# Who here remembers back in the day



## Utmuddguy (Aug 25, 2013)

Before mojos, mud motors and $1000+ autoloaders? I remember borrowing decoys and walking miles to the lake to hunt mallards with an old Ithaca and a yellow dog. Seems the kids today have too much money makes me wonder if they appreciate what they have like we did.


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## Whiskey Hound (Sep 30, 2013)

Remember rubber waders? Seems like you would always find a hole somewhere near the crotch on the coldest of days. AWWWWW memories.........


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## outdoorser (Jan 14, 2013)

I totally know what you mean. I've been thinking of that just recently after a kid I know just bought a $1700 shotgun and $500 worth of browning dirty bird clothes.


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## Jsw (Dec 5, 2010)

I remember my first duck hunt many years ago. I wore old brown Hodgman Waders and wading boots with my brown Carhartt coat. My buddy sold me an old mossberg that didn't have a vent rib barrel, shooting the old Remington 3" high brass. I had a cheap faulks wood duck call, the cheapest decoys you could find and we would march miles down the dikes at Harold crane and Ogden bay. It has deffinetly changed a lot with all the new camo, and fancy gear and gadgets out there. The funny thing is I shot just as many ducks back then without all the fancy guns and camo as I do now. It just seamed easier back then. That is how I duck hunted for many years that way


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## Bret (Sep 7, 2007)

My first ducks were with an H and R 20 gauge single shot mostly at Howards Slough. My step dad and I would split whatever shells we had sometimes less than ten. We shot lead back then. The first year we couldn't afford waders so we could only shoot them over the mud flat. If we shot one in the water dad would wade out and get it and if it was cold the day would be over. I remember him breaking ice in his underwear to retrieve his swan at Howards slough. He is tougher than me. I'm grateful that he was willing to take me along.
I still hunt old school. i walk miles with a sack on my back. This year I haven't used anything but a dozen 80s vintage flambeaus because they wiegh less and duck calls. Its funny though, one of my duck calls would cost more than my first gun. the future is bright though. I see and know a few young guys that are hiking out with not much more than determination, a pump shotgun, and a cheap decoy bag with too many decoys in it. It warms my heart!

Nice thread!


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## Afishnado (Sep 18, 2007)

My dad made me start out with a Savage single shot with a 36"bbl. It didn't fit me worth a crap but I'm glad he did, I'm deadly now. Cheap rubber waders, cork decoys. I even remember the first year the BRBR made people use steel shot. I wasn't old enough to hunt yet, but you would check into the office and they gave my dad 2 free boxes of steel shot. I remember thinking "that'll never last".

Now I have a $1800 shotgun, $6000 worth of decoys, $10,000 of misc stuff, and who know's how much in a hunting club. I think I shot more ducks and geese back then and was far less complicated. I miss them days.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

I started with an old green army jacket, rubber hip boots and a Winchester Ranger pump shotgun. We walked everywhere, no boats or bikes. We hunted Farmington and Ogden Bay most of the time, and we would get up way to early so we could be the first ones there. Everything we had we carried on our backs, I hated those long decoy bags that would smack the backs of my legs. The marsh looked much different than it does now, there was certainly no phragmites, cattails or much vegetation of any kind. Just mudflats and more mudflats surrounded by the man made impoundments. When the GSL flooded in the 80's it pretty much wiped everything out. We would scramble around the mudflats and find tumbleweeds to build blinds out of, much different today. We would be in such a hurry to get to the marsh that we always forgot to grab food and drinks. By the end of the day we would be starved, dehydrated and just plain burned out.
Skip ahead 24 years......Now it's 5mm neoprene waders on the cold days, breathable waders on the mild days, under armour, gortex, fleece and waterproof coats. A boat and mudmotor have replaced walking for the most part, a yellow lab for all the retrieves, a cooler full of food and drinks, a Buddy heater, and of course the BBQ grill for cooking. Yes, some things have definitely changed. 
Hunters have changed too, some for the better and others for the worse.


