Snowy drakes

After reading Jim Donofrios and Cas Alkanowskis' posts I had to double check and make sure I wasn't at the Rufuge site. What is wrong with some of you people? There seems to be an awful lot of flaming of people here lately and I don't understand it. Some one doesn't hunt to YOUR standards so its all wrong? You got some pretty big ideas about yourselves don't you?
 
Derek,
I was OK with your spinner because it was wind powered. If Mitch had driven a bad boy buggy up to the edge of the creek and shot those two drakes from it then I would have some issues.

Tim
Click to expand...

I think we are starting to pollute the main text. This all started with one guy describing his "good fortune" that he had while hunting some ducks close to home. He was able to harvest his ducks in a legal, ethical manner and was successful at doing so. Since that post, we have recalled talk of spinners and "traditional" hunting and ethics and now we have even brought motorized pursuit of waterfowl into the discussion. It appears to me that Mitch was proud of his hunting prowess and his ability to get so close to the ducks that when they flushed, he actually had to allow them to seperate before shooting to avoid destroying the birds. If feelings were hurt by something said in a previous post or something assumed from a previous post (no hunter is a good hunter unless he hunts over everything handmade, handbuilt) then maybe we should just thicken our own skin a bit. I still haven't figured out how to make cork shell goose decoys so I will continue to use my G&H plastics. Nice story, nice post Mitch! dc
 
Derek,
I was OK with your spinner because it was wind powered. If Mitch had driven a bad boy buggy up to the edge of the creek and shot those two drakes from it then I would have some issues.

Tim
Click to expand...

I think we are starting to pollute the main text. This all started with one guy describing his "good fortune" that he had while hunting some ducks close to home. He was able to harvest his ducks in a legal, ethical manner and was successful at doing so. Since that post, we have recalled talk of spinners and "traditional" hunting and ethics and now we have even brought motorized pursuit of waterfowl into the discussion. It appears to me that Mitch was proud of his hunting prowess and his ability to get so close to the ducks that when they flushed, he actually had to allow them to seperate before shooting to avoid destroying the birds. If feelings were hurt by something said in a previous post or something assumed from a previous post (no hunter is a good hunter unless he hunts over everything handmade, handbuilt) then maybe we should just thicken our own skin a bit. I still haven't figured out how to make cork shell goose decoys so I will continue to use my G&H plastics. Nice story, nice post Mitch! dc
Click to expand...


Dave I agree with you.
I meant nothing in my post to take away from a hunt that Mitch is rightly proud of.
I'm a traditionalist and sneaking is very traditional... using the wind is too. :)

Tim
 
Thanks Tim for your reply. I don't need to be right and I agree that you can't get anymore (hate using the word) "traditional" than sneaking/stalking/jumping. Man has been doing that since the dawn of time. As far as the spinner thing goes, the aluminum boat, GPS, and other gadgets. If it's legal, it works, it helps you, it saves your life or someone else, than knock your socks off. I am relatively new on this site and thought that some of the posts were really "getting down in the weeds" and thought maybe this was the norm. I hunt how I hunt and teach my sons the same way, but I want to get FLAMED if I ever come across as telling someone that they are wrong in how they go about their sport. I see some guys on here that are just as happy and excited as the day we shot our first duck....on our own......with the techniques we had learned.......and get beat up for posting. I would think that this forum is to build friendships and camraderie instead of blasting someone for not having the same gear as others, hunting as others do, etc. Just because you do big water Bay hunts in a layout boat doesn't mean you can do the same kind of hunt in SW Missouri. Things, people, and places are different......that's what is great about this site. dc
 
Now what I think is real unethical is motorized corn cobs floating among the decoys. I know they do that in Mich. The ducks don't stand a chance. There ought to be a law.........

All the jump shooting I did was hard work so when I got more money I started doing it the easy way. Boats motors decoys and piles of equipment. If I wasn't so old and lazy I would still jump shoot. There are lots of areas that is the only way to shoot ducks.

 
Jump shooting is almost a totally different discipline than hunting over decoys. I really enjoy both but bird for bird I'd say I appreciate the ducks I get from jumping almost more than the ones I shoot over decoys. Also, it's a fun distraction to try to get close enough to jump ducks that you've seen land elsewhere when you are hunting over decoys. Sneaking up on wild ducks is really a challenge, as is hitting them on the wing once they've jumped. I have a whole string of spring ponds and creeks that I jumpshoot when everything else freezes up, and it's getting to be that time.....
Also, jumpshooting makes you really appreciate a well-trained retriever, it takes a disciplined dog to sneak along with you!
By the way, glad to hear you had a good hunt Mitch!
 
Last edited:
Thats way too much work for a couple of ducks.

As a kid all our hunting was done from our property on a river. Opening day in MN was a noon start. We would tuck our trouser legs into our leather boots, put our shells in our shirt pockets and hold the guns up over our heads while wading waist deep through the cattails. I don't think we ever limited out but every bird got plucked and was eaten on a Sunday when Mum had the time to cook.

That only worked for the first day. After that we had to crawl like reptiles on the off chance we would still have birds to flush close to the bank of the river when we would pop up. We went grouse hunting instead. :^)

Good job on extending your season when you can see the end approaching by the minute.

Eric
 
Mitch, First off I would like to say congrats on a successful hunt. Nice looking drakes for sure. Stalking a group of ducks is not an easy thing to do. Personally I prefer to decoy all my birds, but if I am hunting with a partner or one of my sons and we see a group of birds dump in around the bend and they want to get out of the boat and put on a stalk, I always say.....Good Luck and shoot straight..!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top