Al Bundy

I shot ZERO. I only saw 12. Saturday I saw 8. Sunday 4. Literally nothing around. Sunday was true duck hunting weather and I thought I would do well. I earned my duck hunting merit badge out all morning in the wind and rain. Very bad opener for me. But... I have the season ahead of me.

Me and my lab are ready to go! One of my hunting buddies is hanging his shotgun this season and who knows for how long. So just me and the lab in the morning. Looked for my shotgun last night and it seems to have grown legs. Hopefully I left it at hunting camp. Good luck to those going.

This is the deal with my bps. It's fixed choke, old style. Im two stars. Im going to pattern this spring summer. BROWNING CHOKES AND THEIR CODES (ON REAR LEFT-SIDE OF BARREL) * designates full choke (F). *- designates improved modified choke (IM). ** designates modified choke (M). **- designates improved cylinder choke (IC). **$ designates skeet (SK). *** designates cylinder bore (CYL).

Excellent choice!!! F'in it works at times.. Glad you had shooting this morning. I just got back from chasing canadas. Two shots and my wife shot three times next to me. I saw one bird fall after my first shot. Took a second shot and lost track of falling bird. When the smoke cleared I saw two seriously lagging behind the flock and not making the altitude they should. One must have been the first bird I hit. Other may have been my second shot or one of the wife's. Damn damn damn I hate seeing this. Land owner was real good guy. He showed me his trophy wall of deer mounts. Very very nice. Permission to return tomorrow. Woo hoo. Also my spread above .. that is one half. I had more decoys to the left. I made a kind of j hook/v type spread with the kill zone in the middle. Seemed pretty good. Going back to sit in 15 or so mins. Then back at it in the morning. Hunting hard this weekend to close out. Good luck..

Y am talking about ducks and geese. M y bps was the last year of no chokes I think. It's just a regular barrel and I've never had need to futz with chokes. I looked up once and I recall its modified maybe. Thanks for the 10 info. My shoulders are already not great so,sounds like I have my answer. I'm going to keep looking for a 12 3 1/2. Maybe a Winchester pump.

Back in with a cup of hot tea. Morning temps 14. It was great until the south east wind started up. The. It was colder than a witches top half.. Ducks flew late today and not a great flight. We had shooting if I could only shoot straight. I have picked up this horrible habit of shooting off my bicep. Not good. I need to work real hard next season to get rid of this. A new gun may help. Or not but make me feel good I guess. large flocks flying up high were the norm today. Some smaller flocks. A hen and drake came in and I squeeze the trigger. For some reason they kept flying. Next a flock of old squaws floated by well within range for me. My wife's Remington 20 belched out loud along with my bps. Damn!!!!!! Every thing flew away. Wtf... time for some clay and pattern work. But a great morning.

Two mins to legal. Nothing flying...

My view now

The last two or three seasons I'm seeing my hunting buddy reach out further than I can and consistently drop birds. I've taken a few shots and ended up with crips. He's shooting 3 1/2 in. And I'm at 3. Thinking very seriously about upgrading my shotgun. I've had my bps since 84 and it's dropped a good share of birds and white tails. But... things are different and seems I need more reach. I saw a used 10 gauge bps and it honestly caught my eye. I looked at 12 3 1/2 but nothing quite does it. I was looking into benelli but have ruled it out due to kick and click. Other auto loaders I also am shying away from now. Each seems to have its own potential issues. So... why not this 10 gauge??? never shot a 10 but I wonder if it kicks like a mule. It's kind of heavy but can put a sling on it.

Y my crew didn't make it either. Me and the dog and maybe the wife. She has not sat all season. She has gotten a few mergs last year with her 20. Hopefully something falls tomorrow. Good luck Sunday. I will also be out then.

I had to show serious restraint today as well. I'm looking at upgrading to a new shotgun and new rifle. My hunting buddy nearly had me talked into a new benelli sbe ii. Soooo close but didn't pull the trigger on it. Congrats on the new guns.

