What load for ducks?
01-10-2002, 06:21 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Duluth GA USA
Posts: 8
What load for ducks?
I'm going to Arkansas next week (locals say ducks are there, now) to shoot over decoys. I haven't shot waterfowl in this country since lead was banned; what 3" load do I want? 1's? 2's? Also, does using non-lead shot change the choke requirements? I plan to shoot improved-modified choke. What do you think?
Griffon
Griffon
01-10-2002, 07:46 AM
#2
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Newark Delaware USA
Posts: 12
RE: What load for ducks?
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I have found that #3 steel and #1 steel work fine for ducks...But my choice is "BB" and "BBB" I guess I believe more is better....pellets that is. But With this, it does not always stand true with me either...Last year we were looking to mount some birds...we killed birds all day long with #6 steel!!! Even a couple of snows!!
All I can be sure of is leed your bird and shoot True!! Have fune!! Tell us how you make out!!!
Gunner™
"If it flies....It dies!!"
I have found that #3 steel and #1 steel work fine for ducks...But my choice is "BB" and "BBB" I guess I believe more is better....pellets that is. But With this, it does not always stand true with me either...Last year we were looking to mount some birds...we killed birds all day long with #6 steel!!! Even a couple of snows!!
All I can be sure of is leed your bird and shoot True!! Have fune!! Tell us how you make out!!!
Gunner™
"If it flies....It dies!!"
01-11-2002, 09:39 AM
#3
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: EVERGREEN COLORADO USA
Posts: 71
RE: What load for ducks?
If you are shooting over deaks all you need is 4s or 2s
As far as chokes steel is one size different than lead. A mod lead choke is a full choke in steel . Hope that helps. I think that the imp mod choke over deaks is to tight in steel. I would use imp cyl over the deaks.Just my 2 penneys worth. Have Fun
LETS GO SHOOT SUM FEATHERS
THE DUCK STOPS HERE
As far as chokes steel is one size different than lead. A mod lead choke is a full choke in steel . Hope that helps. I think that the imp mod choke over deaks is to tight in steel. I would use imp cyl over the deaks.Just my 2 penneys worth. Have Fun
LETS GO SHOOT SUM FEATHERS
THE DUCK STOPS HERE
01-11-2002, 10:19 AM
#4
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Duluth GA USA
Posts: 8
RE: What load for ducks?
<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote<font size=1 face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
If you are shooting over deaks all you need is 4s or 2s
As far as chokes steel is one size different than lead. A mod lead choke is a full choke in steel . Hope that helps. I think that the imp mod choke over deaks is to tight in steel. I would use imp cyl over the deaks.Just my 2 penneys worth. Have Fun
LETS GO SHOOT SUM FEATHERS
THE DUCK STOPS HERE
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>
If you are shooting over deaks all you need is 4s or 2s
As far as chokes steel is one size different than lead. A mod lead choke is a full choke in steel . Hope that helps. I think that the imp mod choke over deaks is to tight in steel. I would use imp cyl over the deaks.Just my 2 penneys worth. Have Fun
LETS GO SHOOT SUM FEATHERS
THE DUCK STOPS HERE
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>
01-12-2002, 07:56 AM
#6
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Texarkana, TX/AR
Posts: 384
RE: What load for ducks?
Griffon, you never mentioned if it was going to be fields or timber. I am assuming you are talking about field shooting and this time of year down here they tend to decoy to the outside of your spread. I'd go with 1's 2's or 3's, 1-3/8 oz. shot in a 3" mag with a modified choke.
If you're timber hunting they'll tend to be close. 2's, 3's, or 4's out of an improved cylinder.
Good luck to you!!
Romans 8:28
If you're timber hunting they'll tend to be close. 2's, 3's, or 4's out of an improved cylinder.
Good luck to you!!
Romans 8:28
01-12-2002, 11:59 PM
#7
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Southern Illinois
Posts: 213
RE: What load for ducks?
Plan on being flexible but 4 or 6 with mod or improved is sweet if hunting holes in the timber. Never can tell what the ducks will do until you are shooting them so go prepared with larger shot and tighter tubes just in case.
