On The Water

Would you shoot ducks or geese while on the water?

  • Yes, It's all fair game

    Votes: 31 38.8%

  • No, That's not sporting

    Votes: 38 47.5%

  • Depends where I am hunting, (regional thing)

    Votes: 5 6.3%

  • I have before, but wouldn't now

    Votes: 7 8.8%
  • Total voters
    80
  • Poll closed .
If I was just gathering food, yes. But I haven't felt a need to shoot on the water in over twenty years now, I always flush them first.
 
Water fowl are alot harder to kill cleanly on the water thier innards being protected by submersion and folded wings.
firing accross the water as opposed to upwards can also cause you issues in a well used marsh.
If you are in range of birds on the water, leave them there as decoys.
 
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Depends if im on private property just jumping ponds or actually out calling and staying for the day. usually there up and on there way out before I get a sneak shot.
 
I have in the past, but nowadays I am not at all concerned about getting a limit. Besides it is a lot more challenging to shoot them on the wing. I mostly jump shoot on ponds and sloughs so the birds are just about always in the air anyway. Currently I would rather see my 11 year old son shoot the ducks. I normally set him up and flush the ducks so they fly towards him. I haven't let him groundsluice any . This year my 13 yr old daughter might be going along so I probably won't be shooting ducks again this year.
 
DFarmer said:
I have in the past, but nowadays I am not at all concerned about getting a limit. Besides it is a lot more challenging to shoot them on the wing. I mostly jump shoot on ponds and sloughs so the birds are just about always in the air anyway. Currently I would rather see my 11 year old son shoot the ducks. I normally set him up and flush the ducks so they fly towards him. I haven't let him groundsluice any . This year my 13 yr old daughter might be going along so I probably won't be shooting ducks again this year.
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Excellent post, congratulations on being a fine sporstman and teaching the young people ethical hunting.
I have followed the same plan and it is always a pleasure to be able to feel good about what you shot, and observing those you have taught become ethical hunters.
 
I prefer to shoot out of the air, but the way steel shot DOESN'T bring down Geese too well, I shoot what I can get.
 
steel shot DOESN'T bring down Geese too well,
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Steel shot brings geese down just fine if you use the correct shot size and only shoot when they are in range.Of course you do need to be able to place the pattern properly as well.
 
I'll shoot them on the water, depending on species. Teal, Canvasbacks, specklebelly geese and redheads get smacked on the wing, on the water, or in the zoo if I can get them because they are just so damned good to eat.

With teal, I like to let them bunch up so I can get 2 or more with the first shot.

Those big green-headed rats and all the others are taken solely on the wing.

I would say that 95% of all the ducks and geese I shoot are on the wing. I see no ethical dilemma in shooting them on the ground or water however.
 
I've watched steel shot bounce off geese where lead would have dropped them hard. I agree if they're in "the proper range" steel will bring them down, but that's a h@ll of a lot less than lead. It doesn't have the ft/lb of impact.
 
Well I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that side by side, my old box of imperial half brass number 5, will do a better job than many 3 inch and 3.5 inch steel loads.

I was watching the hunting channel and see these guys talking about maturing into not taking the 3 yera old and 2 year old bucks, but letting them pass for older ones. If that means not taking one that season, then so be it.

This was as foreign to me as anything I had ever heard. I don't farm my animals, I don't own 5 square miles, and I don't see and track and keep notes on one buck for 4 years.

The same as those who say it's unsporting to shoot a grouse on the ground with a shotgun or a duck on the water. Depends on who you are, who you're not and where you are.

I'm not out grouse hunting in English riding boots with a $2000 double and shouting "to the queen" and "tally ho good man". If that's waht you do, fine. But those who don't aren't unsporting
 
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On the trapline, yup - even shot them with a 22.
I live in town these days and do not need to hunt for my supper, so would not think of shooting a duck or goose on the ground or water....
Cat
 
I do mostly field hunting mainly for geese so all the shots are normally just as they're landing or flapping into the decoy spread. I have shot some on the ground and have absolutely no problems with it. I think its just personal preference really. Same goes for ducks on the water, first shot is always just as they are landing and at their slowest speed then the next two are as they are lifting off.

And I dont even care about limits too much anymore its more about tricking the birds at their own game, a dead goose is a dead goose whether you shot him in the air, on the ground, sleeping, eating, pooping, honking, walking or swimming, it makes no difference to me.
 
gitrdun said:
Sure....If you're a LOOSER.
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Now did you really mean "looser" or LOSER.:D

When I shoot them on the water I guess I would be the former cause I am letting LOOSE on them. However, I wouldn't be the latter since I don't LOSE birds that are skillet shot. (BTW for fine eating birds like canvasback and teal the skillet shot is much preferable to a wing shot since all that good breast meat is submerged and protected).:dancingbanana:

I spend a couple thousand bucks every season on gear, shells, gas etc. Out of the 300 or so birds I kill every season about 15-20 get water swatted including the first bird of the season (usually a bluewing that sits in the dekes for the half hour before legal making that annoying little squawk they do -- I used to try and flush them but they just looked at me stupidly or swam slowly away -- now I just smack them so the dog gets some early work).

I'm a duck hunter first before I am any other type of hunter. I guess I like to think I should be able to decide which of the legal methods I use to put a bird in the pot.
 
gitrdun said:
Sure....If you're a LOOSER.
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What's a looser?

I have hiked 5 miles to see three ducks about a 1/4 mile away on a pond. I have crawled alomost a half mile to sneak up on them and get a shot. If that shot is on the water, right on.
I have taken 2 of three said ducks, and not seen another til dusk. All areas are not the same, nor are the methods.

I once limited out out on a single shot on the water. Was that optimal, depends on who you are.
 
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sjemac said:
Now did you really mean "looser" or LOSER.:D

When I shoot them on the water I guess I would be the former cause I am letting LOOSE on them. However, I wouldn't be the latter since I don't LOSE birds that are skillet shot. (BTW for fine eating birds like canvasback and teal the skillet shot is much preferable to a wing shot since all that good breast meat is submerged and protected).:dancingbanana:

I spend a couple thousand bucks every season on gear, shells, gas etc. Out of the 300 or so birds I kill every season about 15-20 get water swatted including the first bird of the season (usually a bluewing that sits in the dekes for the half hour before legal making that annoying little squawk they do -- I used to try and flush them but they just looked at me stupidly or swam slowly away -- now I just smack them so the dog gets some early work).

I'm a duck hunter first before I am any other type of hunter. I guess I like to think I should be able to decide which of the legal methods I use to put a bird in the pot.
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well put
 
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