Any duck hunters among the bunch?

[Hale on wheels]

I just started getting back to duck hunting after several years of college where I had no time or money Anyway, I realized the other day while I was firing away that I had lost my aim, I hit two ducks with 22 shells fired. I'm sure it will come back, but anyway I was curious how many of you guys duck hunt? I also got a lab pup I am beginning to train to hunt. He is only 5 months old and he is retrieving out of the water (dummies, not ducks). He is a lot of fun.

 

[Okie-Go]

I duck hunted in OK. alot. It seems in Texas I can't afford a deer lease and duck lease at the same time. I am thinking about getting a new shotgun and trying to shoot a few doves on occassion. I also had a lab and although he has passed to the happy hunting ground the memories are still there. Enjoy yours.

 

[Hale on wheels]

Yeah Okie, I know what you mean. Duck leases are astronomically high in some areas. I just hunt in public lakes like Lake Fork or Palestine. Sorry to hear about your lab, I also had one go recently. She was pretty old, about 14 years. My new one, Bandit, is a load of fun though. I just love the amount of energy lab puppies have.

 

[JAnderson]

I duck hunt quite a bit here in Oregon.

Have a 1. 5yr old black lab. He was retrieving birds at 9mos. He is my hunting partner most of the time. One thing I have learned with this steel shot is to test pattern the brand you shoot. Some shoot real bad in certain guns. I went through 2 different brand before I found a good one. Federals. The Remington sportsman loads are terrible and the Active's are not real good either. I shoot a Benelli Nova 12ga pump. What about you?

 

[Hale on wheels]

I use a Remington 870 12ga. That is a really good, inexpensive gun, I think. I don't like to take my nicer gun duck hunting. I like the federal loads too. Have you ever bought any Herter's steel? Its not much less than federal, but it is a little less. I don't like the Winchester.

 

[TXRam]

I grew up close to Stuttgart, AR, so ...

I was spoiled duck hunting back home - just about all greenheads and woodies.



Shoot me another e-mail with your # - we can BS awhile and maybe hook up on a hunt sometime.



I've been extremely lazy about training my current dog - need to get off my butt.

 

[Alaskaskiff]

Duck Hunting

Yes,



Duck hunted North Idaho, Alaska, Colorado, New York, and hopefully (if I can find time around school) Rhode Island. I like classic doubles and use bismuth shot. Shoots like lead, but rather expensive.

 

[JAnderson]

Hale on Wheels,



I have not tried the herter ammo. I buy quite a bit from them though. got a neoprene vest for my dog this spring for $20 through them. One of these days I will give them a try. thanksgiving I am planning 4 full days of Duck hunting. hope to get some. We have a mixed bag of ducks up this way. Mallards, pintail, teal, gadwall, canvasbacks, red heads, scaup, and a few others. Mallards make up the majority.

 

[RonaldLarson]

tune-up time

After that long a lay-off, you might be stopping your swing after pulling the trigger. Practise follow through.

Winchester has a published guide for proper shot size versus shot material. I think I saw it in the latest Shooting Times magazine. Good hunting my friend!

Our weather is so warm, we have almost no migration so far.

Ron

 

[drawson]

I am out ever week end w/ my two boys. I have a 10 year old golden that luv to hunt as much as we do. I use a mossberg 835.



I have had very good luck with Kent's kwic steel. I go for spped over payload. I bought three case of 2 3/4" 1 1/8 #2s and one case of of 3" 1 1/4 #1. I start with the #2 the first two shoots then the #1.



It needs to get colder to get more birds down.

 

[Hale on wheels]

I agree, I wish it were a little colder. I am still wearing shorts in the afternoons here!



Ron, there is no doubt I was not following through, that will just take lots of practice to get back into the habit. I think I'll go shoot skeet this weekend since the season is closed for this week.

 

[Okie-Go]

I am thinking of buying the Benelli Nova camo. I had a Browning auto 5 I sold to get money to start divorce process about 10 years ago. I want an O/U but really liked the way the pump felt. I can get a new one for right at 440 out the door. It felt really well and I have heard with practice they are almost as fast as an automatic. I like the idea of shooting all 12 ga. shells fro 2 3/4 to 31/2 inch magnum.

