CONSERVATION : I hunt birds, they often outlive my shots

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stl30 said:
Howdy man! Well I think it's mainly my technique, or the lack of it that makes my shots so difficult. A component for sure is the shotgun because I can almost make perfect shots with a Benelli auto 20 ga. of a friend of mine. Nevertheless as you said we have pheasant, chukar, grey partridge, red legged partridge, all of these are resident species but the majority are raised and released in the wild during off season. The truly wild game birds that are a blast to hunt are woodcock, (which I'm particularly fond of) ducks, and the snipe, which is what I hunt the most and with most fun. Finally in the alps black grouse, rock partridge and rock ptarmigan
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Sounds like a good excuse to shoot more. That way you end up missing less and bringing down more birds for the pot! Black grouse would be really fun to hunt. I am sure your ptarmigan reside in a different environment than what I have hunted the birds in Alaska. I think snipe are a totally underrated bird, at least here in the U.S. They are a bird of mystery to a lot of bird hunters, and often scoffed at - even though many do not know just how much sporting they are and how fast they are on the wing. Believe the European snipe are a wee bit bigger than ours.
 
huntbirdz said:
Sounds like a good excuse to shoot more. That way you end up missing less and bringing down more birds for the pot! Black grouse would be really fun to hunt. I am sure your ptarmigan reside in a different environment than what I have hunted the birds in Alaska. I think snipe are a totally underrated bird, at least here in the U.S. They are a bird of mystery to a lot of bird hunters, and often scoffed at - even though many do not know just how much sporting they are and how fast they are on the wing. Believe the European snipe are a wee bit bigger than ours.
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Yeah definitely a good excuse man. Pigeon culls are helping a lot. Clays aren't as useful as actual birds. As for black grouse yeah the environment where they are is really challenging both for dogs and hunter they are typically found between 5500-6500 ft depending on season, temperature and weather; the vegetation is typical alpine just in between the tree line to low shrub transition zone. As for the rock ptarmigan it's even more difficult because they prefer rocky terrain a lot higher than black grouse with almost no vegetation you are looking at 7000+ up to 9500. What's their habitat like in Alaska? Snipes instead are the most fun, their habitat is not as amazing and scenic as the alps but it still gives you chills when you are down in the rice fields with fog rising and you can for sure better grasp the dog's work, it is pure magic to see how they find the smell and how they track it down with the nose up in the air until they came to a perfect point, then it's all up to the shooter cause you need to be fast to serve the dog but stealthy otherwise the snipe will be alarmed and will jump before you can even think about lifting the barrels. It is true fun, a bit disappointing if you end up with no birds by the end of the day (which can happen pretty often) but still a hunt to be enjoyed. Actually the common snipe in europe is somewhat same size as north american wilson's snipe
 
Trotter said:
Mario here, (doesn't get any more italian name than this) as stated I have bad aim, and I sell it as conservation effort.
Getting better and better though, won't tell in which of the two.
Hunting in northern Italy most of the time, bird dog owner who feels entitled to bring the dog everywhere and therefore ready to run laps (unless OWG already run the available 2025 laps).
Here to get hassled for being the first overseas society member, and to repent for not subscribing before as well.
Pretty good at Negroni makiand consuming as well as cooking and eating what I hunt....
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Ciao Mario, benvenuto! Di che parte del nord Italia sei?
 
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