December 2007 Newsletter

• Bird Hunting in December



• Tim Wells Hunts Axis Deer in Florida



• Jim Shockey Heads to Turkey



• Tips and Tactics



• Video Reviews

Tips and Tactics

Choosing the Size of Shot for Birds
Choosing the size of shot for bird hunting can be a little tricky depending on the conditions. I normally go smaller than most, but seem to have pretty good luck with the extra pellets.

For doves, quail, and game farm birds, I like to use 7 1/2 shot. I pick a load with a little more powder and it knocks the birds down just fine.

For wild pheasants and grouse, I'll use 6 shot, again with a fairly heavy powder load. Just be sure you aim in front of the birds nose and follow through.

Filming a Hunt
Here's another tip or two on filming a hunt.

This one I have to say again. Always use a tripod. You just aren't steady enough without one. Don't ever use the digital zoom on your camera. The quality of the footage just isn't sufficient. If your camera has this feature your better off turning it off.

Try using headphones. This is the best way to hear what the viewers will hear and will allow you to make adjustments by moving closer or speaking up.

Quail Hunting

Hunting late season quail is never easy. Towards the end of the season, they will run like crazy at the site of you and won't stop.

The best thing you can do is try to split up the covey. Send your dog after them or try to get someone to circle ahead. Once they are split up, a quail call works well to find the singles. Once split up they seem to hold a little better, just give your dogs a little more time to find them.

Video Review

Boddington on Leopard by Safari Classics Productions

In a follow up to Boddington on Buffalo, Craig has put together the most informative video on leopard hunting on the market. In the video, Boddington admits his luck with leopard has been minimal at best, but he relies on one of the most successful leopard hunting PH’s in Africa with Andrew Dawson of Chifuti Safaris. This is not the first time Andrew has been featured fooling these nocturnal cats and his methods and attention to detail are extreme.



The leopard hunting video is over three hours long and discusses all aspects of leopard hunting. There are some professional hunters out there who could benefit from the film. It begins by discussing the methods of leopard hunting, rifles, scopes and cartridges, blind set up, and baiting discussions. It continues with finding a shootable leopard, the natural history of leopards, trophy consideration, equipment, trophy care, and finally the follow up and danger factor. Boddington does a great job in his interaction with PH Dawson, asking the questions that matter and allowing Andrew to provide his expertise.

Numerous leopards are taken in the daylight on the video, but the true value is the knowledge you will gain. You and your PH will be on the same page and you will understand the importance and difficulty in taking a trophy leopard. The video is Boddington’s best so far in my opinion and should be a requirement for anyone embarking on their first leopard hunt.

We have big plans for 2008 beginning with a trip to the Safari Club International Convention in Reno, Nevada. We will also share a booth with the Tucson Chapter of SCI at the International Sportmen's Exposition in Phoenix in March.

We didn't have room in the last newsletter, but Susan had some great success with Pheasant in Nebraska.

It was a tough year again for birds, but Susan was able to kill her first limit. Great shooting in a tough year (I got skunked that day by the way)!! She attributes her success to practice on a video game, shooting flying bottles and cans??? I guess you can't argue with success. Also be sure to check out the Hunting and Outdoor Clips page. We've posted some video of Susan's and my deer before the shot.

December has been a busy month with the holidays. We did get a chance to make it out dove hunting a few times. The dove hunting is always great in Arizona in December and my dad made it down to chase a few birds

Although it's been fairly cold, the doves are sticking around in a few spots and the hunting has been good. The quail numbers are down due to a dry spring, but there are a few birds out there.

We nearly lost Dawson, our German Shorthair this Christmas. Somehow he managed to sneak out of the bedroom and finish the Christmas turkey, Christmas Day evening. He scattered turkey bones and grease all over the kitchen floor. He nearly lost his life when Susan woke up to find him!

Luckily, he spent the next day hunting doves, miserable with stomach problems all day. This created enough pity to save his life. He's on probation, so if any of you have been looking for a hunting dog, he's one mistake away from being available!

Once again, we hope you enjoy the newsletter and come visit us at Hunting Videos Online.

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Jim Shockey Heads to Turkey

Jim Shockey hunted with Asian outfitter Kaan Karakaya. Jim relates Turkey was a total Turkey! Or maybe I'm just spoiled. You can be the judge.

I booked to hunt ibex and chamois for 10 days and if there was time at the end, to also hunt the huge wild boars that abound in Turkey, but when we got there the outfitter didn't seem to be ready for us. He promised, when we did the deal, that he would be my guide, but alas, when we arrived in Istanbul, he wasn't around. He did send a message that instead of hunting ibex, we were to fly to southern Turkey to hang with a couple of VIP Turkish business men who were on a driven wild boar hunt (dogs and beaters pushing hogs.)

Incredibly, they forgot about us the next morning and left us at the hotel!! But thankfully they did eventually return to pick us up when they realized we weren't in the vehicle. We got to hang at the edge of the where the VIP guys were standing and I was told to shoot every hog I saw, no matter how big. I refused to shoot a mother boar with babies on the first stand and was admonished for this. On the second stand my guide took a gun and stood beside me. The mother boar came by me again, and the guide opened up on her, missing three times at 40 yards. Lucky day for the wild boar family. At the third and last stand, a young male boar ran by me and I pulled the trigger as ordered by the guide. It wasn't old enough to have tusks, and certainly wasn't the size of the boars the VIP guys got that day, but it was Eurasian wild boar and my outfitter called that night to tell me that "we were even." Then he told me that I wasn't going to go ibex hunting, the next day, or the next or the next, but instead I was going to come and film the outfitter guiding another VIP person to a $60,000 Koyna sheep. He said it would be good for my television show.

I snapped.

I won't tell you what I said to the outfitter, but suffice it to say, it wasn't my finest moment.

Long sorry story short, eventually the outfitter did get us out hunting. Unfortunately, by then the weather moved in and the mountains were covered in fog and snow. In the end, we did manage to hunt 1 1\2 days in clear weather and I did have one chance at 230 yards at a running ibex. So I can't exaclty complain. Given a few days to hunt, in good weather, I know we could have taken a giant ibex with my muzzleloader. The guides that I eventually hunted with were great, really nice guys. One was a dwarf!! Toughest guide pound for pound that I've ever seen. He scrambled around the steepest cliffs like a mountain goat! I even loaded him up with my camera to slow him down so I could keep up!

Guess it was my turn to have a less than excellent hunt. Or maybe I'm just spoiled! Sorry to hear about the luck Jim. I guess it happens occasionally.

Hope you enjoyed the December 2007 newsletter. We sure enjoyed reliving the hunts. We'd love to hear your comments at dukatsoutfitting@yahoo.com. See you in the field!