16ga.com ~ View topic - An Indiana Story(2006): Rooster vs. Silverhawk

Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 787 Location: Indiana

On our trip to South Dakota a couple of weeks ago, I bought a Beretta Silverhawk 20 ga. side by side. It's got 26" barrels, choke tubes and a pistol grip. The wood is pretty nice. I shot a couple of 23's with it at skeet last weekend and wanted to see how I'd shoot it where it counts: in the field, on wild birds.

DAY 1: Yesterday afternoon I managed to sneak out of the office early and headed home, picked up the dog and my gear and headed out. I only had about an hour and 15 minutes of daylight left when I put the dog down in one of my favorite covers---a wild tract of about 260 acres of cornfields, grass, irrigation ditches, briers and horseweeds.

We worked the heavy stuff first and as I negotiated a thick patch of thorns and foxtail next to an old abandoned cultivator, my Golden began to get birdy. As he worked west toward the ditch, his pace increased and his tail wigwagged furiously, nose to the ground all the way and picking up speed.
He flushed a hen right on the ditchbank, and as I turned and faced the thick stand of horseweeds to my right, the dog dove in there and a cock pheasant erupted from the weeds. I had loaded up with 2.75" Winchester Super X Double X #6's I bought at Scheel's in Iowa City 2 weeks ago, and the Silverhawk had a Cylinder choke in the right barrel with an IC tube in the left. The bird streaked out low, and, crossing from right to left, hammered across the ditch. I threw the gun to my shoulder, felt the butt hit the shoulder pocket and fired. The rooster folded in a spray of feathers and came down on the other side of the ditch. The dog dived in, swam the ditch, and came back with the prize--a rooster with long white-tipped spurs which proved to be near .5" in length when I later measured them at home..I field dressed the bird and made my way back to the truck; by the time I had watered the dog and stowed my gear it was just about dark.

DAY II: This morning was a hassle, as I had errands to do despite my "day off" from the Bank. Finally, about 1:45 I had loaded everything up and was on my way to a nice cover of about 125 acres of muck, cattails, pop-apart swamp grass and horseweeds with a wide, messy ditch running through the middle and an angling gravel road on its south side. South of the road, adjacent and parallel to it , there runs a wide, weedy muck creek. The 125 acres is in WRP and it is surrounded by cornfields on the north, east and west. The weeds are thick all over the tract, and while it is very well known there are a number of pheasants who reside therein, the nature of the cover discourages a lot of fair weather shooters from giving it a try. My usual "gung-ho" attitude finds me diving into the middle of this stuff and flushing birds, but not having a shot due to lack of visibility. This time I decided not to make that mistake.

I worked the south edge of the cover along the gravel road and the dog and I immediately ran into birds on the north side. I was on edge as he flash-pointed, then flushed, six hens in succession in a space of 20 yards before a lone rooster flushed wild probably 45 yards out. It was a long shot and I didn't take it as I still had the very open chokes in the gun from the previous day. As I watched the bird depart, my dog became interested in a patch of creekbank south of the road. He plunged down the embankment to work the creekbank, and I thought I had better be ready for whatever was coming next, so I climbed the creekbank and waited. At the water's edge he flushed a hen; she made a noiseless escape south across the creek. Instead of climbing the bank, my dog stood frozen, with his head in a thick tuft of grass to the left of where the hen flushed. A rooster exploded from the creekbank, cackling and clattering across the creek. Without thinking I gave him the right barrel; he stopped as if hitting a wall and dropped to the creek with a splash !! The dog dove in after him; the bird sank, resurfaced and when the dog snapped and missed him,the rooster went under again. The Golden made a comical sight, paddling in the middle of the creek, head turning frantically, waiting for the cock to come up again. When it did, Pal nailed it and hauled the soaking-wet, unlucky bird up the bank and delivered it to me.

As we worked our way back to the truck, I angled away from a dense patch of horseweeds in favor of a slough of cattails which had produced birds for us in the past. The dog, however, had other ideas and made a beeline for the horseweeds, at first skirting the outside, tail beating double time, entirely focused on the scent emanating from this tangled weed patch. I did a little double-timing myself as I headed back there, realizing whose nose was the keenest in this duo......as Pal headed into the mess of cover, two roosters and two hens flushed out of it, clawing for altitude, the roosters cackling derisively. The closest one was my longest shot in the last several days, being maybe 30-35 yards out. Again the right (cylinder) barrel dropped the cock, the dog was on him and our hunt was over. I think the Silverhawk fits....

What a great day before Thanksgiving---and what a wonderful hunt with a fine dog. I am truly blessed. Wishing the same to all of you---Happy Thanksgiving !!

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

Glad to hear the 20 is working well for you ----Enjoy your Thanksgiving

Well, it ain't God's Gauge, but I guess it'll have to do. Good on ya, Chief; Happy Thanksgiving. Same to the rest of ya, too!

Fin

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

That was a good job of telling the story!

My pulse quickened as I read it.

Thanks!

Mike

Congratulations, Wolfchief! Nice hunt, nice story. Very Happy

Guest

Great report! I enjoyed it very much.

It sounds like those Winchester loads do a good job. I myself just got a 20 gauge after not hunting with one for about 10 years. I'm so out of the loop on 20 gauge ammo that I'm a little lost on buying good 2 3/4" pheasant loads. Based on your report I think I'll look for those Win Double X loads.

FWIW, I'm still a 16 gauger! I just had to pick up this little Browning A5 Twenty because it's such a nice little shotgun and I tend to shoot these humpbacks pretty well.

Member Joined: 01 Feb 2006 Posts: 450 Location: Indiana

Wofie
Sounds like a great day. Maybe yet this year you and I will have a chance to spend one of those days in the field together. Old 16

Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 787 Location: Indiana

You bet, Oldie !

I always enjoy your stories. Thanks for taking the time.