I'm thinking about Fall and my usual Snipe spot. It's a huge 10,000+ acre Public WMA consisting of a large river bottom bordered by wooded hills. It's always swarming with Snipe and Rails, and I always seem to have it to myself. I almost always get my limit in a couple of hours, not because of the birds, but because it usually takes two boxes of shells to do it. I was reading the DNR regs and they mentioned that a few WMAs in a different part of Iowa were going to require non-tox for all hunting. To be safe, I called the management area to make sure. Of course, they informed me that non-tox would be required for Snipe and Rails. What a bummer. I can reload it, but Bismuth is crazy expensive. Particularly for such a small bird that's so hard to hit. Steel is not an option with my Vintage guns, I don't even own one new enough to consider it. I may have to just concentrate on Doves and Woodcock before Pheasant Season opens from now on.
Lightly choked long barreled Ithaca 37 pump is the classic of choice. My ca. 1941 30" 12ga comes in at 6.5" lb. Box of Winchester X-Pert steel #6 used to be about $8 for 20 or 25. What happened?
