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How NOT to shoot a pheasant!!

Elk creekElk creek Posts: 7,935 Senior Member


I shot this pheasant last fall, the only problem, way too close for the old Winchester model 12 with a full choke! That's its tail exploding!


The setter belongs to the guys I was hunting with, great little dog. Oh, that's my 12.
Aim higher, or get a bigger gun.

Replies

  • Six-GunSix-Gun Posts: 8,155 Senior Member
    Ohhhhh, yes. I know that feeling. Bird takes off, ya get a little excited...instead of counting 2 seconds and firing, ya just wail one right into the bird with nary enough time for the wad to fully separate.
    I freaked out on my very first pheasant and put a silver dollar-sized hole right through both breasts when I pulled the trigger at about 5 yards. You can see from this pic that one of these birds is assuredly NOT like the other. I pulled the wing over it to hide the crater in his side.

    IMG_0307_zps0a833da6.jpg

    (Great looking dog and beautiful gun, by the way.)
    Accuracy: because white space between bullet holes drives me insane.
  • Elk creekElk creek Posts: 7,935 Senior Member
    Thanks, that bird was hammered.
    Aim higher, or get a bigger gun.
  • bellcatbellcat Posts: 2,040 Senior Member
    Happens!
    "Kindness is the language the deaf can hear and the blind can see." Mark Twain
  • Six-GunSix-Gun Posts: 8,155 Senior Member
    Elk creek wrote: »
    Thanks, that bird was hammered.
    Linefinder is around here somewhere. He did something very similar to what you did to your bird at about the same angle. Sent one up the tailpipe of a rooster and I don't believe he had to gut it afterward.
    Accuracy: because white space between bullet holes drives me insane.
  • minnesotashooterminnesotashooter Posts: 832 Senior Member
    Been there, done that got the t-shirt. I've plastered a few pheasants over the years as well. The problem with pheasants is that if you don't take out a wing and a leg, you might not find him ever again. If you don't hit a leg, they will run into the next county in no time.
  • snake284snake284 Posts: 22,429 Senior Member
    Elk creek wrote: »

    I shot this pheasant last fall, the only problem, way too close for the old Winchester model 12 with a full choke! That's its tail exploding!


    The setter belongs to the guys I was hunting with, great little dog. Oh, that's my 12.

    I love that shotgun. The Model 12 is the best pump shotgun ever made, in my opinion.
    Daddy, what's an enabler?
    Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
  • CHIRO1989CHIRO1989 Posts: 14,856 Senior Member
    Excellent timing on the photo, I had a couple last year that looked like they ran into a cheese grater, usually happens after lunch when you got your rhythm.
    I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn away from their ways and live. Eze 33:11
  • JayhawkerJayhawker Posts: 18,362 Senior Member
    Done it a time or two myself.
    Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
  • Elk creekElk creek Posts: 7,935 Senior Member
    snake284 wrote: »
    I love that shotgun. The Model 12 is the best pump shotgun ever made, in my opinion.
    I have hit better with it than any other shotgun I've shot. It's great, this one wa made in 1930
    Aim higher, or get a bigger gun.
  • LinefinderLinefinder Posts: 7,856 Senior Member
    Six-Gun wrote: »
    Linefinder is around here somewhere. He did something very similar to what you did to your bird at about the same angle. Sent one up the tailpipe of a rooster and I don't believe he had to gut it afterward.

    Yep, walking along a RR track in northern Kansas on the last day of a three day pheasant hut. The first two days were incredible, but the weather turned (light snow, wind) on the morning of the 3rd day, and we were having trouble filling our limit. I guess I got over-anxious because of this (back in Louisiana there aren't any pheasants, so we wanted to go home with as many as we could legally get), and I wound up blasting one flying straight away that couldn't have been over six yards from my muzzle.

    It's too bad you can't eat wing-tips, because that's about all that was left.

    I also saw my Dad do the same thing with a swamp rabbit. About 10 yards away, crouched down and facing him. He didn't "hold off" enough, and we wound up with about a 3 foot long string of bloody rabbit hide and fur. There wasn't a single recognizable body part left of that bunny.

