Quack quack

Never been much of a bird hunter but decided to give it more of a serious go then previous years. Worked opening day so went out on the Sunday. Saw a few ducks and had a few shots but missed probably too excited and forgot to aim. Managed to get a pukeko before going home so wasn't a complete failure. Went out after work on the Monday and saw 0 ducks. Went for a walk along the creek and a hare ran off and stopped in the paddock at about 40m so I gave it a crack and smoked it was pretty happy with that longest shot I've got with the shotgun. Just got back from going out tonight. As we drove into the area to park saw a few ducks around so had high hopes. Sat in the maimai for an hour and only 1 pair of ducks flew close but we're going a million miles an hour so didn't get a shot. Just as I was thinking it's to dark to see i spotted 2 flying towards us. Ambushed them successfully took my time with the shot and nailed one. Stoked! Hopefully get a few more by the end of the season but tomorrow it's deer chasing time woohoo
Chur

careful,duckshooting is addictive. a dunking decoy works wonders...just get regular decoy and drill small hole through end of its bill,tie say 50lb nylon through this and run it through a heavy weight with big ring so it will run easy...take other end of nylon back into maimai....tug it and decoy will upend and even start to dive,release and it pops back up...creates heaps of ripples/movement and has worked simply awesome for us the last two seasons (just dont let your movement be seen)....keep at it and it gets better.

Another helpful hint....don't aim!
Swing through the bird as the head blurs past the muzzle squeeze the trigger.
You can also try saying Bum Body bang. To get some rhythm going. I won't try and tell you how much lead you need to give as everyone see's this differently.
Have fun:)

Sweet cheers for those tips I'll try them out

I don't lead..... I use the force

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Originally Posted by csmiffy

I don't lead..... I use the force

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Plus one i tend to have the nack of shoulder and shoot brain dose the calculation automatic
Not the best shot with shotty in the world but hit more than miss

Yep - these are good tips. Practice swinging the shotgun along a straight line too, like the top of a fence line or hill line, so you get used to swinging it along a flat plane. Then, as sideshow says above, swing the gun along the line of the bird when its flying, swing from behind it and when you catch up to it and the muzzle gets to the head or in front of it (depends on how fast its going) then pull the trigger - keep swinging though, dont stop and pull the trigger like a rifle shooter might.
Hard to say how far ahead to allow, as an example though, I shot two on a pond stalk yesterday, for the first they had gone about 10 yards to my left after lift off and i pulled the trigger just in front of the head (maybe 1/4 of a bird length), then the second as they swung around past me and had been flying maybe 30 yards I swung along and pulled the trigger when I was about 1-1.5 bird lengths ahead of the head.

Go for it, and good luck, its good fun!

Chur i need to try these techniques out pity there's not many dam birds around went out on Sunday after my deer stalk for half an hour before dark and only saw one duck too far away

If you want cheap practice you could try plastic paint bucket lids, thrown by a good mate.
Flys like a frisbee......our your local clay ground.
Like I said before try to stay away from talk on how much lead each bird is given. As all are different! You will find that as you get into it you will build up site pictures. This is where a bird comes in like one that you have shot at before. You will shoot these more easily than ones that come in from an unknown angle our direction that you have not shot from. Your brain instantly recognises what it needs to do.
You will also find that the snap shots (you don't see the bird till the last minute, it surprises you) has more success than one where you see it coming from a long way out.
Had this on phesant shoots here in the UK. Standing in the gun line and the first bird brakes cover soaring high and comes directly over you! You know that all nine guns are whatching you plus any beaters and picker uppers.....no pressure there it's an easy shot and you duff it! You have just out thought it and folded to the pressure :XD:
1.Gun fit!
2.Practice! Not just during duck shooting. (Go buy a slab of 7.5 21gram clay rounds and get down your local clay ground:thumbsup:)

Good luck;)