Ducks!

[Guy Miner]

Although I grew up hunting ducks, geese, pheasant and dove, anymore I don't hunt birds nearly as often as I used to... And I really should. A good buddy invited me out for geese. Four of us went. Most of the geese had left, so we headed to a blind along Crab Creek and shot ducks. My goodness it was a good day of duck hunting! Started slow, but we kept picking off one or two birds here and there. Mostly a mix of mallards and teal. I ended up with three mallards and three teal. Lost one bird, a teal. I shot it, couldn't find it, and eventually a hawk turned it into lunch. Ah well - at least the hawk got a meal out of it!

View from the blind:

And some bundled up hunter - I think it was about 15 or 18 degrees or something like that this morning. Cold, whatever it was...

Guy

 

[FOTIS]

Nice! I have never been water fowling!

 

[Guy Miner]

Oh my! You have got to go. It's an awful lot of fun...

 

[DrMike]

Great job there, Guy. Makes everyone want to get out on the water.

 

[Songdog]

Ahhhh... Crab Creek... one of my favorite places on earth. Great pics... thanks a bunch.

 

[257 Ackley]

Guy - nice looking brace of ducks!! I used to hunt ducks with my dad as a kid, but don't hunt them anymore (don't like the taste). They are sure fun to shoot though and it helps your swing with a rifle in getting on big game animals.

 

[HTDUCK]

I'm getting lightheaded looking at the pictures.
Season was closed here and in Oklahoma this past weekend so those "winged wonders" got a break and I stayed in bed and slept late two days in a row.
My lab thought I was feeling poorly.
Next weekend,look out.It's on like donkey kong.

Good job Guy.That smile says it all!

By the way what kinda shotgun were you shooting?
Howard

 

[Guy Miner]

Am using a semi-auto Beretta 390 that Dad gave me in '02 after his big bird hunting trip to Argentina. He put about 7,000 rounds through a pair of Beretta 390's in a week down there, pigeons, doves and ducks. Came home from the hunt, didn't need both shotguns and gave me one of his Berettas! I'd never had a semi-auto shotgun before, and found that I shoot it better than any shotgun I've ever had, it just seems to fit me. Not elegant at all, just your basic black gun, but I use it on quail, pheasant, grouse and now on ducks! Not much of a photo of it, but there it was, in the duck blind yesterday:

Was shooting that new Remington 3" mag "hyper sonic" steel BB's yesterday. They claim 1700 fps and really knock a duck right out of the air...

Guy

 

[HTDUCK]

My ace compadre and hunting partner is a certified 390 man.I think he has 6 of them.
He likes them so well he sold me a 391 Sporting 20 ga to buy another 390.
They are great guns and will last a lifetime even with high volume shooting.

The only thing we shoot at ducks is 3in steel 4s or #6 and 7 1/2 Hevishot out of a 20 ga.
Next time you go grab a box of 4s and try them on ducks.They will flatten mallards out to 40 yards if you do your part.
With geese in the area I would throw some BBs or BBBs in my blind bag though.
I have killed greater canadas with steel 4s but they aren't my first choice for goose loads :mrgreen:

I have to admit,last year I shot a teal with my 10 ga while goose hunting one morning

 

[big rifle man]

Thanks for the great duck pictures guys. I hunt ducks in florida which is of a different style. I hunt central East coast in one of the many swamps just West of town. We don't get too much really cold weather but the teal, ringnecks and mottled ducks abound. This year has been exceptional so far. The one big difference down here is what you have to be careful of. The fellow I hunt with is a Florida native and has a great airboat to transport us across the swamp. When putting out the decoys in the early morning you pay attention to whats around you as gators abound (big ones) After you settle in on your five gallon bucket with a foam seat of course, you have to pay attention to what crawls around you (water moccasins). If mother nature calls watch where you step on the dry land as fire ants control the dry ground. I'm dead serious about my comments but the duck hunting is great, and the ducks taste excellent as their in fresh water constantly.

 

[DrMike]

BRM,

You just extinguished any desire to hunt ducks in Florida. I wouldn't mind hunting alligators, so long as I'm in a boat. I don't particularly love snakes; I certainly don't need to take a long, extended look at them (we only have a few furred ice snakes in northern BC). But, I can live without those fire ants. Yeah, the ducks might be safe from me if I lived in Florida.

 

[jmad_81]

Push some of those ducks down my way would you! 7000 rounds in one week :shock: thats an impressive number!

 

[Guy Miner]

The bird hunting in Argentina is supposed to be absolutely incredible. Dad and his buddy went once, his buddy and his son returned a couple of times since. A thousand rounds a day is pretty much normal in the dove fields they tell me...

 

[HTDUCK]

The bird hunting in Argentina is supposed to be absolutely incredible. Dad and his buddy went once, his buddy and his son returned a couple of times since. A thousand rounds a day is pretty much normal in the dove fields they tell me...

12 or 15 years ago some 10 of my dad's buddies went to Cordoba on a 3 1/2 day dove hunt.
Seven of them took brand new Remington 1100 models in 20 ga to hunt with.After the first morning they had 7 single shots.

Only one autoloader survived the trip,a 390 Beretta.
By the third day they were so sore from the high volume of shooting they all switched from 20 ga guns to 410s for that day and the last morning.
In 3 1/2 days 10 guys killed 15,500 birds.
They videoed part of the hunt.It was absolutely stupid the number of doves in the fields and in the air on the video tape.

One word of caution though,you can take all the guns you want into Argentina but NO ammo.You have to buy it all there.
A box of dove loads that here in the states would be $4.00 US will run you $12.00 there.
Your ammo bill will exceed the cost of the hunt.


Definately on my bucket list.
That and an October duck goose hunt in Saskatchewan.

Howard

 

[cloverleaf]

Way to get out there Guy! Spent many an hour sitting next to a slough as a kid. Never could shoot a shotgun worth a crap. Still fun though. CL

 

[SJB358]

Awesome pictures Guy! Looks like a great time. I need to get out the 11-87 and try some goose hunting here in VA! Scotty