Okay gang, just wanted to tell you all about my upland hunt this past Friday. But first, the backstory:
By brother-in-law lives near Kansas City (on the MO side) and his birthday is 10 days before mine. This year we decided we wanted to give ourselves an upland bird hunt as a birthday present. I REALLY didn't want to use my Benelli Nova pump on an upland hunt, and my wife and I have an understanding: only one shotgun at a time. Ergo, after no success at the Lebanon gun show in December, I went to 500 Guns on 16th St. and traded my pump with extra barrel straight up for a (well) used 11-87.
The Gun Store Review: 500 Guns fivehundredguns.com
It's a great place for the shotgun sportsman. I was the only customer in there at the time, but the two gentlemen behind the counter were very friendly, very helpful, and answered my questions without making me feel like an idiot. I felt like they really went out of their way to help me into the right shotgun at the right price ($0, in my case). If this is a typical situation there, I can give them my highest recommendation. They had a very wide selection of shotguns, and I could have been happy spending several thousand dollars there, if I had several thousand dollars, space for more guns, or did not have the aforementioned agreement in place. C'est la Vie. They are definitely the first place I will go to for my next purchase.
The Shotgun Review: Remington 11-87 Special Purpose Super Mag
Since the folks at 500 Guns said, "If you have any problems with it, just bring it back and we'll take care of it for no charge", I felt fairly good about buying a used gun without having fired it. But I DEFINITELY didn't want the first time I fired it to be when I was out in the field hunting. So I completely disassembled it, cleaned it maniacally, and re-lubed. I discovered it was missing the Barrel Seal Activator, which is supposed to go between the piston and the o-ring when shooting 2-3/4" loads. When I called Remington to order one, they said they would just send me one for free. Chalk one up for great customer service.
I took the 11-87 out to the Indiana Gun Club (before the BSA arrived) and shot 5 boxes of Rio Super Game loads though it and discovered that 1) I am a much better shot with the Remington than the Benelli. I guess it just fits me better. 2) I had only 1 failure to feed in 5 boxes (on the last box) even without the BSA, and 3) the 11-87 gas tube gets dirty as hell after 125 rounds.
My only quasi-complaint was that the 11-87 seemed a little heavy to be slogging around frozen milo fields for 4 hours. More on this later.
The Hunting Preserve Review: CrannieMack Bird Hunting, Hillsboro, IL www.cranniemackbirdhunting.com
Since St. Louis is roughly halfway between Indy and KC, that's where I started looking for hunting places. I came across several places that offered "package hunts" that started around $200 per hunter before tip. CrannieMack was the only place that offered a la carte pricing: $15 per pheasant, $12 per chukar, $8 (I think) per quail, only $50 minimum per hunter. $60 for dog and guide. Deal! I contacted Dennis at CrannieMack and set up our hunt: 4 pheasant and 2 chukar per hunter.
The weather was perfect: low 30s, clear and sunny. When we arrived, Dennis had set up his trap machine to let us warm up a bit on clays before starting out (the BSA had arrived from Remington by then). We crushed a few (yay no jams!) then went out to the fields.
Success! At a lot of places, the preserve owner will ask a friend to come out and "guide" some hunters. Often, their dogs are poorly trained, spastic monsters that scare up birds 75 yards away and generally make you want to club them with your gun. Not here. Dennis is the owner and the guide, and he trains his own dogs ($600 a month in dog food good god). The dogs (4 English Pointers) were excellent: pointed beautifully, held point, very accurate. One (Jasper) didn't like letting go of birds he retrieved, and tended to look like a Billy Goat with all the feathers hanging off of his mouth, but whatever. They were great. Nathan (Dennis' assistant) followed behind us in the gator carrying the extra dog and all the downed birds.
We hit a lot, missed a few, chased down and recovered a couple of misses. Unexpected bonus: we came across a covey of quail that we had not contracted for. Survivors from a previous hunt, apparently. Dennis let us take them for no charge.
We paid for 8 pheasants and 4 chukar. We shot 8 pheasants, 4 chukar, and 3 quail. And then Dennis and Nathan paid for our lunch at the Cozy Cafe! Great egg rolls and crab rangoon, by the way.
It was an absolutely wonderful hunt. My brother-in-law and I are planning to make it a yearly tradition for us. Maybe next time we'll bring more people with us. It was the best upland hunt I've had yet. I highly recommend them.
Note: Yes, the 11-87 is indeed pretty freaking heavy when considering upland bird hunting.
p.s. Yes, that is a Ravenclaw hat. Don't judge me.
