Toughest bird to knock down

fishvik · Post by **fishvik** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 7:02 am

I wasn't sure whether to put this under the Hunting forum or this one. But seeing as how this one has had recent posts on upland loads I'll take a shot at here.

Which upland species of bird in your experience is the toughest to knock down? I'm not taking hardest to hit, but the one that seems to absorb the most shot to knock it out of the air.

My vote for overall fire power needed is the pheasant, but oz for oz of body weight my experience has been the hun is the hardest to knock down.

Bird Dog 67 · Post by **Bird Dog 67** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 7:52 am

I'd have to go with a late season pheasant.

BigShooter · Post by **BigShooter** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 8:49 am

Depends upon whether you're a wingshooter or a body shooter. Those pheasants go down pretty easily when hit in the wing. For training young dogs I like to flush pheasants out of tall grass or cattails but shoot them in the wing or leg over an adjacent mowed field. Cripples that a young dog can see really gets their prey drive & retrieving instincts kicked into high gear in a hurry.

uglyleaper · Post by **uglyleaper** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 10:59 am

I'd have to say pheasant are the hardest to recover for sure and for what I've hunted the hardest to bring down dead.

Brittguy · Post by **Brittguy** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 12:55 pm

PHEASANT

Ricky Ticky Shorthairs · Post by **Ricky Ticky Shorthairs** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 12:58 pm

Late December Iowa Rooster on a going away straight shot.

Doug

marshboy · Post by **marshboy** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 5:27 am

So how do you take a swarm of shot and only break wings or legs and not hit the body?
marshboy

live4point · Post by **live4point** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 8:55 am

BigShooter wrote:Depends upon whether you're a wingshooter or a body shooter. Those pheasants go down pretty easily when hit in the wing. For training young dogs I like to flush pheasants out of tall grass or cattails but shoot them in the wing or leg over an adjacent mowed field. Cripples that a young dog can see really gets their prey drive & retrieving instincts kicked into high gear in a hurry.

Is this a joke?-You have got to be kidding,right?

cody · Post by **cody** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:42 am

So how do you take a swarm of shot and only break wings or legs and not hit the body?
marshboy

My thoughts exactly

tommyboy72 · Post by **tommyboy72** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 1:12 pm

I have to say pheasant but I think it has a lot to do with the age of the bird as well. Those 2 year old mature birds are like battleships but some of the younger first year birds go down fairly easily. Definitely pheasant though.

rydaddy · Post by **rydaddy** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 4:43 pm

Don't know about you guys... but I think Pigeons are a pain to bring down. I have failed to knock down more pigeons in training sessions than anything else I have gone after.

uglyleaper · Post by **uglyleaper** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 4:49 pm

Pigeons are pretty tough too. We shoot em over a mojo in the fields for some earl season warm up. You better bring 6's or bigger.

birddogger · Post by **birddogger** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 3:54 am

BigShooter wrote:Depends upon whether you're a wingshooter or a body shooter. Those pheasants go down pretty easily when hit in the wing. For training young dogs I like to flush pheasants out of tall grass or cattails but shoot them in the wing or leg over an adjacent mowed field. Cripples that a young dog can see really gets their prey drive & retrieving instincts kicked into high gear in a hurry.

WOW!!! I would not want to hunt with you. I would get a complex.

Charlie

reba · Post by **reba** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 10:40 am

I grew up hunting pheasants.

I think if you voted pheasant you have never hunted Chukar:-)=

TEX-X · Post by **TEX-X** » Wed Aug 26, 2009 12:16 pm

california condor

just kidding guys

sjkennels · Post by **sjkennels** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 9:02 am

pheasant, pigeon, chukar i have had the same pigeon for 2 training sessions i have hit it 2 from about ten feet away with 71/2 shot. and late season pheasant are pretty hard to knock down. and chukar i shot a one last year 8 times and i walked all together over 700 yards after that one bird needles to say i have that bird hangin on the wall

birddogsunlimited · Post by **birddogsunlimited** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 5:29 pm

i dont know about upland but when i comes to ducks ive seen some divers suck up alot of shot and i had a goose that was shot 13 times and was still floping when the dog broght him in

Shadow · Post by **Shadow** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:58 am

chuckling- good one Bigshooter

wondering about all these hard to bring down birds- seems some tall tales

luke0927 · Post by **luke0927** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 9:38 am

Hawks......

