Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/641958
S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S 1 2 7 them, making incredibly challenging shooting and turning casual dove hunting into a desperate gunfight. Popping up in your face, a flock would split around you and accelerate so fast you could barely spin and shoot. Grinning from ear-to-ear, you'd use your sore thumb to jam more shells into a gun that has been shot so much you have to grab the forend knob and tighten it about every 15 minutes. You learn stuff about your shooting on a trip like this—and get so much better. I'm fairly proud of my shotgunning, which means my form must be good, right? Then I noticed by day two that my right deltoid was all rashed up, the skin bruised and leathery, out where a properly tucked shotgun butt is never supposed to ride. Hmmm . . . might explain those periodic six straight misses, eh? But you'll also make those impossible, memorable shots that you can't believe, the kind that only happen when nobody is looking. And the practice pays off. happy hunter clowns for the camera among his American friends and their morning's bag of white-wing doves. A Continued on page 151