"Why birds? They are easier to hunt and you can get alot more of them. Plus you don't have to worry as much about someone hitting your dogs as much by accident."
Man, you lost me on that statement. Sounds like someone who has never shot at a small flying object, with dogs in close proximity.
Try shooting a dove sometime. I hit a lot of clouds and waste a lot of ammunition, but it's the comraderie (sp) I'm there for -- and the gumbo, watching the dogs work, etc.
The dove bird mauever I've come most to appreicate is when one's flying hard, you've swung onto it, then it does that quick little mid-air dip, just as you pull the trigger. Hunting with an auto gives you another shot, or two, but they do get more out of range each second, and it is a kind of a funny feeling, when you're left standing there with an empty gun and no bird.
My ex "peppered" the tail of my beautiful little Brittany spaniel on purpose once when I was not along on the quail hunt. I was furious and looked into how to go about legally peppering HIS tail.
She wasn't really hurt, but according to him, that's how they train the dogs not to get in the line of fire. If they get peppered once, they'll stay out of the way. Poor little thing was only 6-7 months old and was a very well trained bird dog camp graduate, already.
Anyway, it never happened again, but I always wondered if that was why she was such an incredibly fast bolter and runner, so much so that everyone always commented on it!
I was talking about rabbit hunting and protecting your dogs. And I have been dove and quail hunting more times than I can remember. Both with and without dogs.
I started dove hunting when I was ten years old with a single-shot .410. And I agree, I was out there more for the act of hunting than to just bag birds (although I'd often get four or five). The good thing about doves is that you are typicallyshooting upwards and have less safety concerns that quail hunting.
Which means if you are quail hunting, where the birds tend to flush and stay closer to the ground, you have to be less concerned with the birds and more concerned that you have a clear path of fire.