Snipe hunting with Do Nob and Brad

[ICMCumin]

Had the good fortune to go snipe hunting for the first time in my life yesterday - I was invited by Do Nob and his buddy Brad. We went over near Winnie in some real muddy plowed fields to kick them up.

To make a long story short, after the drubbing I took yesterday, I am changing my moniker to ICAN"TSEE M CUMINORGOINANDCAN'THITTHEMWHENIDOSEE M. I shot over two boxes of shells up and all I ever saw was their butts flying away.

For those of you who haven't ever hunted these birds, a word of advice - go to the shooting range before you go. They get up about 30 - 40 yards away, stay low to the ground and basically haul ass faster than a dove ever thought about. The shots for the most part are at least 40 yards out and taken about as fast as you can shoulder a shotgun. This is the ultimate snap shooting.

We really got our exercise out in those muddy fields - walked (slogged actually) a couple of miles I guess. Do shot 8 or 9 and Brad got three and I got skunked. I was humbled to say the least.

The high point of the day for me was watching my dog Dusty retrieve most of the birds - she did a splendid job for her first snipe hunt. She took about 4 or 5 steps for every step I took - right now she is taking a nap - she really enjoyed herself yesterday - and so did I.

Another high point was I gt to hunt with some good young hunters. For an old man like me, its good to see the hunting tradition getting passed to guys of the high caliber as the ones I hunted with yesterday.

[DoeNob]

It was really good to have you out and thanks for bringing dusty, we probably would have lost half the birds we shot otherwise. Snipe hunting is the most challenging shooting I can think of other than culumbare pigeon shoots, but that's not really hunting. Brad and I both shoot clays a lot, so don't feel too bad, its just a matter of lead, and you are right about the snap shooting. You can't shoot sustained lead on those birds, by the time you establish the proper lead, they will be out of range and their zig zagging erratic flight doesn't make things any easier on you. I think brad and I both shot about 2 boxes, we just got lucky on the birds we did knock down. So, altogether that was 125 rounds for 12 birds, and I think that's about average for me this year. If it took me 2 boxes to shoot a dove limit, I'd give up! If anyone wants to try their mettle on these little rockets, let me know, season runs till Feb 1st, limit is 8 a day per man, and you can shoot lead shot. I highly reccomend really hot 7 &1/2's, I got a case of high brass 8's running 1350 fps, and it will kill them a ways out there if I can get it on them. Jim witnessed a looooong shot on a bird, it fell dead. ;D

[DoeNob]

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Forgot the pictures!