# jump shooting



## 35whelen

anybody ever have any luck jump shooting ducks or geese? ive always wanted to try duck hunting but im not really set up for it. I have a shotgun and that's about it.


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## Critter

I used to do it a lot walking along the banks of the Price River east of Wellington. We never did run into many geese but on occasion one would pop up.


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## Fowlmouth

If you find the right canals, rivers or sloughs it can be great. Pass shooting from a dike is another option. You will need a dog or waders either way. As the temperature drops and things start to freeze, look for moving water flows. Where there's water there are ducks.


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## 35whelen

i have some knee boots but could invest in waders. been eager to try waterfowling for years


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## taxidermist

35whelen said:


> i have some knee boots but could invest in waders. been eager to try waterfowling for years


Don't do it...&#8230;&#8230;..You'll get hooked.


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## JerryH

35whelen said:


> i have some knee boots but could invest in waders. been eager to try waterfowling for years


What size of waders do you where? I can donate a pair of 13's.


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## 35whelen

im not sure what size I am. is it based on shoe size or pant size? if shoe, I could make the 13s work for sure


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## JerryH

35whelen said:


> im not sure what size I am. is it based on shoe size or pant size? if shoe, I could make the 13s work for sure


They are yours. Some insoles can take up some room if needed. They are boot size 13


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## 35whelen

wow! thanks!


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## 35whelen

Went out for the first time today. I missed two jump shots and missed a pass shot. Saw five ducks in all. I think a shoveler, a mallard hen and small group of ringnecks. Probably all wrong. Flushed a dozen snipes but didn’t try to shoot em. Might have been same snipe a dozen times. Had fun. Don’t know why I haven’t gotten into waterfowl before. Its a whole new thing to learn. I’m definitely not doing it right yet but it’s exciting


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## 35whelen

And thanks to JerryH for the waders! I was in some swampy stuff today. Couldn’t have done it without them


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## Subway

I typically jump shoot every time I go out at any of the canals. I would bring a dog or fishing Pole to retrieve birds the canals are usually deeper than your chest but it can be extremely productive. I enjoy shooting ruddy ducks. During the day they stop flying then if they see you coming Instead of flying they dive. 1st thing you look for are the ripples the new lean your head out of the cat tails and keep an eye out for one they surface. 9 times out of 10 it's a game of cat and mouse and they refused to fly if you want them you have to shoot them off the water most people find it unsportsman is like but when a bird is 3/4 of the way submerged they don't make an easy target especially if they're dipping and diving every time they pop their head out of the water. Also a fun way to help clear out some of the coots give the dog retrieving practice.


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## quackaddict35

When everything is frozen hard like late December early January walking the dikes at Farmington and jump shooting the canals can sometimes produce 


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## 35whelen

I look forward to heading out again. Can’t wait. Just getting one duck would feel like such a huge success.


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## 35whelen

The mud was so deep I didn’t venture into the creek too much. A few times got worried I was stuck. Still not confident enough to try wading out in the water


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## 35whelen

SUCCESS! Kind of. Didn’t see any ducks. I shot a snipe. Jumped a ton of em but I had to pass on all the shots over the phrags cause I don’t have a retriever.


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## 35whelen

I just wish they weren’t so cute


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## MuscleWhitefish

35whelen said:


> anybody ever have any luck jump shooting ducks or geese? ive always wanted to try duck hunting but im not really set up for it. I have a shotgun and that's about it.


Wear your bino harness. get up to a point that you can glass if possible. Mark locations of ducks by picking way points (trees, bushes, etc). Then move into the spot out of site.

If there are no high points, sneak out to a point and glass and try to find ducks to sneak on.

You can also just walk around all nilly dilly and get a few serendipity ducks.


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## 35whelen

Had a good time. Lots of ducks moving today. Jumped n shot these two. So excited to get my first ducks.


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## 35whelen

I’ve been taking my binos. Use em to peak around bends n glass down river.


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## JerryH

Whelen are you the dirty dog that left a bag of decoys on my front porch?? Ive been trying to solve this mystery. If so thank you!


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## 35whelen

Wasn’t me. I still owe you though.


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## JerryH

You don't owe me anything. Glad you're putting them use.

Some decoys showed up on my door & I can't figure out how I ended up with them.


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## 35whelen

santa came early?


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## 35whelen

I fell in a slough this weekend and ruined my phone. Finally got a new one. Shot a mallard drake yesterday though!


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## Ducksanddogs

35whelen said:


> Went out for the first time today. I missed two jump shots and missed a pass shot. Saw five ducks in all. I think a shoveler, a mallard hen and small group of ringnecks. Probably all wrong. Flushed a dozen snipes but didn't try to shoot em. Might have been same snipe a dozen times. Had fun. Don't know why I haven't gotten into waterfowl before. Its a whole new thing to learn. I'm definitely not doing it right yet but it's exciting


Welcome to the club! That's how I got started. Then I got with a buddy that set up some decoys on the Truckee River (I'm originally from Reno) and I was hooked. We shot a few Bufflehead and off it went. You'll learn your ducks with time. The Ducks Unlimited app really helps with it. I'm lucky enough to have lots of time off and I go hunting at least twice a week. Let me, or any of us, know if you have any questions. We just did a post on new hunter gear and there's some great comments on it on what to get and really what you actually need to get going.


