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Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 22

After reading Get the Net's post on his New Years hunt with his Citori, My brother suggested we post a pic of our New Years hunt. Photo is my brother, Neal, (on the left) and I. It was sleeting this day in ND - when we finished, we had ice all over our guns. On mine I couldn't even see the bead anymore. And boy, were we wet. The photo was taken after changing into dry clothes, though.
We got the birds on our Dad's farm, pictured in the background. I don't recall what ammo my brother was using, I was using Fiocchi #4s. I think he was using Fiocchi Golden Pheasants (#5s). Truly a fine day, busting cattails.

Perhaps Neal will chime in with some observations, too.

Kaiser Norton

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Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 787 Location: Indiana

Kaiser: Where in NODAK do you guys live? In the late '90's I hunted ducks, Huns and sharptails around Binford, ND and then we went up to Bottineau and shot snow geese, blue geese, greater and lesser Canadian geese. I never had such fun in my life, and the people there were among the friendliest I ever met. You do truly live in one of the last outbacks left in the US...enjoy it while you can; I sure did !!

*Last edited by chopper on Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:44 pm; edited 1 time in total*

Kaiser,

I enjoy late season hunts for pheasants with fewer hunters willing to be out and all. How did the birds act in the poor weather conditions? In SD this year the more wind/the nastier, the better they held.

I didn't see a dog in the picture, do you hunt with a pooch?

And the question in everyone's mind; are those 16's you guys were shooting? The 4's hint at a 12ga.

Congratulations on a great hunt!
Chopper

Member Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 3438 Location: Illinois

See the bead?????You don't need to be looking at the barrels/beads---concentrate on the target Twisted Evil

Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 22

Joined: 01 Jun 2006 Posts: 43 Location: Minnesota

Cold, wet and wild. In my opionion, it doesn't get any better for pheasants than the late season.

Our dad's farm is in southeastern North Dakota. Temps that day (Dec. 30) started out in the low 30's and dropped down, if I recall correctly, near zero that night. We went from mist/rain at noon to 4-5 inches of snow by morning. A bit west of us, they got 12-16 inches of snow.

Birds were typical late-season pheasants. They either got up well ahead of you or you had to dig them out of the cattails. You could hear most of the birds trying to flush well before you saw them. Lord knows how many slipped around us. I know one of the dogs barked in frustration a few times -- I'm assuming he was on a bird that wouldn't flush and he couldn't keep up with it. The cattails were shouder high, so it was hard to keep track of the dogs.

The guns are both 16 gauge Citoris, I was shooting Fiocchi Golden Pheasant 5's, my brother Fiocchi 4's. Great load for pheasants, really brings them down. Same gun from Scheel's as Get the Net's, down to the 28 inch barrels and the pheasant engraving.

We were hunting with a springer and two labs, one of which is only about 7 months old. They were sleeping at home when we took the photo -- the dogs were exhausted and we had to get dry clothes before we could think of taking photos.

One of our sisters was also out with us that day. She took the photo. I have to give her credit, she stayed with us for two days of busting cattails and tromping through the snow. We managed to get 10 roosters in those two days and we worked pretty hard for them.

I feel fortunate to have grown up there...it truly is a bird hunters paradise.

Sorry for such a long post...

-20m3s

Member Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 3438 Location: Illinois

KN---No offense stuck at home with a killer flu and nobody to holler/complain/generally make a nuisance of myself with-----no offense see my post on the flu---good hunting-------The others here are used to my sarcastic remarks when I am well let alone feeling bad and holding nothing back------

Joined: 08 Nov 2006 Posts: 11 Location: central, MN

They really are the perfect pheasant gun IMHO. I have never found the # 4's in Fiocchi GP, am great fan of the #5's. No apology for the long post, I truly enjoy reading the adventures of others on this site. Especially with guys that carry the same exact gun, Great Minds think alike Laughing

Grouse, Quail, Chukar, Mearns, pheasants, all across the US, it makes for great reading on these cold January nights. I am jealous of your weather conditions for the last day. I live for that very weather for roosters here in MN. I had one afternoon of hunting with a light snow falling and actually accumulating. Two walks with two birds bagged, at the last cattail spot, several roosters flushed together, only needed one, but it would have been a great opportunity for a rare double here in MN. The best thing about those nasty miserable conditions, beside watching Duey work in the cattails, It keeps almost all of the other guys at home, only diehards out on days like that. Looking forward to either a ND or SD hunt next season, have been to SD once, maybe ND with the brother-in-law and nephew for 07. Start dreaming and planning already.

20m3's

Thank you for the long post and welcome to the forum!

Chopper

Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 22

Joined: 03 Jul 2005 Posts: 370 Location: Amarillo, Texas

Thanks for the story and picture. Welcome to the forum

Mike

Joined: 08 Nov 2006 Posts: 11 Location: central, MN

Will have to look for those, right now I shoot Federal Premium Copper plated 4's in one barrel, Fiocchi GP 5's in the other. Fiocchi = $10.00 a box Federal = $24.00 box. I am guessing Fiocchi #4's are a tad cheaper. Although it is easy to keep track of what goes where with the purple and blue colors.

Joined: 01 Jun 2006 Posts: 43 Location: Minnesota

I also had good luck on early season (November and December) birds with a box of Estate 6's I picked up.

They were $7.50 as I recall and I'm pretty sure they are made by Federal. They look just like the purple Federal hulls and are made in Anoka....anyhow, they were 3 1/4 drams equivalent with 1 1/8 ounces of shot.

I didn't see any difference between them and the Fiocchi Golden Pheasants, except they do seem to ball up a few more feathers than the plated shot.

Both loads are probably a bit heavier than ideal for a 16 (isn't 1 oz. supposed to be "the" load for a 16?), but we didn't have any trouble with crippled birds. And in the prairie wind and cold, I'll put up with a little more recoil if I'm not losing birds in the cattails.

-20m3s

Welcome to the 16 board, guys! Good story and nice pic!

You are right...nothing more fun to shoot or any deadlier on tough ol' roosters than a Browning 16 ga!

OSL

Member Joined: 16 Aug 2006 Posts: 41 Location: Houston Tx

Hey Norton,
North Dakatoa is a great place for wing shooting. My first trip to Watford City, ND spoiled me forever. Pheasant, Grouse and Partridge all at the same time. Upland hunters dream with a 16ga.
Nice photos and welcome to 16ga.

Mike