Sounds pretty amazing. What kinds of ducks did you shoot? (Pictures?)

I hope my opening day goes as well as yours did but here in CA we don't start for another 3 weeks .

Hope your season continues to work out well for you but you can't expect to get that kind of a hunt everyday. (I've never even gotten a full limit and have been hunting for 4 and half seasons.

 

Opening weekend is next week for me. I cant wait. I already got everything out and made sure its all there. Beretta, what size shells did you shoot and do you have to mercury recoil reducer?

 

Opening weekend is next week for me. I cant wait. I already got everything out and made sure its all there. Beretta, what size shells did you shoot and do you have to mercury recoil reducer?

I used #4 2"3/4. \ Hell, I could have used #6 or #7 1/2 on the Teal. They got in pretty close. We were calling pretty good. We reminded ourselves of the golden rule:

"Wait to shoot.... When you think they are close enough.... Wait some more..... "

I am a Beretta fan through and through. I use Berettas for all my upland and sporting clays. But I just got the new Benelli SBE II with the Comfort Tech stock. I really like this gun for waterfowl. The #4 felt like I was shooting #8's with my O/U. Or I could have just been so pumped up for opening day that I didn't really notice the kick.

 

Sounds pretty amazing. What kinds of ducks did you shoot? (Pictures?)

I hope my opening day goes as well as yours did but here in CA we don't start for another 3 weeks .

Hope your season continues to work out well for you but you can't expect to get that kind of a hunt everyday. (I've never even gotten a full limit and have been hunting for 4 and half seasons.

I have some good pics, but I couldn't get them to post. They say I need some sort of web server or something for hosting..... I did post one pic under the Photo Section under hunting. That was the only section on this BBS that would let me download or upload them. If you know how I can post them, please let me know.

Yes, it was definetly crazy. You literally couldn't put shells in your gun fast enough. I shot about a box of shells and put down 9 ducks. My buddy was shooting horrible. So, I had to be a TEAM player and help him out. :lol: It was actually really funny. As we were approaching our limit, I actually put my gun down. Two times he completely emptied his gun on a bird without putting a scratch on it. I picked mine up and hit the same bird on the first shot. You should have seen the look on his face. The sporting clays have really paid off for me. This was my first off-season to really work on my shotgun shooting. I felt really good. On the other hand, my buddy doesn't pick up a shotgun until hunting season starts. He doesn't believe in sporting clays or practice. It showed!!!

We shot mainly Mallards, Teal, and I think one or two Widgeon. The colors are not really out on the Mallards yet.

 

Do you know how to identify the Drake mallards in eclipse plumage? I know several people that have saved tickets with the gamey arguing with them that they weren't hens.

 

Do you know how to identify the Drake mallards in eclipse plumage? I know several people that have saved tickets with the gamey arguing with them that they weren't hens.

I generally look at the tails. The drake's will turn black and white quite early in the molt, while the hen's doesn't really change that much. In fact, I use the black and white to distinguish drakes on departing flocks when the heads aren't visible. Works really well.

 

Actually the best identifier is the bill and the feet on any species of duck. The hen mallard has an orange bill and the drakes is yellowish green.

Never really thought of the tail though gonna watch that one when jump shooting.

 

Chaco1,
I think you're going to be surprised. From the rear you can't see the green head, yellow bill, or ring on the neck of drakes, but the black & white tail make them look like they're wearing tuxedo's. Hen's tails, on the other hand, are quite drab. When I'm teaching newbies how to jump-shoot, I tell them to shoot the black & white birds, not the brown ones. Works like a charm!

 

The hen mallard has an orange bill and the drakes is yellowish green.

That is how I tell them a part.

Bug Doc - I never really thought about that. Thanks, learn something new every day.

 

Cool....

I finally figured out how to post pics. Here is one from our opening weekend.

 

Saturdays Illinois goose opener. Saw a load more ducks than usual and they were flying later than usual as well. Chilly in the morning but it warmed up quickly after the sun came up. A lot of high flying, large flocks of geese and finally had some lower birds come in to calls and want to land. 1 2 3 4 and my buddy and I were done. About 9:30 AM.

 

Nice photos guys. Way to get after them. They are saying we are due for a cold front in Nebraska. Well not that cold I guess, highs in the middle 60's. :? Did someone say this was October? lol