Shadow · Post by **Shadow** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 9:57 am

cody wrote:
So how do you take a swarm of shot and only break wings or legs and not hit the body?
marshboy
My thoughts exactly

you have pointing dogs correct-
ever been out with someone who can shoot who has a good dog-

marshboy · Post by **marshboy** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 1:15 pm

Shadow, what are you inferring? That you can actually break wings and/or legs without hitting the body?
Ever patterned a shotgun before? All those little holes on the paper are where a bb of shot went through, right? So where do you throw that pattern to intentionally only break wings or legs?
marshboy

Shadow · Post by **Shadow** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 6:58 am

marshboy wrote:Shadow, what are you inferring? That you can actually break wings and/or legs without hitting the body?
Ever patterned a shotgun before? All those little holes on the paper are where a bb of shot went through, right? So where do you throw that pattern to intentionally only break wings or legs?
marshboy

me- naaaaaaaaa I can't shoot worth a darn

marshboy · Post by **marshboy** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 7:21 am

I love keyboard commandos

A self-proclaimed defier of a pattern of shot...gotta love it.
marshboy

Shadow · Post by **Shadow** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 7:25 am

marshboy wrote:I love keyboard commandos
A self-proclaimed defier of a pattern of shot...gotta love it.
marshboy

ahhhhhhhhhhh a bite- care to find out

Str8Sh00ter · Post by **Str8Sh00ter** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 8:29 am

Sea ducks, shot one once and it dropped like a rock, 2 seconds later took off from the water again like nothing was wrong, my buddy from maine told me you gotta keep shooting on the way down to killem

Buckeye_V · Post by **Buckeye_V** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:07 am

I have patterned a shotgun before - several of them. I have also witnessed with MY OWN EYES several friends consistantly and CLEANLY hit birds where they wanted to. In fact, at a recent hunt test I know of a running bet between the gunners on being able to knock the head of of a QUAIL - and they did it by the second brace.

Now, I'm not calling you a liar. I am just saying, I've seen it.

And, you all who have said pheasant have never hunted grouse in the UP, eh?

Grouse. 99% of the time you don't even get a clear shot and if they hit the ground alive they have 50 times more cover to disappear in.

Shadow · Post by **Shadow** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 9:50 am

take a 3" shell, load a 2/4" load, insert a small stick in the center- glue the shell closed- shoot arround the bird

Mike50 · Post by **Mike50** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 4:41 pm

I'd have to say grouse in the north woods. Two reasons. Heavy cover. Will stop most of the shot coming out. Reaction time from flush to shot is only a second at best.

Ruffshooter · Post by **Ruffshooter** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 5:38 pm

The hardest bar none is the Eider sea duck.
Ruffs are soft birds if one pellet hits them they come down, no getting that one pellet to them can be the difficult task.

tommyboy72 · Post by **tommyboy72** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 7:28 am

I don't know Ruff, I think a pterodactyl might be a bit harder to take down than an Eider duck.

GrayDawg · Post by **GrayDawg** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 10:16 am

Grouse

Post by **ezzy333** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 11:11 am

I guess it must be what you consider hardest to knock down. I will admit that grouse and woodcock can be hard to hit but they are extremely easy to bring down when hit. For the unplqand birds I don't think there is a bird that will compare to the cock pheasant. But my opinion is based on putting a bird in the open for a good shot and which one will keep right on going after being hit. Which is haredest to hit is a different question.