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## paddler

35whelen said:


> I fell in a slough this weekend and ruined my phone. Finally got a new one. Shot a mallard drake yesterday though!


Since you're new to all this, I hope you're open to some suggestions regarding dead bird photography. It's something I've been doing for a long time, though my wife doesn't appreciate my efforts. I photograph almost every bird I kill, it's how I keep my log. I can tell you exactly what I killed going back to 2005, almost without exception.

(1) Fill the frame with the bird(s). Your mallard occupies a very portion of the picture.

(2) Avoid a distracting background.

(3) Expose properly.

(4) Avoid back lighting. Your camera exposes based on the average brightness across the entire frame. If, as in this case, the background is very bright, the main subject will be too dark to see.

(5) If at all possible, take the pictures before they get waterlogged, smeared with mud, etc.

Here are a few examples. On December 2, 2014, I took this GWT:









On November 10, 2005, we killed these:









On January 7, 2010, I killed these two pintails with a 28 gauge:









Photos will last far longer than the birds themselves. My only regret is that I wasn't better organized early on.


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## 35whelen

Nice pics! Thanks for the tips. I will try to better capture the beauty of these birds.


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## JerryH

And always include the Silver Pigeon in the photo. If you have one:smile:


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## 35whelen

Got this lil guy today.


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## 35whelen

I tried to get a fancy pic but he came down in the water and I was chasing him down stream a while. First drake green wing. Such good looking lil birds


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## paddler

JerryH said:


> And always include the Silver Pigeon in the photo. If you have one:smile:


You mean like this? This is a better one from January 16, 2013, the engraving stands out more:


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## 35whelen

Oh man! I haven’t even seen a pintail yet. Good job n nice gun


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## paddler

35whelen said:


> I tried to get a fancy pic but he came down in the water and I was chasing him down stream a while. First drake green wing. Such good looking lil birds


You didn't give me much to work with, but I did what I could. I cropped it and brightened it up in Photoshop. The problem with your original photo is that, as I said before, the large are of white background caused the bird to be underexposed. If you had filled the frame with the bird it would have been much better.


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## 35whelen

I like the contrast on his head though. You brought that out quite nicely.


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## Ducksanddogs

Yea.... I'm not a photographer but the tips are appreciated. Anyways, since were talking about jump shooting, that's what I did today. I missed a drake mallard but got a GWT









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## 35whelen

Nice! That’s a good lookin lil duck ! The one I shot today was a sneaky one. He waited till I passed by and then flushed from the reeds behind me. I thought I missed after the shot and couldn’t find him anywhere. Then he floated down the creek past me. I jumped in and chased him down the creek and finally caught him after I was in water deeper than my knee boots


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## paddler

Ducksanddogs said:


> Yea.... I'm not a photographer but the tips are appreciated. Anyways, since were talking about jump shooting, that's what I did today. I missed a drake mallard but got a GWT
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


That's not bad. Filled the frame, good lighting. Much better than tha standard tailgate shot. Keep at it.


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## Ducksanddogs

paddler said:


> That's not bad. Filled the frame, good lighting. Much better than tha standard tailgate shot. Keep at it.


Thanks brother. I've been trying to improve. Tailgate shots get old.

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## JerryH

paddler said:


> You mean like this? This is a better one from January 16, 2013, the engraving stands out more:
> 
> View attachment 134501


That's the one I had in mind. I like the one with all the blood also.


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## paddler

JerryH said:


> That's the one I had in mind. I like the one with all the blood also.


You mean this one. Steel 6s are lethal. Never seen so much blood out of one duck, must have hit a carotid. From January 14, 2012. Here's the way it landed:


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## 35whelen

what kind of areas do pintails like? I haven't seen any yet. I mostly see mallards, shovelers and gwt


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## paddler

35whelen said:


> what kind of areas do pintails like? I haven't seen any yet. I mostly see mallards, shovelers and gwt


Pintails are open water birds and quite edge and cover shy on public land. You won't see them in parks or on golf courses.


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## 35whelen

I see. im still happy seeing mallards and gwts regularly. one day would like to try hunting geese and other species of duck.


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## 35whelen

Finally got a goose!


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## 35whelen

I realise this breaks all of the rules for aesthetic photos, with a few pioneerings as far as faux pas (visible bags of garbage and discarded wine boxes.) In my defense, I got home much later than planned*. I had to run through the garage and throw the goose on the freezer, snap a pic before I walked** in the house. 

*than I told my wife
**slinked


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## paddler

35whelen said:


> I realise this breaks all of the rules for aesthetic photos, with a few pioneerings as far as faux pas (visible bags of garbage and discarded wine boxes.) In my defense, I got home much later than planned*. I had to run through the garage and throw the goose on the freezer, snap a pic before I walked** in the house.
> 
> *than I told my wife
> **slinked


It's like, how many things can you find that are wrong in this picture? I vote for the boxed wine.