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## nk1nk (Nov 15, 2011)

I remember 1994 (age 17) at Harold Crane, last weekend of the swan hunt in December I walked forever out on the **** to where I had watched them flying. I didnt own any waders and dumped one 40 yards into the water where it crashed thru the ice, I went to get it smashing ice with my elbows. I had never been so cold in my life, a guy who owned a company that made the reusable hand warmers with the metal clicker that activates them gave me one and I remember thinking I had a little piece of the sun with me as I made the loooong cold walk back, it saved my life. When I got back to my truck my pant legs where frozen solid I couldn't bend my legs to get in my truck.

I agree with Bret W. The future of the youth is bright, it seems kids these days can't catch a break, they are either dumb kids in just jeans sky busting everything or dumb kids with 2k in clothes and gear sky busting everything. Im guilty of it too, just this year I saw a kid in jeans hunting the ***** in an area you definitely needed waders, and I thought what an idiot (oblivious to my own youth stupidity). On my way back to the truck I saw a guy retrieving a duck in the water, it was that kid stripped down to his boxers! He got back to the **** and put his dry clothes back on and he was pumped that he got him a duck. 

Go easy on the youth, if you have money or if you lack money, if you have great gear or no gear it comes down to passion, you won't last long either way as a waterfowler unless you have the passion.


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

How about the old paper marche' duck decoys or better yet, turn of the century wooden decoys. Hunted over both growing up about half a million years ago. Paper hull shotgun shells?


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## Jsw (Dec 5, 2010)

It's been fun reading about how guys first started out. I remember my first hunt my buddy asked if I wanted to carry the decoy bag out or back in after the hunt. It was raining like a crazy so I let him choose so he carried it first (he wasn't dumb) on the way back with 2 limits of ducks I think the bag (that banged the back of your knees) weighed 30 pounds more on the way back. I was soaked to the bone my jacket wasn't water proof, but I was hooked for life.

I still hunt pretty much the same now walking miles with a decoy bag and a dozen decoys. I just have much better clothing now and it takes a little longer to heal after a long day hunting and walking but it's a passion.


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

The thing that worries me it that most of these younger guys don't actually have the money for their toys, it's all debt. I don't know many 20 year olds that could pay cash for a $12000 boat and motor, $35000 truck to haul it, and 3 or 4 thousand in clothes and gear. I hope it doesn't catch up to them. A wise person once told me "never go into debt for toys" and that's been good advice. I don't think you appreciate something the same way if you just slap down the plastic versus saving and working and waiting for it.


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## 357bob (Sep 30, 2007)

My first seasons were spent packing a dozen Dura-Ducks in an army duffle bag while my dad carried 3 dozen Johnson goose decoys on a wooden pack frame. I thought hip boots were the coolest thing ever invented ( still love standing in the water and being dry).
Shot an old single 12 with reloaded paper hulls. My grandpa gave me a brown cotton duck coat and when it got cold, a surplus wool jacket went under it. That was 36 years ago and honestly, the Public Shhoting Grounds hasn't changed a lot, other than I can't dig pits like I used to.


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## Spry Yellowdog (Sep 8, 2007)

Green rubber hip boots, Army jacket with a homemade game pouch in it, Savage pump with a broken firing pin (pin would only stay back and allow the next shell in if it was pointing straight up. Gravity feed) Dura ducks in a scout pack. Purple Imperial extra high brass shells #5 I was invincible!;-) I still own that gun...and it's still broken...

Spry


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Yep, back in the day all shells had paper hulls and lead shot. I didn't care about chokes, or loads. 'Bout all I knew was some shells were red and some were purple. The red ones hurt my arm........late 50s, early 60s. 

I remember the point system they had in the other flyways back in the 70s. What a mess that was.....dumb, a lot of ducks got left out in the cattails.

I grew up on the Missississisissipee Flyway. We'd come home with a wheelbarrow full of ducks. You couldn't give them away, that part hasn't changed much.

High grain prices in the late 70s changed waterfowl hunting across the country. Lots of swamps were drained and plowed up. It's happening again, making gasoline (ethanol) out of grain is becoming very popular.


