Living with the 28 Gauge

The end of a great afternoon

Nobody will argue that the 12 gauge is the queen of all shotguns. It is the most available, the most used, the most flexible, and would be my recommendation to almost anyone that is getting start in shotguns, provided they have the size and muscles to handle the weight of the gun (recoil is no longer a problem with the advent of “featherweight” and low pressure target rounds that will shoot ¾ to 7/8 ounces).

But, with all its qualities the 12 may be just too much gun, and if it is the queen, then, in my opinion the 28 gauge is the princess of shotguns. I know that a lot of people will make their cases for the 16 and 20 gauges and a few may even put a word or two for the 410 bore. And the 24 and 32 gauges are all but forgotten.

Anyway, my vote and my case are for the 28 gauge and the light and in the majority of cases well-balanced guns that shoot it. And the last point is very important, if you are going to use a 28, make sure to select a gun that is made in a properly sized frame, and not some misconceived and ungainly aberration that just happen to haven smaller holes drilled in barrels that would handle a 20 gauge shell easily.

If you read other posts in this blog you will already know that our household guns when I grew up were 28 gauges, and that they were big enough to handle all the hunting that we had around.

At that time in Brazil the standard 28 gauge shells were waxed paper 2 ½ inches (65 mm) loaded with 5/8 ounces (15,5 grams) of shot. The available shot sizes were T (an uncommon size in the US, it is slightly larger than BB), 3, 5 and 7.

T shot is recommended for animal up to the size of a paca or agouti (Cuniculus paca), which is probably the best tasting meat we will ever have the pleasure of eating, and my father used it very successfully for that. For all feathered game, including waterfowl (the most prevalent around our farm were paturis (Netta erythrophtalma) which are similar to teals) and upland birds we used shot No. 5.

For larger game like capivara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) we relied on IDEAL slugs. The IDEAL is an European design that never caught up in the US, and is basically a pure lead cylinder that has three rings around it in the outside (this allows the slug to be stable while moving through the barrel and the external rings can deform when passing through the choke) and spiral groves inside that look like an helix or a propeller, therefore the popular name Helix Bullet. The internal groves are supposed to make the projectile spin during flight and provide enhanced stability and precision. To prove this we would put one slug inside the gun barrel and blow air from the shop compressor and the slug would really spin. If that really happened on flight I don’t know.

Later when I started having to hand load my own brass shot shells for capivara I replaced the more expensive IDEAL slugs by fishing sinkers of more or less the appropriate size, and used them quite effectively on an old Rossi Overland, side-by-side exposed hammer shotgun. I had a lot of fun with this gun and still have it stored in Brazil. It is completely out of face, one of the barrels has a bulge and the lower rib is coming apart, and it has not fired a shot in twenty years, but I could not part away from the little rack.

If you fast forward from my childhood to the last ten years, I have had many different 28 gauge shotguns here in the US and used them quite extensively, but solely for clay shooting and upland birds.

I had a very nice Beretta 686 that I could shoot quite well, but traded for a Browning 20 gauge side-by-side if for no other reason than I am really infatuated with side-by-side guns. This gun saw quite a bit of use on pheasants in many preserves in Michigan and on mourning doves in some farms in Indiana, since Michigan laws prevents us from shooting our birds before they migrate to Indiana where we must pay a lot more to shoot them. The only exception was the fall of 2004 when we had the only experimental dove season in Michigan (see blog “The Missed Doves of Michigan, September 2011).

Then I had a really charming Remington 1100 Sporting that I used as part of the trade for another side-by-side, this time an AyA 16 gauge, if for no other reason that I was tired of looking for ejected shells all over the local skeet fields and just could not use it if there was snow on the ground as 28 gauge shells are too expensive not to be reloaded.

Eventually I was able to overcome all the infamous Brazilian red tape and bring my dad’s Beretta 28 side-by-side Model 409 to the US and I already commented about this fantastic little gun on other posts. Initially I shot it very little as it was chambered for 2 ½ inch shells, but that is now solved as this gun was fully restored by Del Whitman.

