Some months ago I acquired a vintage 870 in 16ga. It's a plain Jane for sure but it turns out she does the job just fine. That's when the end that is breathing is working right.
Second morning out I'm rounding a bend in the road and I spot a big fat blue grouse. As I get closer it starts getting jittery and does it's thing, swing, BANG, dead grouse. About the time I'm congratulating myself his first partner departs the nearby brush and I don't even get a bead on him and the second one takes off. Now I'm stunned and can't figure which one to shoot first when numbers three and four also take flight, swing, BANG, miss. Swing, BANG, miss. Again,
Four empty hulls, one grouse. Dang! At least the 16 works on the metal and wooden end.
Over the four days of hunting I saw lots of birds, mostly in very tight cover, and often running their butts off in all directions. All total I brought down 4 Ruffed and the one Blue.
My greatest surprise was that I saw very few hunters. I felt that was odd due to the fact the opener was on a weekend. I'm hoping it remains like that but I'm not holding my breath. We'll see in a couple of weeks when I head back up.
