I took my .62 cal smoothbore flintlock Renegade out for the first day of grouse season. I usually use a patched round ball for small game and grouse. This year I decided to take advantage of the smoothbore's versatility and use shot in it. I've never been into shotguns or using shot so this was fairly new to me.
I found the gun shot a decent pattern with 1oz of #6 shot over 70gr FFF Goex. It also shot better with paper shot cups I made from Post-It notes than loose shot. I use a thick over powder card between the powder and the cushion and a thin card over the paper shot cup but forgot to include them in this pic.
My belt bag kit.
I hiked about 3 miles before I came across a grouse. I've hunted grouse since 1982 but I'm pretty sure this is the first grouse I've ever taken using shot.
It was getting hot so I hiked out to my vehicle, cleaned the bird and put it in the cooler. Since I wasn't seeing any grouse besides this one I hit a few other areas I normally do well in. I covered a lot of ground in those areas, only seeing a snowshoe hare. It was getting late but I decided to try an area nearby that I've never hunted before. It didn't take long to get a second bird in the new area.
About 20 minutes later I got another bird, filling my days limit.
Since I was making fajitas I sliced the meat thin, looking for shot and feathers the shot pushed into the meat.
Grouse fajitas!
I found the gun shot a decent pattern with 1oz of #6 shot over 70gr FFF Goex. It also shot better with paper shot cups I made from Post-It notes than loose shot. I use a thick over powder card between the powder and the cushion and a thin card over the paper shot cup but forgot to include them in this pic.
My belt bag kit.
I hiked about 3 miles before I came across a grouse. I've hunted grouse since 1982 but I'm pretty sure this is the first grouse I've ever taken using shot.
It was getting hot so I hiked out to my vehicle, cleaned the bird and put it in the cooler. Since I wasn't seeing any grouse besides this one I hit a few other areas I normally do well in. I covered a lot of ground in those areas, only seeing a snowshoe hare. It was getting late but I decided to try an area nearby that I've never hunted before. It didn't take long to get a second bird in the new area.
About 20 minutes later I got another bird, filling my days limit.
Since I was making fajitas I sliced the meat thin, looking for shot and feathers the shot pushed into the meat.
Grouse fajitas!
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