Water swatting

gangrig252

Guest
Again, nothing wrong with raking a duck that sneaks in but why is it "not safe" to shoot decoying ducks? Is there too many houses around? What's the whole story? And if that's IS the case and your not worried bout the home owners or the man, than by all means....
 

darkthirty

Old Mossy Horns
I said “safely” in regArds to shooting one in the water. Shoot my dog or if you shoot near my dog without my permission, one of us is getting our ass whooped or spending a night in jail or both.
 

CBD21

Eight Pointer
Who cares. Get your 6 however you wish as long as you’re safe.
Exactly, I like wing shooting as much as the next guy but as long as it’s safe legal is legal and I’m not gonna look down on someone for a good ol water swat if they choose to do it.
 

Hevi 13. Anson

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I said “safely” in regArds to shooting one in the water. Shoot my dog or if you shoot near my dog without my permission, one of us is getting our ass whooped or spending a night in jail or both.
Used this so each this morning. Its more about my partner than a limit.
 

Greenhorn

Six Pointer
A water swat is not a guaranteed kill either. I've had plenty fly away after pellets rained down all around them. The worse one was a drake greater scaup. Of course the hen was laid out. Went out to pick up both and the drake just flew off while giving me the finger, which is really hard when you think about it b/c they have webbed feet.
 

MoBucks

Old Mossy Horns
I enjoy shooting them in flight..... I also enjoy shooter my them anytime I can... so Water swatting is a definite possibility with me if the opportunity presents itself


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JONOV

Twelve Pointer
This is NC duck hunting, the opportunities are usually limited so I’m shooting when they are in range and if that’s on the water, oh well. The dog doesn’t care and neither does my cookbook. I may have a different perspective if I hunted a place with more opportunities.
My thoughts exactly.

This isn't North Dakota or Arkansas. On a particularly memorable trip, we started out with "Only Shoot the Greenheads!" and followed it up with "Only shoot the really shiny Greenheads." Here, it's "Mergansers! Blam blam! Spoonies, Smoke 'Em!" Actually, not going to lie, we did have a contest for the widest spoon bill beak most years in ND.
 

Wildlifer

Old Mossy Horns
I like shooting them whichever way saves ammo


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Thats prob not water swatting haha. Some guys said things referencing the lethality and ethics of shooting them on the water.
Wellllll water swatting is how I ended up with $20 redhead one time. Clipped it on the wing coming in an proceeded to swat it until I finally slowed it down enough for the dog to catch it.
 
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CBD21

Eight Pointer
Thats prob not water swatting haha. Some guys said things referencing the legality and ethics of shooting them on the water.
Wellllll water swatting is how I ended up with $20 redhead one time. Clipped it on the wing coming in an proceeded to swat it until I finally slowed it down enough for the dog to catch it.
Exactly, a lot of people shoot to low when on the water and it doesn’t hit vitals from the water stopping it
 

Kane_b

Six Pointer
I like shooting them whichever way saves ammo


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Thats prob not water swatting haha. Some guys said things referencing the lethality and ethics of shooting them on the water.
Wellllll water swatting is how I ended up with $20 redhead one time. Clipped it on the wing coming in an proceeded to swat it until I finally slowed it down enough for the dog to catch it.

This is a good point. Was thinking about that yesterday when I read it and it makes sense. Every cripple that hits the water and tries to swim I end up shooting more than once. What do you usually do in that situation to quit wasting ammo?


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Wildlifer

Old Mossy Horns
This is a good point. Was thinking about that yesterday when I read it and it makes sense. Every cripple that hits the water and tries to swim I end up shooting more than once. What do you usually do in that situation to quit wasting ammo?


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Knocking them dead in the air when the full pattern can hit their entire body is clearly the best option but we all know that does not always happen. When they end up crippled on the water you pretty much only have the head and back to shoot at and sometimes they sink down and its only the head sticking up.
Depending on how the bird acts, sometimes I will just let the dog try and chase it down especially if its shallow. What I have started to do recently and especially on open water hunts is to carry different shells in my wader pockets. typically on big water hunts I am shooting #2 or larger which are terrible when it comes to swatting them. I'm sure everyone has seen the shot string begin to hit the water in front of the bird and end way behind it leaving only a small fraction of the pellets to hit a very small kill zone. I will take the time to swap my shells out for something like #6 teal steel. Small hevi-shot works great but we are talking about clean up shots soo for me the steel is cheap and very effective. You do end up losing a little range but I am going for a head shot so it doesn't take much energy to kill them.
 

Trappertod

Six Pointer
Personally I don't care, nor do I criticize anyone who does different. We swat, for me it's about my kid having fun. While I limit myself sometimes from shooting small deer, jakes and pitched birds, if I want to eat it, I kill it. 99.9% of the time the kid is with me and he shoots first.
 

grim reaper

Ten Pointer
This is a good point. Was thinking about that yesterday when I read it and it makes sense. Every cripple that hits the water and tries to swim I end up shooting more than once. What do you usually do in that situation to quit wasting ammo?


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Shoot em in da face...
 
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