16ga.com ~ View topic - Top 5 hunts to do before you die

I've always read about Kansas pheasant hunts - ND too

Brazil doves - Chile right next door

Mexico ducks

New England partridge

Georgia quail

What are your top 5 hunting trips to take?

*Last edited by brdhnt on Mon Feb 28, 2011 5:37 am; edited 1 time in total*

1. African Sand grouse

2. South American doves

3. Alaska ptarmigan

4. Pheasants in China

5. Grouse in New England (I've done this once and always wanted to go back).

All with a 16 gauge of course!

TMB
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Clk-class

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

I would start with a South American dove hunt but not punish myself with several 1000 shells in a few days.
2.Kansas pheasants
3.Old fashioned quail hunt
4.Geese hunt anywhere the weather is bad to rekindle old memories
5.Shooting pigeons over a feedlot--again

Member Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 1545 Location: Michigan

1. Would be to spend an entire season chasing Grouse across Northen Mi. and Wis.
2. A 7 to 10 day Pheasant hunt in Kansas, Iowa, or South Dakota.
3. Alaska Ptarmigan
4. South American Doves
5. Georgia Quail

All with a couple different 16 gauge Parkers. Very Happy

Joined: 19 Jun 2004 Posts: 1480 Location: Mpls, MN.

1. Himalayan snowcock.

2. Hickory grouse.

3. Cappercallie

4. Guniea fowl.

5. Since the first four are unlikely, another chance at a red phase Minnesota ruffed grouse, at seasons end, on snowshoes, with my trusty Italian single shot would be really, really, cool. I missed the last one, several seasons past.
Best,
Ted

With my every 6 mth Guatemala trips, I've had about all the exotic international near death excitement I need Rolling Eyes

Not to get all squishy here but I'm about to leave for my top 3 -KS pheasant, MO quail, S. Dakota pheasant. But what makes it special is the fact that I've got a promising (but exasperating) young dog and will be hunting with some very close friends I no longer spend time with.
It'd be about perfect if some of the dogs that are now gone were there too.

1. Argentina doves
2. South Dakota pheasant
3. Arkansas ducks
4. Nevada chukar
5. Arizona quail

Someday I'll make that trip to Argentina; I've already made plans to travel to South Dakota and Arkansas the next two years.

The last two I've done several times each; never tire of chasing upland game through the deserts. I particularly like chukar hunting. It offers, in my opinion, a challenge not duplicated by any other game bird: a cagey foe with impeccable instincts coupled with incredibly difficult terrain requiring the hardest work and peak conditioning to negotiate. An added plus is that I think they are by far the best tasting game bird found in North America.

If I could add a sixth gamebird I'd like to hunt someday, it would be woodcock in the eastern woods, with honorable mention to ruffed grouse.

I'm a simple man with simple needs. Every time I depart from a Kansas trip I spend a good part of the 14 hour drive home scheming, daydreaming and planning out how to justify buying a dated old 3-4 bedroom farmhouse just on the outskirts of town to turn into my winter oasis and spend a month or two there every bird season.

ahhhh

so when you see me arrive in Momtezuma with a hand-full of giveaway fliers from the news rack at the local piggly-wiggly you'll know why.

Brad

Guest

1. Argentina Doves & Perdiz-Actually getting ready to go in 2007, hopefully in the spring here which would be the fall there. My wife was a foreign exchange student there during her senior year. We'll be staying with her friends
2. North Dakota Pheasants-My Bestest Buddy on the Planet lives by Devil's Lake. I shall make a fall adventure to NODAK and then Pheasants look out!!!
3.Snow Geese in Texas-I just have to put it together
4.Guinea Fowl-Looks like way too much fun, Thank God for Bubba TV(the Outdoor Channel)
5.Arizona Quail after a good winter rain season-when the birds are plentiful & stupid

I am hoping "El Nino" kicks in this year so the Quail can do some rebuilding, not having much success finding any numbers of Quail this year. Doing a lot more excerhunting (physical training without much shooting involved) than I would like. The good news is I found a spot within a half hour's drive to buy flighted Bobwhite Quail to train the Pup with. $4.00 a bird and I can't ship them in that cheap.
Chet

Member Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Posts: 398 Location: S Fl

I'd settle for one that already happened.
The old man and I shared a blind one Thanksgiving morn at, of all places, the Joisey shore. We limited out (10 a piece) of Lesser Scaup, what the locals call Broadbills, in under 2 hours.
The only improvement would be the addition of my own son, and the use 16s instead of the 12s we used that day.

