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Some of them will actually start hunting porkies instead of the birds. Fry them if you get a chance on a porcupine.

I do not run my dogs with collars. I use the tried and true method of running them down and administering a good old fashioned a$$ whopping. The last 3 dogs I have owned that has been a very infrequent event. My first dog.....almost every day we hunted until she was about 6 years old. That was one STUBBORN dog but we killed boat loads of birds together. Eventually we learned to tolerate each others bad habits. It took me sometime but I came around to the point of view that it was more important to read the dog and react accordingly than be in control all the time. We killed more birds after I came around to her way of thinking.

I shoot every Porcupine I can safely. I killed a Coon she trapped in the tall CRP one day too. That was interesting. You always knew if she barked she was on something other than a bird. The dog I held by the scruff of her neck while unloading a bunch of 5's into that coon.

Another time I had her and the Malamute out looking for Blue Grouse and they both started chasing a grey streak through the tall grass. Good thing I did not have a safe shot. I had thought it was a Coyote but instead they chasing a Canadian Lynx up a tree. Those things are cool!

Steve, If you shoot porkies in front of your dog it could make them start hunting them. A trapper friend of mine caught one for me once. Too hot to hunt, so porkie trained. Put the trap in a bush and put the dog on a check cord. The second they caught scent, I fried them.....and wasn�t nice about it. The second day, they caught scent, same thing. 3rd day they caught scent, they shied away and didn�t want anything to do with porcupines. Porkies are nothing to fool with for a dog. Quills can work their way to vital organs and the dog may die. I�ve seen it. Bad deal.

Buzz,
I understand what you are saying completely but my dogs have never shown the slightest interest in them once they are dead. I have shot them then chased the dogs off the carcass and continued on. Really only my first dog messed with them. My older female pinned one in some CRP a couple of years ago but did not go after it. I just called her off and we proceeded on. I did not shoot that one. We were hunting Reservation land and those things are worth big bucks up there for the quill art the Indians make. You are 100% correct that the quills can be deadly.

Steve

Buzz, your technique is a variation of technique used in "snake breaking" dogs. It's the instant pain association with the deliberate attempt by the dog to close in on the snake or porcupine scent that gives the technique value. Gil

Miller,
The .22 short has a muzzle velocity of about 850 FPS. Standard velocity LR runs perhaps 1200. If you see a squirrel hunkering down on a branch in the top of a tree, and take a shot, more often than not, the LR will pass right through the little guy, and he will expire in place on the branch. The lower velocity .22 short will, more often than not, knock him off the branch. He expires somewhere between the branch and the ground.
It is/was far easier for me to recover squirrels on the ground, than squirrels that expired on a branch, in a tree.
That was my point. Nothing more. What happens to the bushy tail on the way down from the tree is far less predictable. But, gravity is your friend in this situation.



Best,
Ted

Mr. Sniffle'bean what magazine/catalog did you get your squirrelly knowledge from ?


Let me guess Eli Wittless...squirrel hunting for nimrOds

One of the things I've learned from 59 years of dove shooting is that you can kill an incomer much, much farther than you think you can. When a bird is approaching you directly in front, you are looking at the best opportunity to get shot to his vitals. His head, breast and wing bones are looking right at you. In fact, if I could help a new dove shooter understand how important it is to take that shot on an incomer earlier than he thinks he should, I could help them immensely with their wing shooting. But, it's hard, very hard. As convinced as I am of it, I still tend to wait too long before taking the shot, then he flares, cuts and jives, screwing you into the ground. You twist around wildly, trying to get on him and end up missing once, maybe twice.

But, if you tell yourself to trigger that first barrel when the dove is at about 35-40 yards, by the time the shot arrives he is at more like 25-30, he usually hasn't flared from you, and you dump him out front and often have a chance to make it a double.

SRH

H0m0,
You sound more like ed everyday.

Fits you well.

Best,
Ted

well ted, you soundin like ah jerk...