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## GBell (Sep 2, 2013)

Wow, cool post. Redmond Lake. Rubber hip boots, no shooting till noon and the goose hunt didn't open for another week. I packed one of those green army duffle bags across that bog of a death march more times than I care to remember. Dad's paper reloads were sure to give you a face full of powder at least once each trip.

We always used the old rubber deke decoys. The ones you'd hold above the water a few feet and drop, hoping they'd fill up with air and have a slight resemblance to a duck. We all shot High Standard shotguns and 2 3/4 reloads. Man we killed a ton of ducks.

Pass shooting geese on Utah lake by the Fitzgerald farm was my true calling. You could buy a Church Farm trespass permit back then for $10.00. Valid from the opening of the dove hunt till the goose season closed. Great times.


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## nickpan (May 6, 2008)

My stories are a lot younger than most of these, wasn't old enough to hunt til mid- late 90's, but still old enough to remember the pre-prostaffer pre-professional band/duck hunter era. RedBall waders were the stuff to have, froze to death in them. 

Started hunting the east side of FB where you would park on the frontage road and pack in. There used to be several blinds made out of pallets in those east ponds that kept you out of the water. Used to hunt geese where Legacy highway is and the legacy preserve are now. Packed in dad's old paper mâché goose floaters and G&h shells that cracked like eggs in the cold. After hunting we'd drive over the the main dike to watch the Airboats come in. The lake lapped against the dike and barren water as far as you could see. You'd see maybe 3-4 trucks at the AB launch. 

Hunted in Bluffdale during/after school nearly every day. Corrine had geese in every field and Carharts were the bibs you'd wear. That was only 10-15 years ago!


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## Spry Yellowdog (Sep 8, 2007)

I also remember Goose Tags. But only used a few, never did fill a seasons allotment;-)

Spry


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## dixieboy (Jul 26, 2013)

I remember when I started out, all I had was a 5 gallon bucket 2 decoys and a single shot 20ga. My dad only left me in the blind with 10 shots, and said make em count....... as witnessed by a friend recently I didnt learn to make em count  because i still suck at shooting.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

nickpan said:


> After hunting we'd drive over the the main dike to watch the Airboats come in. The lake lapped against the dike and barren water as far as you could see. You'd see maybe 3-4 trucks at the AB launch.


I'm always trying to explain to people that the lake once came up close to the main road at Farmington Bay. I remember driving down the dirt road and watching the airboats cruise right along with me. Now you look out west of the road and all you see is phragmites. Amazing how that once was just a big mudflat with water on top of it. The GSL almost came all the way to Goose Egg Island, we spent many hours on that shoreline pounding teal and shovelers. Someone would always fall in that small canal that runs on the North side of Goose Egg. It was under water so you couldn't see it, but you sure knew when you found it.


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## stuckduck (Jan 31, 2008)

Pumpgunner said:


> The thing that worries me it that most of these younger guys don't actually have the money for their toys, it's all debt. I don't know many 20 year olds that could pay cash for a $12000 boat and motor, $35000 truck to haul it, and 3 or 4 thousand in clothes and gear. I hope it doesn't catch up to them. A wise person once told me "never go into debt for toys" and that's been good advice. I don't think you appreciate something the same way if you just slap down the plastic versus saving and working and waiting for it.


What everybody needs is a twin........ Then your toys are half price!!!

I got into the addiction when I was 12. And for years I never hunted over Deeks. I would go to the old Davis duck club(now part of the bear river club) with a friend get in a pit blind and pass shoot birds all day... Had a old single shot 20 gauge. I would take turns using it with my brother. The ducks we would shoot mostly 2 or 3 bring them home and throw them in the crock pot... Man I had to choke them down. Mom wouldn't cook them. I wanted to keep hunting them so we tried everything to make them eatable. I remember noon starting times... Active shot shells.. Do they still make them? They would come in a box of 20. Had a paper route. All my money would go for shells. When I turned 20 or so I had a gun and a bag of Deeks... Man we shot a lot of birds... Now I have all this crap and I still think I shoot about the same amount of birds.


