Post by: cudakidd53 on May 05, 2015, 05:59:48 PM
Post by: Flyin6 on May 05, 2015, 06:34:51 PM
I like the range and power
Like a 10 for geese and ducks
Post by: KensAuto on May 05, 2015, 06:50:25 PM
Post by: JR on May 05, 2015, 08:44:02 PM
Post by: cudakidd53 on May 05, 2015, 09:49:14 PM
I really enjoy my 28g on quail, but finding shells for it, in Missouri late in December wasn't so easy, suppose if I'd gone to Bass Pro maybe.
Why NOT 12g? I tore up too much meat with it, even using cylinder choke, which I hate.
I will go to it for late season in SD as last week December pheasant don't give you too many close shots, and with multiple birds in the air, no plug makes for some wild shooting.
Honestly, I like them all and have owned them all; .410 is more of an exhibition gauge and not a "gotta put meat in the pot" option.
Post by: TexasRedNeck on May 05, 2015, 11:52:25 PM
Post by: cruizng on June 21, 2015, 07:36:23 PM
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Post by: EL TATE on July 09, 2015, 12:17:43 PM
Post by: OldKooT on July 26, 2015, 12:34:03 AM
If sitting on the porch shooting Turkey I use the Mossberg 500 12ga
If relaxing on a chaise lounge reading a good book and shooting ducks, I use the Mossberg500 12ga
Same with Pheasant and most anything that has feathers. I do usually shoot crows with the .22 to keep it sporting.
The Mossberg is always in the back window of the pickup ready to go. I am kinda a simple guy, I don't need the confusion of multiple sized bb tossers. But some day I may buy a 20ga for the crows.
Post by: Flyin6 on July 26, 2015, 09:24:58 AM
Post by: OldKooT on July 26, 2015, 10:00:46 AM
The other advantage to the .22 is our lab doesn't associate it with hunting birds, and this stops us from having him get all worked up and start dragging anything with feathers to our feet. He is one seriously confused Dog as it is.
I once shot a duck flying fast and it went down near our pond. Well the Lab goes off after the duck, I toss my shot gun back into the gun rack and begin a discussion with the sled dog about why he never does anything useful. At that moment the lab returns with one seriously pissed off Canadian goose......
Post by: Flyin6 on July 26, 2015, 10:04:59 AM
So when I was in my non governmental, non-Safety Nazi oversight youth where, pray-tell, I used to get an occasional cut that was never seen by doctors in some trauma ward... Well back then I'd hunt everything...I mean everything.
I discovered back then just how tasty a good woodpecker is. Tastes like pheasant! Well someone told me if you want to hunt crows, then get a cat and tie it up and stake the rope in the ground.
I know, sounds like animal cruelty, well, thinking about it, I guess it was, but the story continues. I think our children ought to know what being a real kid was like before thirty three commissions took oversight over children's fun.
So anyway first I got a burlap bag from the shed, then off to a big old woodpile where I know there's plenty of cats. It was a chore but I scored one, a nasty critter with plenty of fight, a characteristic that would benefit me later on, during the hunt.
I managed to squeeze his (or her??) head out of the bag without adding to the stripping the cat had applied to my arms and tied a good choker knot around his neck, then back into the bag. Nearby was a dairy farm where the owners allowed me to kill groundhogs. I selected a open spot on a fence line where I tied the end of about 10 feet of rope to a fence post, which was near a clump of briars.
I let the demon possessed cat loose and it started acting like, a demon possessed cat. I crawled into that briar patch and made my crow calls which I can do pretty well sounding pretty much like the black critters. Wasn't long at all before a flock of them descended on that cat.
I tell ya what, that technique works! I mean crows are not liking cats. They will make pass after pass and the second the cat doesn't defend itself, it gets a beak in the head! I could have shot, but I was amazed at the crazed intent by those black devils, but finally up I stood and snapped off 5 quick ones killing as many crows.
