Well, we have gotten somewhat settled in our new digs in North Idaho. I have had the oppurtunity to get out with my birddog Dakota and chase some of the local birds. Was really not quite sure how this all would work out. She has really never been in the woods before and has only hunted pheasants in the Dakotas. Our first outings have been alittle intimidating for me. In the Dakotas I only worried about what she would she would think of me when I missed a rooster. Here, everytime she heads into the timber and brush after one thing or another, it always gets my heart beating very rapidly wondering what she will be flushing out. There is no shortage of moose, big cats, bears of the black and grizz variety and lots of wolves. All of which make my 20 ga. seem pretty punie. So far we haven't had any major incidents, but I must admit that I do blow on the dog whistle quite abit just so that we don't surprise any snoozing big critters. All that being said, she has been finding me some birds. Shooting them though is a whole different story. On this particular hunt, she found and put up six birds. Two of them I never got to see. One I completely missed, and two resulted in wounded trees. With some luck I did manage to connect on one buzzing through the trees. This was our first Idaho Ruff and a hard earned trophy. Yes, we certainly do miss hunting pheasants in the Dakotas, but hunting is hunting, and we have thoroughly enjoyed chasing these ruffs in some pretty wild country. Here are a few pics from our first successful hunt.

You post up the most classic epic pics T, I mean it.

Great job those are tough to hit. Dakota's still got it.

You are livin' the life and I'm jealous. You also need a point man to help ya corral them there birds *cough hint cough*. hahaha

great pics, Moose2. Glad you are settling in. Thanks for sharing and making stovey drool.

stovey, since you don't have a women in the house, maybe you need to get a dog to help you with your bird hunting. A dog like Dakota!

Moose2, just a question: I see you're using a Beretta. Did you already have your buttstock lowered?
I couldn't hit anything with my Beretta till I went to the gunsmith and had that stock bended about 2 cm (that +/- .75") down. They can do that by dropping hot oil on the place to bend.

And in my opinion: fast birds ask for a lighter gun. Alltough a Beretta doesn't weight much, you can point your gun faster when you take a cal 20.

For the rest: when your dog enjoyed the hunt, then I'm sure you also had a splendid day. And thanks for sharing it with such nice pictures. I guess your dog doesn't own a camera? Or he is not allowed on the internet? I'm sure he would like to put some pictures here taken while you missed your bird, that's part of the fun of hunting together

I surely hope you have a pocket full of potent buckshot and solids just in case you need them in a hurry. you will get to know your ground and read the dog in the brush the same as you did before it will just take awhile to settle into the groove.

Thatfor they invented the drilling...

I would put my faith in buckshot as I know with a drilling I would cock it up and send the rifle bullet after a rooster sooner or later, and besides which I dont have a house to mortgage to pay for one!!!!

had another look at that bird and my fly tieing eyes lit up!!! wow those feathers would tie a wicked killer style lure, a mrs simpson type with a twist!!! the markings are just made for it.

Elvis wrote:

I would put my faith in buckshot as I know with a drilling I would cock it up and send the rifle bullet after a rooster sooner or later,

it might be more fun when you send a #8 shot to a wild boar or a bear...
maybe it's a good idea to fix a bajonet?

Nice country. If grouse were easy to hit it wouldn't be fun. As the season progresses they will get even harder. What choke are you using? I use improved or cylinder in the same kind of dense cover. You can get slugs for your "smoothy" that retain a wad to stabilize them better in flight. I believe Remington makes them.

While it is not very likely you will be bothered by the bigger critters your dog may attract some unwanted attention. I was deer hunting with a guy who runs hounds for deer. This is legal in Ontario. We were covering a field where we figured the dogs were driving a deer toward when his hounds broke cover close behind a big doe. He had three dogs but a few hundred feet behind them was a fourth. A quick scope check and it looked like a husky but my friend yelled wolve and opened up on it with his rifle. No hit but the wolve shot back under cover. In discussion he related that this had happened once before but it was a pack that time and one of his dogs got mauled badly before he was able to frighten the wolves away. He explained that wolves are territorial and he believes they see the dogs as hunting competition and instinctivly go after them.

Elvis wrote:

had another look at that bird and my fly tieing eyes lit up!!! wow those feathers would tie a wicked killer style lure, a mrs simpson type with a twist!!! the markings are just made for it.

Ditto- gorgeous plumage eh? Nice stuff. Love the pose with the Beretta too. First class all the way.

Very nice country you have there. Grouse has been about average here but they say the drought that hit will this year will hurt next years birds.

Aloysius wrote:

Moose2, just a question: I see you're using a Beretta. Did you already have your buttstock lowered? I couldn't hit anything with my Beretta till I went to the gunsmith and had that stock bended about 2 cm (that +/- .75") down. They can do that by dropping hot oil on the place to bend. And in my opinion: fast birds ask for a lighter gun. Alltough a Beretta doesn't weight much, you can point your gun faster when you take a cal 20. For the rest: when your dog enjoyed the hunt, then I'm sure you also had a splendid day. And thanks for sharing it with such nice pictures. I guess your dog doesn't own a camera? Or he is not allowed on the internet? I'm sure he would like to put some pictures here taken while you missed your bird, that's part of the fun of hunting together

Thanks A--No I did not have work on the buttstock. I also had problems the first couple of years hitting anything with it. I pretty much corrected this problem by using a HI-VIS front site. That gave me immediate improvement in my shooting. Though this Beretta 20 ga. is pretty light, it is not my favorite 20. My old Savage Model 311A 20 ga SXS is by far my favorite. For me, its very well balanced and I shoot it very well. The down side of it is it gets pretty heavy on extended hunts. Do wish the Beretta had double triggers. Thats something I do miss. Yes, it would be interesting if my birddog carried a camera

Forgot to mention: that front site is on my gun also such a green triangle Browning magnetthing

And maybe you know this way of measuring your buttstock, but I'll tell you anyway because you also have your favorite to compare with. My favorite was (and still is!) an old side-by-side Bayard in cal 20. I took that one together with the Beretta to the gunsmith and asked for the same buttstock. He took my Bayard, kept it horizontal against the side of his working bench and measured the distance between the bench and the end of the buttstock. Afterwards he did the same with the Beretta and the difference was 2 cm, the Beretta being more straight.
I had it corrected and that made me a happy guy, but I can imagine the game is thinking differently

And 1 trigger or 2, I don't care. Sometimes I'm behind the blind at dove-hunting with 6 or 7 different guns in different calibers, some semi-auto, other side-by-side (even with hammers outside) or superposé, even single shots (but almost never a pumpgun). I never think about triggers. And as long as it's loaded...
Now changing guns more often is not good for the % hits, but it sure gives more fun. And going for doves I don't want 100 pieces, or I do like that number but in 5-10 different hunts. Ever cleaned 100 doves? 5 is fun, but starting from 10 it becomes labour...

Just breast 'em. Takes two seconds. Snip snip yank. Done.