By Philip Bourjaily

Andy Fielder of Junction City, Oregon sent these pictures in asking for help in ID-ing this white goose. He shot it out of a flock of similar-sized western Canadas during Oregon’s early Canada season. He thinks it’s a pure albino Canada and his taxidermist agrees. Any ideas?  Whatever it turns out to be, at the young age of 19 he’s already bagged the waterfowling trophy of a lifetime.

Me, I have never shot anything all white, although there used to be a white squirrel that lived in a grove across the gravel road from my old house. I figured it had enough problems dodging hawks and other predators without me bothering it, too. My barber has a half-white wild rooster pheasant on the wall of his shop, but I’ve never seen one myself. Anybody out there shoot anything all white, all black or just plain weird?  [ Read Full Post ]

By Philip Bourjaily

When you have dogs, you spend a lot of time cleaning up after them. In the process, you learn more about their dietary habits than you ever wanted to know. For instance, I can tell you that Jed loves to eat foam earplugs even though I’ve never actually seen him with one in his mouth.

It could be worse. The earplugs pass through his system intact, and the day-glo foam stands out like little beacons in the backyard, making it easy to spot the messes for clean up.

Ike, my old dog, has a nose for chocolate. A few years ago my mom sent each of my boys a pound of chocolate coins for Christmas. She neglected to tell us what was in the boxes, so on Christmas Eve we put them under the tree with the other gifts. We came home after midnight mass to find Ike had torn open both packages, carefully unwrapped every single coin, and eaten them all.

Chocolate is supposedly deadly poison to dogs, I dialed my vet’s emergency number and woke the doctor on call at 1:30 Christmas morning. She was very nice, considering. She asked me what kind of chocolate it was – milk (not so bad)... [ Read Full Post ]

By Philip Bourjaily

Among the people I shoot skeet and sporting clays with, good natured heckling is an accepted, even encouraged, practice.

I was, however, the victim of a new 21st century  technological low: the first cell-phone heckling I’m aware of on the skeet field.

We were most of the way through a round when my phone rang. Since it was just me and my son Gordon on the field, I took the call. It was Rick, who I thought might be calling to say he was on his way to shoot with us. Big mistake.

Me: Hey Rick.

Rick: I’m at home. Where are you?

Me: Station 7.

Rick: I just wanted to see if you’d missed yet.

Me: Uh, no.

Rick: Good luck with your straight. Bye.

Mentioning a straight in progress is the equivalent of asking a pitcher if he’s aware he has a no-hitter going – supposedly a sure-fire jinx. I managed to keep my focus and broke the rest of the targets. Unfortunately, Rick’s call claimed an unintended victim:  Gordon melted down and missed three of the next four.

I am not one of those with a phone stuck to my ear. My cell rings rarely enough that I’m usually happy when I get a call. From now on,... [ Read Full Post ]

By David E. Petzal and Philip Bourjaily

With doom on the horizon, I've heard all manner of talk this past weekend about hoarding ammunition, components, and guns against the time that President Obama outlaws all firearmss except Joe Biden's Beretta, and food riots break out in Beverly Hills. Some perspective was provided by a friend who dotes on old and obscure rifles, and who has, over the years, acquired a ton of ammo for them. Now all of a sudden he has to move, and is faced with the task of unloading hundreds  and hundreds of rounds of .280 Ross, 6.5x54, and stuff like that. At the least he will take a financial beating, and will probably end up having to take his stash with him.

Generally, it's not a good idea to buy huge amounts of anything unless a) you get a hell of a price on it and b) you shoot it up over the years. About a decade ago, a police-supply house near me went out of business, and I bought what I thought was an absurd number of primers for very little. Now they are just about used up, and I saved a bundle by making the purchase.

I also had a chance to buy... [ Read Full Post ]

By David E. Petzal and Philip Bourjaily

A friend of mine booked a sheep hunt early this year, and because of the nut-busting price, he decided to leave nothing to chance. He bought a .270 WSM from rifle builder Mark Bansner, and mounted a Schmidt & Bender scope that cost as much as a Volkswagen. He jogged with a 50-pound pack and the rifle on his back, and on the gun’s stock he taped a cheat sheet that showed bullet drop in 50-yard increments out to 500 yards. Then he memorized the cheat sheet.

When the shot actually came, it was a 300-yarder, and a funny thing happened: His mind went absolutely blank. He forgot every number on the sheet, and had to read it to get his holdover. But he got the ram.

This is the great weakness inherent in all the rangefinders, range-compensating reticles, and everything else that tells you where to hold—when the moment actually comes, most people’s minds go blank. They forget how to use these electronic miracles, panic, and blaze away somewhere in the general direction of the beast.

There are two cures: One is to be born with the nervous system of a monitor lizard. The other is to do a lot of shooting—and I... [ Read Full Post ]

By Philip Bourjaily

“Are you shooting straight?” I asked the guy behind me in the lunch line
at last weekend’s Ronald McDonald House charity sporting clays event. These benefit shoots attract everyone from casual hunters to serious tournament shooters.

“I’ve hunted my whole life and never seen one of those orange things come out of a fenceline,” he said, the implication being, I can hit real birds but not those silly clays.

I smiled, nodded politely and thought “yeah, right,” the way I do whenever someone says that.  Fact is, most hunters don’t shoot every well, and most who can really shoot learned on clay targets because that’s the only way you can pull the trigger enough times to get good.

There are exceptions. Some people shoot so many birds they don’t need to practice on clay. Gun writer L.P. Brezny is one of the best field shotgunners I know, but he has no interest in clays – perhaps because they don’t bleed – and he just sort of waves his gun at them. On the other hand, he shoots tons of pigeons, starlings and crows year round, and gamebirds in season. He’s never out of practice and he’s deadly in the field. My friend Travis Mueller... [ Read Full Post ]