Pygmy

I must admit...My opinions on steel shot size were formed many years ago when steel first became mandatory. At that time, with the shells available, # 4 steel was nearly useless..Only worked on small ducks like teal and woodies at very close range. That is when I formed my opinion on shot size..Minimum #2 for ducks and BB for geese. With today's improved high velocity non toxic ammo, I should give smaller shot another try. I was always a fan of small shot back when we could shoot lead...I killed many ducks with a 12 gauge handload of 1 1/4 oz lead 7 1/2 shot at about 1200fps shot through an IC or a mod tube. With lead, I never found it necessary to shoot shot larger than #4 for geese...Steel is a different matter, though.

I still remember my first duck hunt when I was 14. I had some experience on crows, grouse, woodcock and pheasants and thought I was a pretty fair wingshot. I missed 12 ducks..Finally got a drake woodie that flew by at almost eye level. He was going almost straight away.. My first duck. After that, another flock came by and I led a duck by a distance that I thought was INCREDIBLE, and folded him.. Ducks fly a LOT faster than any upland birds, and you must lead them accordingly.. Geese fly fast, too, but they don't APPEAR to be flying too fast, because of thier size and slower wingbeats.. You best be out in front of them if you want to kill them.

No biggie yet here in Steuben..Some wind and rain but no big deal...I suspect the worst is yet to come. Good luck to you folks downstate..Hope you all make out OK.. GEEZE Growie, you are very prepared..Can the Mermaid and I drive up and stay with you until the storm is past ?? lol... Got any BEER..??..

Sits... Some locals most EVERYWHERE think that.. Also, some of the flatlanders who have camps here think that.. So what else is new ? There are always some folks out here who don't give a s**t about the regs... At my age I don't worry about it too much anymore..Hasn't changed too much in the last 50 years or so..

They will be in those trees tomorrow morning.. You might call in the flock off the roost after they fly down.. And then again you might not.. Setting up 100 yards from the roost is not a real high percentage plan...You might better go in in full darkness and set up right where you expect them to fly down. If the terrain is right, you might be better off to walk right under the roost at daybreak and bust them off in all directions, and then settle in and call some birds back. You never know...Good luck in the morning..

Kentfasteel works very well for me...I never use any steel shot smaller than #2 for ducks and BB for geese.. I suspect that you are using too tight a choke.. You are just fringeing those birds...I use a IC choke in my 11-87and IC/mod in my O/U. I would HIGHLY recommend an IC choke tube with steel shot in any single barreled gun at any range that steel shot is capable of cleanly killling waterfowl..Which is about 40 yards.. I suspect that switching to an IC choke is the best advice you will get from this thread. However, when you are talking about steel, SPEED KILLS. That is unlike lead, where 200 -300 FPS is much less important than pattern density and weight of the shot load. There are many factory loads today with high velocity non toxic loads. I have had good luck with the Kentfasteel. There are probably other loads that work as well, or perhaps better. I DO know that the Kents kill much better than the generic steel loads that were available back when non toxic shot first beame mandatory.

Nice picture Hounds.. Your boy is a man after my own heart.. I'd rather hunt ducks than deer any old day.. Lots more action.. Also, they are easier to carry home and the decoys are MUCH lighter..!

Congrats on a fine morning's hunt... The dog couldn't look HAPPIER.. You do your honkers different than me.. I usually bear down and kill the first one, then hurry and MISS the second one, and then, realizing I only have one bullet left, I settle down and kill another one with the third shot.. I call that a kangaroo double...hehehe..

Mid 90s sounds about right for Sunday hunting of deer and pheasants, at least here in Steuben County. I sympathized with people who had limited time to hunt ( I always took vacation) but it was kind of handy to have Sundays "off" . That was when we slept in a little and cut up the deer we shot the previous week.