JMO
Ezzy

NC Quailhunter · Post by **NC Quailhunter** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 1:18 pm

I am such a bad shot it doesn't matter. They are all tough to knock down.

Shadow · Post by **Shadow** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:35 pm

sounds like just the guy I'd hunt with- we just turn arround and go after those birds again- ahhhh what a day for pointing dogs

texscala · Post by **texscala** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 3:37 pm

I have watched some sage grouse take shot and keep going. This year my buddy shot one early on the flush and you could see it react but still managed to regain itself and fly off.

I found him a half hour later a ways off and finished him.

Shadow · Post by **Shadow** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 5:10 pm

Shadow wrote:take a 3" shell, load a 2/4" load, insert a small stick in the center- glue the shell closed- shoot arround the bird

you know Marshboy- I was only joking- never tried it-

being that pheasant season is getting close to opening here- what's everybody going to have in their gun first morning, how far do you intend to shoot, and are you going to shoot at birds held on point, or flushed

myself- 8 shot light loads

tommyboy72 · Post by **tommyboy72** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 6:18 pm

Wussy Kansas Pheasant.

I tried 7 1/2 shot and moved up to Winchester Super Speed 6's last year but this year I am having Dave reload me some 5 shot for pheasant. 12 gauge by the way. Seems like a couple of years ago I used 7 1/2 20 gauge all year long and killed everything dead as a hammer. Last year though I had a lot of poor hit birds. Thank goodness for the dogs.

Shadow · Post by **Shadow** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:21 pm

ahhhh Tommy- when I send 355 #7&1/2 in a 30" circle they fall pretty hard

going to get pretty crazy arround here in a few days- I'm debating sitting in a lawn chair and watching

Anadromous · Post by **Anadromous** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 1:11 pm

Hmmm...

Pheasant

or

Chukar

I'm gonna say Chukar. You don't experience vertigo hunting pheasant.

Chaingang · Post by **Chaingang** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:19 am

Hands down a rooster pheasant.

Cagey old roosters have a will to survive more than any other game bird I can think of. If they are not anchored by a lethal hit you can count on that bird doing what ever it takes to escape. How many times have you thought that the bird took a hard hit only to go over to the spot and the bird is nowhere in sight.

One thing that I look for is the head when the bird is hit. If the head drops in the air the bird is dead. Head up and it's game on.......

birddog1968 · Post by **birddog1968** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:23 pm

Ive seen cans take a beating.

Put em down upside down head under water for 3 minutes or more and go to retrieve and pop up and fly off like unhurt.

Skid em, cartwheel em and they gather themselves up and off they go, swimming or flyin.....Tough birds on the wintering grounds.

I've also seen Goldeneyes fly thru barrages that would bring down Japanese zero's. Look like off the side of battleship with full Ackack fire goin.

Shadow · Post by **Shadow** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 6:15 am

birddog1968 wrote:Ive seen cans take a beating.

Put em down upside down head under water for 3 minutes or more and go to retrieve and pop up and fly off like unhurt.

Skid em, cartwheel em and they gather themselves up and off they go, swimming or flyin.....Tough birds on the wintering grounds.

I've also seen Goldeneyes fly thru barrages that would bring down Japanese zero's. Look like off the side of battleship with full Ackack fire goin.

that's good- can agree on Buffle Heads/Goldeneyes- think it had something to do with their small body and the mixture of 2's and 4's

Chaingang · Post by **Chaingang** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 5:25 pm

Come on guys... were not talking about waterfowl here. The original poster stated:

Which upland species of bird in your experience is the toughest to knock down?

JMoss · Post by **JMoss** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 12:55 pm

I believe the gamble Quail to be the toughest bird to take down. I have actually watched a gamble's get knocked out of the air land on it's back hitting the ground at full speed jump up and take off running we never found the bird even with dogs. If you have hunted gamble quail in Southern Utah or Arizona you will know what I mean!