Al Bundy

Finally... Picked it up last weekend and shot almost a box through it. 7m-08. Less recoil on my shoulder than my soon to be retired Savage 30-06. Its nice to shoot. I can carry it easier with shoulder issues than my Savage. I am still getting used to shooting and working on my groupings. I am going to clean it tonight. I want to make sure I am doing things 100% correct with this fine weapon. I see you can ruin the accuracy of rifles if you don't clean properly. I am still fairly new to rifles. I have looked at some videos, read some things but have not found a perfect writeup or a perfect video. Anyone have a link?

Hey mind if I show up? Ill bring my yote call, my rifle, maybe a bag of popcorn. After you two clowns settle your BS maybe we can go drop some yotes.

I patterned with the patternmaster goose choke and Winchester BB 3 1/2 in. An excellent pattern at 45 yards, better than anything I put there there yet. Im going to shy away from black cloud and look into Fiochi, maybe Remington steel. Rodgers sporting is having a sale on them for dirt cheap.

Don't think they can climb up a 5 gallon bucket with only a few inches of liquid in the bottom. I found a crusty one in the bathtub once. No telling how long it was there as nobody ever uses it. It must have climbed down for water or something and couldn't get back up.

This is GREAT stuff!! Im going to set up the bucket this weekend and close up camp til snow geese come back in the spring. I have a bucket and anti freeze I use to winterize. I need a spinner is all and in business. Ideas where to pick one up?

Hmmm. The lack of golden color on the end of the beak kind of threw me. Some web sites appear with and others don't show it. What I looked at didn't show it. Thanks though all. I will have to add this to my bag of knowledge.

What does everyone do for this??? I tried the old style spring loaded traps, the black tray things where they are supposed to get stuck. The electric pulse thing that plugs into the wall. Only thing I have not tried is warfarin. I don't want them to die in the walls. so would rather not go this route. Mouse shit surrounded the black tray type traps. They stole the cheese from the other trap. Cat is not really an option.

I think lesser scaup female juvenile or hybrid of some sort. Missing the white spot near the bill for female but maybe the juvi doesnt have it yet. Don't recall ever shooting one of these. Seems I see something new about every year.

After several hunts with my new sbe3 it is officially de flowered. Morning started slow and only a hand full of ducks flew. One small flock of four or so landed out in front of us. Pulled up on them as they took off and splashed one!! My lab swam out and did a great retrieve. Nothing else all morning. No other shots round me. But a great morning. chased snow geese after but something odd today. The snows flew and flew and flew. We saw flock after flock but none landed. Very bizarre. No snows today.

Who is volunteering to be naked? I think TCIII said he wanted to somewhere.

+1 here. I am an hour drive. I can make it as long as the old lady doesn't have something already going.

Great stuff!! I wish I had a crick to jump in the mornings before work. What a great setup. Jumping them is a challenge. Agreed on the flushing part above. This is why when I used to jump I was always at the ready. Movement out of the ordinary triggers the reaction of shouldering the gun. Bends in the crick are often good places. You can somewhat stealthily round a corner and be very ready. They cant see you coming and you are often on top of them at this point. After jumping the crick a bunch of times, you should get a feel for where they tend to land or at least places you think are better than others. Approach these spots slowly and carefully and be at the ready. Walking a crick with a snow cover on the ground in January is a beautiful thing. Good luck this weekend everybody. I'm heading out in the morning then again sun morning. Big water decoying. I usually get mallards coming in but this year very few. Luckily 2 blacks limit as I see more of those than anything usually. Hopefully l'll start shooting straight this weekend!!

I never used decoys on a crick before myself. Much harder but in some ways more fun is "jump shooting". You walk in the water or on the bank, however you can navigate. Keep your eyes open for ducks sitting on the water. Most times they look like rocks, roots, debris. Anything but ducks. Until they fly. Then its a function of how quick you can shoulder your gun and line up on them before they disappear. There is not much time usually. I liken this to being on patrol in some armed service (Though I never served. Just seems that way to me) You are "at the ready" constantly. I nearly shot a doe in January once longgg ago. I was looking when two doe bounded out from behind a log very close to me and the bank. My gun started to come up, but I had my wits about me and it didn't make it all the way. Easily could have. However you hunt it, this sounds like a potentially excellent duck spot. You likely already know this but you need steel shot for ducks. ( at least non lead). A federal duck stamp ( usually available at local hunting store) , a HIP number - online at DEC website just answer a bunch of questions then write your HIP number down, and a big old grin on your face for having a (hopefully) good spot!!! Good luck. Oh also get a copy of the duck limits and how many of what you can shoot.

