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PatrickB
PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 2:58 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 16 Dec 2007
Posts: 592
Location: Minnesota

As a youngster I was only allowed to walk the forest road or trail while the adults pushed through the grouse woods. My job was simple and I understood it clearly - stay out of the way so they could focus on hunting. With not much to do I would collect empty hulls. One day I found a purple hull of which I had never seen that color before. Eventually I showed my father the hull and asked him why it was purple. He said it was from a 16ga. I only knew about 12 and 20ga shotguns so I asked what a 16ga was and he explained it was a shotgun used by old times but everyone now shoots a 12 or a 20. My father was, and still is, a 12ga autoloader die hard and to my recollection the 16ga was never again discussed.

Fast forward 20 years and for various reasons I ended up with a 16ga double gun. I went to buy shells and upon opening the box a smile crossed my face as I recalled the last time I had seen a purple shell. I've been shooting 16ga doubles ever since and although I never leave my empty hulls I sometimes wonder if I should in hopes a youngster finds them and asks his/her mentor about the 16ga.
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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 4:05 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2787
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa

PatrickB,

Great story I liked it a lot. Never thought a Grouse hunter would not know a 16 gauge empty shell. In my era most all Grouse hunters owned a 16 gauge double gun, many of us more than one.

Things did change later on, and maybe even today some of the youngsters don't know the color of a standard 16 gauge shell.

Just goes to show a lot of us are getting up there in years, we do not use smart phones either.

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

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airmedic1
PostPosted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 6:35 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 23 Feb 2008
Posts: 191
Location: Nebraska (It’s not for everyone)

I píck up empty shells and trash when I'm out hunting and often I have more trash in my vest at the end of an armed walk than birds. I often wonder what the hunter who left the shells were thinking when they entered the field with the gun and shells they were carrying. Last year I picked a 10 ga 2 7/8" lead 2 shot, a couple of 3.5" steel and a bunch of 12b 3". These are pheasant fields with a possibility of a prairie grouse. No turkeys, ducks or geese. I can't imagine shooting any of the above at Pheasants

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WyoChukar
PostPosted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 7:12 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 16 Jul 2015
Posts: 2124
Location: Hudson,Wy

Oh believe me, I intend to use some 2 7/8" 10 ga. rounds on Sharptails this next season. Not #2 lead, but #5 buffered reloads. Perhaps that odd hull sent forth a reloaded charge for some other vintage 10 toting bird man...we may never know.

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skeettx
PostPosted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 7:46 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 15 Apr 2007
Posts: 9455
Location: Amarillo, Texas

I use a 10 gauge for doves and skeet Smile
BUT
You know my rule, I take a different shotgun each time I go out for doves.

Mike

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