Recently Brenneke started offering 28 gauge 5/8 ounce slugs, but I have no experience with them. Before that I created my own big game ammo by loading two 50 caliber musket balls inside a standard wad. Unhappily I never did any comprehensive tests to evaluate their performance, but I have little doubt that they would be as deadly as any muzzleloader shooting similar projectiles.

The last 28 gauge that I bought is a Browning Model 12 grade I. This gun fits me particularly well and outshoots almost any other gun that I have. My highest score at trap was shot with it, using ¾ ounces low speed reloads with No. 8 shot.

However during all these years and having shot all these fine guns I had one frustration. I had never used a 28 gauge to hunt codorna or perdiz (Nothura maculosa), the princess of upland birds that my father used to hunt. Before you ask, the queen of upland birds is the perdigão or martineta (Rhynchotus rufescens), but that is another story.

Finally in last July during my latest trip to Uruguay I was able to finally have the princess of shotguns and the princess of upland birds on the same date. I used a Stoeger/Boito/ERA 28 gauge side-by-side, and shot Spanish made ¾ ounces 7 ½ shells to shoot a 10 bird limit on perdiz every afternoon that I went out, and for an inexpensive Brazilian made shotgun, it performed amazingly well. All birds that I hit fell hard, and the many that I missed were entirely my fault.

On the mornings we shot doves and the odd pigeons, and I noticed no difference on my hit ratio compared to the 16’s and 20’s that I used on previous years and there was the added benefit of not having a sore shoulder once the morning was over.

On the last evening we performed a service to a local farming by thinning out the caturrita or cotorro (Myiopsitta monachus), a highly destructive vermin in the form of colorful parrot. Their nests were located in a eucalyptus grove and since we were not there for sport anything was fair game and we wanted to get the most of the shells that we had. I remember bringing seven birds down with a single shot, and at the end of the culling we shot about seventy five birds with less than forty shells.

Life is too short to do things that we don’t enjoy, so I am quite happy to be living with the 28 gauge for over four decades, since the days that I used to follow my father’s steps while hunting perdiz over our English pointer Diana in our farm in Brazil, and retrieving the spent 28 gauge paper hulls just to smell their inebriant essence, until some weeks ago when I first had the opportunity to smell a Michigan woodcock shot by the same Beretta shotgun.

And I hope that I will be able to continue to enjoy many other “adventures”.

Protecting Your Ears While You Are Out Hunting

Your new best friend!

Hi my name is John O'Connor, I am a father, outdoorsman and passionate about living a healthy lifestyle. Over the past few years I have become more and more interested in hearing loss. My father and grandfathers, who are and were all hunters, are affected by hearing loss.  I feel that there is a general lack of understanding around the issue and it is our job to spread awareness where we can.  Check out my new blog at www.bloggingwjohno.blogspot.com!

For most hunters, they put a lot of emphasis on the safety of this hobby and all of the small details that go into having a safe trip.  Unfortunately, some hunters are not as safe as they should be when out in the wilderness.  You probably have a checklist of all of the things that you need every time you go out hunting with friends and relatives.  However, if you don't have any type of hearing protection on that list, you are missing something incredibly vital.

Your hearing loss cannot be reversed once it happens.  You can use a hearing aid or hearing aids to help pick up sounds around you, but you will never truly be able to get your hearing back.  My father who has been hunting for years now is severely affected by hearing loss due to hunting.  Although hunting is not the number one cause for his hearing loss it did play a large roll.  Now in his 70’s he still likes to get out and hunt but always remembers to bring the proper hearing protection with him so he doesn't damage his hearing further.  This is why prevention is key for anyone who wants to preserve this particular human sense.  Protecting your ears and your hearing can be easier than you might think, but it needs to become a habit that gets added onto your hunting checklist before you go out.  The benefits of protecting your hearing are practically endless and can make a difference for you later on in life.

You are probably thinking about ways that you can protect your ears from hearing damage, but you also need to put some emphasis on the hearing of your group members.  Even group members who are not going to be firing guns need to wear some type of hearing protection.  Gunfire is incredibly loud and can do an enormous amount of damage to a person's hearing.  This is why you need to protect both your ears and the ears of your friends and family members before you venture out into the wilderness.

