Duck opener tomorrow... who's going???

[Al Bundy]

Getting my gear ready for the morning. I keep telling my lab its duck season. She's ready to go. It finally feels like duck season out there. Cold rain wind.. if there are any ducks round tomorrow should be great.

[Pygmy]

I'm going...A buddy of mine and I had a place all picked out to put a spread of decoys on the river...

Unfortunately, the river is blown out due to the recent rain, and if we shot a duck over the river near Corning, we'd have to drive to Elmira to retrieve it.

So were are going to puddle jump a few local ponds and hope to luck into a few..

[Al Bundy]

Wind 17mph... 94% chance of rain. Hopefully they will be flying in this miserable weather. Thinking about setting up my turkey blind and using it.  Keep the rain and wind off. 

Good luck on the ponds.  that is often fun shooting. Haven't done that in some time.  

[Al Bundy]

One bird down. Not much action. Some birds flying but few. I had to sky bust this one. My lab had a he'll of a swim getting this. 

One flock of about 6 came for a look and flared.  

Wind and rain picking up. Think I'm close to calling it. 

[Pygmy]

Never fired a shot at a duck..The only ducks we saw were a few teal, out of range and I probably couldn't hit the jet propelled little bastards anyway...<<grin>>....

My partner and I did get two honkers apiece...BOTH of the birds I killed were banded...

Over the years I've shot perhaps 100 geese, and only got one banded bird...I am looking forward to turning the numbers in and learning where and when they were banded.

[Larry]

Love shooting (at) teal they be fast I be slow and the older I get the faster they get or is that the slower I get.

[The_Real_TCIII]

Love shooting (at) teal they be fast I be slow and the older I get the faster they get or is that the slower I get.

When we go to Perch River I don't even shoot at teal unless they're coming at me or going away! You can only bring in 25 shells I'm not running out shooting at those rockets going across


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Pygmy]

There was a website address on the goose bands...

Nothing too exotic <<sigh>>.....

Both birds were females...Both were banded near Corning ( about 15 miles away)..One was at least a year old when it was banded in 2014, the other was a juvenile when it was banded in July of this year.  There was not a dramatic difference in size between the two.  Local golf course geese...hehehe..They are still fun to shoot and make a very satisfying SPLAT when they hit the water from about 30 yards up...

[Pygmy]

I ruined my most perfect day ever of duck shooting a few years ago on teal...

I was watching a beaver pond that belonged to a neighbor of mine.....

3 mallards, two drakes and a hen, came in over the pond...I made the slickest triple you ever saw, busted both greenheads ( a right and a left )and dumped the hen as she was heading out.

Then a drake woodie came cruising over and I dropped him.

I was feeling pretty cocky by then....4 shots and 4 ducks stone dead on the water. I should have gathered them up and gone home.

Unfortunately I got greedy and decided to stay...

Six teal buzzed me....Then they buzzed me again. I missed them six times...

I gathered up my ducks and went home...Should have quit when I was ahead ( or at least even)....

I ended up 4 ducks for 10 shots.....<<sigh>>....

 

Edited October 23, 2016 by Pygmy

[Lawdwaz]

Great stories....keep 'em coming!!!!!

[The_Real_TCIII]

Teal supposedly are one of the slower ducks, but they are small and fly all Willy nilly in an unsportsmanlike manner


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Al Bundy]

Two down this morning. Sun shining not much flying. Except geese. Lots of small flocks. 

Last teal I shot was so long ago not sure I recall.  I do recall how hard they are to hit. 

[Al Bundy]

After I posted this three mallards came SCREAMING by.... and kept flying.  Three missed shots. Grrrrrr.

[turkeyfeathers]

15 hours ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

When we go to Perch River I don't even shoot at teal unless they're coming at me or going away! You can only bring in 25 shells I'm not running out shooting at those rockets going across


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

only 25 shells ?!  That's interesting. I might be good for one duck for 25 shots.

[BigVal]

Shot a banded mallard yesterday, came from Wisconsin 

[airedale]

When I was a young feller me and my hunting buddies did a lot of jump shooting on ponds and old oxbows. One day a friend and myself were out after the ducks and snuck up on a pond and peered over the bank and spotted a flock of Teal on the water. We make a plan where I would go to the end of the pond and hide in the trees, my buddy was going to rush the ducks and take a crack at them with the rest coming my way where I would hopefully get some action.

The plan worked to perfection, when I was in position he rushed the ducks and started blazing away, it was not long before the rest came zooming over my hiding spot. I picked one out and made a good shot,  that Teal went careening end over end tumbling to the ground. I went over and picked it up and stuffed in my game bag and went back to meet up with my friend to see how he had done.

I got up to the truck and he had two nice Teal laying on the ground, he asked how I made out and I told him the flock zoomed through so fast I could only take one. I  reached into my game bag and took it out and tossed it on his pile but it never hit the ground. It just took flight and flew into the sunset. Standing there dumbfounded with my jaw hitting the ground and my partner was laughing so hard he pissed his pants.

Al

Edited October 24, 2016 by airedale

[The_Real_TCIII]

I once shot a limit of teal at perch river. I went to check them in and was missing one. I looked everywhere for that duck, drove up and down the road looking in the brush, never found him, until a couple months later. it was way up in the bowels of my kayak, talk about a stink!!