 

[wyosteve]

Hale, not sure how much help this may be, but here goes anyway. Depending on how far your shots are, you may have the same problem me and my hunting buds had. We shoot a lot from 35 to 50 yds. especially geese. You need to see where your gun is shooting steel shot at that distance. Take an old milk jug or something similar and set it at 40 yds. and fire. We found the shot pattern was about 6 ft. low at that range due to the different ballistic properties of steel shot. Rather than trying to mentally compensate for the drop when shooting birds, we bent the barrels on our guns so they would hit dead on at 40 yds. It's easy to do. Just stick about 6-8 in. of barrel in the pickup receiver hitch and give a good pull upwards (you want the end of the barrel to slightly curve upward) It may take 2 or 3 tries to get it correct, but it's incredible. We used to average about like you, i. e. 2 birds for 22 shots. Now we're back to normal which is different for each of us. Since you shoot an 870, you can buy an extra barrel cheap and have one for steel and one for lead. Going to shoot skeet will help with your swing, but won't help more unless you also use steel shot. Lastly, you may have to re-bend your barrel after several hundred shots because the force of the shot going through the barrel will tend to straighten it again. Good luck.

 

[Hale on wheels]

Steve, I have not heard of anyone bending the barrels before! I do plan on shooting some test patterns with steel to see where it shoots, and as you said, 870 barrels are cheap (not to mention that I have 3 of them) so I will think about trying your method. I'll see how the skeet goes this weekend. I am going to shoot up the rest of the Winchester steel that I bought for $5 a box, but unfortunately it is not worth that. I prefer Federal, so that is what I will be shooting from now on (it was late and I needed ammo the night before season opened so I just went to walmart and got what they had-winchester xpert steel #6 )

 

[JAnderson]

Benelli

Okie-go,

You will love the benelli nova. The pump is loaded so when you move the handle it is assisted. Kindof like spring loaded. This makes for a faster feed. The gun is real accurate. The only thing I would advise is to have the recoil reduce put in the stock. The gun is real light and kicks like a mule with 3 1/2 goose loads. The other nice feature is the button on the handle that lets you eject a shell without feeding another. I use this all the time when I am bird hunting. It never fails when I am duck hunting a goose comes along. When I am goose hunting a duck drops is. I can change shells quick. I paid $360 for the matt black model. Did not see the need for the extra $$ for camo.

 

[Shovelhead]

Happy B-Day JAnderson!



From another J Anderson

 

[JAnderson]

Thank you!! I will be spending it doing what I love best. Elk Hunting.

 

[LSMITH]

I also duck hunt as much as possible. I hunt 25-35 days a season, burn a lot of my vacation doing it. I am shooting the Herters steel, it works very well. The advise given to pattern the gun you want to use with the ammo you want to use is great advise. I have several shotguns that I have hunted with and they are all somewhat different. I try the ammo with different chokes until I get what I want. One thing I have found that seems to hold true for all of them is that a lot tighter choke than what most "experts" recommend performs the best. My rig for the last 2 years is a Winchester Super X2. I shoot the 3. 5" high velocity magnums exclusively, #2 shot or bigger and a light full or improved modified choke. The choke takes a beating, only lasts about 500 rounds before it is trashed but ducks and geese hit the water stone dead. I get patterns of about 60-65%, but get an extremely hot core of about 25" at 40 yards. There is not a duck or goose alive that can survive that pattern when hit. Also the best way I have ever seen to find out where your gun is shooting is to take a large piece of cardboard and paint a 5 or 6 inch blob in the middle. Hang it at 40 yards and just mount and shoot at the dot as you would in a hunting situation. Shoot enough shots to start to cut a hole in the cardboard shooting at the dot every time. The ragged hole will develop where that particular gun shoots for YOU the way YOU shoot it. You can adjust the gun from there to where it shoots where you want it to. So far this year I have not shot many ducks, but have been shooting quite well. I just hope I can continue to shoot well! Hope this helps, and good luck this fall.