You should definitely make a stop to your local sporting goods store to see what type of hearing protection they have available.  Most of the time, you will be able to find earplugs and headphones in the area where the guns are sold.  You should also ask an employee what they recommend when it comes to hunting and protecting your hearing.  Certain headphones are more suited for hunters because they are camouflaged or are easier to remove when you are wearing gloves.  Your sporting goods store will carry any and all of these types of items for you to choose from.

As stated before, hearing loss is basically irreversible.  You should always have the best types of hearing protection products on hand every single time you go out hunting with friends.  You should also make sure that you bring extra earplugs for your friends if they forgot to bring some of their own.  Being a good hunter does not only entail being able to catch game.  You also need to know how to be a safe hunter and to keep those around you safe while firing your gun.

Note from Rodrigo: This post was written by fellow blogger John O'Connor, and although the topic is a bit different than what I write about, it is very relevant to all hunters and shooters.

As a consequence of Menière's Disease I have tinnitus (that disturbing ringing in the ears), but luckily no hearing loss. You will find earplugs in the pockets of most of my jackets (including the ones I use to work). I use earplugs every time I fire a gun, both at the gun club and especially when dove and waterfowl hunting. If I am shooting a high power rifle, I will use both earplugs and ear muffs. I even use earplugs on commercial flights, particularly the overnight ones. Earplugs sell for under one dollar, and that small investment will have a big impact in the quality of your life.

The Books of Guy de la Valdène

Robust reading & a Robust shotgun

There are certain people that I just wish I could meet and share a good meal and better conversation with, and of those people is Guy de la Valdène.

A war baby born in New York city in 1944, Guy de la Valdène had the opportunity and privilege of not only being educated both in the United States and Europe, but of being exposed from a relative young age to some outstanding bird hunting (as well as fishing) in both sides of “the pond”. But most important, he took the time, and also the expenses, of putting down in excellent writing a lot of those experiences. And he does so in such a beautiful way that I can only admire.

Mr. de la Valdène’s books present a substantial more cosmopolitan view of hunting than is generally available from less enlightened writers. He provides a zesty mix of natural history and ecology, a lot of cooking and some drinking, great dogs and enticing women, hunting and poaching, and a passion for wild birds, with an emphasis on the wild.

If I remember correct, the first piece that I read from Guy de la Valdène was an article published in “Garden & Gun”, that was the foreword for his latest, and I hope not last, book, “The Fragrance of Grass”. I was immediately hooked to his writing and storytelling style, and as soon as I could connect to internet I ordered that book. Later I was able to order “For a Handful of Feathers” and “Red Stag” (his only novel) from used bookstores.

Just about two months ago I decided to order the prized “Making Game – An Essay on Woodcock” and I should say that my decision to buy a new home in Traverse City, MI, was in no small way influenced, or at least reassured, by this book.

Through much of his works Mr. de la Valdène questions the ethics of hunting and the killing of wild animals, in the same way that every true hunter should do, but recognizes the urge and need to continue hunting in order to maintain the importance and relevance of wild places and wild things in our lives.

You could have a hunter’s or poet’s heart, but as long as you love nature you will love these books. I am listing them in chronological order, and presenting a small quote from each.

Making Game - An Essay on Woodcock (ISBN 0-944439-14-4), 1985, 1990

"Of late, these feathered things have been settling on the souls of those who poison the sky and foul the seas. In the not-so-distant past society beheaded such people. Just a thought."

For a Handful of Feathers (ISBN 0-87113-618-X) 1995

"A la pointe du fusil means at the tip of the gun, and implies freshly killed game. Faisandè means pheasanted (if that were a word) and suggests game that hung until the germs of its intestines invade the balance of its tissues, decomposing and softening them while strengthening he fundamental taste of the meat, which in the case of pheasants, wild turkey, and quail is bland. Three days on the gallows will relax muscles and fibers as surely as the sun loosens the reserve of young women, allowing the wild flavor of its nature and the environment it lived in to be released."

