What an epic hunt in brutal conditions! Ember did great! What a great dog! Congrats! I can't wait for the bird season to open later this year! Looking forward to your future videos! Subscribed!
New to the channel, I'll definitely be watching more! Thanks for the content, Joe. If I may, I'd like to offer one piece of advice that will help you put more birds in the bag. You're a good shot, but I've noticed that you're a bit slow to shoulder the gun, and of course every moment counts. I had a hunch as to why, and my suspicion was confirmed at 8:13 during this video. You are approaching a point with your shotgun in a less than optimal position. In this instance, you had the barrel pointed towards the ground. Aside from being completely unready with the gun over your shoulder or in one hand, this is the hardest position to begin shooting from. Think about how far the barrel has to travel before you can shoot. You will help yourself a lot by holding the shotgun with the barrel pointed towards the sky while you are approaching a point. You don't want to point it straight up, just naturally holding the gun with the barrel pointed up and left (assuming you're right handed) and the butt just under armpit. I would imagine you already do this from time to time coincidentally as it is a common way to hold a gun, but if you start doing it intentionally every time, it will improve your shooting. There are two advantages to this: 1. it is much faster to shoulder the gun and 2. you can begin tracking the target with the barrel while you are still raising the butt to your shoulder. If you incorporate it into your shooting practice, it will become part of your shooting and you will surprise yourself by how fast you can shoulder and shoot those flighty birds. This is just my one piece of advice. Great job on the dog, she is definitely as good of a girl as you tell her she is. Thanks for the content, can't wait to watch more.
Hey Blake, Thanks for taking the time with your detailed analysis and breakdown. It totally makes sense and I'll have to practice more because my biggest challenge is getting that proper shoulder mount (your point #1), which is key. The butt of the gun always gets hung up on my shoulder strap starting with it in or near my armpit whereas the low ready position I can simply slide the butt down my shoulder while rotating the barrel up - I agree the barrel travels farther but the actual result in that timestamp example you gave is pretty fast from flush to shot. I need to look at my shoulder straps to see if they can be reconfigured. I'm using Marsupial Gear (which I absolutely love) and just saw they came out with a thinner strap that I want to try. Again, thanks and I'm sad hunting season is almost over and the recent snowfall doesn't make it any easier.
Pretty work! I’m amazed that you were able to navigate the frozen steep slopes without sliding into the lake below. What boots are you wearing? Strong legs and good balance are more important but it’s nice to have the right boots. That’s difficult terrain in good conditions but darn treacherous with frozen soil covered by snow!
Ya it can get gnarly at times and I'm fortunate to have good knees (for now) lol. I've been using the Irish Setter Elk Trackers for years and love them, although I know they are not the fanciest
@@gsp_in_traininggreat choice with the Elk trackers! The deep lug tread has to give maximum grip and the leather is triple stitched. Its definitely a boot I’m looking to the next time I need to replace my work/hunting boots.
@@ronblackburn3683 ya the tread is amazing and you can get them resoled, which I've done to several of my pairs. Break in period is minimal for me as well