A wonderful beginning to a great day, seems like a thousand years ago.

Pete

So I'm seeing a decidedly birdy trend - no surprise

my dream hunts:

New England Partridge (grouse - same thing): It's my backyard - why not.

Nova Scotia ducks/rabbits - hunt where my Dad did and for the same things

Alaska - Ptarmigan is only the start but would be the purpose of the visit

South American ducks - doves are the bonus there as they are at nusiance population

Ireland - Pheasant, quail, grey crows & magpies - might even bag a few pints while I'm there

Of the 5, the first one happens regularly, the second may and the others, well, someday...

I go to Russell now at least once yearly so the Kansas pheasant/quail scene is a gimme (in 2006 I went in Jan. and will go in Dec. and also will return next year Jan. 2007).

Brad6260 - I buy lottery tix faithfully each week to buy that hallowed Kansas (BIG Shocked

) pheasant ranch complete with dog runs, 5-stand, skeet field, and all amenities. I even have a year-round caretaker in mind. Wink

You would be invited....

Revdocdrew - where in the devil in MO will you hunt quail? How close to my house and when? Even if hunting party is full, I could drive over for the after hunt libations and to meet and greet - pm me.

That said - my dream bird hunts:

1 - South Dakota - pothole ducks am and pheasant pm (looking for this in 2007 or 2008)

2 - Alaska - ptarmigan (no bears please Sad

)

3 - Maine - Eider and other sea ducks (was old enough to shoot one eider and some scoters back in late 60s)

4 - Arkansas - timber ducks

5 - Mexico - quail

I hope to complete this dream list in the next seven years (before 55) and to repeat again or add more dreams after that.

Will be with 16 ga of course!!!!

Regrets - did not do 1,2,4,5 with my Dad when he was still around. Although, we did shoot 16 ga together for many years and bagged a LOT of dove, ducks, quail, grouse, woodcock, and pheasant together Very Happy

1. A September canoe trip in northern Saskatchewan, Cree River maybe, shooting Mallards, Scaup, and Canada geese as we paddle the river, using my Merkel 16 over 7x57R - the bottom barrel is reserved for the bull Moose we'll call by moonlight and shoot at dawn. We'll cast a few spoons and jigs for huge pike and tasty walleye too.
2. Ptarmigan in the Yukon, over a pointing dog. Mountain Caribou as a side dish. Garnished with Grayling on a dry fly.
3. Blue and Ruffed grouse in the mountians of south central British Columbia, with wild Steelhead trout in a tributary of the Thompson for the rest days.
4. Ptarmigan again, with sea-run brook trout or maybe char and atlantic salmon to add variety, in the Ungava bay area of Northern Quebec. Oh ya, we'll shoot a Caribou too.
5. Mixed bag hunts at home in Saskatchewan - with my versatile hunting dog (currently a Pudelpointer) Snow geese and Greater Canadas in barley stubble in the morning, Huns and Sharptail on the native prairie at mid-day, fool around with a few snipe in a shallow marsh, and then go for Mallards coming off a big saline marsh and watering in a small freshwater pothole for the evening shoot. Very Happy

*Last edited by brdhnt on Mon Feb 28, 2011 5:37 am; edited 1 time in total*

I wonder how many others reading this thread have not only thought of future hunts, but of past ones with companions (human and canine) that are no longer with us.

I was blessed with a father who although not an enthusiastic hunter (his game was golf) did bless his son with some opportunities that I didn't really appreciate back then but would love to be able to relive now and tell my father just how much I appreciate him arranging them.

Several that immediately come to mind.

1. Taking my first pheasant when I was 8. Dad didn't even carry a gun because he wanted that bird to be mine.

2. Hunting the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake. Ducks and geese in the morning and pheasant,quail and chukars (preserve) in the afternoon.

3. A plantation quail hunt in Virginia with one of my Dad's oldest friends. Only later did I learn that they had served together in the 82nd Airborne throughout WWII. I would love to go back and ask them aboout that as a man who has been through combat instead of just a 12 year old kid.

4. One more hunt of any kind with too many friends who had to leave too early, both human and canine.

5. Last, but not least, reliving all of those first birds and first hunts with my Dad.

Waxing nostalgic.

Terry M. Boyer
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