01-18-2002, 10:23 AM
#10
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Duluth GA USA
Posts: 8
RE: What load for ducks?
Thanks, everyone, for the posts and opinions. We got in to Atlanta from Arkansas late last night ahead of the cold front.
I don't know how much detail about my trip you want, but basically it was a good first experience. We hunted in Brinkley, which is about 20 miles east of Stuttgart. We used pit blinds in flooded bean fields.
I guess because the year's hunting had been so spotty to date the people holding the leases around our pits had given up. There were no other shooters in earshot. We saw literally thousands of geese and ducks piling into adjacent holdings, but no one to flush them back up. As new birds came over our spreads and calling a robo-ducks couldn't compete with the pull of those thousands of sitting ducks.
In three shooting periods four of use killed 31 ducks, so that is about 4 ducks per person per day, which is not bad considering what we had come to expect. We worked hard for what we got, sitting in the pits for five or more hours at a time.
The good news is I enjoyed the experience, met a lot of friendly people, would go back again. The bad news is confusion over shotgun shells; having listened to all the recommendations on the board and having exhausted both Atlanta and Brinkley's shotshell sources, I shot my 3" Beretta auto with modified choke (this was correct, the decoyed birds were more like pass shooting birds, very few stopped to flair over the decoys); I first shot 1 3/8 ounce #2's; but, hit very few birds (I killed 1 clean, and simultaneously shot with two or three other people and several that fell, but don't know who killed them); the most experienced member of our squad, who had hunted there for years, used BB's; so, I bought a box of them, even though I thought they would not pattern as densely as I wanted at the longer ranges (remember, we are shooting ducks, not geese). I killed two more ducks cleanly with the BB's, but plain out missed a few and shared others, not knowing if I hit them or not. Most of the total ducks killed were by the guy shooting 3" number BB. But, again, he was the most experienced.
So, I'm still confused. To put it in perspective, I average 22 at skeet and 23 at trap, but on this hunt performed way below my lifetime expectations for myself. I think first I want to pattern this new barrel with the various loads and chokes on paper, then spend some time on the trap range.
Again, thank all of you for your input. Any final thoughts?
I don't know how much detail about my trip you want, but basically it was a good first experience. We hunted in Brinkley, which is about 20 miles east of Stuttgart. We used pit blinds in flooded bean fields.
I guess because the year's hunting had been so spotty to date the people holding the leases around our pits had given up. There were no other shooters in earshot. We saw literally thousands of geese and ducks piling into adjacent holdings, but no one to flush them back up. As new birds came over our spreads and calling a robo-ducks couldn't compete with the pull of those thousands of sitting ducks.
In three shooting periods four of use killed 31 ducks, so that is about 4 ducks per person per day, which is not bad considering what we had come to expect. We worked hard for what we got, sitting in the pits for five or more hours at a time.
The good news is I enjoyed the experience, met a lot of friendly people, would go back again. The bad news is confusion over shotgun shells; having listened to all the recommendations on the board and having exhausted both Atlanta and Brinkley's shotshell sources, I shot my 3" Beretta auto with modified choke (this was correct, the decoyed birds were more like pass shooting birds, very few stopped to flair over the decoys); I first shot 1 3/8 ounce #2's; but, hit very few birds (I killed 1 clean, and simultaneously shot with two or three other people and several that fell, but don't know who killed them); the most experienced member of our squad, who had hunted there for years, used BB's; so, I bought a box of them, even though I thought they would not pattern as densely as I wanted at the longer ranges (remember, we are shooting ducks, not geese). I killed two more ducks cleanly with the BB's, but plain out missed a few and shared others, not knowing if I hit them or not. Most of the total ducks killed were by the guy shooting 3" number BB. But, again, he was the most experienced.
So, I'm still confused. To put it in perspective, I average 22 at skeet and 23 at trap, but on this hunt performed way below my lifetime expectations for myself. I think first I want to pattern this new barrel with the various loads and chokes on paper, then spend some time on the trap range.
Again, thank all of you for your input. Any final thoughts?