Quail, anyone?

[Muggsy]

My recent pheasant hunt got cancelled due to bad weather (in Michigan? say it isn't so!)- so we've rescheduled and turned it into a Quail hunt. In the meantime the fowler si going to have to wait for the ring-tail prize.

Has anyone used a flintlock for quail? Them little things move pretty fast, and I can see how a flint lag-time can miss a shot.

:youcrazy:

 

[Dave K]

I have been pleased with the performance of my SxS 20ga. flinter on doves. They do a pretty fair job of scooting along.

 

[RussB]

My recent pheasant hunt got cancelled due to bad weather (in Michigan? say it isn't so!)- so we've rescheduled and turned it into a Quail hunt. In the meantime the fowler si going to have to wait for the ring-tail prize.

Has anyone used a flintlock for quail? Them little things move pretty fast, and I can see how a flint lag-time can miss a shot.

:youcrazy:

I can't say about Pheasant, and I've only taken a very few Valley, or California Quail. But, I can tell you they will take a Grouse, and an occasion Chucker with fair regularity.

The biggest problem I had was slowing, or stopping my swing during ignition.
If you will hold through ignition there is little, if any, difference in shooting any other gun. I had a percussion prior to my flint, and there was a distinct "pop" of the cap prior to ignition....every shot!....that particular gun was very hard to hit with.

My smoothbore now has almost instant ignition, and is much easier to follow through with. I "reamed" the flash-hole with a #59 drill, and that improved things greatly.

My dog flushed two pheasants last year, I was caught off guard, with my back/side to the dog ...attending to other matters, on one of them, and never I even got a shot off. I couldn't find him again after that. :redface:
The other flush resulted in a clean miss...the dog still hates me! :curse:

Russ

 

[Flintlock58]

I have two pheasants in the bag with an 11 ga flinter and one miss. It was easier to bag the two as they were mildly angling away from me. The miss however was a sharp right angle and I stopped my swing at the flash of the pan. Big mistake! I have bagged some teal with a 12 ga dbl percussion at sharp angles. So I would agree that follow thru is everything!

 

Go to your local skeet range (probably when it's not crowded would be best) and see if you can practice shooting from stations 3, 4 and 5. You get to where you can break clay with a flinter on those pads, and you won't have any problems stopping your swing during ignition... especially on pad 4. :redthumb:

'Course, you'll have to find someone patient enough to stand there with you while you load up for each shot... don't try to do this with a bunch of other guys on the pads with their Krieghoffs and Briley tubes... they'd probably be ready to lynch you after the first couple of shots.

 

[RussB]

Go to your local skeet range (probably when it's not crowded would be best) and see if you can practice shooting from stations 3, 4 and 5. You get to where you can break clay with a flinter on those pads, and you won't have any problems stopping your swing during ignition... especially on pad 4. :redthumb:

'Course, you'll have to find someone patient enough to stand there with you while you load up for each shot... don't try to do this with a bunch of other guys on the pads with their Krieghoffs and Briley tubes... they'd probably be ready to lynch you after the first couple of shots.

Amen brother, them fellers ain't got no sense of humor at all! The guys with the Perrazi's seem to be the most impatient of the bunch!

At my club, this same bunch insists on calling "bird" for both houses...if you are shooting a Perrazi...you have to call pull & mark....just like us fellers with the muzzleloaders do. Doesn't do much for the relationship, but it makes the Muzzleloading bunch smile....and smile BIG too.

It just so happens that the puller is also a muzzleloader!

Staying on topic, I would suggest shooting clays at every opportunity with a smoothbore. It is a great sport, and you get as much. or more, from that, than two years in the field.

Russ

 

[CrackStock]

Actually, I might have a chance to quail hunt soon. But, I would rather hunt turkey. It has been so long since I have heard quail that I woud be reluctant to shoot one if I saw it.

CS