Was using 2's. Use these forever, next to my hunting buddy who consistently drops birds. Same shells - black cloud 3 1/2 #2, same range, different guns, different chokes. Actually recoil in the SBE3 3 1/2 compared to my old BPS 3s I cant tell a difference. Maybe Ill jump up to BB but seems I shouldn't need to. I am not shooting out to 70 and figured that was a marketing ploy. But.. it does seem it should go out a bit more than my factory mod choke.

OK guys and gals (and others in this day and age).. I bought a Benelli SBE3 a few weeks ago and have been trying to get it dialed in. I been hitting most of if not all of the birds so my pattern is on the birds. This from my hunting buddy and visually seeing a bunch of snows contort themselves in a funny manner mid flight. I nailed at least a few snows last weekend and nothing fell. My buddy dropped one that literally nearly fell on his head. I hear this ... "You better not fall on me mother frigger" and I hear a THUD. One down for him. Mine though kept flying. The entire reason I got this new gun was due to my BPS only shooting 3in. Now I have the 3 1/2 incher (Size DOES matter!!!) which should give me an additional edge. Does not seem to be however. I looked into a chokes and see all kind of shit all over about whats best worst, factory etc so on so fourth. I also see Benelli says they don't recommend a full choke for geese with steel as there is no benefit to it. Then I find the patternmaster goose (and duck) chokes. Goose choke says good out to 70 yards. Also says good for SBE2. Assume SBE3 as well. So... the question. Anyone here using said chokes in a Benelli? If not.. what is your best reaching choke for max range waterfowl?? I was using black cloud ammo. I don't want to cripple any more birds and I should not be. I still miss lead.

Paula - Good luck to you tomorrow!! I am jealous! I wish I were going out but am taking a bit of a break until next weekend. I hope they come in to your spread. Good term for you to know if you don't already is "sky busting". Shooting at ducks/geese that are way out of range. It happens. Good job Charlie! Looks like a nice hunt.

Not sure I would hunt WITH her. But I would absolutely hunt FOR her.. !!!

Out again this morning with one other shooter and my lab. Had a beautiful shot at a pair coming in to the spread. Problem was it was about 5 mins before legal. I let them land and swim around. They were swimming away and at Max range when I pulled up on them at legal. Hit the first after he flew, confirmed by my hunting buddy. He said he saw my pattern hit the water around him. Didn't drop.. wtf? Lots and lots of large flocks. Just flying and fairly high. Not interested in landing. I don't recall ever seeing this number of large flocks. I've only seen flocks this size maybe twice before but nowhere near the number. I'm somewhat awestruck honestly. I was unable to tell what they were as they were not close. Lots of mergansers flying again. Also blacks. Lots of blacks. Most landing 90+ yards. We had another shot finally and one folded and splashed down. It was far but down. My lab began to swim and the damn thing started swimming. Some how it got off the water. It was out of range for a shot plus was not going to shoot over my lab. I called her back with my head hanging low. Not much other action. Chased snows after and my hunting buddy managed to get two.

Had a big crew today. 4 non shooters, three shooters and the dog. Lots and lots of,ducks. More than I’ve seen in a morning for quite some time, maybe ever. But... nothing came in real close. There were a few that should have been bagged but were missed. Still good time was had by all. Blacks, mergies, and buffleheads. Did not see an identifiable mallard. Chased geese after but also struck out. Going out again in the morning with only two shooters and the dog. Hoping we’ll get some into the spread.

Never seen one of those old squaws. Maybe this weekend.

Diesel.. .

Snows or Canadas??

Tomorrow for me!! Can't wait. Good luck out there this morning and whomever is heading out tomorrow.

My uncle had a pet raccoon once. Stayed in the house at least a little. Answered to the name "Racky". I don't think it was mean and nasty or it wouldn't have lasted long. Dirty smelly I can see.

Jump shooting??? Haven't done that in many years. That can be some real challenging hunting. I will be out this weekend.