Red Stag - A Novel (ISBN 1-59228-134-6) 2003

"The brown paper hid a leather gun case, inside which lay the stock and barrels of a box lock, sixteen-gauge side-by-side Robust. The set smell of gun oil that stained the felt lining rose to greet him. The wood was scratched and the gun barrels had lost most of their bluing, but when he put the gun together and closed the breach, the sound filled him with delight."

The Fragrance of Grass (ISBN 978-0-7627-6414-3) 2011

"'Cochon!' exclaimed the young maid, reddening. But after a little while, encouraged by the wine, the presence of large, sated men, and the wood-burning warmth of a nearby stove, she made a production of licking her lips. To the cheers of the men, she flashed the table a lovely, well-shaped, pink breast. It was my first party."

Maybe one day I will meet Mr. de la Valdène, be it in the woods of Northern Michigan or in his farm turned bobwhite quail heaven in Tallahassee, Florida, or any other place that holds some wild birds, and at time I would like to have my sixteen-gauge side-by-side Robust portrayed above, just to shoot a couple birds for a meal that would take several hours to prepare, and that would make it socially acceptable for us to share one or more bottles of good red wine.

Sunset

Saint-Exupéry flying?

It took me a long time to start to appreciate sunsets.

The first book that I read where sunsets were an integral part of it, almost a character was “Le Petit Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the French flight pioneer that disappeared during a recognizance flight over the Mediterranean in 1944.

Some years later I read Monteiro Lobato’s “A Chave do Tamanho”, one of the many stories that compose the Brazilian classic “O Sítio do Picapau Amarelo” where the author tries to find a solution for a World War II that is devastating the planet and mankind. In the opening paragraph the main characters are watching what Emília – the rag doll – calls “um por-de-sol de trombeta” or a “trumpet sunset”, when the Sun plays a trumpet to call all the colors, specially the reds and yellows and coppers to build a fantastic show.

I used to think that sunsets where melancholic, but now I recognize that they are another component – beautiful, grandiose, emotive – of what we call a day, and that is must happen otherwise how could we appreciate the moon and stars, or the sun rising the next morning?

I really attempted to capture the pelican flying over Marco Island beach while the sun was setting over the Gulf of Mexico. Afterwards I started to think that the lonely pelican could represent Saint-Exupéry still flying.

“On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.” – The Fox

Woodcock

A new experience in Northern Michigan

This weekend my wife and I came to Traverse City, Northern Michigan Lower Peninsula, to enjoy the fall colors, relax and pick-up two shotguns that Del Whitman (www.dcwhitmangunsmithing.com) was working on for me.

Although the weather was less than great (and that is being positive), we had fantastical views during the almost three-hour drive, with all tones of auburn, yellow, copper, orange and red blasting out of the landscape, with patches of ever greens trespassing here and there.

My wife and I first came to Traverse City during the US Labor Day weekend (first Monday of September) and we fell in love with the place. We needed vacations and wanted to spend a lot of time together doing “nothing at all”, but I used the opportunity to meet Del, who was recommended by my friend Tony South, and drop the two shotguns that needed work.

One of the shotguns is a little Beretta 28 gauge side-by-side box lock that my mother bought in 1969 to my dad as a wedding gift. The well balanced gun was probably made in the late 1950’s, and although mechanically solid, the old lady needed some “make-up”.

While discussing the project with Del – lengthening the chambers to 2 ¾” (70 mm), rebluing the barrels and all furniture, refinishing and re-checkering the stock and fore end – we talked a bit or a lot about bird hunting, especially grouse and woodcock, and we made plans to hunt together sometime in October, when I could be back “up North”.

Yesterday morning I met Del at his place and I was nothing but delighted with his work. The little Beretta was gorgeous, the bluing perfect and the checkering sharp. The overall fit and finish just perfect. But guns were born to be used, and even if this is the most valuable gun that I own I could not deny its destiny.

While I put on my boots and brush pants, Del loaded his German short-hair, Gina and Zap, in his car, and we took off towards some of the fantastic public hunting land that is so overwhelmingly present in Michigan, especially its Northern portions.

