I experienced an incident hunting this year, though not "scientific" in the usual sense of the word, but interesting to me. We were hunting grouse (the locals call 'em "pats") and woodcock in Oscoda County, Michigan over my ten year old setter, Kate, when, toward evening, a woodcock flushed from under her point. We were in typical heavy Michigan bird hunting cover and I got a glimpse of the bird going right to left and fired. I was using a Browning Double Auto with a modified choke and standard 1 ounce, tweve gauge shells with #7 1/2 shot. As I swung on the target my barrel crossed an intervening tree limb at a distance of about ten feet as I pulled the trigger. Down came the limb, narrowly missing Kate.
After the good-natured kidding and laughter from my two hunting buddies, we examined the tree and were surprised to see a limb fully four inches in diameter cut cleanly off, as if it were severed with a hatchet. And the tree was quite green. Though, if you noticed my earlier post, I am an advocate of #4 Buck as a self-defense load in a home situation, I will never again disparage ordinary birdshot as a close-range self-protection measure.
And, for those who might be interested, after a five minute search and as darkness was closing in, we found the bird!
