We spent Saturday afternoon in the field and the birds were S.L.O.W. The field was wet, muddy, and just downright nasty. We got set up around 3:30 and had a few flying but nothing close. We did take a shot at a distant dove and then at 4:30 the good Lord sent a suicidal dove our way. The mojo (which the boys have named Spotty) drew the pair in like magic and Grayson made a great shot. After his shot, I swung on the 2nd bird and dropped it. A father/son double and a memory that will live with me forever! Grayson was so excited as was little brother, Hayes. We decided to pack it up at that point and head for the house and the LSU game. Grayson didn't mind a bit and was on cloud 9 all evening. When leaving the property we ran across this 5ft. rattlesnake sporting 12 rattles. A quick shot with the .410 was all she wrote for the big guy and I was able to get the rattles for the boys' collection box. Also while leaving, we noticed just how many birds had started flying in the area and I planned to bring the boys and Laura back on Sunday after church.
On Sunday we took it easy and didn't get set up until 5 that afternoon. I normally don't like to shoot a field after 6, but knowing we were resting the field for a week, I didn't mind. The birds started flying as soon as we got set up and it was a different ballgame than Saturday. Grayson shot an entire box of shells, which is a feat in itself with a single shot and I managed to burn two boxes. We finished the day with 10 and should have had an easy limit if I could have hit the broadside of a barn. I shot horrendous. We capped the day off by killing 2 mocassins on the way out and look forward to returning this coming weekend to try our luck again. Grayson got broken in the right way by killing his first dove, getting hit and cutting his nose with the hammer on the .410 and getting a real nice bruise on his shoulder. He thinks he's big stuff and I can't go on enough about how proud I am of the little hunter he's becoming. Hayes also did great and gave the dragon flies and tweety birds fits with his Red Ryder and he's already made mention that he'd like a gun like brother's for his birthday next year. A few pictures of the weekend are below.