pass shooting vs waiting til they commit

[duck warrior]

Had a converstin yesterday with a guy that would roost a turkey and go in there early next morning and try to shoot him out of the tree.

To me that is like shooting ducks before they are committed to your spread.

What do you think about both situations, but especially the later? Cupped with feet out or just buzzing over head before deciding if they are buying what you are selling?

[msbigdawg1234]

Depends on where ya are hunting? If you are hunting one of our "dove shoot "WMA's you better take what ya can get if it is crowded. If ya don't have a lot of pressure around make them drop the landing gear.

[Chuckle12]

Depends on how the morning is going and how well the ducks are reponding. If they are acting right, I'll wait till they commit, but if the are wary I'll shoot them on the pass as they check it out. Not sky-bust, but on a close 3rd or 4th pass. I'd much rather shoot ;em with the landing gear out, but some mornings you just can't get 'em to act right.

As far as busting a turkey out of the tree... I don't think that's very sporting. It's like sneakig up and shooting ducks while they're sitting onthe water.

[jdbuckshot]

if i know i can kill a duck, i'll kill it. but if its a big group i'll wait, depends on how many people are in the blind in all that stuff!

[champcaller]

if you can kil it cleanly... then shoot away.

[Widowmaker_duck_club]

I agree with big dawg.....it all depends where you are



although one wma we hunt there are alot of....whell......IDIOTS and I am the most unliked there because I suck the ducks off em and get em right and tight

[alabamabronco]

over here in central alabama......you shoot what ya can get:)....if its in range i'll shoot. ...however some mornings.......i'll let them fly over and circle.then pull the trigger.

[duck warrior]

I figured that was the reposnse Id get, mixed, but preferring if possible to have them cupped and feet down, but if you cant get them to do it right take some passing shots.

I"ve done both, both try not to shoot passing shots if possible, for a couple of reasons.

1. you are definately going to have more cripples and unclean kills.

2. tougher to draw the line between in range pass shot and sky busting, and most people dont like skybusters.

3. It is simply more pleasurable to see them do it right and challenging to try and get them to, but I do no first hand the frustration of having group after group ck you out and never quite commit. It does get to the point that you need to feed that hunger for seeing a duck on a lanyard. Besides, whose to say that on the pass that you shot them they would not have gone out wide on that pass and then turned and came in to do it right.

The more years and experiences I put under my belt, the less and less it is about how quick a limit is filled or even if it is, but more about how good the ones hat do it right are. Kind of like sex the older you get, it becomes more about quality than quantity.

[Chuckle12]

Besides, whose to say that on the pass that you shot them they would not have gone out wide on that pass and then turned and came in to do it right.

I agree, but if you've seen 10 flights do the ame thing pas after pass and have changed your setup 50 times and nothing else works, I say move your blind to the area where they are making the closest pass and shoot 'em at 30 yds on the pass.

[duck warrior]

to each his own.......not knocking your methodology, used plenty of times, just not appealing to me to do that these days for some reson. Guess Im just not as mad at em as i used to be and I want to killem on my terms or not at all.

I big part of the fun to me in hunting now is the strategy to keep trying even after the 10 groups dont do right, to keep trying and trying and trying just to see if maybe I can get them to.

I do like your comment about moving things around if they dont like it, as I have made little modifications to a spread and gotten better results from time to time.

I understand that there is more than one way to skin a cat. Im not knocking yours. Some people think it is more sporty to try and hit them flying that it is to shoot them with their feet out.

[skywalker]

We try to get em in the decoys, but every once in a while if a group just keeps circling but not getting much lower, we will call the shot and see what happens!!

skywalker

[Johnboy114]

dont think killing a turkey on the roost and pass shooting a duck is on the same page at all. no where.

as everyone else has said, it depends on the situation...I dont believe I know of anyone that will not pass shoot ducks, if they are not committing 100%.

Ducks are made to be shot while in the air..turkeys are not.

my $.02

[Anatidae]

'depends on what kinda mood I'm in, at the time

[hotty toddy]

To me it is simple. Shooting a turkey off the roost is purely unethical.

As for pass shooting, I hunt for many reasons and one of the main reasons is to KILL ducks. If the duck is close enough and you can make the shot cleanly kill it. That is the nature of the buisness.

In my neck of the woods if I waited on woodies to committ I might never kill a duck.

[Double R 2]

Wind, weather, number of people (movement), pressure, shooting average. When they're in range: kill the drakes.