    Mike
    "Walking away seems to be a lost art form."
    N454casull
  • orchidmanorchidman Posts: 8,438 Senior Member
    Grew up hunting pheasants over English and Gordon setters. These things happen sometimes.

    Best shot I ever made was in front of my new girlfriend (later became my wife and then exwife) and her father.

    Took them up to show them our farm block and pick up a trailer load of firewood that had already been cut and dried. Also took my AYA SXS and Setter.
    We loaded the firewood then went for a walk over the property. Dog got real 'birdy' and started working a steep scrub/tree covered gully. I heard the bird get up and knew it would fly down the gully so waited where the gully opened out.
    As the bird cleared the end of the trees I swung the 12g through it and 'slapped' the trigger. Bird was only 20' above me when it collapsed. Shot the head clean off it!
    Dog returns and fetches the bird..........then goes and brings back the head.

    Off course, I didn't say anything and pretended that this was how I normally shot............the truth is however, I didn't want to miss in front of the prospective FIL etc and it was just sheer luck that I didn't turn it into red mist. FIL wasn't a hunter and didn't realise the difference between blind luck and skill, but he told all his buddies that his prospective SIL shot the heads off his birds so that there wasn't any meat damage............
    Still enjoying the trip of a lifetime and making the best of what I have.....
  • Elk creekElk creek Posts: 7,935 Senior Member
    That is awesome, great story!
    Aim higher, or get a bigger gun.
  • CHIRO1989CHIRO1989 Posts: 14,856 Senior Member
    orchidman wrote: »
    Grew up hunting pheasants over English and Gordon setters. These things happen sometimes.

    Best shot I ever made was in front of my new girlfriend (later became my wife and then exwife) and her father.

    Took them up to show them our farm block and pick up a trailer load of firewood that had already been cut and dried. Also took my AYA SXS and Setter.
    We loaded the firewood then went for a walk over the property. Dog got real 'birdy' and started working a steep scrub/tree covered gully. I heard the bird get up and knew it would fly down the gully so waited where the gully opened out.
    As the bird cleared the end of the trees I swung the 12g through it and 'slapped' the trigger. Bird was only 20' above me when it collapsed. Shot the head clean off it!
    Dog returns and fetches the bird..........then goes and brings back the head.

    Off course, I didn't say anything and pretended that this was how I normally shot............the truth is however, I didn't want to miss in front of the prospective FIL etc and it was just sheer luck that I didn't turn it into red mist. FIL wasn't a hunter and didn't realise the difference between blind luck and skill, but he told all his buddies that his prospective SIL shot the heads off his birds so that there wasn't any meat damage............

    Can you ice fish in NZ??
    I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn away from their ways and live. Eze 33:11
  • Elk creekElk creek Posts: 7,935 Senior Member
    What do you use for bait????
    Aim higher, or get a bigger gun.
  • HAWKENHAWKEN Posts: 1,720 Senior Member
    Reminds me of my first quail. For Christmas, when I was 14, I got an Iver Johnson Champion 20 gage shotgun, bored extra full. I walked the old rail spur, about 1/2 mile North of our house, and the bird must have got 10' out when I centered it in the pattern of 6's. I don't remember seeing any part of it hit the ground, LOL Lesson learned, I had to let them fly a bit if I wanted to take them home..............Robin
    I don't often talk to people that voted for Obama, but when I do I order large fries!
    Life member of the American Legion, the VFW, the NRA and the Masonic Lodge, retired LEO
  • remmagremmag Posts: 92 Member
    that is still two pheasant more than I have. Sounds like fun though, plugging holes in the air.
    Six-Gun wrote: »
    Ohhhhh, yes. I know that feeling. Bird takes off, ya get a little excited...instead of counting 2 seconds and firing, ya just wail one right into the bird with nary enough time for the wad to fully separate.
    I freaked out on my very first pheasant and put a silver dollar-sized hole right through both breasts when I pulled the trigger at about 5 yards. You can see from this pic that one of these birds is assuredly NOT like the other. I pulled the wing over it to hide the crater in his side.

    IMG_0307_zps0a833da6.jpg

    (Great looking dog and beautiful gun, by the way.)
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