warnniklz waterfowl Foul 2013/2014

[warnniklz]

Me and gramps got word from our hunting partner(we'll call him Mr. D) that we had some new to us land to hunt.
The farmer called Mr. D at 6:30pm on the 11th telling him where the geese were landing. It was decided we'd hunt there. When we got there in the morning, there was nothing going on. We checked out some of our other fields, which all had nothing. In the morning we seen two large flights of canadas and dropped one widgeon.

We ended up running into some members of a club gramps and Mr. D are part of were out pheasant hunting. So Mr. D got all hot to trot to hunt pheasants. Me being a non member I was demoted to retreiver with the dog.

Mr. D ended up two pheasants that I spotted. I retrieved one while another awesome dog named Milo retrieved the other.

[warnniklz]

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[adriaticum]

Sorry how do pheasants make to the water fowling thread? :-D

["No Choke"Lord Walsingham]

Phenomenal!

Quite a twist of fate... From Waterfowler to Bird Dog. :-D


I am glad that a good time was had by all. A most interesting and successful day Sir.

[Ambush]

You forgot to black out the pheasant's eyes. I recognize them both.

[warnniklz]

Sorry how do pheasants make to the water fowling thread? :-D

Hence the foul part of waterfowling in the title LOL... and we did bust one widgeon...



Phenomenal!

Quite a twist of fate... From Waterfowler to Bird Dog. :-D


I am glad that a good time was had by all. A most interesting and successful day Sir.

This year seems like I'm only worth a retriever. Im shittin' the bed hard... I'll post some story from today.


You forgot to black out the pheasant's eyes. I recognize them both.

They were proven guilty in the court of law... Mr. D is going to hunt down a couple more fugitives tomorrow.

[warnniklz]

This morning me and gramps decided to hit up our old duck field for a quick duck shoot. We didn't have much time so we decided to do some pass shooting.

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7am there was ducks flying overhead. Gramps was going to circle one way as I'd go the other. I was making a beeline to some natural cover, then a flight of a dozen ducks came out of the field. They started in right at me. I started to get ready to light them up... then I was busted. They turned off. So made it to where I usually set up. The ducks were avoiding the spot like the plague.

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So I walked to the other side of the field(closer to where the ducks were coming from). As I was getting closer to the edge, I figured I'd have to get ready incase something popped out. There was nothing in the ditch. All of a sudden a teal popped up just on the other side of the ditch. I swung up and fired. It kept flying. I put another shell in and then about 20 ducks got up right in front of me. I got all 3 rounds off...PLUS I managed to drop a 4th round when I was empty and send that down range...

I didn't hit sweet frick all!

Reloaded and then 5 ducks jumped up. They flew away from me and over towards gramps. They were only 20 feet off the ground and went right over his head. He was too busy picking up somebody's spent shells. He didn't even see the ducks. I then spotted a single coming in with some shithawks.

I started calling. He separated and turned coming down the ditch I was beside. He was coming in fast and low. I figured it was an easy shot. I figured wrong. Didn't even touch him. I repeated this for about 45 minutes and brought in 5 ducks this way. Missing everything that came near me.

So I totally shit the bed when it came to shooting today. I'm blaming it on the loads I was using. Remington P.O.S. loads.

Anyways... loaded up the punt and going to go and blast shells off at some snows tomorrow. If you see someone miss a bunch of snows and jump out of this punt... come help gramps push me under, because I'll still be shooting terribly.

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[warnniklz]

Well back a week ago or whatever... My grandma talked gramps out of taking the punt out on the shitty low tide... farnuff I said. Back to the duck field we went.

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There wasn't a whole lot going on really. The ducks were hanging out in the fresh cut corn in the field next to us... so they seemed to avoid the grassy field we were in. I did manage to pull in this teal... yeah... teal...
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Made for a tasty treat on the thanksgiving Monday.

[warnniklz]

Now back up north, I got out for the last hour of shooting light. Had one flight come in(wasn't shooting over decoys tonight) and was only able to pull this girl out of the bunch... tasty treat for tonight
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[lovemywinchester]

Right on Warrniklz. My buddy cooked up a mallard last year in a stir fry and I couldnt beleive how good it was. I need to start duck hunting but it looks like you need a whole PILE of gear with deeks and stuff, never mind a dog as well.

Off topic but did you get a goat yet? I think I missed it.

[warnniklz]

Right on Warrniklz. My buddy cooked up a mallard last year in a stir fry and I couldnt beleive how good it was. I need to start duck hunting but it looks like you need a whole PILE of gear with deeks and stuff, never mind a dog as well.

Off topic but did you get a goat yet? I think I missed it.

Waterfowling can get expensive... but it doesn't have to be. If I were to start again, I'd start with a 12 gauge(any 12 gauge with a 26" barrel or longer) and a pond. I was lucky enough to start out with people with decoys and calls... since then I've slowly put a waterfowling kit together, however it's spread across the province.


as for the goat hunting...
http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?97165-Goat-hunting-2013-2014/page9

[lovemywinchester]

as for the goat hunting...
http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?97165-Goat-hunting-2013-2014/page9

http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/l573/zippogold/aint_zpsb3d2dbfe.jpg (http://s1124.photobucket.com/user/zippogold/media/aint_zpsb3d2dbfe.jpg.html)

I'll take that as a no.

[warnniklz]

http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/l573/zippogold/aint_zpsb3d2dbfe.jpg (http://s1124.photobucket.com/user/zippogold/media/aint_zpsb3d2dbfe.jpg.html)

I'll take that as a no.

Ah ha ha... not yet. Took my buddy out to get his and I've basically been away since then... maybe next weekend I'll get out...

