heavy shot

**fezman** · 01-15-2004, 11:07 PM

doc my wiem is a perty close hunter if i make him 10-20 yd when theres birds in the field.. i live about 20 miles se of philly pa and quite frankly there are NO wild phesants to be found your best bet will be a hold over from the early season stocking by the state. and then you have to fight the rats and cats for them. as a matter of fact our phesant season with in about 75miles of my house has been closed since november 26 we had to travel about 100miles up state to hunt them and evan then there isnt many corn fields in Ne pa its mostly eastern mountans and heavy woods with the occasinal swamp. i would love to head out to the midwest for a real hunt but vacations have been few and quite far between for me most of my hunts are day trips at best and usualy on state lands or pay to play farms just so i can work my dog between field trials,

**birddog** · 01-20-2004, 03:40 PM

fezman - I went to college at F&M in Lancaster, PA from '89-'91. A buddy and I used to grouse hunt quite a bit with descent success when we weren't hung-over. Have you ever thought about taking Doc out and giving it a try or have you already?

I don't remember where we were (I'd have to call up Jon and ask) but, we'd swing by his parents place and steal his dad's Brittany along with a gut full of breakfast then head out. I'm thinking it wasn't more than a few hours north of Lancaster... which could mean anywhere i know but i remember Philly only being an hour east of Lancaster on the turn-pike.

if we could see straight enough by the time we got out of the truck we had good luck finding birds... just thought you could suppliment your pheasant hunting season with it.

**fezman** · 01-20-2004, 07:59 PM

grouse are now closed in pa and quail and phesant are closed in that part of the state. the only game in town now is pay to play for about 75mi in my part of the state.pa has wildlife management units and every differnt type of game is regulated in those WMU's. i live just over the border with delaware accualy exit 1 off i95 about 25mi s of philly. another big problem is the fact that most of lancaster and chester countys are beeing over run with subdivisions and strip malls. there are a few stategame lands that we hunt in Reading berks county that arnt too bad but it seems that hunting on privet lands is realy out of the question because of idiots that have turned most land owners aganest hunters and fishermen. more than once ive been asked to leave streams flyfishing buy land owners evan though if your standing in the creek they by law can't. i just say sorry pack up and leave. i'm planing a trip over to north jersy with at friend from the dog club to do a pay to play trip but we have to go soon because most farms are out of birds by the end of march. i'm entering doc in amature gun dog at the end of march

**birddog** · 01-20-2004, 09:30 PM

gotchya - it's busting me up thinking of where it was that we went. I do know it was state forest ... but, couldn't say. Also thinking the season dates ran a bit longer too. I don't know ... seems like yesterday sometimes but reality just slapped me.

It's amazing how a few knuckle heads can really spoil things when dealing with private land owners. As if things aren't tough enough. It's taken a few times of just going and talking with a few folks and kissing a lil' hinder to gain access to a few spots I duck hunt... nothing a few cups of coffee and some jaw flappin' didn't cure in time.
Sounds like you've got a full plate this spring working Doc into am. gun dog ... Good Luck! Wish you success!

**fezman** · 01-28-2004, 07:11 PM

well i broke down and shot some #6s last sunday. we were hunting farm quail in nj and they were flying realy fast so i popped a #6 in the 2nd bbl just incase i had to reach out and touch somebody. i still stuck to the 8s in the 1bbl though. most of my long shots were quite long 40-50 yds i did hamburger a few though. doc enjoyed them

**birddog** · 01-29-2004, 12:20 AM

sounds like a good time fezman. Doc must've loved those little morsels ehh??

I back up with 6's too - top bbl gets 7's though. I'd normally use 8's but, a few years ago I ran into a liquidation sale where the store had Federal Duck and Pheasant #7 steel loads for dirt cheap so I picked up a few cases of both 20 and 12. I'll be shootin' 7's til the well runs dry.

**fezman** · 02-01-2004, 12:09 AM

yea he liked them a little too much i turned my back to answer the phone and he and duncan decided that the dressed birds on the cutting board were theres for the snacking. i didnt mind too much doc only scored one chucker breast before i caught them and i dont think duncan liked them very much he accualy took it off the counter and gave it to doc which is way out of the ordnary duncan is the more domanant of the two and usualy takes doc's food. duncan is a bit of a priss tho and dosent realy like raw meat i gave him some raw chickin once and he got a wicked case of the trots for a day or two.

**birddog** · 02-05-2004, 09:50 AM

sounds like Duncan should be on a Life cereal commercial opposite of Mikey (Doc).

"I'm not gonna try it..let's get Mikey"
Is Duncan a Wiem too?

**fezman** · 02-07-2004, 11:12 PM

yes duncan was our first wiem we got him from a puppy mill in lancaster about 4 years ago he's a great dog he just isnt the slightist bit birdy its a shame he is very well trained in obedience and is a certified therapy dog i take him the the old folks home every sunday. he just dosent like birds. we never introduced him to birds till after we got doc who was already trained when we got him