A question I have had for some time.....

[Ringbill]

Hey guys,
I have a question that has been on my mind for some time. I have asked other individuals in the past and it seems to get some folks hot because they disagree with what I think. If asking it here makes someone mad then I am sorry. But I would like some feedback so I can try to understand more about the sport I love so much.
Suffice it to say off the bat that I am not from Mississippi. Yeah, I am a damn yankee (though from a state that wasn't even a state at the time of the civil war....). When I was taught to hunt ducks, this is the way we did and still do it. Suppose that myself and two friends are hunting, and the limit is 6 ducks apiece. We make every attempt to each shoot our "own" ducks, and each one stops when their 6 have been shot. Now sometimes you aren't sure, but regardless someone claims their share, and we try to pick birds we know are on "our side", etc. If you are a duck-claimer that swears they kill every bird, then you are done when you claim your 6 regardless of how good you say you are (though I probably won't hunt much with you anymore). That's the way I was taught and like to hunt.
Here's why I ask...since I have moved to Mississippi I find that most of the people I have had the opportunity to hunt with take a different view. The "bag" is not considered by what the individual may take, but rather by the group or blind. It's not "my limit is 6" but rather "we got 24 birds to kill". I have a hard time dealing with this, and as such have turned down some opportunities. So...what do you do? I am not condeming "group bagging" (though by law it is illegal). On the contrary, I am just saying it is not how I like to conduct the sport. Thanks for not flaming, I will be interested to here what you guys do and why that is the way you prefer to hunt.

Ringbill

[Jeff]

Well it kinda depends I guess. I like to try and shoot my limit and if it's just me or a small group (about three or less) then we try and keep track of individual birds. However if it gets any bigger than that then it's a group shoot. It really doesn't bother me either way. When you kill a bird you have a pretty damn good idea that you got it in my opinion. So I just work it like that. I like to shoot my own limit but sometimes it just don't work out exactly like that.

[MSDuckmen]

Why would someone flame you over this question, Let me tell you something if I were to go hunting with your buds I would tell them out right I shoot my own birds. There is no such thing as group limit.
I saw this last year with a group of young people from Holms Jr Col.
I watched the four of them shoot twenty-two birds down and asked them who had what and they cold not tell me. I made them stop and separate the birds and only those short of a limit could shoot. It is our responsibility to teach hunters ethics in all cases.
If they get pissed so be it. Why on earth would someone want to shoot at a bird that three other people are shooting at?
I like clean kills and we take turns shooting and backing each other up.
I get a lot of satisfaction watching other shoot as well.
A big gangbang does nothing for me. Stick to your guns and be a man about it. It is the right thing to do.

[damnyankee]

If I go with someone and we have the time and the birds are flying we're going to kill 12 birds. That doesn't mean when we get to the 11th it's a race to see which one
or both of us will kill the 12th (and 13th) bird.
If your with smeone who is shooting better or worse than you, they know and you
know it.
I have always hunted this way and always will, all it means to me is we get done a little quicker and give others a chance to shoot.
I go with others and am not going to desert them or make them leave because I was a better shot. If they will let me shoot their birds I'm going to do it.
But if it's me shooting $#!+ then I'm ready to leave when they are.

[judge jb]

its called party limits... if i have six birds in my bag i am thru and enjoy watching or calling.. let a G&F man see you helping fill someone elses bag and hope your friend helps pay the party ticket.... the limit is 6 birds per person per day... don't say i didn't warn you...


judge jb

[GulfCoast]

Be careful coming out of the woods, too. Once there were 3 of us, and each had shot 3 ducks legally (a limit for each back then). We were walking out of the greentree, and one guy turned an ankle. So, we let him carry the duckstraps, and the other two carried all the decoys, guns, thermoses, etc out. Guess what.....Mr. Federal Warden pops up at the edge of the woods and says he is "over the possession limit." We talked him out of the ticket, but what a pain in the booty.

[Ringbill]

Thanks for all the input guys...I appreciate it. Duckmen, I agree with you totally, but the reason I put the "please don't flame" thing in there is because when talking with people face to face I get a lot of flack for being anti "group bagging"...I don't know, I thought I might encounter the same here. What damnyankee said is a very civil way of stating the opinion of what most people I encounter do...if the birds are flying they are shooting the "group" limit. I personally would rather let a bird return north to breed than have someone who had shot there limit in my party kill it so it "didn't get away". But that's just my opinion and I wanted some of yours. Thank you. And thanks for the advice, Gulfcoast, that is certainly something to keep in mind.

