Quail Hunt with an 1887|Winchester Hunting, Shooting & Reloading|Forum|Winchester Collector

 Took a little time to take my old bird dog hunting Saturday. We haven’t hunted together for probably 10 years or more. Hank is pretty old now, just not sure how old. Lisa and I have been saying he must be 15 for the last 3 years now. Hank and I used to go hunting a lot when he was younger. That was before the quail nearly disappeared from our area. Since this was probably going to be our last hunting opportunity together, I wanted to do something special. I brought along a unique old shotgun. A model 1887 lever action Winchester made in 1891. Since this is a black powder only gun I needed to hand load some shells for the occasion. This was the first time I have taken this gun out to actually hunt with it. Seemed like the right occasion. Hank hunted with the same skill and determination that he always has. I was really surprised at how much energy he had. It is a pretty sight to see a bird dog lock up on point, knowing the the covey rise is just seconds away. The flash of birds busting from cover, the buzz of the wing beats and then the cloud of smoke from the old Winchester, made for a memorable experience. We made a short trip of it since it was just for old time sake anyways. As you can see Hank was pretty tired and was not impressed with the need to take these pictures.