2019 Waterfowl thread

1963beretta

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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Vaughan, Ontario
Well, the season is soon upon us. Anyone as super excited as I am?

My dekes have been touched up with a fresh coat of paint, and the outboard has been tuned and serviced and is running like a top. The only new gear that I have that Im excited to try out is a Browning Gold 10 Light....which will be used during early goose. Once the season for ducks opens up, I’ll be back to my go to workhorse, the Mossberg 935.

Who else is chomping at the bit to get out there?
 
Put a lowrance system in the kayak and cut doen a cedar tree for trimmings for it. I too will rock a 10ga for early goose season. Sxs and browning bps. I have a pair of beretta semis for ducks. 303 3" for kayak hunting and an a400 xplor for field use. A few various sxs guns will see action as well
I need to cast some more decoy weights for the additional dekes ive picked up over the summer.

Most of my waterfowl hunting this year will be from my kayaks
 
Cleaned out the trailer and hosed down the goose spread the other day, organized the duck decoys and decided what we could sell. Picked up some more slot bags, I'm still debating on some new decoys haha. Picked up a near mint '68 A5 Magnum, supposedly never hunted and hadn't left the safe since '68. I plan to use it for a few hunts on those bluebird days
 
You guys see a lot in your area for early goose? Went out once last year and saw one single bird. Granted it was also 20 some degrees.
 
Any tips on hunting corn that isn't cut? Do birds usually touch fields where the crop is still standing? Had a great year last year in October in my usual field (after the cut) (42 birds in 4 outings, with me being a newbie caller). This year I got permission to hunt the standing stuff...not sure how it will turn out but I'll be out on Sunday :)
 
Any tips on hunting corn that isn't cut? Do birds usually touch fields where the crop is still standing? Had a great year last year in October in my usual field (after the cut) (42 birds in 4 outings, with me being a newbie caller). This year I got permission to hunt the standing stuff...not sure how it will turn out but I'll be out on Sunday :)

I have never seen them land in standing corn. You could try pass shooting, but if they drop in the corn they will be near impossible to find, especially if they are just winged (unless you have a good dog).

I am hoping to get out the Thursday after labour day . The fields around my house did not get planted at all this year due to the wet spring. They were sprayed about a month ago and I believe the plan is to plant winter wheat. Currently there is a spot of standing water in one corner of the field and the geese seem to be gathering there in the afternoon before heading off to roost. I haven't been seeing them in the cut grain fields here yet. Plan on using my Mossberg 935 with My Mossberg 500 as a back-up option.

Jim
 
Season opens sunday here on both sides(SK & AB). Will be hunting the AB side this year for the opening weekend. Have permission for a silaged wheat field holding about 1000 resident western giant canadas and a pea field hard hit by rain with a huge area of sheet water holding a couple thousand greenheads. I bought a new AvianX A-frame blind and added another bunch of real geese ps2 silos to my current real geese ps2 spread bringing me up to 13 dozen canadas, 2 dozen specks, 5 dozen blues, 5 dozen snows, 3 dozen mallards & 1 dozen pintails for my field spread. I also acquired an additional 62 quarter sections of land to hunt over and above that I already had availability to. I guess you could say I'm pumped for this season. LOL
 
Good to hear that you’re back out hunting this year Spank. I seem to recall you posting something in the past about getting rid of all your gear and possibly not hunting anymore due to injuries. It would be heartbreaking if that was the case.

And hunting in those Avian X blinds is great, especially on really cold windy days. We hunted from A frame blinds on the CGN Snow goose hunt and it was great to be able to sit there comfortably while talking with everyone in the blind without risk of being busted. It was also helpful to have had heaters running on the final hunt as it was brutally cold and windy out.
 
Waiting for season to open
Being shooting trap all summer hoping that will translate to more ducks.
Also running a mossberg 935

I shot my best trap score with my 935.....missed the first target but then hit the next 24. Its always helpful to get in some trigger time to practice for the season, but I found shooting skeet versus trap to be the most helpful for waterfowl
 
I shot my best trap score with my 935.....missed the first target but then hit the next 24. Its always helpful to get in some trigger time to practice for the season, but I found shooting skeet versus trap to be the most helpful for waterfowl

The last few sessions of skeet have had two to three times as many people out, with the season opening this weekend. A friend that had never fired a shotgun was out with his newly purchased Maxus, and after a first round of 2/25, some instruction got him to a best of 12/25 for his third round. That isn't impressive as a skeet score, but it was a huge improvement , and with a bit more practice, he should be at least capable of killing some geese.
 
Any tips on hunting corn that isn't cut? Do birds usually touch fields where the crop is still standing? Had a great year last year in October in my usual field (after the cut) (42 birds in 4 outings, with me being a newbie caller). This year I got permission to hunt the standing stuff...not sure how it will turn out but I'll be out on Sunday :)

If it is flooded ducks will go to standing corn but geese tend to avoid it as they struggle to take off from it.
 
Good to hear that you’re back out hunting this year Spank. I seem to recall you posting something in the past about getting rid of all your gear and possibly not hunting anymore due to injuries. It would be heartbreaking if that was the case.

And hunting in those Avian X blinds is great, especially on really cold windy days. We hunted from A frame blinds on the CGN Snow goose hunt and it was great to be able to sit there comfortably while talking with everyone in the blind without risk of being busted. It was also helpful to have had heaters running on the final hunt as it was brutally cold and windy out.

I had a knee replaced and lost a bunch of weight so much of my mobility has returned. Still have one knee left to replace and layout blinds are out of the question now as the disc I cracked in my back years ago doesn't like laying on cold ground any more or any cold for that matter but I hunted from a buddies a-frame late last fall and that is completely do-able. I bought a big buddy heater to place in it so that will help immensely also. I am really looking forward to the coming season.
 
Just getting set up for my first season of goose hunting. Got a new 3 1/2" semi, a bunch of ammo, 3 dozen decoys. I'll be getting some corn stalk panels to build a blind, and I have 2 fields I can hunt. Can't wait to go out, but I will probably wait for the weather to cool off some first, though.
 
I don't get excited for migratory as much as big game hunting. However, next week I'll be dressing-up the layout field blind and conducting some scouting trips. Farmers have just started to harvest their crops and pea fields will be the best producer for local geese/ducks. I'll be using FABARM semi-auto, 12 gauge, 3".
 
Just out of curiosity - I've been doing some clay bird shooting using target loads ~1200 fps. My goose loads are going to be 1550. That will make a pretty huge difference in leads. Can anyone give me a ballpark as to how much you lead on pass shooting, as when they are coming in to land on decoys.
 
Just out of curiosity - I've been doing some clay bird shooting using target loads ~1200 fps. My goose loads are going to be 1550. That will make a pretty huge difference in leads. Can anyone give me a ballpark as to how much you lead on pass shooting, as when they are coming in to land on decoys.

Now, that's a loaded question, pun intended. The lead depends on many variables: speed of bird, distance of bird, wind speed, speed of shot, angle of bird flight. A veteran bird hunter will have all calculations figured out prior to pulling he trigger, most of the time.
 
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