Originally Posted by
Harndog
Mimzy,
The Nova is a real nice pump gun I have the 870 myself but have hunted with a friend who uses the nova it is a little lighter than the 870 composite and seems to have a little smoother slide. A good gunsmith can make an 870 slide just as smooth but add the money and you get enough for the nova. also with 3 1/2 inch loads it seems to kick a little less. The moss 835 is also a very reliable pump gun
27 ,
It's nice to hear someone using a mossy auto been thinking about one myself. I just tend to get to quick on the trigger with an auto and miss more birds. I always load tungsten on my third shot so I can make that long flyaway shot at the end. seems to work. Buddies here don't know I do that. they just think I got a good long game so shshshs Nice dogs also. Just got me a black female she is only a year old and needs some work but females seem to be more eager to do that.
Harndog,
I just got in from a duck hunting trip in South Georgia. I didn't do real well. I saw lots of birds, but they wouldn't get close enough for a shot (I forgot to take the decoys). Some of the other guys had good luck though. About the Mossber 935, one thing I didn't mention earlier is that when you go to stick the shells up in the magazine, sometimes when you pull the slide to stick one in the chamber, one from the magizine slides too far down and you are not able to stick the 3rd shell in (then you have to eject your shells to start over) It may be something that I'm doing wrong and I might not be sticking them in there as far up the mag as I should, but it is hard to push the shells in there when you have your gloves on. Anyway, I still like the gun and it shoots good. I haven't thought about the 3rd shot being the "good stuff" Thats a good idea. I've been trying out the Remington Heavy SHot this year, but I haven't had enough ducks come at me to know if I like it. It is supposed to be really good though.
Thats great that you got a female lab. My chocolate is a female and she is the hunter. I didn't start working with her till she turned one year old. I thought it was going to be a challange since I started her so late, but she picked it up real quick. I didn't train her with hand signals or anything like that because I wanted to keep it fun for her. She does good... she waits for me to tell her to "go" before she'll get the duck. Sometimes, if she doesn't see the bird fall, I will throw a rock near the bird and make a splash to show her where to go. She's not perfect, but she does what I need her too. I enjoy watching her work as much as I do shooting the birds. They learn fast. I worked here for about 15 minutes a day, 3-5 days a week and by the end of a month, she had the fetching part down. Then I had to start shooting around her. I started out shooting a .22 from a little distance and worked closer too her, and then I got the 12 guage out and did the same thing. I had my wife praise her everytime I shot. She didn't get scared at all. Good luck training yours. When you do it yourself and see her go get that first bird, it really gives you a since of accomplishment. Sorry to be so long winded but you caught me on something I like to talk about. I'll see if I can find some hunting pics to post...
The top left is my dad, me and kate. The top right is Kate getting her first bird, and the bottom is Kate wanting to play with her ducks.