["No Choke"Lord Walsingham]

Hopefully you'll manage that Goat trip Sir.

Nice work on the birds! The misses just go to show what low qaulity/cheap steel loads can do for a person. Ultimately I view any time out Hunting anything a huge success whether that involves missing or not, seeing anything or not et al. The only time I am truly unhappy with a hunt is when there is a wounding loss/unrecovered animal. Fortunately this has not ever happened to me on a Game Species animal.

This is due to instances such as an occurance many, many years ago when I was a child and tried to harvest a Grey Squirrel with a low FPS pellet/BB gun using BB and wadcutter pellets... Very unsatifactory results that are still upsetting to this day. In the positive, it did teach me the true importance of shot placement and using the correct load for the game being persued.

Bad shooting can seemingly affect anyone every so often. I'm sure things will improve for your Bird efforts upcoming.

When it comes to getting into Waterfowling, the sky is the limit for sure on gear. One does not need all of the fancy accoutrements they'll market and sell to you. Sure, some of this stuff helps yet other items seem way more inclined to fool the Hunter than the Bird.

All you really need for Waterfowl fun is some weather appropriate clothing and a shotgun with non-toxic shells (Archery folks can, of course, bring their bow instead). Then get out to where you figure some birds may be and where it is legal to hunt them after attaining appropriate license(s).

Next, jump shoot some Birds! This is done by coming upon/sneaking up to them and having at it.

Other guys just use natural cover and knowledge of Birds to hideout and wait for some to come in without altering the natural environs nor bringing fancy stuff afield. One item that can prove invaluable if hunting near water is a fishing pole with some strong line attached to a length of dowling with a few very large hooks in it. This is a handy little tool for retrieving downed Birds.

Thanks for taking the time to share your stories!

[warnniklz]

I'm hoping to get my brother out in region five during the deer rut closure. I also like shooting off shells just to hear my gun go bang... well that's my excuse when I miss LOL.

I got a nice little spot where I got that one mallard. It's a wallow with water that's only a foot deep. But there's big poplar trees around one edge of it. So when the birds come into the decoys and I start opening up, they have to come right overhead.

I agree on the you don't need all the fancy gear. I'm still rocking some old flambeau decoys, spray painted burlap to hide movement and that's about it. I think higher quality decoys does give you an edge. But a good spread on shitty decoys and proper calling outdoes the fancy gear. Even though gramps has killed birds with no decoys or even "shitty" decoys, I find it funny how he always wants the newest best gear. He started out with old cardboard shells and he's always hocking the newest shells. He's currently obsessed with blindside. But I told him he's out of date and needs to get the high velocity blindside LOL.

Confidence also plays a major key. Once I figure out my shotgun and the load I'm shooting and drop a few birds, I light them up. When I get back in the grove I know my waterfowling will be back to where it was 2 years ago.

["No Choke"Lord Walsingham]

Indeed, well said. If there is one thing I do appreciate, it is the view of those that can still recall using lead to legally harvest waterfowl... Which I suppose isn't all that long ago really.. That was close to thirty years-ish now? I suppose that IS awhile then... Now, has your Grandpa tried the tungsten loads such as the Hevi-Shot or TungstenMatrix?
Anyhow, sounds like your Grandfather isn't being fooled in the least by the marketing stuff, simply enjoying all the changes in gear and taking pleasure in being able to pick through and try out stuff that didn't exist when he first ventured afield for fowl.

Did you pattern that gun/barrel constriction (if any)/load combo before taking it out?

I find that checking out at least 5-10 patterns with the same combo of gun and shell will help improve things alot. Patterning is a fine tool when it comes to making shots on actual targets/Game in the future.

[warnniklz]

Now, has your Grandpa tried the tungsten loads such as the Hevi-Shot or TungstenMatrix?


Old guy has! One of the buyers at work usually hooks him up with whatever cool new shotgun shell comes out. We've both been using hevi shot for awhile now, in small does. He's obviously been using it longer than I have. Usually we go first two shots steel(whatever we're using at the time) and the 3rd round is hevi shot. At work we've started stocking hevi metal shells. So gramps has been giving that a go... I may buy a box to try it out.

I sometimes go and check outs gramps shell collection. He has a bunch of 12 guage and 10 guage lead shells just chillin out, since he can't use them anymore. It's kind of cool to look at.




.

Did you pattern that gun/barrel constriction (if any)/load combo before taking it out?

I find that checking out at least 5-10 patterns with the same combo of gun and shell will help improve things alot. Patterning is a fine tool when it comes to making shots on actual targets/Game in the future.

I haven't... I think that's part of the problem. But also why I was shooting the black clouds better than anything else.



Hoping to get out more near the end of November, and hopefully I can get my brother out(who hasn't been out waterfowling yet). Just bought him a CIL pump action 12 guage, so hopefully that sparks him a little.

["No Choke"Lord Walsingham]

All the best to yourself and your Family Sir!

Hopefully your Brother has the good sense to come afield with you... Like most all of us, he is likely to get the Waterfowl Bug big time! It is such a fun thing to do... But pattern those shells fellas.

I am sure that not patterning all your loads really is a big part of having many misses to be sure. It is a huge help and will be most beneficial to your enjoyment afield.

Those lead shells your Grandfather has there can still be very useful for other game or even simply having some fun out shooting sometime. If he does not wish to keep them as momentos/curio that is. dependant upon the size of the shot they may still be fantastic for small game animals or possible even Upland Game Birds. He seems like a Gentleman who takes care of his gear and would have stored the shells properly so as to keep them safe and useful.