Bird Hunting

Nathan passed Hunter's Safety class over the summer and now can officially hunt. We picked up his Junior Small Game license and Meijer had a coupon to get his combo deer license free. So he's set for the season. We sat twice during the youth deer hunt a couple weeks ago but didn't see anything. During the same weekend, though, we joined Scott, Bob, and Remy for some morning bird hunting. This was Nate's first time carrying a real gun so I didn't take my gun so I could watch over him and make sure he was being safe. He was using his Rossi matched pair gun that he got for Christmas last year. It has a .22 barrel and a .410 barrel. He was using the .410 with bird shot. I was very pleased with his hunting. He stayed up with the group, kept his muzzle in a safe direction, and stayed in his safe zone of fire on more than one occasion when a bird flew between us. It was a fun day. Remy put up quite a few woodcock and a handful of grouse. One of the woodcock that flew between us landed close by so Scott and Nate walked over toward it. When Remy flushed it up Scott and Nate both pulled up and shot at the same time. Scott is "pretty sure" he missed so Nate got his first woodcock. ;-) Not bad. Of course we had to clean it, wrap it in bacon, and fry it up in garlic butter for him to go along with his dinner. Most importantly, Nathan followed all the safety rules and is welcome to hunt with the group again. Here are some shots after we returned.

Bob, Scott, Remy, Nathan, and Troy
Remy holding Nate's bird...