Looking Ahead to 2018-2019...

[Darren]

I like 1’s ,,, shoot 1 sized shot. No shucking. Kills teal if needed,gives me what I need energy wise further out. My 10 is also highly effective on ducks if they happen to show.

I like simple,load up and forget it,hunt.

Yea I bought a case of 1's for the rice last season, does well for a do-all in that scenario; 3's in the marsh and only VERY seldom does it put me at a disadvantage when a few wayward blues show up over the salt marsh pond like last season. I knocked down one of the three that showed, others made it out but I'm betting it wasn't lack of lethality/knockdown power but more so a lack of even putting pellets on the (large) target.

[Darren]

Rick what's the latest offseason task? Whats happening on the alligator scene?

Any early indicators of Jenny Rose or no Jenny Rose for next season?

[SpinnerMan]

I like 1’s ,,, shoot 1 sized shot. No shucking. Kills teal if needed,gives me what I need energy wise further out. My 10 is also highly effective on ducks if they happen to show.

I like simple,load up and forget it,hunt.

When I'm shooting Canadas that are likely to weigh 12 lbs (10-12 is the norm), I like to shoot BBs, especially when I don't expect them to decoy. Specks are a lot smaller. When I'm shooting at wood ducks buzzing us which are often just snap shots, I like to go down to 3's or 4's. Typically, I have a pretty good idea of what I will be getting. Early season early in the day, it will be wood ducks coming out of nowhere at mach 3, where you will be lucky if you have time for a single shot. Any mallards at that time will likely be close birds that decoy well. However later in the morning, once the geese start to fly, the odds of seeing any more ducks goes way down and any geese you get will likely be passing and not at brush top like the wood ducks were. It's fairly predictable, so I can switch and be a little more effective. When it's not, I go with 2's because nobody up here seems to carry 1's and I don't shoot enough to buy a case.

[Ericdc]

I like 1’s ,,, shoot 1 sized shot. No shucking. Kills teal if needed,gives me what I need energy wise further out. My 10 is also highly effective on ducks if they happen to show.

I like simple,load up and forget it,hunt.

When I'm shooting Canadas that are likely to weigh 12 lbs (10-12 is the norm), I like to shoot BBs, especially when I don't expect them to decoy. Specks are a lot smaller. When I'm shooting at wood ducks buzzing us which are often just snap shots, I like to go down to 3's or 4's. Typically, I have a pretty good idea of what I will be getting. Early season early in the day, it will be wood ducks coming out of nowhere at mach 3, where you will be lucky if you have time for a single shot. Any mallards at that time will likely be close birds that decoy well. However later in the morning, once the geese start to fly, the odds of seeing any more ducks goes way down and any geese you get will likely be passing and not at brush top like the wood ducks were. It's fairly predictable, so I can switch and be a little more effective. When it's not, I go with 2's because nobody up here seems to carry 1's and I don't shoot enough to buy a case.

Buy a case, they don’t expire


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[SpinnerMan]

I like 1’s ,,, shoot 1 sized shot. No shucking. Kills teal if needed,gives me what I need energy wise further out. My 10 is also highly effective on ducks if they happen to show.

I like simple,load up and forget it,hunt.

When I'm shooting Canadas that are likely to weigh 12 lbs (10-12 is the norm), I like to shoot BBs, especially when I don't expect them to decoy. Specks are a lot smaller. When I'm shooting at wood ducks buzzing us which are often just snap shots, I like to go down to 3's or 4's. Typically, I have a pretty good idea of what I will be getting. Early season early in the day, it will be wood ducks coming out of nowhere at mach 3, where you will be lucky if you have time for a single shot. Any mallards at that time will likely be close birds that decoy well. However later in the morning, once the geese start to fly, the odds of seeing any more ducks goes way down and any geese you get will likely be passing and not at brush top like the wood ducks were. It's fairly predictable, so I can switch and be a little more effective. When it's not, I go with 2's because nobody up here seems to carry 1's and I don't shoot enough to buy a case.

Buy a case, they don’t expire

I'm cheap.

Early season and late season, I'm only shooting geese, so I did buy a case of BB's. I just don't shoot near as much as you all do down there. A case of 1's would be a 10 year supply. It's just those first few weeks of duck season where I don't like shooting BB's at wood ducks. When it's mallards and geese, I will dial back to 2's, but BB's are fine.

