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...for me, it'll be a Briley choked 16 ga Model 21 and #7 steel on The Opener here in SoCal..
Once I run out of this steel, I'll probably go back the the Model 42 and try some brand of Bismuth.

Joined: 25 Jan 2014 Posts: 229 Location: MN

I don't often hunt for doves. If I hunt for teal on the 2nd it will be with a Remington Model 31 steel with a Polychoke and #7 Boss bismuth.

Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 444 Location: WI

The Citori 525 Field most probably. It's a great "carry a little, shoot a lot" gun, but no longer my preference for grouse and other "carry a lot, shoot a little" birds.

Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 196

A 20ga. Fausti DEA with Briley eccentric chokes IC and IM.

AC,
I would like to own a DEA Side Lock Woodcock gun some day, every time I get the money together another fantastic L.C. Smith gun comes available and I have to start saving my money for the Woodcock gun all over again. Have fun with your DEA 20 gauge, great little gun!

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 196

Dave I know what you mean.I saw a pre 13 LC Smith on guns international 28” skeet and mod with a 1/4 cast off but it was a 12 ga and one trigger a real beauty.

Joined: 08 Feb 2009 Posts: 1310 Location: Western WA

I’ll take this thread sideways a bit and talk about something maybe more significant than my opening day guns: Our next generation of hunters. I myself have brought more game home than all but the most fortunate. And now I really don’t concern myself much with a heavy game vest. I’m now focused on our offspring; I want them to learn the deep satisfaction of a enjoyable day in the field. Isn’t it part of our role in the Creation?

So here’s our Day1 plan: It’s not doves on the first (maybe it should be, Yakima Res is flush with doves) but grouse in the timberlands a couple weeks afterward. Their arms? A 20 ga 870 that was once mine but awarded on the spot to a son who proved his wingshooting skill in the timber with it while I stood back and watched. Another carries a 12 ga 11-87 who rewarded me with the most gratifying sound in the woods: A single report echoing a quarter mile down the logging trail on his first hunt. What joy to see him with his first grouse. And a third carries his 12ga Mossberg 500 that felled a pheasant after I missed with my 16 ga M12.

Those are the guns, and the hands that carry them, that matter to me most on opening day.

B.

Brewster11,

I do agree with you 100%, our next generations of hunters are actually more important than the guns we carry to hunt with. Passing on our hunting legacy is very important, especially here in the Pa mountains where I grew up. Some believe hunting is a shrinking sport, I disagree,, we may have a greater percentage of young hunters today than we did in the 80 & 90's.

I grant you we will never see that percentage as high as it was, in the 50' or 60's. Not only did we have a massive baby boom after WWII, we still had more of a rural population, that was not poisoned by our liberal educational system, teaching that guns are bad, instead of the people who commit crimes with them are felons. A gun is a tool like any other. We still mentor many Grouse hunter into our traditional way of life, here in our mountains, however there are no where near as many kids being born to take the place of the older hunters who pass away. I have proven many times that introducing a youngster to a fantastic bird dog often spurs that new sportsman into a life style he or she will have for the rest of their lives. We continue to due this every hunting season.

Become a Grouse hunting Mentor, join the RGS/AWS and the NRA. If you have no Grouse in you area Join Pheasant and Quail Forever. Make the effort to introduce a new sportsman to an incredible bird dog and watch what changes happen to that young sportsman life.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

There are still many of us who are born into this life style even today, because our fathers are avid sportsman. You can pretty much guarantee that young man in the picture below, will never end up in some street gang, he may however wear a patch on his shoulder that says US Army Special Forces or US Marines.

My Ryman puppy almost did not make it home to me, Kim Graft almost kept her for their own. The effect these Ryam puppies have on young sportsman & ladies is astonishing. Once a young sportsman experiences hunting behind a great Gun Dog they are hooked for life. Make no mistake about it, there is nothing like the magic of a Ryman Setter bird dog.

Joined: 21 May 2015 Posts: 128

For me the opener will be with a 1975 Simson SxS BLE 16ga that Mike Orlen opened up to IC / M, 1oz #7.5, Win572, fibre wads and Chedite 2-3/4 hulls.