Well, I finally got to go hunting with my new (to me) Navy arms Pietta double, discussed here
http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/blac...e-shotgun.html . My business associate graciously invited my to hunt quail yesterday with him and 2 other buddies. We had 6 dogs to help us.
We headed out at 5:30a.m. and drove for an hour and a half or so to our desert hunting location. First, we hunted a location known for Gambel's quail and jumped a covy within 45 minutes of walking. The dogs had some great points on some singles and doubles, which held nicely for us. My hunting partners all had 20 or 28 gauge smokeless burners, and were shooting fairly often. I conserved my shots for fairly good ones, as to not hold up the show reloading.
I think I shot 3 times in the morning hunt, missing all (yeah, I am a little rusty)! Twice, I had issues with the unfired barrel shot coming loose after firing the other. I wonder if 2 over shot cards would help?
The afternoon hunt, we drove to an area known for scaled quail. Scalies are a bit bigger than Gambels and are much more scarce. We ran into one or two more covies, but they turned out to be Gambel's. I got two more shots, and connected on my second one--a fast crossing shot.
Okay, so the picture below misrepresents my success--my hunting partner put all his quail in with mine
I got one out of five shots, but I don't feel too bad, because one of the other regular hunters got 1 (with many shots). The second hunter got 2, and my business associate got 5 (he is an expert shot, and hunts every weekend of the season.)
On the drive out, my associate was driving and saw a covy run across the road. He stopped the truck, jumped out and shot the only scaly. He asked if I wanted to take it home, so I did--what a great guy!
Gauge & me & quail:
