Sooner, or, later, the temps in my part of the world will be at 0 degrees, or, lower, and I up my game a bit for the late season ditch parrots and the grouse that are left to 6s and 5s. I have a bunch of lead 4s left over from my dads duck and goose hunting forays, but, my guns have more open chokes then dad used, and the patterns I get with 4s seem a bit ragged. I don’t doubt if you get a #4 into just about any bird it is going to spoil his whole afternoon. I still hunt when it gets cold, I just don’t do it as long as I once did.
I’ve probably born witness to most of a dozen generations of Labs lifting their legs on somebody’s shotgun or boots. Also noted was the fact that if you were hunting with a guy who had GSPs, and you stopped for lunch, you had to retrain all the male dogs afterward. I’ve been in a duck boat with a Chesapeake who sat and snarled at me for the entire ride. I asked the owner what I did to piss him off, and was told nothing, he did that to everybody, especially women. He usually bit the women. He was an excellent retriever, but, it seemed to me it should have been possible to get that same thing in a less violent package. I haven’t shot a duck in 50 years. Not that dogs fault, but, he was part of the mix that turned me off that game.
My preference is to smaller, female Setters. The bigger dogs were fine until I hit 60, and would occasionally have to load them into the truck when they got old. If the day is warm, I don’t think too hard about shot size, especially for ruffed grouse, anywhere between 6s and 8s will do the job if I do mine. I don’t need a bunch of choke for that task, either.
I like Gene’s writing, but, my style and habits shouldn’t be identical to his. Neither should yours.
Best,
Ted
