Flock Shooting, Does It Work?

[shrapnel]

I have always been told to pick individual birds and then shoot at them. This morning I was after a flock of Hungarian Partridge and when I jumped them they were close enough together, you guessed it I flock shot. There was no way I could miss. I didn't, I was able to drop 3 with one shot and then picked up a 4th bird with the second barrel.

3 in a single shot helps your % on these little birds. Using old hammer guns and 2 inch shells is as fun as it gets with these birds...

 

[Gerald Martin]

I don’t care what any thinks they do. Everyone flock shoots a covey rise unless they are given a clear target on the outside of the flock.
Nice job!

 

[Jbotto]

Wow! Great shooting!

I grew up shooting barnyard pests around my family’s dairy. Sent a ton of trap loads towards starlings and pigeons. The only time I ever had success flock shooting was a large flock of starlings that came out of a big brush pile. This pile was at least as big as a couple double-wides where we’d stack whole trees, large branches, old decrepit buildings when they all fell from storms. Anyways stalking that brush pile to get within shotgun range when they all got up and flew within range. I remember picking one bird out as the 870 swung past it and emptying the gun at it. Remembered seeing three fall at the first shot and that single bird kept flying even after the gun was empty. Still don’t know if I should have flock-shot or if I did the right thing in that one. Three for 5 shots wasn’t bad as a whole, but when I think of five shots to not kill the one bird I was going for the whole time, it seems funnier.

 

[bullbugle]

I don’t care what any thinks they do. Everyone flock shoots a covey rise unless they are given a clear target on the outside of the flock.
Nice job!

Agreed.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Any shot on a hun is a shot worth taking. Fast little bastards. Nice work @shrapnel!

 

[Wildabeest]

3 in a single shot helps your % on these little birds. Using old hammer guns and 2 inch shells is as fun as it gets with these birds...

Not to mention saving on ammo - which in today’s environment is important! Congrats on a great shot!

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

I still have not harvested one of those fast little bastards! Way to go!

 

[MNElkNut]

So last fall in ND, I brought my 12 year old twin boys out to hunt pheasants. We routinely get into a flock or two of huns out there, so this being their first trip, I told them what to expect. Every stinkin' tweety bird we drove by, I got the, "Dad, is that a hun???". I finally said, you will know a flock of huns when you see one. Didn't help much with the pestering questions though! I told them to pick out a bird and shoot that one bird and to NOT flock shoot. Finally, a flock got up to the side of one of my boys. Being his first ever opportunity, I had little expectations that he would get one, but we would use it as a learning opportunity. By golly, he dropped one! He later asked me if flock shooting would work. I said no, it rarely does. I don't think I will show him this thread! The hun is on the far left.

 

[shrapnel]

So last fall in ND, I brought my 12 year old twin boys out to hunt pheasants. We routinely get into a flock or two of huns out there, so this being their first trip, I told them what to expect. Every stinkin' tweety bird we drove by, I got the, "Dad, is that a hun???". I finally said, you will know a flock of huns when you see one. Didn't help much with the pestering questions though! I told them to pick out a bird and shoot that one bird and to NOT flock shoot. Finally, a flock got up to the side of one of my boys. Being his first ever opportunity, I had little expectations that he would get one, but we would use it as a learning opportunity. By golly, he dropped one! He later asked me if flock shooting would work. I said no, it rarely does. I don't think I will show him this thread! The hun is on the far left.

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It doesn't get any better than that, 2 boys with smiles as wide as the prairie. I know it is still a better rule to pick a bird, but like I said before, they were so close together, I shot at a group and got them all. People ask me what this old gun is choked, I don't know, I just point it at the birds and shoot. It has worked great all fall...

 

[Elmacho]

I have never flock shot in my life, whats wrong with you all! Got no morals?.....lol

It happens to all of us no matter how "good" of a shot ya claim to be. I was kicking myself last week after jumping a covey of 30 chukar at 25 yds and missing them all.......knowing damn well I squeezed three off into the middle of the heard! ... good times

 

[MNElkNut]

Shrapnel, Nice pictures of nice birds. I love, absolutely love, hunting huns. Just something about them. I want to get one mounted pretty bad but we just don't see enough of them in ND that I have been able to get a good lookin' one. Well other than the perfect one that my buddies dog mauled!

yeah, hunting with your 12 year old boys is awesome. I could do it every day for the rest of my life! They are turning into good little hunters too. They are growing up and turning into young men before my eyes.

