Legal or not??

[Roosterslayer05]

I disagree with makeing robo's illegal for one reason, they are less effective every year. I would agree with you ray if they still worked like they used to, but everyone has them now and ducks have figured it out. I use robo's and winducks sometimes, but iv noticed the effectiveness of such decoys has gone down exponentially every year. I would say that I took the mojo down 75 percent of the time I used them this year because they were flaring ducks. As soon as I took them down, ducks would decoy. They still help when ducks are high and it gives them a reason to look at your spread, but I found at about 60 yards they flare. There is a reason for this, these ducks have seen them before and they are no longer fooled! I remember when mojo's first started geting popular and I got one in 2000, the first two years I had them it was amazing how succesful they were, ducks would see them and come in everytime, I would even bring only a mojo and set it up in some stumps in the water and shoot plenty of ducks. This is no longer the case and i believe in a few years a guy will be more succesful without a mojo in his spread. Im talking water hunting here, field hunting is another story.

Now my rant on water swating ducks, I dont like it. Its not fun for me, and I have allot more fun shooting ducks on the wing. I dont care if others do it, but if your hunting with me and you waterswat a duck I will give you an earfull garanteed. I remember when I was 11 I wanted to waterswat a couple ducks siting in front of my dad and I and he got so angry he took the gun out of my hands and told me if I ever waterswated a duck I could no longer hunt. I have a friend who will let geese land in the decoys then shoot them off the ground when he hunts, and I think thats downright shameful. I was brought up in a family where ethics and fair chase were important, and I dont believe in groundswating or waterswating. I wont knock a guy for doing it, but I will think less of him as a sportsman, and if he hunts with me I will let him know that im not ok with it.

[SWMuskeye]

You guys crack me up. People shouldn't get roasted if they waterswat in MN. It's LEGAL, yes LEGAL. End Of Discussion.

You The few times I get out each year I don't mind keeping a few birds, and will never even keep a limit of ducks. Sometimes that means some hit the water before I'm ready...others I dust in the air, many others I miss.

I SAY PULL THE TRIGGER AND THROW THEM IN THE GUT PAIL REGARDLESS!

[BoxMN]

Where can I pick up a soapbox?

Oh, I guess I do have my own now and then, ha!

[Roosterslayer05]

It is legal, and I really dont care if guys do it as I previously stated. I wasent "roasted" or even aggitated in my previous post, I was just leting guys know what I think. Shoot as many ducks off the water as you want, as long as we are not hunting together I dont mind. I love debate and playing devils advocate, I will also let others know what I think, and sometimes people think my tone is neggative(interpreting intended tone on the internet is difficult because you cant hear the speaker, or see the speakers facial expressions) Im a happy guy by nature, I love to debate however, and I will let you know when i disagree with something.

To clarify my last post I will cite my two main points I was trying to convey

1. No one in my hunting party will waterswat ducks while im present, I wont allow it.

2. I think of waterswaters as "not serious" waterfowlers. In short, if I talk to a guy who admits to waterswating often, I know hes not an avid waterfowler, because the majority of avid waterfowlers do not waterswat ducks very often.

Anyone going out the last weekend?? Im going to give it a try, and if I shoot a duck I will consider it a success! Good luck guys and get a couple of those fat greenbeans before the seasons over.

[Barbelboy]

SWMuskeye is correct and I thought I made my point earlier that we should all be able to enjoy the outdoors in our own way as long as we don't break the law. At times this site is very frustrating because no matter what opinion expressed a guy gets hammered for it. No breaks, no bending, just my way is right and your's isn't. I've read enough posts about guys that only keeps fish 1 time every 10 years and then only just barely enough to eat of non-spawning fish for a meal. Then criticize a guy who want to keep some to eat. Or those that only shoot ducks approaching at a 45 degree angle at 30 mph. Or shoots 150 inch class deer only and look down on people who harvest does or smaller bucks. Getting my point? We are all outdoorsmen/women. We all enjoy the outdoors in different ways. We all know what bad outdoorsmen/women are. The ones that leave litter in the woods or on the ice, deer shiners/poachers, the person who shoots ducks 10 minutes before shooting hours, purposely takes an over limit of anything, sets up their decoys 100 yards from you when it's obvious you are there, etc. What drives me crazy is that nobody is allowed express how they like to enjoy the outdoors. They immediately get jumped on. I thought when I typed "Just don't act condescending when I decide to enjoy the outdoors in a legal but disimilar manner" it should have ended the conversation. But of course it didn't. Everybody who admitted to water swatting was branded as "not serious". Do I have to pose the question? Can't we all just get along?

