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

5 days til opening day of duck season. So here I am feverishly slaving away on our latest Wile E. Coyote - inspired ACME Co. weapon of mass destruction - a combination decoy shuttle, boat and portable blind complete with removable wheels - basically everything except rocket propulsion.

Meanwhile, in the field less than 50 yards away from the weapons factory sit about 75-100 geese!! I could probably limit-out by shooting from the garage ...... but no. I'd rather spend hours fabricating equipment, thousands of $$$ on equipment and travel 6 hours away in an attempt to shoot 6 ducks / 3 geese per day ...... :rolleyes:

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Here's my dog laying in wait in the tall grass ...... ;)

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Ha, that's great.

Hey it may cost a lot, but can you really put a price on the joy of biting down hard on some embeded shot? :cool:

hey if you get caught blame it on the dog :D
think of what you can do now that the assault rifle ban is lifted (don't know the mich laws though) :D

Hope you're using steel or coated shot. There's gonna be some niiiice dinners ahead. :cool:

I'd rather blast a few shot into that SUV.

Just jealous ;) how does it go for getting you into remote locations, and is there enough room in the back to fit all the ducks from the opening morning?

wow, i would be in a blind out in that field with a compound bow! geese numbers look way up.

Steel shot is mandatory.

The Pepper handles unbelievably well off-road thanks in large part to the electronic stability management system. And I don't think we'll have any problems finding space for all the ducks. ;) The way the weather's been lately, it'll probably be 75 deg and sunny :( - not good for shooting those evil ducks.

Curt,
I used to duck and goose hunt on the Detroit River (Humbug Marsh) with my friend. I bought all the gear (Hodgman chest waders, Remington 1187 (with plug), camo stuff, etc...). We used to leave his house on Grosse Ile and in 5 minutes we'd be in the blind. After several years of work, work, work, no ducks... I gave up. I love to eat goose, though, it's delicious! Pheasant is my favorite because you don't need to get wet to get the bird, you just need a good dog!

Go ahead and give the dog some practice. Use a high powered pellet rifle from inside the garage and take head shots. Guarantee you'll pop at least three before the rest wise up.

<i>"Guarantee you'll pop at least three before the rest wise up."</i>

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. We got closer, and closer and closer until finally we're 40 yards away. Then 30 yards. Then 20 yards. These dumbasses are still sitting there, thinking they're safe because the decoys haven't flown away. I wasn't about to shoot them off the water so I threw a rock at them and they flew off before I popped both of them at 30-40 yards. ;)

I hate those damn geese! We have them everywhere in Missouri. They like to graze on the ball fields and crap everywhere. Too bad the damn things taste so bad or I would advocate shooting them all.

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

Well, I guess it is safe to say that your decoy and portable blind work well! Ya know that's why the geese are in that field across the way! :eek:

-Z.

There is a pond/small lake on the family farm, and on the opening morning (years ago when I used to shoot) we would send the dogs out to break up the bunch of 200 ducks. Then they would come back in groups of 10 to 30 and we would send the dogs out again to put them up in the air. After this we would have them coming back in manageable bunches of about 5 or 10 for the next four hours. A group of 8 shooters would bag a toatal of 100 or 120 ducks.

Hey Bill, what are the bag limits over there? We're only allowed to take 6 per day. And I'm not certain it is allowable over here to use the dogs like that. Even if we did, I think once they flew, they would be gone for the day. We just use them to retrieve the ducks.

You mean Wabbit season!!

Kurt,
Geese taste great!!

i havent found a decent way to cook wild duck/geese yet. actually, that is probably the biggest reason i quit hunting them. it didnt meet my "hunt only what i will eat" rule.

What's the spread on a Claymore mine? That should get most of them and end the crapping on the lawn problem with one loud bang. Hide the wires and the clacker though. :D

Goose steaks are very good. The key to cooking duck is not to overcook it. It should be cooked quickly like fish. We save up most of the meat til the end of the season and have it made into summer sausage (mixed with beef and/or pork) - it's EXCELLENT. One of the guys makes smoked duck that is very good as well.

I used to use a smoker and make goose jerky

On purpose :)

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.

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.:rolleyes:

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 ..... :cool:

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

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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.

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?

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.

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!!! :mad: 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).


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