If I shoot 2 boxes of shells at ducks, I had a good year.

[Ericdc]

I like 1’s ,,, shoot 1 sized shot. No shucking. Kills teal if needed,gives me what I need energy wise further out. My 10 is also highly effective on ducks if they happen to show.

I like simple,load up and forget it,hunt.

When I'm shooting Canadas that are likely to weigh 12 lbs (10-12 is the norm), I like to shoot BBs, especially when I don't expect them to decoy. Specks are a lot smaller. When I'm shooting at wood ducks buzzing us which are often just snap shots, I like to go down to 3's or 4's. Typically, I have a pretty good idea of what I will be getting. Early season early in the day, it will be wood ducks coming out of nowhere at mach 3, where you will be lucky if you have time for a single shot. Any mallards at that time will likely be close birds that decoy well. However later in the morning, once the geese start to fly, the odds of seeing any more ducks goes way down and any geese you get will likely be passing and not at brush top like the wood ducks were. It's fairly predictable, so I can switch and be a little more effective. When it's not, I go with 2's because nobody up here seems to carry 1's and I don't shoot enough to buy a case.

Buy a case, they don’t expire

I'm cheap.

Early season and late season, I'm only shooting geese, so I did buy a case of BB's. I just don't shoot near as much as you all do down there. A case of 1's would be a 10 year supply. It's just those first few weeks of duck season where I don't like shooting BB's at wood ducks. When it's mallards and geese, I will dial back to 2's, but BB's are fine.

If I shoot 2 boxes of shells at ducks, I had a good year.

Dang, I thought y’all were short stopping everything up there


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[SpinnerMan]

I like 1’s ,,, shoot 1 sized shot. No shucking. Kills teal if needed,gives me what I need energy wise further out. My 10 is also highly effective on ducks if they happen to show.

I like simple,load up and forget it,hunt.

When I'm shooting Canadas that are likely to weigh 12 lbs (10-12 is the norm), I like to shoot BBs, especially when I don't expect them to decoy. Specks are a lot smaller. When I'm shooting at wood ducks buzzing us which are often just snap shots, I like to go down to 3's or 4's. Typically, I have a pretty good idea of what I will be getting. Early season early in the day, it will be wood ducks coming out of nowhere at mach 3, where you will be lucky if you have time for a single shot. Any mallards at that time will likely be close birds that decoy well. However later in the morning, once the geese start to fly, the odds of seeing any more ducks goes way down and any geese you get will likely be passing and not at brush top like the wood ducks were. It's fairly predictable, so I can switch and be a little more effective. When it's not, I go with 2's because nobody up here seems to carry 1's and I don't shoot enough to buy a case.

Buy a case, they don’t expire

I'm cheap.

Early season and late season, I'm only shooting geese, so I did buy a case of BB's. I just don't shoot near as much as you all do down there. A case of 1's would be a 10 year supply. It's just those first few weeks of duck season where I don't like shooting BB's at wood ducks. When it's mallards and geese, I will dial back to 2's, but BB's are fine.

If I shoot 2 boxes of shells at ducks, I had a good year.

Dang, I thought y’all were short stopping everything up there

They just don't show until after the season closes many years. Me and a buddy watched mallards fly off the cooling lake almost non-stop from around 10 or 11 AM to around 3PM one day There was rarely a point where we couldn't see 100 mallards in the sky and usually a lot more than that were visible. Last year while driving back at the end of the day I was looking at the cloud that seemed like it was changing shape. When I got closer, I realized every duck on the lake must have got up at the same time. It was the biggest swarm of ducks I've ever seen. It's pretty cool when you get to see the swarms of ducks. But normally, they don't show until duck season is closed. If we could hunt until the end of January, I'd have a big setup for the fields. But we are lucky if we get one or two weeks with decent numbers at the end.

[aunt betty]

He's right.
I've shot teal on Xmas day up here over ice.

There is so much pressure that they just won't move plus other factors help them do it.

Tell you guys what. I will go to a field after it's been harvested and make a video of what it looks like. This county has very high yields. 206 bushels per acre avg. There will be grain.
These days the harvesters are run by kids that really don't do it well. I'm always floored by the amount of spillage. There always seems to be whole cobs, half-cobs, and just plain grain scattered all over the place. Huge waste.

