Duck Hunters: What's Wrong w/ This Picture?

[Bill Douglas]

Curt, I think it's about 20 and the ducks tend to be Mallards. Usually the ducks came back as long as they wern't shot at, and being the opening morning they got shot at when they went somewhere else so they thought "lets go back to that place where we are only being bothered by that dumb dog". We would have about 20 or 30 decoys and use callers (quackers) as well. We don't shoot ducks on the water, and our guns are only allowed to be two shots. I haven't shot for many years as I'm half deaf as it is. But the pond is still there and the ducks are still comin' in.

[john70t]

Sorry, mabye I'm reading this wrong............................
"heheheee. With a brain the size of a pea, they're not known for solving quantum physics equations ..... we were walking out to our decoy spread a few years ago after lunch. As we got closer, we noticed 2 geese sitting in the decoys"

There were 2 geese amoungst 75+ plastic decoys on the back40 ??
Not too sporting.

[cegerer]

There were probably only 2 dozen decoys and this was on the 'big water' - Lake Michigan. Didn't shoot them off the water, although it is legal to do that. 2 geese flying away at 30-40 yards is fairly sporting - probably a tougher shot than when they're 'locked' and floating down into the decoys as usual .....

[cegerer]

The ACME stealth duck boat in action ......

[vash]

man, that is awesome! doesnt look that cold. get any? i gotta ask, where is the dog, and what shotgun are you using. you definately look like a benelli man.

[MichiganMat]

Cold? COLD!#%! Theres not even any ice! Michiganders don't get cold until they're bodies are frozen into the lake!

You build any contraptions for the dog? Jetpack? Wet-suit?

[john70t]

That is a nice setup and scenery. Sorry 'bout the comment.

I'm suprized how calm the lake is, and thought geese would be a better bet off that shoreline.
As to the cold, nothing a 3mil wetsuit and a dram of schnapps wouldn't fix as well as a good dinner.
The water's still quite swimable along the Huron river, but the Great Lakes could be considered oceans. I always wanted to take a month to tour the lighthouses. Pretty inovative stuff and a lot of history.

[cegerer]

We actually lay down in the boats. My buddy is sitting up taking a break in the photo. The boats worked VERY well and we nearly had ducks landing on top of us a couple of times. They were so comfortable, it was difficult not to fall asleep when the action was slow!

I shoot a Benelli for waterfowl. A great shotgun. When I first started duckhunting and I came to the blind with my fancy Beretta O&U, I was told "if you're going to hunt ducks you need a gun you can row a boat with in an emergency." So eventually, I bought an M1 Super 90 with a synthetic stock and it has numerous battle scars. Many ofl my buddies have purchased Benelli's since then. 2 of them bought the new Super Black Eagle II this year - very cool gun.

Those pictures are on the southern tip of the Stonington Peninsula looking out over Lake Michigan. Weather was awful - 70 degrees and sunny most days!!! Nonetheless, our camp managed to bag 42 ducks and 22 geese. Not bad, but not good either. The take included mallards, redheads, blue bills, green-wing teals, cinnamon teals, wigeons, black ducks, merganzers, Canada geese, etc.

Some guys in our camp hunted out of boats in deeper water and used dogs. We were hunting in shallow water and it was easy to retrieve the ducks ourselves.

Here's our take after a morning hunt (I'm on the right, my buddy Chuck and Titan - a 1 year old Straighthair Retriever - are on the left).