14 ducks and 1 goose today. So many black ducks in our area right now! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Made it to JPTs place. Not a bad drive once I got through Chicago lol. Time for some walleye then relaxing Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Holy cow we finally hit it right when oly came up!! 4 man limit of mallards, pintail, wigeon, gadwall, black ducks. Oh and a band!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It was banded on the west side of the state near Grand Rapids in August of this year. I’m on the far east side, on Lake St. Clair. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Man, that was a hell of a way to start off the trip up in MI. Hope you guys don’t expect hunts like that the rest of the week from us lol I think we used all our luck up today. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Awesome job guys! Season can 't get here soon enough around here! Until then I'll be living through you guys, keep it up! Nothing going on here for me other than I finally did something I have wanted to do for quite some time now. I bought another dog last week to be my new best friend and hunting buddy! He is a Black British Labrador Retriever and he is off to a great start! I will be picking him up from Thornwell Retrievers next October 2020 down in Louisiana once he completes all of his gun dog training and passes all his advanced/seasoned hunt trial tests. To say I am pumped is an absolute understatement! Here he is at 9 weeks old, meet SHR BUO's Here Comes the Boom "Boomer"
Good deal, congrats again. I use to hunt the Canadian side up by Walpole back in the day. Great area, very ducky. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I hunt right across the border from Walpole! Thats cool, I know they really beat them up on the Canadian side, even though its a lot of duck clubs over there now. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
So a question for you duck hunters. I'm a complete noob when it comes to waterfowl loads. I have a nephew that has CF. He is 3 and it is hard to get him to eat proteins. His mom told me that they got some duck from someone and he absolutely loved it, so I'm thinking about trying to get a few here and there to give to them (they don't hunt). I've never duck hunted before, but my main tactic is just going to be jump hunting them on a few farm ponds I have access to. I won't get opportunities at a lot of ducks, so hoping to make every shot count. Mallards will be mainly what I encounter. I have an older shotgun and so steel probably isn't going to be an option. It is a Winchester ranger 12ga, pump action. It will take up to a 3", won't do 3-1/2. I have to use "non toxic" shot. My average shot is probably going to be 30 to 40 yards. I'm thinking modified choke (it has screw in choke tubes). What shell options does that leave me with? Will that throw a decent pattern and still have good energy out at 40 yards or maybe even 45? I've shot pheasant out that far with 2-3/4 #6's with modified quite a bit, but realize that lead is quite a bit different than the non toxic stuff. TIA
40 yds is a pretty long shot with steel and only 3 inch shells on a duck, especially jumping them or water swatting. I use modified chokes with all steel or tungsten. I would use hevishot or black cloud 3 inch shells, and probably 2s to reach out a little farther. You could try BBs for more knock down but also makes it harder to get on them. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
If your worried about the barrel in the old shotgun try Bismuth. I believe there are a couple different players in the bismuth load game. It will be a little speedy. I like #4 for mallards and decoying honkers (hevi). Patterning you shotgun is a worthwhile endeavor too. It will take some of the guess work out of it. Good luck. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Found a field yesterday that was loaded with geese. I went and talked to the farmer and got permission. I called up a buddy and we planned to hunt it the next morning. Even after hunting waterowl the last few years I had yet to kill a goose. Lol but I knocked it off the list finally this morning. The hide was super tough. We used a depression in the land and a dead log to our advantage. Had a ton of birds wanting get into this spot. Didn’t even need to call. Seeing the birds work right above you was pretty sweet to see. I now have permission to hunt this field when ever we want, which is awesome! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