When I started hunting in the early 60s it was 7 AM- 5 PM for deer and small game. I can remember it being pretty darn dark by the end of legal shooting hours late in the deer season. I can't remember when it changed to sunrise-sunset, but I believe it was still 7AM-5 PM in the early 70s. Waterfowl was sunrise-sunset in the 60s. It changed to 1/2 hr before sunrise-sunset sometime in the 70s I believe. Before it changed it was tough watching the ducks fly over before legal shooting time. Often someone opened up early, and then all bets were off !

Yeah, Elmo..I really can't think of any practical applications for a full choke with steel shot..For most hunting you would be much better off with an IC choke if you must shoot steel.. I personally only shoot steel when it is legally required, as when shooting ducks and geese.. For most game, lead is much more efficient. I agree with setters4life's recomendations with lead shot. He obviously has killed his share of birds and knows what he is talking about. Back when lead shot was legal for waterfowl, I killed a BUNCH of decoyed ducks including big ducks such as mallards and blacks, with an IC 2 3/4 load of 7 1/2 shot from a 12 gauge auto. That load was also deadly on pheasants out to 35 yards or so.

Seaduck hunting sounds like lots of fun to me, Papabear.. Is there a way to cook those things so they taste good ? I love to hunt snowshoe hares also, but I have not found a way to cook the durn things so they taste good.. As much as I enjoy shooting some things, I hesitate to do it unless I can enjoy eating them.

Growie...Glad the poor thing didn't look UP....Hehehe..

Geeze, guys and gals. I think it is all my fault.. Last year I was going to Newfoundland for a moose hunt, and my old buddy FUNGUS FACE and I had to take some detours to avoid the effects of Irene.. Next week, we have a trip to New Brunswick scheduled for deer, and we have ANOTHER storm to deal with ?? Must be I just ain't holding my MOUTH right.. I think it's time for my NAP..

Hey there, Elmo... What do you have against hairy, manly looking beastley women ? Have you ever been to Cameron, NY ??

Simple biological fact, Growie... If they don't have MALES, they can't reproduce... I'm sure the poor girls grit thier teeth and close thier eyes.... Kinda reminds me of...Nope..I won't go there...<wink>...

Okay Growie...I'll try to stay on subject...It's just that thinking of Consuela brought back some fond memories <<sigh>>... What a woman...If it were not for her rotten teeth, harelip and that embarassing feminine hygiene problem she would have been darn near perfect. We'd probably still be together if she hadn't run off with that Armenian Bed Pan Technician....

It's a tribal warning... The Kensico is a sacred hunting ground of the FUZZYBUMPER tribe, a tribe of primitive lesbian Amazons. If they catch you there they'll dress you up in leather, engineer boots and a chain drive wallet and lock you up in a mud hut as a love slave.

Yeah, Greene...I drove past it just the other day and it's vacant. It was a very nice location.I could step out on the porch and shoot stuff right in my yard.. Let me warn you though..It's a cold SOB in the winter..I actually had ICE in my bathtub.. When the wind blew the furnace ran full time and I still had to run and electric heater and cover up with a blanket to watch TV in the living room without freezing my tail off !

I'm in my 60s and have spent a lifetime outdoors and never got it..Maybe I'm just lucky, or maybe it doesn't affect me. Of course there was that time down in Tijuana when I met that nice senorita (Consuela) and...uh...er...never mind...

Rodney was one of my favorites...He'd get rolling and his eyes would bug out and he'd start tugging at his tie... " I was so ugly that when I was born the doctor took one look at me and slapped my MOTHER"

The right tool for the job ! Reminds of one time I was trimming out branches around a new treestand. The ones I couldn't reach with the saw I blew off with my 20 gauge and low brass 7 1/2s..

Hehehehehe...Brings back memories..A few years ago when my wife and I separated, I lived in an older mobile home in the woods for a year or so.. I set mouse traps and kept a talley of my catch on a sheet of paper taped to my refrigerator. When I moved out, my score was up to 46.

I agree with Growie on this one. She is correct...Not wanting to flog a deceased equine, that is all I intend to say about this subject. Besides, it's time for my NAP...

Foxes will not affect deer presence...PERIOD.. Coyotes or domestic dogs might..End of conversation.