Ringbill

[goosebruce]

RB, whut you are running into, is because we are raised like that. Never did I even give party hunting a thought until the last 2 years. We where rasied like that. 3 guys, means 3X limit, we shoot till we are done. I cant tell you how many times the birds where flying, and we brought people so we could simply shoot more. And its wrong. But until year before last, it never even occured to me. Whut you got here, is people thinking before they answer. And whut you got in person, is yo accent asking why we do things wrong (may not be whut you meant, but its how it came out I assure you, ever see the I dont care how you did it up north bumper stickers....ya'll just come off like that). Belive me, a generation ago, poaching was ok. Now we abide by party limits. Someday, folks will know a limit is yo limit, but for now, the majorty go by we got 4 folks, 4 limits, let shoot. travis

[DUCK KILLA1]

I agree Travis. If there are five of us out we say ok we can only kill 30 ducks or however many it is of us hunting. Cause lets face it when you have abunch of Green heads fly into your spread you dont know who kills what. Two people may be shooting at the same greenhead cause thats what the majority will go for. We do the same for snow geese when you have 9 guns pop up outta stubble corn field and the those snows are 15ft off the deck better have ear plugs. At the end of the hunt we tally up the birds and everyone is happy. If its a single the one person gets the chance then if they miss is a free for all. This may sound UNETHICAL to you "SPORTSMEN" but if ya dont like it BITE ME! [img]images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_razz.gif[/img]

[goosebruce]

You may have misunderstood whut I said. I said thats how I had always done it in the past, cause thats how we where raised. I know its wrong now, once I thought about it, and the majority of the time, I shoot mine and then simply shoot ducks others rock but dont flatten the rest of the morning. Limits are set figgering average people, average shots, average holes, average spreads, average calling, average days. When you have a killer gig, and you load the hole, and everyone shoots till every is filled, you just circumvented the entire way they figger whut we should kill. And when you go back out in the pm and do it again, you're a double dipping outlaw...Tell ya whut else we do, you knock a duck down and lose it, its one of yours. makes them boys think long and hard bout hail mary shots, when a crip counts toward their six. And you sure look like crap, being the only person in the pic holding 4 ducks, when everyone else got six. travis

[DUCKAHOLIC]

I agree with what everyone has said,and I aint going to say I havent done it. But the Judge is a wise man you never know when the warden is watchin. The state warden may over look it(not in Rankin County) but oh the wrath of the Federalle.And Duck Killa1 I was in court on a Federal citation I issued for this very thing last season and when the magistrate laid out the 1500.00 fine BITE ME was the last thing those boys wanted to say.I dont think I was brought up that way but in high school thats the way we became.Then i found we didnt have to limit every time to feel we had a good hunt so now if I get mine(Limit,which on the Ross Barnett is less than more) I unload and watch the show.

[pushpole]

This question boils down to hunter ethics. I have seen the same type of response from deer hunters. I know of on group that on doe day one year a single hunter killed ten does. The only reason he stopped was that he ran out of shells. His friend that year killed was said to have taken 35 deer and every one was talking about what a great hunter he was. When in reality, he was just another poacher. Shoot your limit, then sit back watch the birds and le tthe others shoot as they may. That's my advice which is free, and as is most free stuff it is usually not taken seriously.

[Swamp Rat]

In the last 44 years many things have changed in duck hunting. Thre is one fellow in our party that is a little quick on the draw when the birds come in. I find this anoying and also hard on the the young an inexperienced. I tell him point blank that me and my son are going to shoot our birds. Other times I will let others shoot as in the party. It depends on who I am with especially the younger hunters. I love to call and just experience the hunt and sometime do not make much of an attempt to shoot. If a member wants a specimen to mount I will give him the chance To me its not the numbers but the memory. I have guided some in the past and would ask the hunters if they wanted me to shoot or not.
I am not mad at the ducks anymore and I just want the younger ones to have a good time and experience all of the beauty and glory of a day afield in the duck blind.

[Ringbill]

I wanted to thank everyone who replied to this thread. Thank's for your honesty on the topic. It seems to boil down to one thing...how we were taught. Just more reason, in my opinion, to take kids hunting and teach them the right way to hunt. Thanks again for helping me understand.

Ringbill

[IDUKHNT]

RB,
My hunting partner and myself used to hunt with a small group here in Tennessee. until our two sons became 10 and were ready to start shooting, at that time we saw that the boys would never have the opprotunity to be one on one with the birds.(It has always amazed me how some grown men can not restrain themselves when a duck is hanging out over the decoys).

My partner and myself decided to go out on our own and start hunting with only our two sons. my son is now 23 and my partners son is 19. we have taken turns for many years now and have always enjoyed hunting like this. we never shot any of the boys birds and they never shot any of ours. we have spent most of a morning several times trying to get each one of the boys a limit without my partner and i even raising a gun.


A few years back my son and myself were in Arkansas and saw some gentlemen that we knew, they were kind enough to ask us if we wanted to hunt with them the next morning in a timber hole that they were having good success out of and we accepted. we knew it was going to be a free for all but we wanted to see the mallards coming through the trees.
after the hunt was over and the smoke had cleared there were 48 dead ducks on the duck strap. I finally got my son to shoot after the majority of the birds were all ready taken, i believe he shot 5 times total and i never raised my gun but i had a limit of ducks when we left the timber. now i am not downing these guys they are fine people but it has been said already on several replies on this thread "they were taught this way to shoot ducks".


My partner and i have chosen to hunt only with our sons and a few close friends that are on the same page we are when it comes to duck hunting. I think you have to make a decision on how you get the most enjoyment out of waterfowling and go forward with it. when you do this the satisfaction is much greater than when you are just part of the crowd. IMHO. What a great question, IDUKHNT