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Went out this morning for ducks - took the 16 with some bismuth #4, 1 oz loads

04:20 - alarm rings, I get up, make coffee, hit the head, get dressed, coffe mach beeps - no coffee in pot - I know I put some in - jiggle the handle - coffee flows and it was good.

05:10 - arrive at Dads' pack the truck, off we go

05:55 - get dressed, pull out gun, look for shells, look for shells, look for shells - get undressed, drive back

06:50 - depart Dad's - alone - back to Salisbury - get dressed, walk out

from Here time is unimportant:
Walk all the usual spots and see no ducks - head to the beach - see the rafts on either side and flush 2 because I was fixing the hood yet again - tough to do with mittens and/or frozen fingers.

Walk back to the car - almost - there's a raft at the rock.

Approach the rock, flush 2 blacks, see the 2 that stayed - walk to avoid being seen - note: 40 mph gusts of wind will cause white out conditions with the correct snow. Arrive at gretbiggo rock - roughly trhe size of a 2.5 ton dump truck.

Gun - check, safety off - check, shells in gun - check. Mentally prep for the shot "Peek around, look for the 2 ducks, pull trigger"

Pop up and lo - 8 ducks - mallards the size of 2 chickens, "Butterball" tattos an the wings and everything - point at one duck (aim? Bah!) - they flush off the water - clickBAM!

3 ducks sit as fast as they jumped - one is flat, the other 2 swimmin' - pull trigger again - nothing - PULL! - Oh yeah, move your finger to the other trigger - PULL! - not the trigger guard, the trigger - PULL!

Alright! Who moved the safety on!?

Abandon mitten, Rush down to the water and retreive Drake1, get a shot off at Drake2 (make mental note of shot pattern on water/duck).

Suzie is heading for the tall grass, fumble to reload - fawking extractors - fawking sticky shells - Uh oh, Suzie died, go get her - KEEP WATCHING THE DRAKE YOU IDIOT!

Notice Drake2 very flat on the water and heading for the tall grass - or was it the rocks? - or was it the grass on the far side of the rocks?

Get Suzie - continue tracking Drake2 - search for Drake2 - repeat last, repeat last, repeat last...

retrieve mitten - remember the mitten? Cross many yards back to the mitten - Did I mention the snow? Find mitten - resume search for Drake2 - whoah, the tide's coming in...search for Drake2 - repeat last, repeat last, repeat last...

Admit defeat, call off search - Head out back to Jeep, undress, on the road...call Dad

"Is it snowing there yet?"

"Yeah, just - how about up there?"

"No - it's raining here?"

"Raining!?"

"Yeah - raining mallards! Tell you when I get there..."

The coffee went cold somewhere in the middle.

2 mallards plucked, cleaned & in the brine

Dad picked up a black off the local mash and flubbed his own shots in grand style - breasts are in the brine too.

Member Joined: 01 Dec 2006 Posts: 524

Very cool read - thanks you should write professionally that was very entertaining as we all can relate

Member Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 3438 Location: Illinois

Any day hunting is better than a day at work Twisted Evil

Good story!

Happy to hear there is someone else who hunts ducks with bismuth 1 oz. #4 besides me. Down here on the Miss. Flyway all my shooting buddies shoot 3.5 mag number 12 in steel and give me a ribbing about my o/u in 16. But...when they see how birds fold up like they were hit with lead shot, sometimes the ribbing ends!

thanks much for the comments on writing - turns out I hate math and like writing...makes me wish I paid more attention in skool...

as for prefering the 16 to 12...I've hunted ducks for 20 with the 12 - I've recently taken the 16 due to mecanical problems with the 12...

although - my recent infusion of sixteen fever has shown me that with some practice, I can still bring home the quackers, if I do my part...

once I get reloadin', I can justify the expense a bit easier - sitting in the blind with an old timer buddy of mine - no chit, this guy is approaching 75 - I pop 2 rounds (cause I actually found the back trigger...) and puched 2 very delcate holers in the space behhind the duck abd said, "That was four bucks." we exchanged laughes -laffes, however you spell it - and had a great time.

some of the things that ave stuck with me are the "stories of the old duck hunters" Gordon MacQuerrie - "A case of chilled fives - ounce and a quarter"...made me rethink the steel a bit and back off to #3's and 1 1/8th loads...great duck round - now if I can get my fricken remington to cycle properly...

screw it, Ima ask Santa for more Bizz-myth shells