DOES EVERYBODY SHOOT DUCKS?

[steel shot]

Im wondering if yall shoot the ducks that come to the decoys or just shoot specific ducks. This past weekend we limited out with a little bit of everything,gw teal, redheads,gadwalls,wigeons,pintails,ringnecks and mallards.Is this a good variety or do the more experienced hunters let some of these birds go.

[Wingman]

I would have shot all of those. I'm not a mallard purist by any means. Maybe would've let the ring necks go if there were other big ducks around. But I'd rather shoot teal than anything.

Wingman

[goosebruce]

My last hunt I shot a pintail, a hen mallard and 2 faded drakes... DECOYS DAT IS. Tired of leaky deeks, making me get out to fix. Just sinking them as it comes up. Blew a hen woodie plumb out of the water end of first split. At this point, I was wishing dem 2 black & white jobbies wudda flown closer yesterday, Id whacked them too! travis

[Bluesky]

If we are working Big Ducks and some teal buzz the spread, we usually let the teal pass so we can get a shot at the big ducks. You say what if the mallards flare, then you gave up shots on teal. Oh well that is why we call it hunting.

[GulfCoast]

I might would have let the blackjacks go, too. I let the spoonbills and bluebills go, too. However, this year being what it is, I may start shooting coots!

[judge jb]

i pass on merganzers and ring-necks if there is another choice... if there ain't i shoot ring-necks and still pass on mergs.... anything else tends to be fair game...{except coots...} if i shoot em by taste, i go with teal, woodies, mallards and the rest in that order.. don't have the luxury of taking choices this year...haha....

judge jb

[laduck]

We don't have many mallards in this marsh, so I go from there. Right now I am down to shooting rails and callinules. If things don't pick up, coots are next. I might even shoot a few of them great birds that them northern folks call blue bills. I hate to think of it, but I just might. Jack

Shoot them sprigs on their first pass!

PS. Snipes are on the list also.

[no angel]

we usually try to shoot only big ducks and let the fast flyers go. they aren't much good exept for teal. we might make exceptions after the next few days

[Dutch Dog]

with your 10,000 ducks you have holding in your private honey hole why would you start shooting anything but big ducks??????

[Knockin-m-down]

Shoot'em all!!!!!!! web feet and wings, blast'em!!!!!!! Can't be too choosy this year. Only thing i'll let pass is the shovelers. Anything else' I'm KNOCKIN-M-DOWN!

[Anatidae]

Goosebruce....'funny you should mention shootin' the dekes......'was sittin' in the blind yesterday and when the sun came up, there was a decoy that had drifted 'bout 75yds out.....downwind! I wouldn't mind it so much if it ended-up on the next levee, but just outa gun range?.....'can't stand for that.

I bet I've re-tied every decoy on that side of the levee....'cept for that one. I was wishin' for a big bore rifle of some sort. We have a pile of 'rejects' under a magnolia tree.....'counted 46 decoys in there, the other day....includin' the one I ran over with the '4-willie', breakin' ice. It happened to be an econo G&H mag......Oh well [img]images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

'Went to another blind recently (nobody else has hunted it) and threw 16 dekes in the dog box on one end, for our 'camp manager' to pick-up [img]images/smiles/icon_mad.gif[/img] It's been a real experience! [img]images/smiles/icon_sad.gif[/img]

[H2OFowl]

Guys just keep this in mind when it comes to sinking sick dekes. If you hunt flooded fields and you sink 'em it can cause some problems for the farmers when the water goes down and they work their fields. Decoys and decoy strings are not very friendly to disks planters and such. In this day of high dollar duck leases a farmer might not let you back if he is down a day or two fixing his equipment because a decoy string got around a bearing a burnt it out. Most of you have probably realized this, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

[jebster]

Like most, I prefer to shoot greenheads. However, I shoot at any puddle duck, without reservation. I might layoff a shoveler, if there are lots of ducks flying, until I can determine what my bag limit will probably look like. I do not shoot divers, but then only see an occassional bluebill or ring neck in the fields I hunt. A bluebill does make an excellent dog training tool. Their skin is very tough and can be used over and over to train dogs (feeeze, thaw, freeze thatw, etc, etc).

But, this year, I shoot anything since there are no ducks anyway.

[goosebruce]

Man are you kidding? When you drain the water off, you gottago ck it out. Its like buried treasure, all kinda crap ended up around yo spot in the corse of a year. Leashes, gloves, & shellbelts are almost guarenteed, with goose decoy stakes & decoy bags a good chance.
Besdies,dunno whut kinda disk yur used to, but a dozen duck decoys aint gonna slow one down a bit.
Anti-did, you just touched on my PET peeve of the season. Trash in the dog box. Git out to pit in the dark, sit rowdy on turn row, open pit top, put my stuff in, command him to kennel, and we're hunting. Well, he starts fidgiting, almost from the git go. Im figgin to git dat ass, and it aint even daylight yet. Upon closer inspection, he tangled up in the jerk string. Somebody put the end of it in the dog box.....Well it ws robert (my used to be best hunting partner, but he fell in love and lost it). He thought that was a good place for it, where the dogs sits... Of course I cuss him. This week, rowdys sitting in the dog box, Im dipping water out of it, and look down into box and i think I see a cig butt. I madder than hell. But as I keep dipping, and the water gets skinners, it aint a butt, its a durcell aa battery. Robert done thrown 4 aa's in the dog box, when he was changing the shakey deeks battery... Cant figger out why youd throw anything in a dog box, but battiers for sure! Gonna write a note, and leave it on pit wall DON'T THROW **** IN THIS BOX, Thanx Mgmt. Bad part is, robert used to be one of the best.... travis

[Jeff]

Like Jack said, a Mallard is a rarity down here. TRY but not always suceed to not shoot dos gris and ring necks. However this year in fact yesterday really really oopsed up and shot a merganser hen for a gray duck hen at first light. I wasn't a happy camper. Oh well it will make a good dog trainin' duck. Also don't like shootin spoonies, however anything else is fair game and down here don't matter whats workin most of the time is a duck comes through the decoys a bird in the hand is better than one in the bush. However since we aint huntin mallards that birds usually a gray duck and those are always welcome in my bag.