2021 Waterfowl Thread

TheCoachZed;[URL="tel:18378092" said:
18378092[/URL]]New Brunswick's Zone 1 opener in Musquash this weekend. Wild-camped in the bush, first light we were on the X, had great shooting for a half hour ... but not enough other hunters on the river, so birds stopped moving by around 8. We walked up a couple more Blacks, then had to call it quits on the day due to other commitments.

Saturday, a buddy and I hiked a mile into a prime marsh on the coast to find it had already been shot out ... but we went over a berm and lo and behold, the creek was boiling with mergansers. We shot five out of that flock and should have probably had 10. We'll probably turn them into jerky ...
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I have no words, except.......fill your waders! :puke:
 
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the spank said:
Back from turnaround and back after the birds......we are covered up in them now. Seems like every field is holding thousands!
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Man that looks fun.

Not much huntable agricultural land around here, so we rarely hunt in fields. I grew up on PEI, in Lot 16, back when that was the best goose shooting spot around. Watched many a bird blasted out in the back pasture, when I was supposed to be doing my homework.

Just made a perfect sneak on a flock of about 20 geese here on the St. John River. Walked through the woods, through a pond, up a bank, and they were there at 25 yards. Locked the bead on one, 3.5-inch Remington #2 Hypersteel load, BANG, it flew off. Shifted a bird over, BANG, it flew off.

I guess they will probably end up on Victoria Beach tomorrow, full of steel shot and feed for the eagles after bleeding out over the river. Makes me disgusted. I don't know how you can take a shot that's any higher-percentage than that.

Time to go back to BB. Just about anything I pointed the old 10 gauge at last year, died.
 
Birds have moved in our area pretty good right now. This field had 400+ geese on it yesturday so we hunted it this morning. 6 man limit of honkers and we could have shot double that!

Must have seen 200 ducks that all came at once and circled at least a dozen times but 30 geese decided to try and land so we shot them up instead.

Been a hard season with warm temps and not.many birds around. Hopefully this is the start of a change of luck for us

Pi219EQ.jpeg
 
DVXDUDE said:
Birds have moved in our area pretty good right now. This field had 400+ geese on it yesturday so we hunted it this morning. 6 man limit of honkers and we could have shot double that!

Must have seen 200 ducks that all came at once and circled at least a dozen times but 30 geese decided to try and land so we shot them up instead.

Been a hard season with warm temps and not.many birds around. Hopefully this is the start of a change of luck for us

Pi219EQ.jpeg
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Nice work!

Definitely been a slow season here on the east coast, too warm for sure.

I expect better shooting in next few weeks, as the north begins to slowly freeze up.
 
TheCoachZed;[URL="tel:18388498" said:
18388498[/URL]]Man that looks fun.

Not much huntable agricultural land around here, so we rarely hunt in fields. I grew up on PEI, in Lot 16, back when that was the best goose shooting spot around. Watched many a bird blasted out in the back pasture, when I was supposed to be doing my homework.

Just made a perfect sneak on a flock of about 20 geese here on the St. John River. Walked through the woods, through a pond, up a bank, and they were there at 25 yards. Locked the bead on one, 3.5-inch Remington #2 Hypersteel load, BANG, it flew off. Shifted a bird over, BANG, it flew off.

I guess they will probably end up on Victoria Beach tomorrow, full of steel shot and feed for the eagles after bleeding out over the river. Makes me disgusted. I don't know how you can take a shot that's any higher-percentage than that.

Time to go back to BB. Just about anything I pointed the old 10 gauge at last year, died.
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I don't think a 10ga or BB is the answer to your issues. Try patterning the choke/load combo you are using and if it's sufficient spend some time on a skeet field with target loads shooting from a low gun position and learn how to mount the gun, lead birds and follow through properly. My wife and I hunt exclusively with a 20 ga throwing 3" 7/8 oz #2's @ 1450fps through an IC choke. We had a flock in today feet down at 15 yards. I waited for my wife to shoot first. Her first shot folded a pair then she hammered another and missed with her third shot. I folded two on my first shot, missed my second and dropped two more on my third shot. 7 down out of a flock of 9...the first flock I let her shoot as I just called and flagged. At 15 yards out I told her to take them. She dumped a triple, one with each shot at ranges 15-30 yards. You don't need a 10ga or BB! When we hunt ducks we drop down to 2 3/4" 3/4oz 4's @ 1375fps. No problem killing them out to 40 yards!
 