Now somewhat sorry for what that cat had just gone through I released it from the knot and it just stayed there...shock I think, but it's a cat so who cares!
I inspected the crows, yep, got five of em' but one was now upright and standing on a single leg. Seems a pellet had partially shot away one leg. He was hit in the wing as well, but not too badly. So, while loading another shell to dispatch him into crow heaven I got compassion. He was squared off against me, black eyes boring holes into me and holding his wobbly ground.
Then I was struck with my second thought. Make him a pet! Yep, no one had a pet crow, so I'd be the first. I already had a per turtle, Crawdad, and a deer, so why not a crow? So I captured him in that burlap sack and took him home. I took him downstairs where I hid him in a makeshift cage I built from rabbit fence wire.
For the first few days things were going OK, he would just stand there against the side and stare at me. On the third day I took some scissors and selected a spot just north of where that broken leg was hanging and made the squeeze. That dammed thing let out a series of crow calls the likes of which the world had NEVER seen and just like that, the "Cat" was out of the bag. Dad, then Mon, then my brother were downstairs looking upon the scene.
"Donald, is that a crow?" my mother asked of my father. the former anger in his expression had changed to a smile. "Sure is." "Don, mind telling us how you got this crow?" "Well, dad, I shot him and a bunch of his buddies, and he didn't die so I made him my pet."
And so it came to be. And what an interesting pet he became. On about the fifth day he started eating corn off the cob. Then after maybe 10 days to two weeks he started his "Hop and pop" training where he'd glide to the floor.
I tied him to a length of string, to his remaining foot, then took him outside where he took off and flew over to the cherry tree. He flared to land and grabbed the branch, but the coefficient of grabbis was all wrong and he pivoted over and around that branch and came to a position hanging upside down like some cave bat. He didn't like that much and let go then tangled all my string, so back to the basement for him.
I built a couple CLZ's (Crow landing zones) for him to practice on and he became stronger and better with the passing days. Wasn't long before that critter would stand anywhere, including on my 14 year old forearm. And then he started taking things. Anything with glitter or sparkle was his. He'd take them and collect them in this makeshift nest in that chicken wire cage.
This went on all summer up to the end of those blessed days, and the coming of another school year. Dad convinced me to let him go. We did, on the very farm where he was made captive for a summer, a summer where each very different species learned from the other...my one legged crow!
Post by: OldKooT on July 26, 2015, 01:46:47 PM
Post by: cudakidd53 on July 26, 2015, 03:32:45 PM
Post by: Flyin6 on July 26, 2015, 09:08:11 PM
Post by: JR on July 27, 2015, 01:48:31 AM
I love my mossbergs, been looking at a new one with 2 barrels, just $300. Don't know why just because. Nothing wrong with my old 500, but she has been modded a tad and looks nothin like a regular shotgun at all now.
Then the crow, had one to around that age. Never brought it home but had a nice box for it. Fed it, let it fly around then just let it go one day. Later when I lived in Winchester, Ca, used to just shoot em for fun. Darn noisy things flying over in big flocks like raiders. Just seemed the thing to do at 18 years old.
Post by: cudakidd53 on July 31, 2015, 03:21:27 PM
As Don would say, "and here we have young Mikey with the crow he couldn't make the shot on using a sling-shot so he did his pentance by feeding it for two years"
Post by: Flyin6 on July 31, 2015, 04:00:16 PM
Post by: Sammconn on July 31, 2015, 04:58:30 PM
Post by: Nate on July 31, 2015, 07:18:52 PM
Post by: husker77c on August 04, 2015, 11:36:36 AM
I've never hunted duck or geese so can't say about those. I really don't like duck and have never tried a goose so not much chance of me hunting those.
But if I were ever on death row my last meal would be fried pheasant and mashed potatoes with pheasant gravy.
Post by: EL TATE on August 11, 2015, 11:39:48 AM
Roasted pheasant and quail come in at a close second though! 8)
Post by: OldKooT on August 21, 2015, 06:47:23 AM