Any Bird Hunters on This Forum?

[Sky]

Are any of you guys from the U.K., the U.S., or anywhere bird hunters (pheasants, ducks, geese, etc.)?
I have always wanted to hunt in other countries and would be interested to hear about your bird hunting experiences and to know if there are reasonable opportunities where you live.

[FlyByNite]

Back in the day I would have a pheasant for Thanksgiving and a wild turkey for Christmas.
I knew where they lived and traveled on the farm. It was so easy sometimes I would snipe
them with a 22.

Before the shot I had no idea. After the shot there were TWO turkeys laying dead. The first
one I hit where I usually shoot, the second one, over a little rise, headless. Two families had
turkey that Christmas. Oh, this was a sniper shot with a 22 magnum.

If I get out to hunt now, it's white tail deer with either a Ruger No 1 chambered for 270 Winchester
or a Thompson Center Encore pistol with barrels for 243 Winchester, 270 Winchester, and 44 magnum.
I don't even slide the safety off unless I know I have a drop them where they stand shot.

Enjoy
FlyByNite

[Sky]

Wow! Two turkeys with one shot. Great story. I appreciate hearing from you.

This time of year is very nostalgic for me because this is bird hunting season and from the age of 10 I was out in the rice fields on Thanksgiving morning, lugging a mighty heavy 12 gauge shotgun, hunting that most beautiful bird, the ringneck pheasant. By noon we were back home cleaning our birds and getting ready for our Thanksgiving feast.

Unfortunately, all of the family farms we would hunt are now gone, bought up by large corporate entities that do not grant access, with the excuse that hunters are a liability, which never seemed to be a problem before.

The family farmers were good people who worked from dawn till dusk just trying to make ends meet. They would tell us kids where the pheasants were hanging out and invite us back to the farm house for lunch as well. Joining the farmer and his family for lunch was like a live Norman Rockwell event for me..a holy experience.

[spidergawd]

This should give you some idea, I haven't read it because guns aren't my thing, but I am country born and raised.
http://www.basc.org.uk/en/shooting/

Commercial shoots to suit all pockets. We dont have much spare unfenced wildlife.
Quite social I should think, a bit like golf

[Sky]

Thanks, Spidergawd.
That's very interesting and helpful.

[Marco]

Not the thread I expected on ACD.

My Mom is from Minnesota, so I used to go hunting with my uncles and cousins. Hunted tons of pheasants in South Dakota, geese in South Dakota and Minnesota, and ducks near Winona, MN.

Also hunted on my own in Virginia, mostly resident geese. For a few years I also hunted ducks on my own in the Little Assawoman Bay in Delaware, had my own set of decoys and could do passable calling.

I would love to hunt here in the Netherlands, but I don't think its going to happen. There are obviously tons of waterfowl passing through here, but hunting is highly restricted and I simply don't have the contacts or any idea how to get my guns over here.

I only started to hunt in my mid-20s and it taught me a great deal, for one that meat does not come from your grocery store. I always ate what I shot and I feel that bird hunting is way more ethical than buying factory-farmed meat.

[Cisco]

Would love to do some hunting , not into it for sport as such , I would have to eat the catch

[Sky]

Marco, it sounds like you have had a fair amount of quality hunting. South Dakota is the pheasant capital of the U.S. and probably the world, because of the incredible number of birds there. Thanks for your input. The following video ought to bring back memories:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEHj8srXkWg

Cisco, for me it is far more than just a sport. Walking the fields and seeing and hearing pheasants fly is like a zen experience, just like fly-fishing is for me, and you fly-fishermen and women know what I mean.
I have never been disappointed if I went home after a hunt with an empty bag. The experience is always satisfying.

[USbongLord]

ya want a challenge...arm the animals and teach them to shoot my favorite aminal is meat

[Marco]

ya want a challenge...arm the animals and teach them to shoot my favorite aminal is meat

Wild animals are armed. With superior senses of smell, hearing, etc. Its an enormous challenge if done right.

[Boner]

Did a bit of clay pidgeon shooting as a teenager (gorgeous Winchester over & under 12) and would really like to hunt properly but like Cisco I'd only do it for food, dont really get hunting as a sport.

[Sky]

There are countless reasons, metaphysical and otherwise, why humans hunt. It is a very deep and complex subject.

Here is something I found online that you might relate to:

"Hunters enjoy hunting. They have some very deep feelings about hunting, but often find it difficult to express those feelings in ways others understand.

Hunting has nothing to do with violence or aggression. Almost every hunter will tell you they love animals. Yet, hunters kill animals. How do you explain that? It's a little like farming or gardening. People protect and care for their chickens and their vegetable plants, only to end up using them for food. Hunters support conservation of wild places and laws that protect wildlife populations, but they use some of the wildlife for hunting—not just killing, and not just eating, but to experience hunting.

It's a lot easier, and often less expensive, to buy food and clothing at the store than to make them or grow them yourself. But people are "do-it-yourselfers" because they enjoy the activity, not just the product. Hunting is a lot like that. Some people say "hunting is in my blood" because our ancestors were hunters. It feels good to know we can still survive on our own in Nature the way our ancestors did. Hunting, growing food and making things by hand are all things that people love to do. Even though those things may not seem to be absolutely necessary, they are very important to people who enjoy them."


Many of you are growers. You tend your plants with love and raise them as if they were your children. This brings you much satisfaction, happiness and, need I say, pleasure. And I think that you would admit that it is a tremendous challenge getting your desired result and that the process makes you feel deeply connected with nature.

Yet, in the end, you harvest your children and then burn them, which results in your immense pleasure, not only from the smoke, but also from all of the months of effort and care that went into them.

[Boner]

You can't compare animals to plants.

I fully understand people doing it for food and clothing but I dont see any reason why someone would hunt an animal just for the kill and maybe a resulting trophy.

[DanFromUk]

There is this program on called Mounted in Alaska.

People take their catches there and have it mounted. I guess that is the trophy in a way!

Don't agree with going over to Africa and killing lions etc.

Remember going into Walmart and looking at the hunting isle. it was like one of our isle in Tesco's lol. Crazy what you can buy.

Boner did that Winchester have lots of kick?

[geoffk]

Here's an article on hunting from one of my favorite periodicals.
http://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/40 ... ood_hunter