Quick preserve hunt

[frenchbritt]

I agree about String Creek. Tom's place is about 10 miles from my house. He is also a great dog trainer. He has helped me with my Shorthair and my French Britt.

[ness]

I'll just tag this report onto the previous one. 

Went to Eckman Hunting Preserve again last Sunday. Perfect conditions for a hunt: some snow on the grown, temp just below freezing and a slight breeze. Very comfortable, easy walking and the dogs did well once they settled down. I got to shoot a new 20 gauge I bought last fall for the first time. I'm gonna like it.

My older Brittany Max is 12 years old now. On the way out there my son and I talked about the fact that this may just be his last hunt. Once in the field I kept an eye on him and he seemed to do fine. He kept it going for 2-½ hours, but he was spent by then. Ruby is 7 and has a ton of energy. She probably ran 4 times as much as Max. She was done too.

We ended up with three, which was two less than we shot at. I had one fly straight at me -- I let it go over and shot at it going away. Twice. And missed twice. 2.3 missed another and we had 2-3 flush out of range early on. 

The old man Max was really stoved up that afternoon and evening. He was stiff-legged the rest of the day and could barely make it up the steps that night. He had bounced back pretty well by mid-day the next day, but I'm not sure I'll put him through that again. It was hard to watch.

Here he is with a nice point:

  

Then he photobombed this pic:

Nice points by both, but nothing doing:

Max:

[slothman]

A year ago I was practically an upland newbie. While I am still a newbie, I am pretty much ate up with it. I now understand why all the old timers were always telling me about the good old days when they used to quail hunt a bunch. I can’t seem to get enough of it. I really enjoy getting to watch the dogs work. I even got to take my dad out for his first bird hunt (his dream hunt for as long as I can remember)  

 

This may not be the right place (and I don’t want to hijack), but does anyone know where a guy might find a Remington 1100 lt-20 improved cylinder barrel? I have one with a full choke barrel that I’d love to carry for upland birds instead of my 12 gauge, but I can’t seem to find one and I thought some of you bird hunters might know where I could look.