# Common Sense for waterfowlers



## utahgolf (Sep 8, 2007)

Please feel free to add a bunch,, I think this post should become a sticky when its done for new/inexperienced waterfowlers, some people are just jerks but some just don't know. this post could educate some. I haven't had any complaints this year with inconsiderate hunters but it happens and wish everyone knew the code most of us waterfowlers know.

1. if you don't own a dog than don't set up on a pot hole where you are going to have trouble retrieving birds..even if that means you set up on a less productive hole, I don't own a dog and I have to do this even if the hunting isn't as good.
2. give people some space!! don't set up close to people, walk/boat the extra distance, it will be better for both hunting parties. and especially don't setup down wind from someone! that would mean all of their decoying birds would have to come over you and most people aren't kind enough to pass on a bird in range, even if it's decoying into someone elses spread.
3. if you aren't gonna eat a duck than don't shoot it!! 
4. make some noise if you hear someone coming close to your setup, you'd be surprised how hard it can be to see someone in full camo in the phrag!! it doesn't always help but it has helped me a lot, I walk out of my blind and whistle and what not long in advance so they have that option to do the right thing and move somewhere else..Looking pissed off and hand motions can help..  
5. boaters, don't go blowing by a slower boat, slow down and go wide around someone, you'd be surprised how many people I've seen do this..
6. boaters, don't cut off a slower boat that is heading off into a spot and your racing to beat him there. if you know he's headed back in there than just head to another spot.
7. skybusters/dike hunters!! shooting ducks at long range doesn't make you a good shot,, just a crappy waterfowler! the goal is to get them close!


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## maramarama (Oct 5, 2009)

Amen


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## APD (Nov 16, 2008)

maybe you could add: practice your calling at home, not in the field. It's not singing in the shower. if you record yourself and it sounds like someone trying to strangle a laughing duck...KEEP PRACTICING.


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## hoghunter011583 (Jul 21, 2008)

If a guy cripples a bird, try to knock it down if it passes over you!

PICK UP YOUR EMPTIES!!! I've had to pick up other guys empties before I make the hunt cause it is so bad that I think it'l scare the birds!!

Don't make a blind and that is now "your spot". If you want a certain spot get out there early!! And if you run into a maniac like me that gets out there at 2 am on a weekday. just go to another spot, have a few spots in mind before you go!!


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## utahgolf (Sep 8, 2007)

+1 on the empties hoghunter,, this accomplishes 2 things. first its litter!!! clean up. 
2nd and probably the biggest advantage is that it might help conceal your spot in the future. if someone stumbles on to a spot and see's a bunch of empty shells than they are going to assume that the spot has some good hunting and give it a try a couple times.


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## king eider (Aug 20, 2009)

Be polite and courteous in the parking lot. Rude people suck!!


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## TIMBO (Dec 18, 2007)

+1 on giving people some space. IMO, if you are close enough to bust ducks that are working someone elses spread you are way to close, and if you insist on staying there at least go help pickup the dekes after you leech off of them.


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## toomeymd (Sep 21, 2009)

hey timbo, since you're ok with people leeching off your spread, let me know where you'll be next time, I don't have any dekes...ha ha ha Just kidding. Next paycheck I'm buying some, then the wife and I are gonna go wade FB and try our luck...Now if only we could shoot better we'd be alright!


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

toomeymd said:


> Now if only we could shoot better we'd be alright!


Which brings me to our next point- No dig intended on you, Toomeymd, but we owe it to our quarry to kill them quickly. Becoming proficient behind your shotgun will do as much for this as avoiding shots that are too far off. Spend some time at the skeet/sporting clays range practicing during the off-season. Use the same shot at the range that you will use in the field. 3 inch steel loads shoot a lot differently than 2.75 lead. This one recommendation would have saved me a lot of missed shots last year in the marsh.


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## TIMBO (Dec 18, 2007)

toomeymd said:


> hey timbo, since you're ok with people leeching off your spread, let me know where you'll be next time, I don't have any dekes...ha ha ha Just kidding. Next paycheck I'm buying some, then the wife and I are gonna go wade FB and try our luck...Now if only we could shoot better we'd be alright!


Never said I was okay with it, but if your hunting public land your gonna get people that think its okay, and its hard to boot people out of public land. All I am saying is that you should at least offer to help pickup the dekes. Scouting=No people and lots of birds.


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## toomeymd (Sep 21, 2009)

you know chaser, that would seem logical, but...I KILL the clays out there by UT lake. I go at least once a week. But come hunting season it seems those ducks just weave and dive and do everything they can to miss those #2's...or they come in from the direction that I'm not looking, run a fly by on my head, then take off while I'm still trying to figure out where to point my gun...gotta love it. It must look pretty comical, but thats whats fun about hunting, if it were easy, everyone would do it!


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

toomeymd said:


> you know chaser, that would seem logical, but...I KILL the clays out there by UT lake. I go at least once a week. But come hunting season it seems those ducks just weave and dive and do everything they can to miss those #2's...or they come in from the direction that I'm not looking, run a fly by on my head, then take off while I'm still trying to figure out where to point my gun...gotta love it. It must look pretty comical, but thats whats fun about hunting, if it were easy, everyone would do it!


TOUCHE!


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## toomeymd (Sep 21, 2009)

So until they come out with heat seeking shotshells I'll just keep practicing...ha ha ha


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## hoghunter011583 (Jul 21, 2008)

toomeymd said:
 

> come hunting season it seems those ducks just weave and dive and do
> everything they can to miss those #2's...quote]
> 
> This AMAZES me!! Everyone shoots big #2's or #4's cause when steel came out the rule was drop 2 sizes cause steel doesn't have the knockdown power.
> ...


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## lunkerhunter2 (Nov 3, 2007)

hoghunter011583 said:


> toomeymd said:
> 
> 
> > come hunting season it seems those ducks just weave and dive and do
> ...


Already did, and i will never use #6 steel again! Back about 7 years ago, it was the only available duck loads in the late season or last 2 weeks. I bought 5 boxes and could not believe how badly it performed. I lost over 20 ducks in 2 weeks that #2's would have destroyed. You can have your #6's. I will keep killing ducks dead. 8)


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## toomeymd (Sep 21, 2009)

Maybe I'll split the difference and use #4's!


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## hoghunter011583 (Jul 21, 2008)

lunkerhunter2 said:


> hoghunter011583 said:
> 
> 
> > toomeymd said:
> ...


Ah come on don't blame bad shooting on the shot size!! haha.
Do some penetration tests and prove it to yourself. 
If it penetrates better and has more shot, I don't understand how it can be less affective.
Everyone shoots different though I guess, some say aim at the tip of the bill and some say lead 10 feet!! 
If you do the math the lead amount is unbelievable, I can't remember what it was but it wasn't the way I lead a bird, but math doesn't lie!!


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Do some research before you go to hunt... it'll save you time and tickets that you might get because you were unintentionally hunting in a closed unit or hunting preserve. 8) If you hunt there on purpose, you will get caught and then you deserve everything you get.

Don't be afraid to call in folks that are breaking the law.... the whole "its not my business" or "somebody else will say something" is what is going to cost us all eventually. The DWR can't be everywhere so we have to do some of the legwork for them. 

+1 on the giving space thing.... but thats never going to happen. Too many people out there with a "I'm gonna get mine no matter what" mentality instead of doing the right thing. Getting up early is no longer the guarantee it used to be.


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