Gina went on point very close to car and Del directed me to flush the woodcock that was holding under an evergreen pine, and as it flushed I killed, or at least severely injured, a tree! I just can figure how that branch moved in to cover the woodcock flight path.

We continued to brave the woods, and that was a challenge for me, as I am used to hunt open uplands, especially the Uruguayan pampas, and I missed a couple more flushes and then Del got a bird with a beautiful shot from his Browning over-under 28 gauge.

And then Gina went on point again and as we walked in a woodcock flushed and he fell to left barrel of my little Beretta. What a beautiful bird is the Scolopax minor. Although smaller than the Beccaccia (Scolopax rusticola) – la regina del bosco – I held in my hand in Italy, it had the same inebriating perfume. It was also very similar to the South American Narceja (Gallinago paraguaiae) that I once hunted in Uruguay, although it inhabits much open grounds than its Northern hemisphere relatives.

We continued hunting and Del bagged two more woodcock, one over Gina and the other over Zap.

A memorable, if bitter-sweet, moment happened when Gina flushed a Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) and Del had the rare and perfect crossing shot, only to face a misfire due to a bad shell. It was the first time I heard their peculiar drumming, and that created another pleasant memory.

Despite my poor shooting I hope to be able to hunt the Michigan Northern woods again, and I hope that Del, and especially Gina and Zap, won’t mind if I come back.

And today I hope that Zezé will let me taste at least one of wines from Old Mission Peninsula.

The Best Blind I Ever Hunted From

A Tropical Igloo

The first blinds I hunted from back in my childhood days at Fazenda Taboa were nothing more than a bunch of branches piled up under a likely tree that would disguise the “hunter’s” outline from the always sharp vision of the big white winged pigeons (Patagioenas picazuro, formerly known as Columba picazuro), and allow us to shoot them at close enough range so the tiny load of No. 12 shot from the .310 rimfire “Mini-Skeet” shotgun would bring them down from the branches they were perched and into our fry pan.

Later on I hunted capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) in the farm swamps from giraus or elevated shooting platforms, some of which were nothing more than a fork in a branch where we perched from, while we called the capybaras with whistles made from bottle caps.

A couple decades later when I started hunting whitetail deer in Michigan I started using different pop-up blinds, and most deer that I bagged over the last ten years where shot from one of these practical and relatively inexpensive blinds.

The one down side of most pop-up blinds is that they are not ideal to bow hunt from, most of them lacking the space and height for a proper draw.

Last April my friend (and at that time, co-worker) Fanie Venter invited me for a weekend bow hunting in South Africa’s Limpopo. My adventure in the bushveld was both unforgettable and bitter-sweet, and this is the first time that I write about it.

Fanie’s brother-in-law Pieter and his friend and business partner Louis have a game farm in the heart of Limpopo’s bushveld and they are developing it to be a bow hunter’s paradise, since both are fanatic bow hunters.

Falmouth is simple and rustic, yet it is welcoming and idyllic. It shows the results of Pieter and Louis hard work and ideals, as well their love of hunting and of wilderness and respects for all its facets and idiosyncrasies. Because there are Black Mamba and Puff Adder in the bushveld both Pieter and Louis wear high boots made of strong but soft Kudu leather, and since Pieter’s wife met the resident leopard on her way to the outhouse, he is now building an inside bathroom so he does not need to escort her out during nights.

But back to hunting blinds…

Like most of South Africa, Limpopo’s bushveld is dry, and there is no surface water at Falmouth, so Pieter and Louis drilled a borehole and pump water with the help of solar panels which they provide to the resident wildlife in a “waterhole”, and in front of it they build a blind from where they can bow hunt.

The construction starts by digging a hole about three feet deep and at least seven feet in diameter. Then small gauge construction rebar was placed around the circle as the structure for this tropical igloo. The structure was wrapped with chicken wire and wet newspaper placed over it. The final touch is to cover everything with cement so it resembles a rock or boulder.

But the devil is in the details, and there are many nice features to this blind. The spotting windows are covered with “see-through” mirror, so the hunters inside can see outside, but animals cannot see any movement inside. There are three shooting windows, and because the floor is lower than the water hole, the bow hunter would have a flat shot at the intended animal, without having to worry about which would be the trajectory from a steep angle, like if shooting from a tree stand.

