One in a row....

The weekend is over and the kids first hunt is finished. I can usually judge how good a time I had by how many pictures I've taken. Lot's of pictures means I was bored. If you've looked at the last two posts, you've seen all the pictures from the last two days. It was a good weekend.

This wasn't just a normal weekend hunt. Each year the Chandler Rod and Gun Club and the Arizona Game and Fish Department sponsor a 2 day, youth only season in an area closed to all other hunters. Some pics from last years event are here. I'll post the link to the pics from this year as soon as it is available.

It was a weekend of firsts and one that I hope will stay with the kids as long as it will with me. I didn't fire a shot all weekend.....they did all the work. I was the guide, the packmule, the teacher, the retriever, and once, the paramedic. I walked my ass off, was bitten by bugs, was scratched by every frickin' thorn on every frickin' bush that I had to reach into to retrieve a bird, had very little sleep.....and loved every minute of it.

A few things that stand out:

• The look on their faces when they each dropped their first bird - joy, sorrow, fascination, delight, and horror all mixed together.
• Nathan walking down a dusty road to kick up a trio of birds that had landed in the middle. He was about 15 yards away when they flushed and flew straight at him. He snapped the shotgun to his shoulder and made a perfect shot, the bird dropping right at his feet.
• Kathy going tactical on a wounded bird in the brush. Nathan hit one just hard enough to bring it down, but it landed on the other side of a barbed wire fence instead of crashing in the field. The bird flew between them on its way down so nobody had a safe shot to hit it again in the air. (more on that later) Kathy opened her gun, handed it to me, and climbed through the fence to go after the bird. I thought she was just going to walk in and look for it, but she held her hands out and said "I need my gun, Dad. It's still out there." She loaded up and headed into the bush as if she was stalking a lion......or clearing a building. I guess she's watched me practice too often, because I've certainly never taught her to advance on a position in a hard assault stance. She even pie'd the corner going around the bush the bird landed behind. She seemed very disappointed that the bird had died before she got there.
• The leader of the group of boys hunting to our left coming over to compliment the kids on their gun handling and situational awareness. He told them that he was impressed with the shots that they took, but that he was even more impressed with the shots that they didn't take. They knew exactly where all of the other hunters were and would break their swing and dismount the gun whenever they got even close to another group. Very different from the asshole on the other side of the field that was taking eye-level shots and peppering us with incoming shot. Getting "rained on" with shot is normal during bird season, but that is shot that is simply dropping with only the acceleration due to gravity. This jerk was taking level shots across the field and hitting us with pellets that were still under power. We were far enough away that nobody was actually hurt - just stung a little. It did make a big impression on the kids. I'll never have to gripe at them about eye protection again.
• Tighter chokes are better. This was the classic "improved cylinder" hunt: close holding doves over plowed fields with very few passing shots. Yesterday Nathan was using the I/C choke in his 11-87 and had several birds that were still moving enough on the ground that I had to wring their necks. Kathy used her Citori which is choked Modified on the bottom and Full on the top. When she hit the birds they stayed hit. Some of the closer shots resulted in doveburger, but overall her gun did a more humane job of taking the birds. Today Nathan switched to the Modified choke with much better results. It is still possible to wound or cripple with a tight choke, but on this weekend, with these guns, with this ammunition, with these birds, in this location the tight chokes worked better. Proof that everyone should hunt doves with a full choke? No. It worked today. It may not work next time........but I can tell you that when I go out tomorrow I'll be carring a Mod/Full gun.
• Rabbits come apart easily. One of them came home in two pieces.
• I'm getting better at choosing what to take along. The only thing I took this weekend that I didn't use was a sharpening stone for my pocket knife, and I never once said "I wish I had brought.........."

Other than the scrapes and cuts on the retrievers (myself and Charlie, Bryce's dad), we only had one injury. Today Kathy wanted to try hunting with one of the 20 gauge 1100's instead of her Citori to see if she could reduce the doveburger effect that her gun produces on close shots. Early in the morning she didn't quite have her fingers out of the way when she closed the action and closed the bolt on her pinky, taking a chunk of skin out of the pad of the finger. A cleansing wipe, some Neosporin, and two bandaids later she was back in the game.

An excellent weekend. The patterning post can wait. I have to get up at 4am so that I can be in the field when the sun rises tomorrow. Good night!

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