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## High Desert (Sep 25, 2007)

I got a paper route in the middle of winter in the early '70's to earn enough money to buy a single shot Savage 20 ga. (about $45 as I recall). My first hunt was on a dike on opening day on Howard Slough and I still remember the smell of the mud and vegetation. Later, I scraped enough together to get uninsulated rubber hip boots. I outgrew them but couldn't afford a new pair for a while so I just used thin socks. My feet would go numb in cold weather. My friends and I hiked into the Turpin Unit carrying our dura duck decoys and other supplies in six gallon buckets that doubled as seats. Shotgun slings were unknown to me. We were usually the last off the marsh at night after the long walk back. The fact that we got back late tells me we weren't regularly shooting limits despite memories of the good old days. A kind neighbor gave me an old Ithaca 37 (no recoil pad) with a 30" barrel that had a conspicuous bulge in it. I left the marsh each day with a bruised shoulder.
Perceived cost of the support may be a barrier to participation, but in terms of actual entry cost, the basic waterfowling supplies are not more expensive today than they were 40 years ago in adjusted dollars. The only thing that has changed is that everyone believes they really need the latest camo (which probably works no better than the right shade of brown if you hold still), latest boat and motor (which doesn't really get you more ducks than the 12' jon boat and old egg beater - do you really need a 35 hp motor to travel across a WMA?), expensive shotgun (which doesn't kill more ducks than a bargain basement 870), etc. That said, gear is fun.
In terms of hunting availability, the WMA acreage hasn't changed much though phragmites have taken a big toll inside and outside the dikes. A lot of private land has been lost in west Davis and Weber counties. The number of hunters is far lower so hunter density may not be much different. People who complain about crowded opening days now never saw the firing lines at FBWMA in the 70's.


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## twopoles (Nov 29, 2011)

*remeber when*

Going out to ogden bay, parking in the parking lot and walking out to the dike on unit one. sometimes a foot race to see who got the best spot out by the dike. Very few boats and good old lead reload shells. Seven birds and it didn't take long to shoot them. The days of the sixties and seventies.


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## OKEE (Jan 3, 2008)

When I was a kid .I had a old single shot 20 gauge I would take with me while checking my muskrat traps . Shot a lot of ducks caught a lot of rats . Every few weeks I would take a trip into strebles ( I think that was the place in ogden) He would buy my skins and that would give me enough money to stop into the old sunset sporting good store to buy more shells. Saved enough one year to buy me 12g Rem 870. Boy was I in heaven and my parents didn't pay a dime.


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## royta (Sep 26, 2007)

stuckduck said:


> What everybody needs is a twin........ Then your toys are half price!!!
> 
> I got into the addiction when I was 12. And for years I never hunted over Deeks. I would go to the old Davis duck club(now part of the bear river club) with a friend get in a pit blind and pass shoot birds all day... Had a old single shot 20 gauge. I would take turns using it with my brother. The ducks we would shoot mostly 2 or 3 bring them home and throw them in the crock pot... Man I had to choke them down. Mom wouldn't cook them. I wanted to keep hunting them so we tried everything to make them eatable. I remember noon starting times... Active shot shells.. Do they still make them? They would come in a box of 20. Had a paper route. All my money would go for shells. When I turned 20 or so I had a gun and a bag of Deeks... Man we shot a lot of birds... Now I have all this crap and I still think I shoot about the same amount of birds.


Active. Yep I remember them. Weren't they the ones with the all plastic hulls? I first saw them some time around the 7th and 9th grades. That would have been late 1985 to late 1987. I shot so many ducks near Montague, CA when I was a kid. I grew up on a 120 acre ranch that had a couple ponds I would jump shoot every week or so. I'd do the low crawl to the dike and stand up tall once I was at the edge. The sky would go dark with ducks. Three brothers lived about a mile down the road and we were all best friends. They had a big pond that we would decoy the ducks in to also. We also shot a bunch of Honkers. We'd spread out the decoys and lay under a brown sleeping bag in a corn field at my folks' place. Those geese would come on in and we'd roll out from under those bags and just blast them. Limits of 2 without even trying.