I didn't think I could pull it off but here I sit at hunting camp... glass of wine in one hand, crackling (propane) fire, 90 pound lab on my lap. Life does not get much better... Snow is all gone, no ice right now anyway. Tomorrow is going to be another cold one. The good news is I saw a flock of snow geese out in front of my duck spot. Going to chase them after ducks in the morning. Hopefull I'll post some pictures of ducks in the morning. Good shooting everyone. Also be safe in this cold windy end of season.

Wow. Those jpegs are nice. My buddy sent one from his old school phone. Not so good but here it is.

Two nights ago my phone goes off at 1:15 AM. My hunting buddy dropped a 46 pound yote, according to the text message. Near Utica. We went out this past weekend for a short time and there were tracks just about everywhere.

Anyone making syrup who is interested in trading some of your syrup for my honey.. I have 5 hives and honey from a good fall flow... Seriously... I wish I had time and trees for syrup. Add to the retirement list I guess.

That ice looks like no laughing matter. Whats the address???? Me and my lab are raring to go... 0 dark thirty works for us.!!

Not sure I would want to be swimming in the open water or a creek in January. You sure are a trooper retrieving ducks in this weather... !!!!

Saturday morning arrived and my team showed up ready to go. Somewhat of a trek to the water but I was ok. I was not quite ready so the crew headed to water with me coming in five or so mins. I got my shit together and headed out o dark something. My naughty lab took off for the water and didn't look back. Sadly I did not know this and called and looked for her and wasted a bunch of time. Grrrr bad lab. birds were flying while placing decoys. Got done and waited for 10 mins or so. Heard early shots and passed on some shots before legal. 20 or so mins after legal, a pair of blacks dropped in just on the edge of shooting range. Nobody shot so I said let's take them. All you was the reply. Raised the gun and the pair flew. I touched off a round and splashed one black. It was swimming so I got up and went to waters edge, commanding my lab to heel. I didn't want her to swim out as I touched off another round to finish the job. It was pretty far and that shot didn't seem to slow it down. Commanded my lab "back" and out into the water she went. She swam hard after it and it became obvious the duck was losing steam. In her mouth and heading to land. One in the bag!!! My lab shook shortly after coming back to land and instead of water, small ice crystals came off her.... never saw that before. Ducks flew great but only two more shots that morning. Two misses.. oh well. This morning saw lights out in the water as I approached. Got closer and saw a gang of guys setting up 100 or so yards from me. Weird setup really. Redheads and canvasbacks on threee different lines. Rarely see redheads and even rarer see a canvasback. Some other ducks mixed in but those were prominent. Also this morning was ice. I had to bust up 20 or so yards of ice. Not fun. Ice kind of screwed things up and nothing came in. Less birds flying also. It got real real cold when the wind started blowing and the snow came down. Today was real late season winter duck hunting to me. Overall good weekend but not many ducks. I think I'm done with ducks til next season.

I jump shot creeks many years ago. Never decoyed a creek before. In my opinion jump shooting ducks is very challenging. Walk slow and silent as possible and keep your eyes open if you jump shoot. Ducks blend in with the surrounding on a creek. Good luck.

Hmm. Good point... Winds for me will be offshore at 6 gust to 9. Good news is the forecast now is for real feel 6 in the morning and -2 at night.

Nice... Looks like me and three other hunters shaping up for the morning . We should be able to bring down some birds. I think Ill throw my decoys out and my buddy bringing a pile of his. Should be a good spread tomorrow. Im ready also!!

My hunting buddy will bring his predator gear so likely Saturday evening we will sit for yotes.. Last weekend there was a dead spike on the walk to the duck spot. Yotes visited it fri sat and sun nights. Sucks seeing a dead spike.

Real feel of 1 for tomorrow mornings duck hunt. I told my coworker I was planning to duck hunt in 1 degree weather and he said immediately "your nuts". What can I do but agree... Stay warm tomorrow.

Great info here. Thanks everyone. I think my spot has potential to be a very good duck spot. I see birds and I get some shooting. But.. I think if I get the decoys right it will be lots of shooting. Keep it coming... I need schooling.. I am planning to be back out this coming weekend.

Right now all I have is a dozen or 2 mallards and blacks each on its own line with its own weight. Looking to figure out how to dramatically improve this. The line you have is not pre-rigged? I see the spools but was thinking it might be better to get a pre rigged line where all I need to do is attach a decoy.