Stepping Up: A Quail Hunt With C&H Optics
It was half past nine when we rolled into Roberts Shooting Preserve, a hidden slice of Heaven tucked away on the northwest side of Effingham County, Georgia. This was my first time hunting Quail, let alone shooting a shotgun. By day, I’m an engineer—designing, testing, and improving products from the safety of an office or lab. But at C&H Precision, things are done a little differently, and today, I was about to find out just how different.
Rewind about six months…
When the idea first came up to design an optic specifically for hunting shotguns, I never thought I’d be included on the project. After all, my experience was mostly with pistols. I had zero trigger time with shotguns. So, you can imagine my surprise when Buck Holly, our CEO, pulled me aside and said, “That’s exactly why you’re on the team. We need someone who’ll question everything, who’ll keep us from falling into the same pitfalls others have.” It felt like my make-or-break moment, and if I was going to do this, the only way forward was to step up.
I won’t bore you with the endless design iterations, debates over placement, materials, or the countless hours we spent tweaking things. What I will say is that this wasn’t a typical product development process, and I’m almost certain our Director of Engineering was ready to send me home the day we finally cracked the code. But when we did, it was electric. The HNT-R Max, our first big step into the shotgun hunting market, was born—and I couldn’t have been more proud. Until Buck dropped the bombshell: I’d be field testing it… on a Quail hunt.
Back to the present…
Buck stepped out from behind the truck, handing me a 12-gauge Remington V3, with the HNT-R Max already mounted and ready to go. He offered a few quick tips—lead the birds, focus on the fundamentals—and then, without missing a beat, we were off. It felt like stepping onto the range for the first time all over again. Sure, I’d spent hours at the shooting range, but this was different. There was something about it that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. The dogs were being unloaded into the boxes, and I had no idea why they needed six for such a small hunting party. But that confusion didn’t last long.
The moment they were released, the dogs shot through the brush like little fur missiles, weaving effortlessly between trees and underbrush, changing direction on command without missing a beat. It was impressive. And then, in an instant, everything went still—the dogs, the air, the whole world. They’d spotted a Quail. The silence hung heavy for a split second before our guide gave the command. One of the dogs bolted forward, flushing the bird from its hiding place.
Instinct took over. I raised the Remington V3, and as if guided by some unseen hand, the HNT-R Max found its place right in front of the bird. I squeezed the trigger. The blast of the shot reverberated through me, and then—ploom—a cloud of feathers exploded into the air. In that moment, it clicked. I’d always thought of shotguns as just oversized rifles—point and shoot. But as I watched the bird tumble from the sky, I realized why the red dot on the shotgun was so crucial. There were no distractions. No blockages in the field of view. It was like I had a laser-guided weapon mounted to my shoulder. Target acquisition was instantaneous, almost like I had all the time in the world to line up my shot.
Seconds later, Mud, a small retriever, trotted back proudly, the dead Quail in his mouth like a trophy. He placed it at our guide’s feet. We carried on for another two to three hours, bagging 42 birds in total and swapping stories with other hunters in the party. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend the day—or a better optic to take on a hunt.
For more info on the HNT-R Max, CLICK HERE
For more info on reserving a hunt at Roberts Shooting Preserve, CLICK HERE