I don't even like to hunt ducks now because I don't want to eat them. However, I'm changing my tune and thinking I need to find some decent recipes. I've got 13 & 11 year old boys who I want to experience the same fun I did as a kid. It's not fair to them to not take them out. My 9 year old daughter might want to try it out too when she gets her license next year. So, unless the kids are skiing this Friday, I'll probably go on a hike in one of the WMA's with them. See if I can't find myself getting addicted again.


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## Utmuddguy (Aug 25, 2013)

My Ithaca 37 with the actives=Swollen middle finger all fall.


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## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

:V|: sheesh.... some y'all fart dust yet? 


ACTIVE's! BLAH! im still picking unburned powder outta my eye's.


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## Mr Muleskinner (Feb 14, 2012)

When I read that "back in the day" meant the 90's to some people....... I came to realize that I need to come up with another term that won't apply to my son.

My first shotgun was also an H&R 20 gauge single shot. The same gun was also my brothers first gun. We would share it many times on our hunts together and take turn taking shots.


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

Mr Muleskinner said:


> When I read that "back in the day" meant the 90's to some people....... I came to realize that I need to come up with another term that won't apply to my son.
> 
> My first shotgun was also an H&R 20 gauge single shot. The same gun was also my brothers first gun. We would share it many times on our hunts together and take turn taking shots.


My first shotgun was a no name single shot 12 gauge when I was 7. I shared it with my 10 year old brother. My first duck I killed was a blue wing teal drake and I was nearly knocked down. I cried for about 1/2 a minute it had hurt so bad shooting it. After our 2nd season of being punished by that mule my grandfather got mad at my dad and went to the closest sporting goods store and bought me and my brother each a 16 gauge model 1100 Remington. We both still have those guns and they aren't for sale. We've both killed many ducks with them, hundreds and maybe even a thousand or more together. We both now use magnums, he uses an 1100 and I use an 870.


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## bug doc (Apr 19, 2008)

Started my 35th season this year. Just a few things I remember fondly:

'Duck & Pheasant' promo loads in #6 chill. 
Camo was a duck-brown cotton coat and green rubber waders. 
Army surplus wool gloves. 
Half-trained Chessie named Buck that ignored my 'suggestions' because he knew better than I where the **** ducks were. 
Rubber decoys without anchors that you could only use in still water. 
Watching Curt Gowdy and Grits Gresham on 'The American Sportsman.' 
Trucks with manual transmissions, manual brakes, manual chokes, and 'Armstrong' power steering (your arms better be strong to turn that wheel). 
Taking my shotgun to grade school, leaning it up on the coat rack, and hunting pheasants on my way home after class (probably wouldn't go over so big nowadays). 
Wolf's, Allied, and Sunset Sports. 
Blued steel and walnut. 
The old burger joint by Strawberry Reservoir (can't recall the name). 
The duck hunt opener being front page news in the newspaper.
Every year seeing someone's picture in the paper with the 25 lb 'snow goose' they shot.


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## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

back in the 90's?

what happened to the mid 80's? the results gave way to what evil we have now, Phrag!

i keep saying this ... _much like a broken record_ ... but the floods were at a time i was cutting my teeth in the waterfowling world around here so much of what i remember "starting out" was from then. Another memory from "back then" was standing in near thigh deep water in what most/some know best now as the "Turpin Launch". When im out there now, i occassionaly catch myself gazing out across our ocean of Phrag wishing it was water, not THAT much water but you get my drift. Many people gave up, and quit waterfowling then, but man it sure was good to those of us that stuck with it. I remember sluffing school, "borrowing" my dads boat, grabbing my 870 Sportsman, a handfull of Active #2's, the borrowed rubber waders, my BLACK coat, and the retriever that could care less about the joker making a fool of himself shooting at ducks, and id be off on another adventure. No decoys, i knew where the birds would be passing... Ah, life was good.