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## JerryH

paddler said:


> It's like, how many things can you find that are wrong in this picture? I vote for the boxed wine.


Are you a synthetic or natural cork kind of guy?


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## Pumpgunner

JerryH said:


> Are you a synthetic or natural cork kind of guy?


Screw cap or get the hell out :grin:


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## one4fishing

35whelen said:


> I realise this breaks all of the rules for aesthetic photos, with a few pioneerings as far as faux pas (visible bags of garbage and discarded wine boxes.) In my defense, I got home much later than planned*. I had to run through the garage and throw the goose on the freezer, snap a pic before I walked** in the house.
> 
> *than I told my wife
> **slinked


Hey at least you can open your freezer. My wife likes to use ours as a shelf to stack "stuff"on.


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## 35whelen

The wine box is on the floor because I had to move all the recycling boxes off the freezer to get the pic because my wife also stacks things on the freezer. My wife also drinks the wine. Im no wine snob though. I’ll drink it if there’s no beer. Out of the box if need be.


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## Critter

35whelen said:


> Finally got a goose!


That is either a awful big goose or a mighty small freezer. 
_O\\


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## Ducksanddogs

Critter said:


> That is either a awful big goose or a mighty small freezer.
> 
> _O\\


Looks like a giant to me.

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## paddler

One more reason to go to Canada. The Costco in Helena sells Kirkland Signature Cabernet and Chardonnay for $8/1.5 liter bottle. No sales tax. Or so I've heard.


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## 35whelen

It’s not a full sized chest freezer. I can’t remember cubic feet but it’s not the smallest size either. I have two. I guess use the wine box for scale.


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## 35whelen

Spent a week in Vancouver bout 18 yrs ago when my sister graduated from film school up there. Wasn’t old enough to drink though.


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## 35whelen

For the sake of argument though we will say it is in fact the largest goose shot by any man, living or dead.


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## 35whelen

Upped my photo game. I used things from the background to frame my duck. The night I shot my goose I also shot a duck. Nine days ago. I lost the duck in the sage. This morning I went out and didn’t see anything other than when I was ATTACKED from behind by a group of low flying Green wings. On the way back I jumped a falcon from the sage brush. When I looked down there was my duck. It was frozen solid and intact other than neck meat being stripped. I figure it’s been well below freezing since I shot it so I’m gonna roll the dice. Worst part was it was in plain sight and In the exact spot I thought it went down and had searched thoroughly.


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## JerryH

I'm wondering if Bush is a step up from boxed wine lol


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## 35whelen

It’s more masculine at least. Had to man up the background anyway.


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## 35whelen

I’m just leaning into my lack of photographic skill n having fun with it. Not much I could’ve done to pretty up a stiff headless duck. Seriously though, I can still eat it right ?


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## Papa Moses

35whelen said:


> I'm just leaning into my lack of photographic skill n having fun with it. Not much I could've done to pretty up a stiff headless duck. Seriously though, I can still eat it right ?


If people ate a mammoth that was frozen in ice- take a chance on the duck haha


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## 35whelen

I figure if people age em in the feathers with the guts for 10 days in the fridge, 9 days in the snow in sub freezing temps is probably fine. The grief I got from the wife for coming home late after looking for it the day I shot it, I’m gonna eat it.


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## paddler

JerryH said:


> I'm wondering if Bush is a step up from boxed wine lol


Should have been PBR. Hipster hen.


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## 35whelen

Hahaha


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## 35whelen

Got another Suzie. Is it me or is she incredibly small and lean? Had geese n mallards flying all over just outta range. Finally a group flew in low


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## 35whelen

Wife is sick so I had to leave work this morning to help her with the kids. Stopped by my favorite spot on the way home to see if the geese were back. Jumped three mallards n got a double. Was so fast my wife had no idea I snuck off on the way home. Until she saw the ducks anyway.


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## 3arabians

Ha! That is a ninja move right there. You got skills and are very brave! 

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## 35whelen

It was all luck. She wasn’t even mad.


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## paddler

You and your freezer, Richard and his cooler. Huh.


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## 35whelen

I know. It’s just convenient. My phone is always in my pants packet inside my waders when I’m out in the natural scenery.


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## JerryH

paddler said:


> You and your freezer, Richard and his cooler. Huh.


You and your canoe lol


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## paddler

35whelen said:


> I know. It's just convenient. My phone is always in my pants packet inside my waders when I'm out in the natural scenery.


Maybe you should keep it in the chest pocket of your waders.;-)


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## Ducksanddogs

35whelen said:


> Wife is sick so I had to leave work this morning to help her with the kids. Stopped by my favorite spot on the way home to see if the geese were back. Jumped three mallards n got a double. Was so fast my wife had no idea I snuck off on the way home. Until she saw the ducks anyway.


The balls on this guy!

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