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Joined: Jun 2021
Posts: 130 Likes: 21
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Jun 2021
Posts: 130 Likes: 21 |
Does anyone take a second shot at grouse? I don't hunt grouse (they don't live near here) but have long wondered if the second shot is useful. From hunting stories I read, it seems that the bird takes off through the trees like a rocket and one is fortunate to get a single hurried shot.
"Tap" Tappley, who wrote the "Tap's Tips" column for Field and Stream for many years bought his son a Savage 220 hammerless single shot 20 ga. for grouse hunting. Is it possible that that a quick, light single shot is the ideal grouse gun?
Caution: Hunting and fishing stories told here. Protective footgear may be required.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,749 Likes: 744
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,749 Likes: 744 |
A single shot would just about eliminate the chance for a double! It would also eliminate the happy circumstance of having instant choke selection when the moment calls for it. Don’t tell anybody, but, I got a double with a Remington model 17 pump, missing the first shot at the bird, connecting on the second, and connecting on the second bird with the third shot, a shot that was far enough away the buddy who witnessed it figured the bird was lost. My Gordon had other thoughts.
Best, Ted
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Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 125 Likes: 3
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 125 Likes: 3 |
Definitely worth having two shots available....the first shot is usually me going "Holy crap, theres a whizing brown thing over that way, I'll try and shoot in front of it" The second is me going..."oh, now I'll take a real poke". OR, there's three birds in the tree, and my hunting partner J-MAN points up at them, and we shoot a couple as they flush from the tree...(of course I would never, ever shoot a Grouse that was not on the wing!).......now my hunting partner...he likes the taste of Grouse and I however cannot control his actions :-)
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Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,104 Likes: 592
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,104 Likes: 592 |
I kill most of my birds with the second shot (I get surprised often as well). Single shots can be great bird guns but....as Ted has mentioned, even a third shot can be very useful. Maybe it's different for other folks but... I've never found grouse hunting to be very predictable. Options for additional shots are usually a good idea in the environs where I generally find myself.
Last edited by Lloyd3; 01/19/22 01:39 AM.
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 6,486 Likes: 393
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 6,486 Likes: 393 |
I like ruffed grouse hunting with my Tolley single shot. You are either on it or you aren’t. But I also like hunting them with some of my SxS and definitely will have plenty of reason to use the second barrel.
The world cries out for such: he is needed & needed badly- the man who can carry a message to Garcia
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 6,993 Likes: 402
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 6,993 Likes: 402 |
We do not have ruffs here but we do have dusky(blue) grouse, I make good use of my second barrel on them.
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,984 Likes: 298
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,984 Likes: 298 |
Not to be too pedantic, but among the people I know that keep track of these things, first shot kill percentages are much lower than second.
Lots of factors, primarily haste.
Out there doing it best I can.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 11,377 Likes: 105
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 11,377 Likes: 105 |
Re instant choke selection, I can recall two occasions when I've gone to the rear trigger for the first shot to take a chance at a grouse that's well out there. Worked both times. But IMO it's not nearly as critical as being able to select the tight barrel first as it is on pheasants. I can recall one ringneck hunt in Iowa where I went back trigger first on 3 roosters in a row. Worked well twice. I might have gotten a little cocky the 3rd time.
Re Tap's son Bill . . . I expect some know the story, but Burton Spiller ("Grouse Feathers" and other books) was Tap's hunting partner. As he neared the end of his hunting days, he asked Bill Tapply if he could handle that little Savage single shot. He asked Bill if they could trade guns for the day. (Spiller's was a Parker V grade 20ga.) At the end of the day, Spiller told Bill to keep the Parker and he'd keep the Savage. Morris Baker of RST now owns the Parker.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 2,266 Likes: 93
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 2,266 Likes: 93 |
Sometimes the first shot isn't always on accurate point. It takes the second shot to focus in on.
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Joined: Jun 2021
Posts: 30 Likes: 6
Boxlock
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Boxlock
Joined: Jun 2021
Posts: 30 Likes: 6 |
I grew up using a single shot 12 and shot lots of ruffed grouse. It took a few years for me to learn to slow down and wait for a good opportunity. I longed for a double barrel, but the reality was the single barrel forced me to be disciplined in choosing my shots. Today I have several doubles, but choose my shots carefully. Usually only fire one round at a bird. Doubles are not unusual.
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