If there’s a better way to spend a December afternoon than walking through a Texas field with some friends, a good guide, and a couple of eager dogs on the hunt for birds, I’m not sure what that would be. I have JWT to thank for an invitation to join him and a friend (who wishes to remain anonymous) at Quail Hunt Dime Box about an hour east of Austin the week before Christmas.
The great thing about bird hunting is, you really don’t need a bunch of fancy or expensive gear to have a great time and be successful. I toted my trusty Remington V3 Field Sport (the reconstituted Big Green now calls it the Field Pro, but whatever the name, it’s a first-rate auto-loading shotgun). I’ve used it to down duck, dove, quail, pheasant and scores of airborne clay targets. It’s a great shotgun with their VersaPort gas system that reliably handles any load you feed it.
JWT walked the fields with Henry’s beautiful, simple Single Shot Shotgun and hit nearly every damned he aimed at. Our nameless friend, who was new to bird hunting, shot an ancient, rattle-canned Mossberg 500 pump gun that did the job quite nicely, thank you very much.
The weather was perfect and the hunting was good, due in no small part to a couple of very well trained canines. Daisy, the Brittany Spaniel, swept the fields tirelessly and pointed when she sniffed out a bird. Jet, the English Cocker, then retrieved anything we managed to down.
If you’re going to be walking through fields and brush in search of birds, you’re really going to want to get yourself a good pair of boots.
Thanks to the people at Rocky Boots, JWT and I were well-fixed in that department. He wore a pair of their Retraction Snake Boots and I had Rocky’s incredibly comfortable Upland Waterproof Boots which are purpose-built for wingshooting. We were as comfortable as could be all afternoon.
We came home with a nice selection of pheasant, chukar and a few quail. This beautiful rooster was the prettiest bird taken (by JWT) and is going to make a very nice mount.
I’ve shot four-legged critters and had a good time doing it. But the ones that fly are by far my favorite things to hunt. It’s even better when you get to do it with people you enjoy spending time with. If you haven’t tried wingshooting, you really owe it to yourself to give it a go. The NSSF’s Let’s Go Hunting website is a good resource if you need help. Get out there and have some fun.