The floor of the blind was covered by rugs and blankets that would muff the hunter’s footsteps, there are sitting benches and you can keep all your gear in the ample area. Finally, there is a four inch PVC pipe that stands at least twelve or fifteen feet above the blind roof that serves both as ventilation as well to send the hunter’s sent away from the area.

Needless to mention that when not in use the blind is kept well closed in order to prevent some of the local reptile to take residence in its cooler interior or the many blue monkeys to havoc the place.

From this fantastic set-up I spent several hours watching the African wildlife cornucopia, including the most beautiful Impala ram I ever saw and that I was able to completely miss at around twenty yards, killing a tree with the broad head arrow instead, sand grouse which came picking their own image in the mirrors, a magnificent but somewhat young Kudu bull that I was “mature” enough not to shoot, guinea fowl, a large troop of the aforementioned blue monkeys, more impala, a very long eared rabbit, and warthog, one of which broke my heart.

Falmouth also holds blue wildebeest and Pieter and Louis were planning on releasing Gemsbok later on the year. As most, if not all, South African game ranches Falmouth has twelve foot high fences around it, but that fence cannot contain either the warthogs that go under it, or Kudu that just fly over the highest wire without much concern.

But back to warthog and a broken heart. Towards the end of the afternoon traffic really picked up around the waterhole, and both the large impala ram that I had missed earlier and a couple of great warthogs were around.

When opportunity came I shot the largest warthog and it immediately dived into the surrounding bush. Pieter called Louis and Fannie back at the lodge, and then we started tracking the wounded animal. And I received a lesson in tracking and disappointment.

We came back well after dark without locating the animal, and next morning we tracked it for several hours, until the spoor and blood were gone. Mea culpa, mea unica culpa.

A week later I got an e-mail from Pieter telling me that they had found the dead warthog, but it was already all rotten. I just hope that the resident leopard had a nice meal out of my mistake.

Feasting on the Algoma Bear

(L to R) Denny, John (the "nefu"), Jim, author, Jeff and Bob

Sharing the bounties of the chase is one of the most rewarding aspects of hunting. So, just after Jeff finished dressing my bear (see “Algoma Bear Hunt”), he set aside a tenderloin that Gail and Steve, the owners, managers and staff of “Half Way Heaven”, prepared for the whole gang the following evening.

Since I had no reason to continue to hunt for bears I spent the day with Jeff replenishing bates, checking trail cameras, looking for bear signs, and just learning anything that I could about bears, guiding and the outdoors.

By the end of the day I was as hungry as anyone and eager to taste bear for the first time, as all the other hunters, that were not fortunate enough to live in the big North woods and have bear around on a regular basis.

Gail and Steve prepared a delicious Barbecued Bear, but I prefer to call it “Bear-BQ”, and we all got together to wolf it down along a bottle of Volver, a nice Spanish red wine.

The bear was delicious, and I took the liberty to present the receipt below.

Back home, we prepared and served “Bear-BQ” on several occasions, and almost every person that tried either loved or at least liked it. But now the bear meat is finished and it may be time to go collect some more.

Barbecued Bear (or Bear-BQ)

Parboil 2 pounds bear meat (thawed & boneless, I also remove all the fat) in water, for about 10 minutes.

Prepare BBQ Sauce while meat is cooking.

Place several slices of bacon in Dutch oven, or large cast iron pan, and sauté the parboiled meat on all sides.

Add the BBQ Sauce and simmer with meat over medium heat for at least half and hour or till tender.

BBQ Sauce

·       ½ Cup of Water

·       4 Oz. Tomato Sauce

·       2 Medium Onions, sliced

·       1/8 Tea Spoon Garlic Powder

·       2 Table Spoon Brown Sugar

·       ¼ Tea Spoon Dried Mustard

·       1/8 Cup Lemon Juice

·       1/8 Cup Vinegar

·       1/8 Cup Ketchup

·       1 Table Spoon Worcestershire Sauce

Mix all ingredients and simmer for at least 10 minutes.