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the spank said:
I don't think a 10ga or BB is the answer to your issues. Try patterning the choke/load combo you are using and if it's sufficient spend some time on a skeet field with target loads shooting from a low gun position and learn how to mount the gun, lead birds and follow through properly. My wife and I hunt exclusively with a 20 ga throwing 3" 7/8 oz #2's @ 1450fps through an IC choke. We had a flock in today feet down at 15 yards. I waited for my wife to shoot first. Her first shot folded a pair then she hammered another and missed with her third shot. I folded two on my first shot, missed my second and dropped two more on my third shot. 7 down out of a flock of 9...the first flock I let her shoot as I just called and flagged. At 15 yards out I told her to take them. She dumped a triple, one with each shot at ranges 15-30 yards. You don't need a 10ga or BB! When we hunt ducks we drop down to 2 3/4" 3/4oz 4's @ 1375fps. No problem killing them out to 40 yards!
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This is the answer--I just had a half box of these left over from some function testing and patterning would have left me with no shells to shoot, so I shot them.

They weren't moving, they were standing on the beach, follow through wasn't the problem. I suspect the Remington shells fired over their heads.

The 10 gauge was just a perfect fit for me in every way--I fired the same Black Cloud BB load through it each time and knew exactly where it hit. I could have the same results if I used a #4 load in my old Winchester 1400, if you see what I'm saying, it's just the inconsistency of switching between loads and firing a half-box of whatever junk I had left from testing that screwed me over.

(Edit: But out of all the shells and loads I used over many years, between several gauges, nothing ever hit ducks like BB out of that 10!).
 
TheCoachZed;[URL="tel:18390724" said:
18390724[/URL]]This is the answer--I just had a half box of these left over from some function testing and patterning would have left me with no shells to shoot, so I shot them.

They weren't moving, they were standing on the beach, follow through wasn't the problem. I suspect the Remington shells fired over their heads.

The 10 gauge was just a perfect fit for me in every way--I fired the same Black Cloud BB load through it each time and knew exactly where it hit. I could have the same results if I used a #4 load in my old Winchester 1400, if you see what I'm saying, it's just the inconsistency of switching between loads and firing a half-box of whatever junk I had left from testing that screwed me over.

(Edit: But out of all the shells and loads I used over many years, between several gauges, nothing ever hit ducks like BB out of that 10!).
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If you are going to be shooting birds standing still large shot is not your friend. There isn't enough pellets for a good dense pattern to ensure enough pellets strike the vitals(head and neck). All one has to do is look at turkey hunting to know that. Turkey hunters don't shoot 2's,BB's etc, they shoot 5's & 6's. Why? To fill in the pattern. Big standing birds have lots of protection on their bodies with wings folded over them. You need to hit the heads and necks....
 
Spank, is this an average or an Awesome year for you?
It seems awesome to me.
We have a lot of lessers and some cacklers in the valley here right now.
They are very inconsistent in where they will be day to day.
I managed one when I set up in a fly zone. It weighed all of 3.69 pounds live weight. I had never shot a cackler before.

Keep posting pictures. They are appreciated.
 
DFarmer said:
Spank, is this an average or an Awesome year for you?
It seems awesome to me.
We have a lot of lessers and some cacklers in the valley here right now.
They are very inconsistent in where they will be day to day.
I managed one when I set up in a fly zone. It weighed all of 3.69 pounds live weight. I had never shot a cackler before.

Keep posting pictures. They are appreciated.
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This is a normal year for me....above average on Specks but they are getting more frequent each year and staging in larger and larger numbers here. The limit on them was raised to 5 from 4 a couple years ago and if they continue to increase in numbers I am sure the limit will as well. Lesser's are very consistent here until the weather turns cold then they start jumping fields like snows until they book out. When you see them in the fields all day they are often gone within a day or two. If they are going back and forth all day from water to field non-stop they are usually not around the following day....mallards too! It's a sight to witness them feeding so heavily getting ready to migrate out.
 
Had a field full of big honkers lined up for this morning. Got set up and wouldn't you know it, just as the birds started flying the farmers hired hand showed up to start turning dried out sloughs over to more cropland for the upcoming spring. We managed to get a few after he headed to the far end of the quarter discouraging birds from landing short but by then most had flown on by to seek food elsewhere. It was still a great morning though and we watched Snow Geese migrating through on high for an hour non-stop at first light. Quite a show....
 
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