 

[shrapnel]

Shrapnel, Nice pictures of nice birds. I love, absolutely love, hunting huns. Just something about them. I want to get one mounted pretty bad but we just don't see enough of them in ND that I have been able to get a good lookin' one. Well other than the perfect one that my buddies dog mauled!

yeah, hunting with your 12 year old boys is awesome. I could do it every day for the rest of my life! They are turning into good little hunters too. They are growing up and turning into young men before my eyes.

Before you know it they aren't kids any more. I spent very little money on them when they were kids, what I did spend was lots of time. The dividends pay all your life...

 

[MNElkNut]

Before you


Before you know it they aren't kids any more. I spent very little money on them when they were kids, what I did spend was lots of time. The dividends pay all your life...



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What a day in the turkey woods! I hope you have that photo sitting on your desk! especially this year, we have been spending a lot of time in the field. Now, with hunting season winding down, my kids just like to go for rides in the country looking for game. Music to my ears!!

 

[shrapnel]

Soon enough the boys turn into men and the memories are golden. Then you realize you now get to start all over with grandkids. Here the 2 grandsons are with me in the truck when it is 20 below outside and their dads are out chasing pheasants. We have the heater on high and they are warming up Little Smokies in the heat vents...

 

[Elmacho]

Those are some great pics! Although I spent a lot of time with mine, wish I had spent more. Dang they grow quick!

 

[shrapnel]

Those are some great pics! Although I spent a lot of time with mine, wish I had spent more. Dang they grow quick!

We had 5 kids and my wife was a stay at home mom. I worked for a tight employer, but loved what I did, so no complaints. We didn’t have money to spend, but we did have time and spent most of it with the family in the outdoors.

There is nothing to build character like the love and pursuit of the outdoors.

 

[MNElkNut]

Little smokies in the heater vents. Can't say I have ever done that. How do eggs work?

 

[OntarioHunter]

Flock shooting can be hazardous. I am pretty much blind in the left eye due to retina detachments and for a couple of years was also nearly blind in my shooting eye from cataract before surgeon would risk replacing the lens. One afternoon six years ago I emptied my A5 magnum into a flock of geese I jumped off a slough. With my limited vision I could only see a snow goose fall with the last shot. "Hmmm. Maybe that wasn't such a smart thing to do." Sure enough when I stepped clear of the tulies twice my daily limit of honkers was laying dead on the water. Only the snow goose was still alive and making a run for it. Crap! I knew better than to do that. Very stupid. I should have stopped after the first shot. Obviously in that crowd something was going to fall even if I couldn't see it. Just a couple of geese would have been fine. I don't enjoy cleaning them that much. Had to make two trips to get all the geese home safely. Fortunately we have an excess of geese (unlimited possession for both honkers and snows) but still no excuse for that. A lesson in error worth passing on at the expense of appearing to be a game hog ... which I am not. I had a duplicate situation at the same spot this fall and stopped firing after one shot. I saw two fall but there were three down.

Several years ago I hit the magic spot one afternoon. Could only get a half dozen decoys out before the geese started piling in. I quickly shot three for three shots from two family groups. Then a big flock came in and dropped like a stone from a hundred yards up. No chance for a careful shot into that mob and I only needed two more to fill the bag. One shot could easily have dropped three or more. So there they were walking and sqawking fifteen yards away while the dogs and I were huddled down in a shallow ditch under cover of some willows. I thought Opal and Pearl would have a stroke but they stayed put. Then every bird in the sky came to my set. Two miles away and they would turn and make a beeline. And always dropping in too thick to shoot safely. Must have been hundreds in that field in front of us. FINALLY a family group circled low before landing ... and I fanned three shots! The noise in front as that mass of honkers got up was absolutely deafening! But I didn't dare shoot into them. Away they all went unscathed. I laughed at myself. About twenty minutes later a pair came by close for a look at the deeks and I dropped them both bang, bang.

Surprisingly I have taken several doubles on Huns but never flock shot them ... as far as I know. I'm just too slow for that. By the time I'm on them with the gun they're split up enough to pick my targets. Once Pearl brought in a second Hun when I thought I only dropped one. But those were my bad eyes days.

 

[NR_Hunter]

Can we count snow sneaks as flock shooting?

I've seen a buddy flock shoot into what seemed like an impenetrable wall of snow geese and have every bird fly away untouched. I've also fired 3 shots into a flock of snows and had more birds than I felt like cleaning laying on the ground in front of me. (but clean them I did)

 

[NDGuy]

People ask me what this old gun is choked, I don't know, I just point it at the birds and shoot. It has worked great all fall...

Shrapnel, that wood grain is fantastic! Is that original?