks, it was for much more than the birds... we don't always get the chance to pull through successfully on a wish from our kids, when we can be the hero of even a small wish it can mean a lot. I'll always remember how that felt, better than so many successes that were just for me.

I guess it was important for her too. Friday my daughter ran home from the bus stop telling her friends she couldn't play, she wanted to go dove hunting with Daddy. We went out together, she shot the gun 3 times, we got three dove, and we watched the sunset together.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
cowdoc87
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 8:15 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 20 Jun 2006
Posts: 749
Location: Kelso, Tennessee

Well done Dave. Nothing like a “daddy’s girl”. Hope you’ll enjoy many more sunsets afield together, and times that make “getting your limit” less significant.

_________________
i reckon so. I guess we all died a little in that damn war.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
UncleDanFan
PostPosted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 1:25 pm  Reply with quote
Member
Member


Joined: 06 Apr 2007
Posts: 3370
Location: The Great Northwet

I went on a guided snow goose hunt last year, and five of us got our four bird limits in half an hour. It was anti-climactic to say the least. Beats staying out all day and not getting anything, but I think somewhere in the middle of the two extremes would be preferable.

_________________
Gun art: www.marklarsongunart.com
Gallery art: www.marklarsonart.com

The man's prayer from the Red Green Show: "I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to. I guess."
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
All times are GMT - 7 Hours

View next topic
View previous topic
Page 1 of 1
16ga.com Forum Index  ~  16ga. General Discussion

Post new topic   Reply to topic


 
Jump to:  

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum




Powered by phpBB and NoseBleed v1.09