[Barbelboy]

MBreuer,

You're right about the wake, but a wily buck will go under and change direction. You may have to make several passes at him. You also have to careful not to just knock them unconscious and then bring them into the boat. Hand to antler combat on the rear casting deck of a 16' boat isn't easy.

Ever duck hunt Winnie? I wanted to this year but it never materalized. Instead I crappie fished a local lake (Nov 15), it of course was covered with ducks. Included 4 old squaws. (2 drakes/2 hens) Typical, I used the trolling motor to get right up next to them to identify 'em. The next day I got several goldeneye, 1 buffle head and a hen wood duck. No luck with the sea ducks. Oh well.

[Barbelboy]

Oh god. I just admitted that I shot a hen. Ahhhhhhhh.

[Ray Esboldt]

I think hen mallards are better eating then the drakes.

And, in the eyes of the the almighty RoosterSlayer, I am not a serious waterfowler because I waterswatted a couple ducks this year. Yep, yep, yep.

BTW - mudmotors should be outlawed.

[Barbelboy]

Good shot Ray. Hens do tast delicious. And think, out there somewhere is a drake who finally has peace and quiet.

I was going to admit it. And I guess this is like an AA meeting. But that hen wood duck. She swam into the decoys.....and....and...I water swatted her. Man did she taste good wrapped in bacon on the grill.

Over the years I've taken many kids hunting for the first time. They each get to particpate in youth waterfowl until they are too old, then they have to find somebody to take with me. It's worked very well. Kind of a journeyman system. I would have to say 90% of those kids took their first duck off of the water. Then once their confidence is up we work into shooting them out of the air. In the last 10 years I'd say I've introduced 6-7 kids to waterfowling that still regularly go with me or have branched out on their own. I don't have kids yet, but I can't wait to introduce them to hunting when I do. I hope to instill in them as I have the other kids what is legal and what other people think is ethical and then let them choose for themselves. But I guess I'm not serious enough about duck hunting.

Oh god. I just admitted that I particpate in the youth waterfowl hunt. Now people will hate me for that! I bet Dudewheresmytruck has regretting his initial post by now! It's officially been hijacked!

[jeepguy]

I like to go to parks in the city and feed the ducks, and when they least expect it, I pull out my shotgun and unload 3 1/2" magnum blackclouds at them. I prefer this method of hunting because you do not need camo, calls, landowner permission, nor do you need to get up early, just drive to a local minneapolis park whenever you want and get your limit of drake mallards. I hope everyone realizes I am being totally sarcastic and would never do this, but last winter I took my wife to Minnehaha Falls and I there were a bunch of mallards swimming and people were feeding them bread and the thought crossed my mind.

[iceking]

jeepguy, you missed out, we ground swatted a bunch of geese after you left. that was fun. just kidding never saw thing! i would have if they would have come close enouph, cant hit (you know what) anymore. have a good thanksgiving!!!

[Barbelboy]

Jeepguy,

Now that is funny. My neighbor at the cabin feeds mallards all year long. In the fall he heads south and they are so conditioned to seeing people and walking up to them for corn that I've had 25-30 mallards surrounding me. They just look up with little expectant faces wondering why i'm not feeding them. If they only knew what I was thinking they'd swarm me and pull an Alfred Hitchcock.

[jeepguy]

you too, it was nice to meet you, hopefully we get to hunt again this year. Going to work was a bust too, I have not done one productive thing today except eat a cold cut combo. It seemed like all the geese were flying towrds rogers to sit at the waste water treatment facility.

I told Ben we should get out and do some ice fishing this winter when the ice is safe, 1 rescue per year is all the local fire/rescue allows, but we should get out and fish the hard water. doe syou Yukon have the trap link door in back, I am thinking of getting the connector to connect 2 Yukons for the unltimate social fishing experience.

[Jackpine Rob]

"Fair chase" "Hunting Ethics"

Loaded terms, to be sure. Seems like everyone knows what those terms mean - but the problem is that they mean different things for different people.

A guy can get a headache just thinking about it.

In this thread we have some experts telling us that waterswatting a duck is bad.

In another thread we had some experts telling us that shooting at a running deer is bad.

Some here go bananas when someone keeps a bass or a musky. Others worry that some are keeping small walleyes, while still others worry about keeping big walleyes.

The bright line for all of us should be the regulations - if its legal, you are allowed to do whatever. The fuzzier lines have to do with our own personal beliefs. If you can look yourself in the mirror every morning, you are either on the right track or a raving psychopath.

Lets say I spend 45 minutes putting the sneak on a large black mallard, and finally work my way into range. I shoot, the duck tumbles off the log, and I retrieve my prize.

A mile away, some guy with a small fortune in decoys, and his Carsten Pintail and Benelli, shoots a black duck at 20 yards as it floats in for a landing.

Who was the sportsman? Who had the tougher task?