However: I got to know which farmers and which farms were the worst. (best baited) Hell the geese knew too.
It's normal agricultural practice. ? yeah. Pretty normal from my perspective but run into the wrong gw and...
I don't hunt geese anymore but will shoot one while duck hunting if possible.

[Darren]

If I shoot 2 boxes of shells at ducks, I had a good year.

So no, short stopping isn't in fact an issue. I've got two boxes packed for every hunt, and I'm sure Rick can tell you all about clowns blowing through multiple boxes per hunt in his blind.

[aunt betty]

I shoot twos at everything and have about twelve boxes left from last year to prove it.
Winchester el cheepo slag/steel. If you gettem close it don't matter sevens will work.

Oh I read that twice. TWO BOXES?
I am like a little hobbit size guy and used to try and carry two boxes upland hunting. It wasn't long before I figured out that 13 shells is all I really want to carry very far. There was a few rare instance where I wished I had 15 but believe me I can get into puh lenty of trouble with just 13.

Have had many 4-shell greenhead limit days. You get stingy.

[Ericdc]

Eat your heart out aunt Betty


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[aunt betty]

Probably just moved in. Easy removal but I ain't playing with chainsaws to get a few pounds of bees anymore. I put a box up in the tree.

20170516_115453.jpg

That's probably got a good fat mated queen that's worth $40 in there if you can find her.

[aunt betty]

Edit...quote? Oops.
Arg. Oh well it's one post closer to overtaking the next guy in the post count...lol

[Ericdc]

Probably just moved in. Easy removal but I ain't playing with chainsaws to get a few pounds of bees anymore. I put a box up in the tree.

20170516_115453.jpg

That's probably got a good fat mated queen that's worth $40 in there if you can find her.

The loggers are more interested in the honey. Been seeing bee trees pretty often.


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[SpinnerMan]

If I shoot 2 boxes of shells at ducks, I had a good year.

So no, short stopping isn't in fact an issue. I've got two boxes packed for every hunt, and I'm sure Rick can tell you all about clowns blowing through multiple boxes per hunt in his blind.

I'm off the flyway and they don't show in big numbers until AFTER the season ends most years.

They are short stopping us all the way up here many years.

If you add up all the ducks that I see over the course of a year. A typical year, I'll bet the average is that I see 95% of them after the season has closed. The swarms of ducks do not show until everything to the north is froze and we have snow on the ground. We'll have days, and not that many, where we will see hundreds, but thousands just doesn't happen until the season is over normally. Being off the flyway, some years we get decent numbers during the season and some years we get nothing with no seeming reason why one year is different than another.

Although, I shoot a lot less since my dog passed. The dog owner ends up shooting most of the cripples. I remember one year thinking why am I going through so many shells when I got so few duck? Then I realized. I end up shooting everybody else's cripples.

I do pretty good on my shell/bird ratio. Well, most of the time. Some people shoot just as fast as they can. I can tell you what bird I shot at, how I (thought) I approached the shot, what I did differently when a follow up was needed, ... I try to make every shot count and do OK. That helps keep the shell count down.

The other thing that keeps my shot count down is that I don't shoot working mallards generally until they are feet down. It also keeps my bag down, but I have more fun working them than whacking them first pass. It costs me some birds, but I have a lot more fun with the ones we do get trying to work them all the way in. If they bug out, so be it. I'm just happy I got to play.

[aunt betty]

Probably just moved in. Easy removal but I ain't playing with chainsaws to get a few pounds of bees anymore. I put a box up in the tree.

20170516_115453.jpg

That's probably got a good fat mated queen that's worth $40 in there if you can find her.

The loggers are more interested in the honey. Been seeing bee trees pretty often.


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That's interesting and should almost be documented. "Wild honeybees" are rare finds. Someone is keeping bees in the area and they're losing some swarms it happens. If they truly are wild survivors there are people wanting them.

Of course there is no such thing. It's an illusion. People say, "that tree had bees for 15 years". It wasn't the same ones every year. They either died and new ones moved in or they swarmed and made another bee tree somewhere else that swarmed next year and re-filled the original hive when it died. Two years is pretty much it for untreated hives. They die from mites called varroa. There's a ton of re-using good nest sites just like birds.

