Theinespines3

So i am taking out my cousin and uncle to hunt pheasants and quail at a farm. Neither have ever shot at birds before and it is thier first year hunting. They did not get anything deer hunting and it was rifle, so i guess what i am asking is if any body has any tips on how to teach or any basic tips on how to get on the birds, where to aim and such.

I am taking them and skeet so they know the shotguns they will be borrowing, but is that enough.
But when i shoot, its kinda instink so i cant really explain what it is that i do. I am not the best but i shoot 23 average trap and 21 average skeet...But its always different in the field!!!


Very excited!!!
Theinespines

GSPsnFORDs

Do you have dogs? My rules are when I take new hunters is that rule #1, don't shoot me. Rule #2, don't shoot my dogs. With quail, some un-broke dogs will chase when the covey rises.....in which some [smart] quail will dip lower than usual which with coupled with a chasing dog fly into a dog's path leading to an unsafe shooting situation. If you take them skeet shooting, that's a great start. But, like you said, field situations are different. Another question is, do you trust them? (i.e. are they good hunters and know their suroundings?)

deaconspoint

Start off by having them mount the unloaded gun a good number of times to a spot on a wall until the mount feels natural, thenget them out to shoot some trap. Wobble trap if you can. This should be done with a down gun, or not shouldered. They won't bust nearly as many clays as they might with the gun mounted before the pull, but it's the only way to prepare. Your not going to walk around a field all day with the gun mounted. It's great practice for the reflexes. Get them used to following through on different kinds of shots.

As for the shooting of birds, here arethe pieces of advice I've been given that seem to help the most.Focus on one bird once the covey once they rise. Try and make that focus bird the outside bird in the flush in your side. If you are on the rightside of the group then the birds going out the farthest to the right is your bird. Take him first. This serves two purposes. One, you are shooting in your lane and your lane only. You're on the right side, you shoot to the right. Second, if you do take thiis outside bird with your first shot, the others heading that way will be coming toward your barrel and youmay have a chance for a double.This is by far the bestadvice I was ever given in wingshooting. Ver rarely do I shoot a double taking the inside bird first and then reaching out for another one. If I can take the outside shot first theothers that I may have a shot at are inside this shot and a more natural target.

Hope this has been some help. I saw your post and wanted to share these littletidbits. I share thesewith all the hunters new and old who hunt with us. It is great fun seeing a young hunter get his first double in the field.

Oh yeah, about the dogs. If you are hunting with dogs make sure everyone understand this one simple concept. Not every bird has to be taken or even shot at. Dogs will be dogs, and they don't know to duck when the birds are flying low.You will probably get another shot at a birds passed up onlaterin the day. My rule here is a little different. If you think you may be going to shoot one of my dogs, shoot me instead.I can defend myself. The chances are fairly high that I'll shoot back if you shoot one of the dogs. #1-Don't shoot the dogs. #2-Don't shoot me. #3-Don't shoot anyone else.

Take care and have fun.

Tim

Mite

I'm assuming they know about gun safety, correct? If not, then that's the first thing I would teach. Can't stress it enough. Skeet is nice as you are shooting different angles. Get pointers from old-timers, they are usually very helpful to beginning shooters. Make sure the gun fits them. Then for birds, slow it down. Make sure they can identify the bird before shooting. That's usually enough time to decide if the shot is safe or not. But most importantly is HAVE FUN!

weezer

I have 2 rules for newbies:

1:my dog is part of my family, he is there to obey my commands, don't tell him what to do, thats my job.

2: if you shoot at me or my dog,I will shoot back

Theinespines3

Well we had our hunt and it was awesome. All was safe and no accidents. There was 6 of us guys to go and we split up into two fields. The field my twin bro took head of took 12 pheasants and 5 quail, and my field with me and the two newbies got 18 pheasants and 4 quail. It was great. We worked behind two pointers that belonged to to guide. They were some of the best dogs and for sale at that!!!

Well the two newbies did alright. It made for a fun day with me. They each got two birds, each a pheasant and quail, these kills were all thier own. tha meant that i shot 16 pheasants and 2 quail. But i was not a hog.....i said they both had to shoot once before i would even squeeze the trigger. We got all but 2 birds, one of which flew toward our other group. I got a couple of really nice birds and they are already to the taxidermist, a nice ringneck and a black one.

I actually printed out this page and took it with me so i could remember what ya'll suggested.

thanks a million, the guys did great!!

Theinespines

Theinespines3

Here are some pictures.

One is my cousin with his first ever kill, a quail, the other is with all of our birds from the three of us guys and the last is our entire group.

Thanks again!

Theinespines3

I am on the left, here all the birds!

Theinespines3

Heres the whole group. thanks again!

porknbeans

Great pictures! Congratulations on having a good day in the field (farm) with family and friends. You have probably (hopefully) ignited a flame for hunting birds that will burn their lifetime. Thank you for introducing others to our sport of hunting birds and may you have many more successful hunts.