doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Wild bird Limits ....Good or Greedy?

Topgun's sentiments reflect mine...well mostly. Except that part about trying to bag a limit and/or being top gun for the day. I try dang hard to do both, still being a snot nosed 50 yrs old. But, honestly, I rarely bag a limit. In SD's openning weeked, I bagged phez limits 2 days in a row then was oncie-twosie for the next 3 days. Locally, I limited only twice on quail this year out of about 10 days. But I'm always trying.

On local hunts, we rarely stay out in the field until last light. Most of the time we're headed home by 3-4:00 pm.

When I was younger, a limit meant something to me. Now that I'm a bit older (45) it seems I have forgotten exactly what was important to me about that heavy game bag. These days, I usually prefer to watch the dog work. Since I do the great majority of the cooking at my house, none of the birds go to waste. My wife is from South America, and could probably be a vegatarian if it weren't for my beef vegatable barley soup, or the smoker and the grilles on the deck. So the bird cooking is mostly for me, and I tend to use the birds fresh, not frozen.

I haven't shot a woodcock in several years. There is something afoot with the little guys, as I see few where I used to see hundreds. Further, my English setter is a bumbling idiot with them for some reason, and seldom handles one with finesse.

I don't believe I have ever mentioned my little self imposed limit to anybody in the woods, and don't call into question what their practices are on same. Truthfully, I do my best to avoid other folks when hunting, so as to allow each of us to enjoy the solitude of the woods. Wednesday is my typical hunting day in the fall.


I can't use more than a couple birds, pheasants or grouse, a week. As I look back over the years, I can also conclude that it doesn't hurt me to just enjoy the flush a time or two on a trip. Not every encounter with a gamebird needs to end with a gunshot for me to call it a successful trip. Not too righteous, I hope. Just the way I enjoy my sport.
Best,
Ted

Yup, every pilgrim has his own path. This seems to sum it up for me as well, no dog however.

I'm no saint, having grown up in a fishing village of subsistence living, but the rule then is what I and my buddies follow now: when black numbers are down, we give them a break and often a pass, and when there are lots of birds, we're always out of the blind with whatever we've shot (within the limit) on our schedule before 8:30a or 9 because we'll be gunning tomorrow. This year, in our area, blacks were at an all-time high. Never seen the likes of it---clouds of blacks.

Hunting is a banquet - some feel compelled to load up their plate, some take only enough to satisfy their needs. Neither should be subjected to criticism, Imp. Mod.

Personally, I don't give a rat's patoot about "the accolades" of my fellow hunters. I hunt for the pleasure of myself and my dog, and call it a day when I feel like it.

Some shooters use a bag limit as a measure of success of a hunt. I call them shooters not hunters. To them, less than a full limit is a failure. They miss 99% of the reason to hunt. Not to keep score or prove you are the best killer but to live for a short time in a world that is outside your normal existance. Not so much back to nature but more to me trying to see the world from another viewpoint or try to do what does not come easy.

We all have some type of self imposed limits. Some only shoot drakes. Some only shoot one species or will never shoot at one species. Some shoot only one or two birds. Some only hunt one ot two days a year. What ever make you feel that you are getting more out of the huint by limiting the hunt is fine with me.

Luring a lone Black Duck into a spread of decoys, getting a family of Canadian Geese to lock up wings and glide for half a mile just to land less than a hundred feet from where you are hiding, or just getting a fish to bite your fly, when it really could care less about it, that is the challenge. That and getting your son or daughter to understand why you do it the hard way and then get them to try to pass it along to their kids.

Some of the best hunts that I have had, never had a shot fired. I limited out on life's memories. You keep score your way and I will do it mine. But if you have never seen the look on a Black Duck, when he has landed into your decoys and then realises that he has screwed up and is dead meat, then make a desperate flight to get away, never knowing that you would rather let him live another day with just the hope to do it again, you have never limited out in my book.

Nice post, KY Jon. But having been young once, I can understand those to whom a limit is still important.

Is there a limit on feral cats?

Don't put undue confidence in your Game and Fish department when it comes to setting limits in the interest of the game birds. These guys are bureaucrats with other motives burning them too. AZ quail hunters had to raise a real stink to get Game and Fish to drop the bag limit on Mearn's Quail to 8 from 15 when it became apparent the drought and the hunting pressure were just too much together. Game and Fish didn't want to drop the limit from 15 because they thought it was a draw to out of state hunters to be able to come and be able to shoot 15 birds a day assisted by guides with trailer loads of dogs in a mild climate during the late season from Nov through Mid Feb - a plus for the tourism dollar. Mearns are a very tight holding bird which makes them especially vulnerable to good dogs. Game and Fish sells out on elk too if the cattlemen raise too much stink about elk taking too much of the public land graze.

A box of shells goes a long ways with me. Knowing my area, I've not shot a quail, or woodcock in years. Missouri tried for years to relocate grouse - we do have a season - but I've not shot 'em.
...but I've found 16g hulls on my property, no doubt they've made-up, for what I passed on.

Some go to the fields to reminice about the days they hunted hard and in plentiful times. Others go to the fields to create those memories so they can reminice later in life. I'm still in the creating stage. If there is an absence of game, I'm disappointed. I may find a way to have a good time anyway, but I'll sure as heck have a better time if game is plentiful. And I don't have to take a limit to have a great time, but it helps. One of the best hunts I had this year was last weekend with my 410 and new pup.

I'm going out tomorrow with my dog and 2 other hunters. I hope we do well on filling the bag. If we just get half a dozen quail each, I'll consider that a great take. Frankly, if I were a better shot, I'd take a limit much more often as I certainly can get a limit's worth of shots a day fairly easily. But I don't have a pointer and I'm not sure I'd trade the excitement of an unexpected flush.