Just got email from state bee isnpector asking me to volunteer and let them check for mites. I'm wanting to tell them sure but you need to pay a $300 site access fee and then a $25 fee for each vehicle on a daily basis with the site only being open on Tuesdays from 3-5 pm. The fine for not registering is $1500 and the fine for unregistered vehicles is $500.

Back to ducks...it's going to be an epic season. lol

[Rick]

I like 1’s...

When I was in the rice where we were apt to see most anything on any given morning, 1s were my choice, too. Told my hunters to bring anything from 2s to BBs, and they'd be fine for whatever showed.

[SpinnerMan]

I like 1’s...

When I was in the rice where we were apt to see most anything on any given morning, 1s were my choice, too. Told my hunters to bring anything from 2s to BBs, and they'd be fine for whatever showed.

What do you suggest in the mudhole?

[Rick]

Rick what's the latest offseason task? Whats happening on the alligator scene?

Any early indicators of Jenny Rose or no Jenny Rose for next season?

Does cleaning out and reorganizing the decoy and homer feed shed count? Just finished that mess. Among other things, my damn rat snake double-crossed me and became an egg snake. Found three of the light bulbs I'd planted in the pigeon loft's nests for a snake that was getting their eggs. Wonder that he could pass them at all, but he did - and went back for more. Was AWOL today which saved us a ride to the country.

Still a couple weeks away from nest hunting and I've not seen Jenny Rose or even Doug lately. I'm supposed to show Doug the boundaries and how the water works on a piece he leases later this week and will try to remember to ask.

[Ericdc]

I like 1’s...

When I was in the rice where we were apt to see most anything on any given morning, 1s were my choice, too. Told my hunters to bring anything from 2s to BBs, and they'd be fine for whatever showed.

What do you suggest in the mudhole?

He shoots 5’s if I’m not mistaken from a 20 gauge


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[Rick]

What do you suggest in the mudhole?

Eric's got it, I'm shooting 2 3/4" 20ga 5s, and tell folks anything on the small end is fine. Hole's not but 30yds across, and I'll not call a shot on a bird that isn't over it.

Way too many guys hurt their chances there with heavy loads that beat them up for no good reason, and the variety of super-duper, stick-o-dy-no-mite hulls I find in the blind always makes me smile.

[Ericdc]

What do you suggest in the mudhole?

Eric's got it, I'm shooting 2 3/4" 20ga 5s, and tell folks anything on the small end is fine. Hole's not but 30yds across, and I'll not call a shot on a bird that isn't over it.

Way too many guys hurt their chances there with heavy loads that beat them up for no good reason, and the variety of super-duper, stick-o-dy-no-mite hulls I find in the blind always makes me smile.

Don’t forget the super full chokes


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[Rick]

Don’t forget the super full chokes.

Made me think of the center-punched mallard in this photo:

048a.jpg

Don't know what choke was used, just that he was way too close for anything but a bill shot. (Fell just left of the blind, so 'twasn't my doing.)

[Darren]

Man you gotta have that Xtra-Full Kicks or Patternmaster to corral that 3.5" shell if you're going to be a real/hardcore duck hunter these days.

Speaking of shooting and shells, my paw-in-law is down in Argentina piling up doves near Cordoba. 700-900 for the afternoon has been routine; they're shooting Benelli Cordoba (of course) 20's .

[Rick]

I'm not enough of a shooter to find that, or even Canada, of interest. Would think banging away at doves would get old especially fast, but know guys who look forward to doing it every year or two.

[Darren]

Can't say it interests me that much either, especially given the price tag.

Would, however, welcome the chance to head down that way to chase some other duck species.

[Ericdc]

I would go for the experience of prairie Canada, lot more to it than the shooting for me.


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[Deltaman]

I dearly love a good hot dove shoot, and am lucky enough to get invited on a few hunts each season, but like Darren, think I'd be more interested in shooting ducks down there. Like anything else, just gotta be able to pay to play.

[SpinnerMan]

What do you suggest in the mudhole?

Eric's got it, I'm shooting 2 3/4" 20ga 5s, and tell folks anything on the small end is fine. Hole's not but 30yds across, and I'll not call a shot on a bird that isn't over it.

Way too many guys hurt their chances there with heavy loads that beat them up for no good reason, and the variety of super-duper, stick-o-dy-no-mite hulls I find in the blind always makes me smile.

I go with 4s for woodies. I might have to pick up a box of 5s when I run out.