Love the first bird hunt of the year. We always go to my property out in the Sandhills and hunt grouse/prairie chickens in preparation for pheasant season in a month.
We did well this year. Did you know that farmers are now bitching about the price of corn due to the abundance of rain IN THE SANDHILLS? That's right! 15 years of drought, all they complained about was "corn won't grow!" Now it's , "too much rain, too many farmers can grow corn!"
Jesus.
Anyway... Due to the last four years of amazingly wet summers in the "Nebraska desert land" the birds are flourishing. Anyone who's hunted sharp tail grouse or prairie chickens know that they're a lot of fun to track down as long as you've got the right dog.
I have had the right dogs for 30 of my 40 years. They will hunt whatever the hell I want to find. Pheasant, quail, grouse, TURKEY, deer tracking, whatever.

We're currently with our 8th generation of Brittany Spaniel and they just keep getting better.
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I have 2. Restored one with a gray stain, polished the receiver. Looks kind sweet. In process of doing the other as original.

Here's a pic of the one:


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.243 is Bob Dole's favorite whitetail rifle, unless it is wooly, then Bob Dole breaks out the 30.06.
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Bob Dole is about to go buy a decent pellet gun. 6-8 dove sitting on the wire across the road every morning.
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Sounds like easy dinner to me.
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Man, I went out the other day as well. Too damn hot, too many bugs, and only one doe on my camera. :-)

It might be time to find a new place to hunt. :-)
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Mines not that old, Winchester.

Still looks brand new.

But yours is good looking.

I've also got a 30-30 marlin that we bought when my son was born
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Quail is going to be outstanding here this year.It been terrible for along time ,slowly getting back
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Where is hear?
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Didn't care for my .243, love my 30.06. So I use my 30.06 on whitetails.
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85miles south and a little west of topeka
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Emporia? I haven't even checked the bird forecast here in MO.
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.30-06 is probably the best "one gun for everything" gun. There are more heavy load choices than you get with a .270. You get that advantage on anything bigger than an Elk or a Black Bear by using the .30-06. I don't really find myself trudging around for Moose and Grizzlies though, so I'm happy as hell without one. My grandfather and uncles all used them though, so I've shot them plenty. Will say, my .270 kicks a fuck of a lot more... to the point I've thought about adding a muzzle brake and swapping the synthetic stock for wood.
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That one is a 1977 Winchester Model 94, so not incredibly old.

The other one I have disassembled is a 1952 Winchester Model 94
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Fuck trespassers. :-)
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