By brother-in-law lives near Kansas City (on the MO side) and his birthday is 10 days before mine. This year we decided we wanted to give ourselves an upland bird hunt as a birthday present. I REALLY didn't want to use my Benelli Nova pump on an upland hunt, and my wife and I have an understanding: only one shotgun at a time. Ergo, after no success at the Lebanon gun show in December, I went to 500 Guns on 16th St. and traded my pump with extra barrel straight up for a (well) used 11-87.
The Gun Store Review: 500 Guns fivehundredguns.com
It's a great place for the shotgun sportsman. I was the only customer in there at the time, but the two gentlemen behind the counter were very friendly, very helpful, and answered my questions without making me feel like an idiot. I felt like they really went out of their way to help me into the right shotgun at the right price ($0, in my case). If this is a typical situation there, I can give them my highest recommendation. They had a very wide selection of shotguns, and I could have been happy spending several thousand dollars there, if I had several thousand dollars, space for more guns, or did not have the aforementioned agreement in place. C'est la Vie. They are definitely the first place I will go to for my next purchase.
The Shotgun Review: Remington 11-87 Special Purpose Super Mag
Since the folks at 500 Guns said, "If you have any problems with it, just bring it back and we'll take care of it for no charge", I felt fairly good about buying a used gun without having fired it. But I DEFINITELY didn't want the first time I fired it to be when I was out in the field hunting. So I completely disassembled it, cleaned it maniacally, and re-lubed. I discovered it was missing the Barrel Seal Activator, which is supposed to go between the piston and the o-ring when shooting 2-3/4" loads. When I called Remington to order one, they said they would just send me one for free. Chalk one up for great customer service.
I took the 11-87 out to the Indiana Gun Club (before the BSA arrived) and shot 5 boxes of Rio Super Game loads though it and discovered that 1) I am a much better shot with the Remington than the Benelli. I guess it just fits me better. 2) I had only 1 failure to feed in 5 boxes (on the last box) even without the BSA, and 3) the 11-87 gas tube gets dirty as hell after 125 rounds.
My only quasi-complaint was that the 11-87 seemed a little heavy to be slogging around frozen milo fields for 4 hours. More on this later.
The Hunting Preserve Review: CrannieMack Bird Hunting, Hillsboro, IL www.cranniemackbirdhunting.com
Since St. Louis is roughly halfway between Indy and KC, that's where I started looking for hunting places. I came across several places that offered "package hunts" that started around $200 per hunter before tip. CrannieMack was the only place that offered a la carte pricing: $15 per pheasant, $12 per chukar, $8 (I think) per quail, only $50 minimum per hunter. $60 for dog and guide. Deal! I contacted Dennis at CrannieMack and set up our hunt: 4 pheasant and 2 chukar per hunter.
The weather was perfect: low 30s, clear and sunny. When we arrived, Dennis had set up his trap machine to let us warm up a bit on clays before starting out (the BSA had arrived from Remington by then). We crushed a few (yay no jams!) then went out to the fields.
Success! At a lot of places, the preserve owner will ask a friend to come out and "guide" some hunters. Often, their dogs are poorly trained, spastic monsters that scare up birds 75 yards away and generally make you want to club them with your gun. Not here. Dennis is the owner and the guide, and he trains his own dogs ($600 a month in dog food good god). The dogs (4 English Pointers) were excellent: pointed beautifully, held point, very accurate. One (Jasper) didn't like letting go of birds he retrieved, and tended to look like a Billy Goat with all the feathers hanging off of his mouth, but whatever. They were great. Nathan (Dennis' assistant) followed behind us in the gator carrying the extra dog and all the downed birds.
We hit a lot, missed a few, chased down and recovered a couple of misses. Unexpected bonus: we came across a covey of quail that we had not contracted for. Survivors from a previous hunt, apparently. Dennis let us take them for no charge.
We paid for 8 pheasants and 4 chukar. We shot 8 pheasants, 4 chukar, and 3 quail. And then Dennis and Nathan paid for our lunch at the Cozy Cafe! Great egg rolls and crab rangoon, by the way.
It was an absolutely wonderful hunt. My brother-in-law and I are planning to make it a yearly tradition for us. Maybe next time we'll bring more people with us. It was the best upland hunt I've had yet. I highly recommend them.
Note: Yes, the 11-87 is indeed pretty freaking heavy when considering upland bird hunting.
p.s. Yes, that is a Ravenclaw hat. Don't judge me.
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