# Shooting ducks sitting on water!



## joey (Dec 17, 2009)

Just curious if it is legal to shoot a duck sitting on the water or if it is just considered unethical?


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## Josh Noble (Jul 29, 2008)

Perfectly legal.


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## OKEE (Jan 3, 2008)

Don't do it . It's hard on your decoys :grin:


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## fish-n-fool (May 26, 2009)

I may be old school but the old man always said that it wasn't very sportsman like to shoot a duck on the water, So I guess it is legal but I don't and most the guys I hunt with don't either. Got to give the sucker a chance right? he has a 50/50 chance of making it out alive. OK,OK! 20/80 most of the time they are dead ducks.
my 2 cents!


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## 30-06-hunter (Sep 22, 2013)

I guess it depends if you have a can of soup as a backup or if that duck is going to be your dinner. But typically it's done in the air, anyone can shoot a "sitting duck".


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## ram2h2o (Sep 11, 2007)

Nothing wrong with a "Skillet" shot once in a while. But I don't make a habit of it!


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## utahgolf (Sep 8, 2007)

folding an awesome decoying duck out of the air vs. spraying your shot across the water on a sitting bird? Legal or ethics taken out of it, which one sounds a heck of lot more fun? Now if it's a youngster/beginner, than they'll have fun no matter which way but they'll eventually want to pick them off out of the air. Natural progression of challenging yourself, and without challenge, the reward just ain't as sweet.


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

I've let newbies shoot a bird or three on the water just to get them a bird. However if a bird were to land I would scare him up then lay him out just as fast as he was airborne. Usually that's a pretty safe shot and you can say you took him out on the fly.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

I believe it was Phil Robertson that said "some people call it unethical, I call it killing a duck"
To each their own I guess. I prefer to shoot them in flight, but I have swatted a few from time to time. If I were Coot hunting I wouldn't do it any other way, just wait until they all bunch up and fire one shot and get a handful of birds.-O,-


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## Donttreadonme (Sep 11, 2007)

There is nothing illegal nor unethical about shooting ducks on the water. Fowlmouth said it best it is just killing a duck.


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## Hoopermat (Dec 17, 2010)

Only if it's banded


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## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

Josh Noble said:


> Perfectly legal.


To quote a good buddy of mine, "They used their wings to get there!"


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

My favorite shot is hitting them as they're decoying in with their feet just touching the water-that way you've shot them when they are both in the air and on the water. Of course, if it's a diver, you still have to lead them so that counts as ethical. You can then have the rare satisfaction of pleasing almost everyone at once.


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## Mojo1 (Sep 8, 2007)

30-06-hunter said:


> , anyone can shoot a "sitting duck".


But you can't always kill it!! I've seen them missed!:shock:


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## utahgolf (Sep 8, 2007)

Mojo1 said:


> But you can't always kill it!! I've seen them missed!:shock:


true, I've spent some money trying to shoot cripples. hardest shot there is sometimes!!


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## hamernhonkers (Sep 28, 2007)

Nothing better then landing a flock of geese and checking for bands. You ought to see how many of my bands have pellet strike dents in them. You know where I was looking when I pulled the trigger on that standing goose 

Hey if you've done all the work and put in the effort to land those birds.........take them however you see fit! You earned them!


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## 1BandMan (Nov 2, 2007)

Not a big fan of ground pounding or water sloughshing anything bands or not. Doesn't seem sporting or fair chase, but to each his own.

It is kind of an art though and sometimes a whole lot tougher than it may sound. 
If you want to up your odds and killing what your aiming at and maybe lining them up for multiple kills with one shot, get down on a lower plane, rather than shooting down on them and aim directly underneath rather than directly at them.

Given the two extremes...........I'd rather folks ground pound or sloughsh their limit and go home than be there all day firing two or three boxes of shells a piece at birds 75 yards + high.


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## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

hamernhonkers said:


> Nothing better then landing a flock of geese and checking for bands. You ought to see how many of my bands have pellet strike dents in them. You know where I was looking when I pulled the trigger on that standing goose
> 
> Hey if you've done all the work and put in the effort to land those birds.........take them however you see fit! You earned them!


Gotta say it, as im sure there are many thinking it...

Landing-looking-then killing just the bands, surely to each their own and thats fine, but doesnt that lessen the value somehow of the banded bird's? I meen and to clairify, to those of us that see the bands as "gifts" of chance somehow, your activity cheapens them.


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## hamernhonkers (Sep 28, 2007)

Longgun I am just stirring the pot buddy. 

I have only twice spotted a band before I pulled the trigger. Still laugh about one of those because I did shoot right where I was looking lol. Believe me the band has the marks to prove it and me and my family joke about it and they make fun of me for doing it lol. Which is fine because I have heard the story every opening day for 10 years now.


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## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

Gotcha dude.  ... see my point though right?


Me... ive only spotted a band once before we shot. The bird was initially on my side (committed pair) but at the last minute swapped sides, and now the band resides on my sons lanyard... as his first!


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

fish-n-fool said:


> I may be old school but the old man always said that it wasn't very sportsman like to shoot a duck on the water, So I guess it is legal but I don't and most the guys I hunt with don't either. Got to give the sucker a chance right? he has a 50/50 chance of making it out alive. OK,OK! 20/80 most of the time they are dead ducks.
> my 2 cents!


To me sportsmanlike is making an ethical kill. If someone is more likely to wound a duck that is flying then maybe they should shoot them on the water. Does being sportsmanlike mean waiting until a deer or elk is running to shoot it?


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## hamernhonkers (Sep 28, 2007)

Longgun said:


> Gotcha dude.  ... see my point though right?
> 
> Me... ive only spotted a band once before we shot. The bird was initially on my side (committed pair) but at the last minute swapped sides, and now the band resides on my sons lanyard... as his first!


Sounds like its right where it should be

Yes there is nothing like walking up to a bird to and finding out there is a little extra piece on it. Even better then that is waiting for the information that comes with it giving you a little insight into that birds life:grin:

Really to me as far as when to shoot a bird.......I take pride in my wingshooting but I don't for one second frown on anyone who wants to take them sitting. That's there business and non of mine. More power to them and what makes them happy!

At least they are not at home sitting on their butts collecting from the Obummer plan-O|o-


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

In my younger days as a tike back in the swamps and bayous of Louisiana I hunted a few times with some of the old timers who had been market hunters. Call me a liar if you want but I saw one guy land several flocks of ducks and keep 13 on the water with a single shot. Yes it was over the limit. They had a technique for setting up the decoys that caused the ducks to land very tightly and in one spot. Then when the ducks figured out they were in decoys and started to leave they would bunch up first before taking off. It was at the bunch up time that they would cut loose. Back in the day where I hunted it wasn't unusual to land 200 or more ducks in your decoys when you had limited out and was just having fun. Ducks in the swamps and bayous tended to decoy quite well.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

The girlfriend can water swat whatever she wants. Its her first year ever hunting ducks (well, firing her own shotgun) so I just want her to enjoy it. If she starts shooting them outta the air, hey... awesome. Guess she's a better shot than me. :mrgreen:


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

I periodically shoot ducks on the water. Of course they are cripples, but hey thats my preference


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## martymcfly73 (Sep 17, 2007)

Shooting at them while flying is highly unethical in my option. How many wounded birds are crippled and left or never found. Ground pound all day long. Way more ethical.


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