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�Prolly not one of us here that couldn�t say the same thing.


__________________________
I used to be such a sweet, sweet thing �till they (the world) got ahold of me.
Alice Cooper
https://youtu.be/6oZfpb6ZZjc

["Mr. George I get your point...Sorry but I don't agree with it being normal practice of the day."...hoJo]

Absolutely right. But not because the times weren't different. Anyone who has actually had a lot of experience hunting wild quail with bird dogs knows you never hardly get the chance to shoot one on the ground because you never see them.

With the set out quail most people are used to today, sure you can always see them on the ground because they do not know how to hide and they do not have the camouflage wild birds do.

Wild birds on the other hand have adapted by local evolution to match the local ground cover. That's why you might never find one lying on open forest floor without a dog. Think Woodcock.

In addition, while you might see a covey of wild birds cross the road while driving, you won't ever see them in the cover when the dogs are around. They blend in perfectly and they hide.

So, shooting wild birds on the ground didn't happen much because of lack of opportunity. I can remember only one occasion when I had the chance. I was dove hunting in a corn field the cows had been let in on and a covey fed out into the field and right past where I was standing.

When I moved they ran up a corn row and and I could have raked the whole covey. But it was Dove season and not Quail season...Geo

Of course I did learn something from my Grandfather's lesson, if that's what it was. If a bird is dumb enough to light in a tree next to me his feet most certainly are NOT on the ground!

I shot one quail off a tree limb once. I was actually rabbit hunting with beagles up a narrow bottom nestled between two hills with a creek on one side & carrying a muzzleloading 12ga. I was walking up the middle of the bottom & the dogs had been working the creek bank. bumped a covey of quail scattered out feeding & managed to get off a shot at the last one up. Felt sure I hit it & he went about 50 yds & lit on the limb on the creek back. Rest of the covey crossed the creek & went into the woods on the opposite which was extremely steep. I eased in toward that one on the limb, realizing if it went out the back side I would not have a shot, so feeling it was already hit, when I got in range I gave it a finisher.

I can only recall about one time I would have had the opportunity to have ground sluiced any quail. Was coming through an area where some land clearing had been done & there was a big pile of brush which had been pushed up. There were still quite a few standing trees which had not yet been cleared but was fairly open around them. This covey ran from among the standing trees toward the brush pile & entered it. I got my gun at ready & approached the pile, but I "Heard" the wingbeats as they went out the other side, but never got high enough off the ground for me to even see them, much less shoot.

You guys are, of course, thinking of SE bobwhites. In the Southwest, gambles are seen on the ground running like rats far more than they are seen in the air. I don't know if anyone ground sluices them or not, but I didn't when I lived there.

In Iowa, there was a tradition of shooting pheasants with .22s (usually along roads or tractor paths). I don't know if that is still legal and I have never even seen anyone doing it, but back in the 90s they tried to rescind that law and caught holy hell for it. By now, I imagine it is probably not legal as all the folks that did it, are now almost certainly passed.

The same is true of grouse hunting in Minnesota. .22s were commonly used even in my childhood years, and I met a number of people, mostly kids, that hunted that way. And interestingly, they often had a bird in hand, when I did not. It took some skills to ground shoot a grouse in the head with a .22 up there.

All of these were respected ways to kill a meal back in their day. Doubtful that anyone does it now.

One winter after a heavy snowfall, my buddy shot nine grouse with a .22, starting from the lowest bare branches, and I killed four the same way.

If it had been quail season would you have shot them ?

I think I said "test" not lesson.

I'm sure your grandad being a quail hunter didn't shoot them off the limb....

I figure the "test" was to see if you have been paying attention when you were tagging along....George looks like you passed and didn't even know it.

I took these two lawyers fall hunting with my turkey dog a few times on one hunt the dog and made the flush right before dark.

Next morning found us walking up a fairly steep ridge in the dark with my dog on lead...I was about 20 or 30 yards up the hill from them. That day I was hunting with my Purdey hammer 10 ga. It was getting light before we reached the crest...I spotted a turkey sitting in tree directly over head.

I stopped took the Purdey off my shoulder all the while watching the lawyers out of the corner of my eye. I took aim on the turkey...then I shouldered my gun and proceeded on up the side of the ridge. When the two lawyers reached the spot under the turkey they stopped and looked up at it....they didn't shoot either. I stood and waited on them to walk up to us....I asked "how come you fellers didn't shoot that turkey ?"

Their reply was "how come you didn't shoot the turkey ?"....

"I didn't want to shoot it out of a tree."

It was a test they both passed...they most likely never knew it was a test.

["If it had been quail season would you have shot them?" jOe]

Nah, but it wasn't during the great depression either...Geo

People that lived out in the county never knew there was a great depression.

Bullshit.

https://historymatters.appstate.edu/site...nreivew_000.pdf

SRH

That's some nasty talking there Stanley...

In case you didn't know the south was in depression since the cival war.