... Yes, the face of shooting is certainly changing.
Go west
Chuck, I 'went West', at least as far West as northeast Mexico in Tamaulipas State. I found lots and lots of wild bobwhites to, but let me tell you how we "hunted". We followed a milo baited two path trail out through a huge pasture. I never saw the sides or end of the pasture, but I know it was one because we went in through a cattle gate. "We" were 4 shooters, 4 'birdboys, and a 'guide' (who had a radio to tell the truck to come get us when we'd had enough). Oh yes, there was also a skinny little female pointer there for show, but who spent the whole time sitting in the trail trying to pick cactus balls out of her poor feet; how do you western guys put up with all that cactus?
Anyhow we 'hunted' by lining up four guns abreast with two on either side of the baited trail, the birdboys behind the hunters, the guide in the trail, and the bird dog sitting in the trail picking cactus. All the quail in that pasture must have come to the trail in order to enjoy the free milo feast. We flushed a covey every fifty yards or so on one side or the other of the trail and did not follow singles. The birdboys rushed out at the flush to retrieve birds; I wish my dogs could 'mark' as well as those boys did. Different, but pretty sporty shooting.
I think I'll stick to my Southern piney woods and wiregrass and let the dogs join in on the fun. Yeah, I know that is not the way you hunt birds, Chuck but that was my experience with 'Western Quail'...Geo
