I just got back from a early before season bird hunt. My club just had a work party ,for us that worked we had a hunt . We released pheasants and chucker. My lab put up birds over several hours and some of the hunters in my group just could not hit any . One guy missed 16 birds , 1 shot 30 shots for 3 birds. 4 birds were shot at less than 15 feet. I got discusted and left.
If you are spending $$ and your labor to hunt why dount they practice a little .
I ask 3 of the 5 other guys in the group got their gun out for the first time this year.
How do I teach them that some practice is a must ??????????????

i know thats a big money waster when you release birds and they all fly away......most will probably die over night from predators.....my friends dad used to release pheasants and chuckers all the time.....one day he had a big group coming out and alot of birds to "plant" so he went out the evening before right before dark..... they hunted about 8am the next day...i think he put out 30 ringnecks that night.....and the next morning there were like 4 live birds....rest were piles of feathers or birds with heads ripped off from owls.....terrible.......occassionally they will make it....but your area is probably alot like ours.....id be willing to bet ours had more cover for the birds then yours actually.....it was like CRP land out west almost....hedrows....briar thickets...thick fields......and thick woods.....lots of good bird cover....they just couldnt find it in time.....i definently wouldnt waste birds on the guys that dont have a prayer in a chance to hit them..and hunting with a dog....theres no excuse for shooting that bad......i can see hunting ALONE with a dog....but with a group of guys and a good dog there shouldnt be a bird left flying hunting like that....ive hunted like that and know how it goes....thats a waste......

I am not the best shot in the world, but I'm better than that. I also limit myself to one shot per bird unless I wound it. That way I make the one shot count, unlike the people with the automatics next to me sounding like the D-Day invasion.