Went all the way to Okinawa and did not see a single duck

Nope, no fishing, didn't have room to take any gear. But from what I have read the fishing there is world class. Especially for tuna and mahi at certain times of the year.
 
Not very ducky in that area. I don't recall seeing any ducks in Okinawa, Wake Island, Guam......only place I remember seeing ducks was in the moat around the Imperial Japanese Palace in Tokyo. Great pics, makes me miss the Pacific trips.


Dave
 
Back in 12/2005 when I was in Japan, I saw a lot of teal, Pochards and spotbill Ducks. Also stopped in a small restaurant on A small island north of Shikoku who's owner was a duck hunter. He said the duck hunting was very good. If we move there I hope to be able to make it through the long process to buy a shotgun and hunt ducks and shika deer. But it's a 6 month process and ends up costing about $5k by time you get all the classes l, clearances, require safes and a gun.
 
What gorgeous pictures, Carl. You seemed immersed in a part of Heaven. I would forego the ducks to be where you were.
Al
 
Al, we are debating moving to Okinawa. Big draw back (other than no hunting opportunities to speak of) is the heat and humidity.
It's lows around 80-83, highs 90-95+ and 100% humidity June thru October.
When I was there, if you weren't in the shade or on the water, it was flat out miserable!

Outside of that, absolutely beautiful. Coral reefs everywhere, from the beaches to the mountains in less than a 1/2 mile, lots tropical deciduous forests, fresh fruit year round, etc... Great fishing, snorkeling, diving, etc...
 
As Chris said speargun is the choice. When I was in japan there was great duck hunting in Tokyo Bay. Went out with some locals and drifted on large rafts of birds.
When uncle sam sent me to homestead florida, I traded the o/u for a speargun and had a ball.
If you find wood, time to build a new rig...
 
Rich,

Did you go through the process to get a gun permit and take the hunting license test?
Or just observe the hunt?
The test (and the cost of course) is a concern to me since I can barely read hiragana, cant read any kanji yet. Its my understanding most prefectures only offer the test in Japanese.
 
Carl, I was there 65/66 with the Air Force. Had to get the gun permit, which was easy then. Took the gun to the local police and they went over the gun and took every measurement and it was put on the license. Wasn't expensive, $20-25. We had a trap and skeet range on a Japanese Air field a mile from the camp. We ran shoots and invited the locals. Japanese love shooting, many from Honda and other plants. Mr Honda provided motorcycles for prizes.
Anyone wanting to hunt took tests at the base, about 4-5hrs. You had to know someone to get to hunt there. There was pheasant on a island south of Korea. It was run by the Army as a R&R facility. Tons of pheasants, no fox, snakes etc so lots of birds.
Became friendly with a lot of the local people thru shooting and motor cycle touring. Sorry about rambling, but had a great experience there.
 
Not rambling at all, I love this stuff!

Things appear to have changed. Now to have a possession of a gun off-base, you have to go through the full approval process that the Japanese citizens do. Time consuming and expensive. But if we end up living on Honshu or Shikoku, it might be worth the effort.
Certain prefectures are actively promoting hunting now, they have a serious deer and wild boar overpopulation problem in many parts of Honshu & Hokkaido. But The fact that gun ownership is so expensive is not helping. Also most young people are leaving the small towns and farming areas, average age of a hunter in Japan is like 60.
 
It was always for the rich. Never saw deer or boar there. There was a import duty on guns, GI's exempt. If we sold it to a resident, the duty was 100% of the sale. They loved Brownings, now they are built there.
 
Carl, I run the risk of being sent to Okinawa by Uncle Sam when I rotate next. I'd love to hear any other details of the gun/hunting license process.
 
Looks wonderful Carl! Relaxing...
We were in Israel in March. We did see ducks to include shovelers. We also saw migrating cranes... Pat
 
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