Waterfowl

[Firebird]

I’m still drooling over the Eurasian wigeons! Thanks for posting the pictures and congrats on some good hunts with some good partners

 

[Daryl S]

Wigeons were the best eating, here in Northern BC.

 

[James Adamson]

Absolutely lovely ! What make is the 10 gauge, 8 gauge & 4 gauge ?

The 10 gauge appears to be an AYA Matador or Zabala based upon the beavertail fore end.

The 10 bore is an cheap and cheerful Spanish Eibar. The 4 and 8 belongs to a good friend of mine that has a fantastic collection of English big bore shotguns. The 4 is T Bland and the 8 is a Tolley.

 

[Forrest Halley]

Some of the best advice I ever received from @BeeMaa "Get a Carlson's Black Cloud!"

Kayak jump shooting ducks.

The day that began the obsession!

Rained like hell for hours, then fog, then massive flights of geese.

 

[Hunt anything]

I’ve built a couple of new nest boxes for the blackbellied whistling ducks.
They have been up for a couple of weeks and I’ve seen a couple of pairs looking into them but no nest initiation yet.
I have a couple more that I’m going to refurbish and will get them up before the BBWD long nesting season is over.

 

[Firebird]

 

[BeeMaa]

@Firebird - That looks like one very HAPPY pupper.

Cheers mate.

 

[Qc_BearHunter]

I love waterfowl hunting.

 

[Daryl S]

I used to love shooting over deeks as well, but then came the lead shot ban & I stopped waterfowl hunting. I sold my AYA Matador 10 bore and Browning Citori 12.
Matador for Geese, Citori for ducks. I "worked" on the chokes of both. The 10 did 94% right barrel, 96% left with 2oz. of #3 Bliemeister (Alberta) hard shot. It was murder to 80yds on geese. My 12 shot 80% both barrels #5 Bliemeister shot.

 

[Rubberhead]

Wigeon...

 

[Comanche 6]

Vintage Venice, Louisiana.

 

[LivingTheDream]

AYA Matador 10 bore

Do you happen to have a picture of that gun?

 

[Daryl S]

Do you happen to have a picture of that gun?

Sorry, no. That was a long time ago. It patterned beautifully. Stock, the chokes were way too tight. The bores were tight too. Factory WW shells would loosen the base wads, so I had to handload for it. 54gr. Blue Dot and 2 ounces of shot it a 3 1/4" shell (I trimmed ww factory shells to get rid of the ironed crimp) shot beautifully. I used 2 ounces of 8 1/2 lead reclaimed for crips. Never pennetrated the feathers, but murder on heads and necks out to 60 or more yards.
That was fun, until the idiots outlawed lead shot.

 

[LivingTheDream]

Sorry, no. That was a long time ago. It patterned beautifully. Stock, the chokes were way too tight. The bores were tight too. Factory WW shells would loosen the base wads, so I had to handload for it. 54gr. Blue Dot and 2 ounces of shot it a 3 1/4" shell (I trimmed ww factory shells to get rid of the ironed crimp) shot beautifully. I used 2 ounces of 8 1/2 lead reclaimed for crips. Never pennetrated the feathers, but murder on heads and necks out to 60 or more yards.
That was fun, until the idiots outlawed lead shot.

I figured it had to be a long time ago, especially when talking about lead shot, lol. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Flipper Dude]

Back when they outlawed lead shot I was killing 100 or so ducks a year. I was mad about ducks.

Then we had to switch to steel. I bitched and moaned like everyone else

I kept on killing 100 ducks a year.

I wasn’t hunting so that I could use lead shot

I was hunting so that I could shoot ducks.

 

[Bushcat Safaris]

@BeeMaa .. if you care to share, you are avid waterfowl sportsman?

I was looking for yours or anyone's photos of the magnificent catches!
Thank you,
Dan!

 

[Bushcat Safaris]

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View attachment 716055

Ok, so Argentina, so cheating. 160 or so ducks. I recommend every waterfowl hunter hunt Argentina at least once.

awesome

 

[Firebird]

Last night hunting swans we saw a guy knock one out of the sky. Its momentum carried it past the hunter and beyond into the short but flooded grasses. The swan was up and running-a swan can easily out distance a man in that environment! The hunter sent a dog he was calling Ruger after the bird which by now was 100 or more yards and gaining. Ruger left a wake of mud and water that would make a surface drive motor jealous and closed the distance quickly. There was a brief argument where the swan finally surrendered and tried to lay

down and hide. It took Ruger a minute to fully subdue and then proudly pick up the bird and awkwardly return it to the hunter. It was one of the best retrieves I’ve seen and I am glad I got to watch it happen-

 

[omerta]

Last minute decision to hunt ducks instead of deer. Glad I did. It was nice to have some action as opposed to sitting in the stand wondering if I could bag another deer. Time didn’t allow as long a hunt as I’m used to but it was enough to get a few birds. First light flight was strong. When these eyes had enough light I whiffed on a black duck pair. Not a good start. At 8:00 a pair of mallards decoyed perfectly and I took them both. Packed up and headed home reluctantly because there were still birds flying.