The problem with only trying to shoot cock birds is that during a hurried covey rise, as you quickly try to zero in on a single bird to shoot due to brush, trees, the direction flown, and such, by the time you focus on the target, that split second evaluation of the rooster/hen issue can easily cause you to pull off a bird and ultimately miss all opportunities if you are really trying to avoid shooting the gals. I've done that plenty of times, especially when not shooting a bird at all is perfectly fine with me, and that's more likely to be the case when hunting the birds on my place as compared to elsewhere. When hunting on some of the larger plantations that have substantial bird populations, the effort by hunters and guests to be highly selective on the sex of the birds is definitely reduced. Even then, however, there's that bit of pride that comes when the bird you pop is a rooster.
One of my college roommates has a nice property outside of Athens and having more than a covey or two on his place has been a huge challenge; pretty sure he passes on killing any of them as a result. He's thrilled to be coming down this weekend to hunt with me on my place. With my mindset starting to focus on the coming nesting season, we won't be on anywhere near a killing rampage, but the weather conditions should be ideal for some great times following around some dogs.