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## SuzanChaffin (Nov 26, 2013)

wyogoob said:


> Yep, back in the day all shells had paper hulls and lead shot. I didn't care about chokes, or loads. 'Bout all I knew was some shells were red and some were purple. The red ones hurt my arm........late 50s, early 60s.
> 
> I remember the point system they had in the other flyways back in the 70s. What a mess that was.....dumb, a lot of ducks got left out in the cattails.
> 
> ...


I would love to take some ducks off your hands! . First year duck hunting and I have had no luck so far. I am determined to harvest my own, but oh boy, would love to try some recipes sooner than later.


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## royta (Sep 26, 2007)

Duck & Pheasant loads. I love it!! Not my brand of choice, but it's all I've got in the basement.


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## Gaston (Dec 6, 2008)

I remember buying bulk Remington duck and pheasant for 19 cents a shell from wolf's. Un-insulated Red Ball chest waders from sunset sports and heading to Ogden bay with my metal swan tag, aiming at the big white mature swan in the front and hitting the third immature swan back with a 3'' load of copper plated #4's. Started out using Dad's old steven's 12 guage side buy side. 31 years ago... They were the good old day's !


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## Duckslayer74 (Nov 16, 2013)

My first experience duck hunting was the fall of 79 at Ogden Bay. I can remember the size of the monster prints in the mud (wader tracks) and my dad shooting 2 mallards in the short time we were there. I started carrying my own gun in 86, the lake had flooded everything. It was the first year of having to shoot steel shot, seems all we ever shot were shovelers and a few teal but I was hooked. Now the surplus green coat, rubber waders and 20ga Winchester Ranger has given way to Gortex, autoloaders and neoprene waders. I love waterfowl hunting as much now as I did then, and now I'm passing this tradition/addiction on to son. I started him 2 years ago when he was 3, I don't think I could have anything better passed on to me or to pass on to my son.


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

Somebody say "Activ"?










The loose ones are marked 1 3/8 ounces of #1's. The boxed ones are BB. Anybody want them?

Cool old Federal Premium copper plated #6's. I have a bunch of this stuff.


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## Utmuddguy (Aug 25, 2013)

Been many years since I've seen those plastic hulls


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

Back when I started, Pintail Lake at Public Shooting Grounds was still motorless. 

Oh, and shooting started at 8 AM on the opener.

Those were the days...


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Paddler, those Federal Premium copper plated #6's are still my all time favorite Pheasant load. Cool stuff! It's been years since I have seen those Activ shells. They never did work in my Winchester model 37 single shot, they would fall down in the barrel.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

My favorite was the old blue Peters. Still got some of these though:










Some other old shells I kept over the years:










-DallanC


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

paddler213 said:


> Somebody say "Activ"?
> 
> The loose ones are marked 1 3/8 ounces of #1's. The boxed ones are BB. Anybody want them?


I picked up several cases of Activs when they were on sale decades ago then got out of waterfowl hunting for a while. I'm just now shooting up the last of them. They are some duck and goose bustin' SOB's. They contain 1/8 oz. more shot than the standard 3 inchers you get today.

So ya, if you're wanting to get rid of them I'd be happy to take them!


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## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

Clarq said:


> Back when I started, Pintail Lake at Public Shooting Grounds was still motorless.
> 
> Oh, and shooting started at 8 AM on the opener.
> 
> Those were the days...


I hadnt started (much ;-)) of my own waterfowl killn at the time, but i remember it being @ Noon. _Whoa_... would my uncle biatch about it! LOL


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## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

*---Thread of the year---*



royta said:


> Duck & Pheasant loads. I love it!! Not my brand of choice, but it's all I've got in the basement.
> 
> View attachment 23954


Nice! That right there was The brand of choice for my dad & uncle back-in-the-day. I remember picking them up and smelling the freshly burned powder, closing my eye's and dreaming that i was the one who just popped that cap.


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