Waterfowl

[Daryl S]

Thanks for the warning on shooting full size bullets in my rifled barrel. I've been shooting lead in my rifles since the early 70's.
The shooting I did with the slugs in my 12 bore did not lead the bl. excessively. It was easy to clean, about the same as my m76 and 86 Winchesters. Not a big deal. I did try some sabot slugs and was not impressed suth their accuracy in this barrel. Both full sized slugs would put 5 into 1 1/2" at 30yards, elbow rested. Good enough for camp protection and a LOT better than a .50 cal, light weight HP. Thats where the deep penetrating Gualandi slugs comes in.
As to shooting.pellet loads in the rifled barrel, shy would I even try that? Might work for woodcock, though.
I did shooting 7 1/2's in my .58 Hawken and at ranges to 25yards, worked very well. That one had 66"ROT. No, it did not fill it's rifling with lead, either.
If I want to shoot .50 cal., my model 76 in .50/95, loaded with 52gr. #44 pdr.and 377gr. FN at 1,650fps, 11 in the mag and one up the spout will do the trick.

 

[dchum]

My annual trip to Dallas for the hunting convention is always followed by a Sunday Duck hunt. Lucky to hunt this spot in middle of Arlington! Right in the middle of DFW is duck Mecca. We killed 7 species this morning. All 20g over under. Steel 3 shot worked great today.

pics are some of the nice drakes I took. My first pintail. All coming into decoys perfect. Very memorable

 

[Mekaniks]

Very Cool!

 

[Firebird]

Closing day wigeon-

 

[Altitude sickness]

Beautiful. Congrats

 

[MacJenkins]

A nice end to our Utah season this weekend.

 

[TaylorM456]

My annual trip to Dallas for the hunting convention is always followed by a Sunday Duck hunt. Lucky to hunt this spot in middle of Arlington! Right in the middle of DFW is duck Mecca. We killed 7 species this morning. All 20g over under. Steel 3 shot worked great today.

pics are some of the nice drakes I took. My first pintail. All coming into decoys perfect. Very memorable

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Ummmmm….. where exactly in the middle of Arlington ??

 

[dchum]

Ummmmm….. where exactly in the middle of Arlington ??

Shhhhh

Haha, just some private land near the west fork of the Trinity River. Surrounded by housing developments.

 

[Goopy]

Last goose hunt of the year for me… Perfect day: intermittent snow squalls, freezing temps and geese cupping perfectly into the decoys. You can’t ask for a better end to the season than by limiting out in time for breakfast!

 

[Altitude sickness]

The dog is thinking “why is he holding my bird up?”

I went and lugged it back. All he did was shoot it.

 

[Hornedfrogbbq]

We're going to try and go this closing weekend. We have had very very sparse birds in North Texas but finally may freeze them down to us...just depends on how bad the storm is.

 

[Goopy]

The dog is thinking “why is he holding my bird up?”

I went and lugged it back. All he did was shoot it.

Oh yeah, Winnie doesn’t care for the humans to play with the birds once they are on the ground…

 

[jduckhunter]

California a few years ago. 

 

[HookMeUpII]

10 year old banded black duck. The band was almost worn through completely. Shot a few miles from where it was banded. After talking with the biologist, he advised me he believes the bird migrated back and forth from Nova Scotia to NJ yearly.

As you can see, this was an old bird.

We've done rather well on early season geese here as well.

I primarily boat hunt which is what I find most enjoyable.

 

[HookMeUpII]

Final hunt of the season. NJ waterfowling in one picture. Almost a 2 man limit of black ducks. My buddy who hunted with me was 1 shy of his limit.

Tough birds to close the deal on.

 

[Firebird]

Gorgeous cinnamon teal-late season prime!

The guy I hunted with closing day sent this of
My dog retrieving one of his birds. Decoys in the background

 

[Woodcarver]

Alberta a few years ago. My 1st banded goose & 1st speck

 

[Woodcarver]

North Carolina woodies this past November hunting with my nephew

 

[Firebird]

Saw this they/them this morning on th river near my home. The duck dna scientists have discussed this phenomenon in a podcast with Ramsey Russel recently. Also a pic of one a friend of mine killed a season or two ago-

 

[Hunt anything]

I showed these photos to a waterfowl biologist friend, he thinks it’s a hen with a damaged ovary. When the ovary is damaged they stop producing estrogen and the testosterone takes over and produces the drake plumage at a reduced brilliance.

What did the guys on the podcast say about it?