Several years ago, when my son was a little nipper and toting his break-action .410, we ran into a couple of guys with all of the right gear and a couple of beautiful setters. We were all chasing partridge (grouse), and Jr. was carrying a bird. The fellows first congratulated Jr. on his prize, then things took a fairly ugly turn.

One of them asked Jr. how he had managed to hit the bird with a "little .410" and Jr. told him he just put the bead on the bird's head and shot him out of the tree. This "expert" then proceeded to start a lecture on hunting ethics - to a 9 year old boy holding his third bird ever.

Real classy. I calmly put myself between them, motioned Jr. ahead, and explained to the fellow where he might put his over-priced double gun.

[rubber duck]

This almost got out of hand!!!! So when the buck dives under the boat can you pick him up on the vex or do you need a marcum

?

[iceking]

jeepguy;

game on. we'll hookup the yuky's and rip some lips.

[Matt Breuer]

This almost got out of hand!!!! So when the buck dives under the boat can you pick him up on the vex or do you need a marcum

?

Both work fine, but the Vex will have better target seperation on the tines....

I do not hunt Winnie for ducks. I've always wanted to, but never get the time. Maybe one day if you're thinking of heading this way, let me know, and we'll hit 'er together!

[koonie]

Can we talk about religion instead of ethics? Probably be less fighting.

[Ray Esboldt]

I'm with you guys. It's funny how much we criticize the way another guy does it. Fact is, you're probably doing something different he doesn't care for. Really we're all in this together. The fact that we're doing it keeps the sport alive, and keeps ducks doing the things they have done for centuries. If we quit, who's going to fund that.

One last waterswat story, I took two 12 year olds with me on opening weekend this year. It was a little slow on Sunday. Three blue wings swim into our decoys and the boys wanted to take a crack at them. I told them on 3 they can stand up and shoot. I count 1-2-...and one of them is already up and firing. That's my kind of guy there. He did manage to miss on all 3 shots (second two in the air), but was happy to out do the other boy.

[A bomb]

forget the deer....i wanna take the non swatters turkey hunting.

that would be an ethics nightmare..hit the call.. birds are working..comm'in in and then... but i guess thats okay as its not a duck,pheasant,quail or pat.....hmmm

don't get it.

sometimes ya just gotta ground pound 'em

[SledNeck]

Funny thing is Ducks shot on the water dont, IMO, taste any different than wing shot Ducks. Well, the ones on the water tend to have less pellets in the meat.

Same for Grouse...sept water=land and trees

[Royce Aardahl]

Good shot Ray. Hens do tast delicious. And think, out there somewhere is a drake who finally has peace and quiet.

Now That Is Funny! and true

[dudewheresmyboat]

Looks like I found my answer! LOL!!

[Barbelboy]

Now I've spent the last 5 minutes laughing at the computer Marcum or Vexilar? I personally use a vexilar FL-18, but Marcum makes several models that work just as effectively. The true secret is using a free 20" box fan to blow air into the buck's face to confuse him.

[jparrucci]

I spend every opening weekend jump shooting wood ducks in the state forests. I have duck hunted every weekend of the season until this one (sick of breaking ice, time for pheasant chasing) and I can truely say that the opening weekend of duck hunting with the wood ducks is the hardest hunting of the year. Think trying to decoy a black duck is hard? Try to jump a pair of woodies on a small pond in thick woods. After a half hour of crawling on hands and knees, you still don't even get a shot off half the time as they take off on the first sound of a branch snap or a twitch of a leaf. Not even remotely easy. Far and away my favorite weekend of hunting of the year. Lets see your labs make some blind retrieves in lilypads! Any dog can watch a duck fall on open water and go get it. Send that pup after a bird that he cant see cause its in the thick lilypads that he can barely see through. My shooting % is worse on those wood ducks every year than it is on any other weekend of the season. Its a small duck, and most of the vitals are under the water. Not an easy shot by any means.

I was thinking the same thing as the other poster who said is it not ethical to shoot a turkey then? How about not fishing till July because those hungry spring fish are too easy to catch.

You really don't think somebody like me is a "real" waterfowler? I spend more time on the water hunting than most on this board, and never once have I ever thought shooting the duck off the water was unethical. Ask your dad how many 20 inch walleyes he used to keep as a kid. See who is the ethical one then. I want move on to name calling here, but this is kind of pathetic.

Do you not shoot at decoying ducks then? Cause I sure think thats pretty darn easy shooting. Had a group of Mallards come in to the decoys 2 weekends ago and dropped 3 for 3 on greenheads. My buddy and I looked at our 6 ducks and said "that isn't even fair" . I say outlaw shooting ducks with their legs down and wings cupped. Its too easy.