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Had a great weekend but only fired two shots for the one mallard that flew down my end of the pond other end had a bit more luck but quietest opening morning I've had... Sunday morning was alot better with five mallards and a few more flying around but yeah pretty quiet... Bring on next weekend
I had to go in the my paddock where my pond is of the road today, on the gate post there was a "notice of entrance on to private land" from fish and game never seen one of these before. Had time of entrance and who was present and a comment nice looking pond.
I was gutted i wasn't ,then i could have ask what hell i was doing wrong and why i struggle for ducks on the place:D
Two more down last night.4 had a look tonight but didn't commit.
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@Dundee I do admire the simplicity of your set up but man I reckon one of my dipper set ups would do wonders for your tally....
its an old school idea but works well and is dead easy to do...Ive got two,both are the old taiwan mallard decoys,low profile with long beak and good keel...drill small hole in tip of bill/beak...tie heavy/20lb nylon onto that,run it through heavy weight..about a lb is ideal and back to your maimai...bush you hiding in...when you pull nylon the deke will upend..if you keep tension on and pull you can bob that sucker and really make ripples,gentle tugs will have it bob,slightly firmer it goes bum up like feeding,let nylon go and it pops back to rest....you can add loads of ripples/rings onto flat water in a hurry and the ducks seem to commit so much better.
@Micky Duck we have hooks on our decoys on the big pond add a bit of bait and the eels drag the decoys around nicely.
Big pond tonight,16 minute hike from car. One mallard drake and a parry hen.Another calm clear night,no one else in the district was shooting.
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No shots fired last night and none heard.
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took the dog for a long non romantic walk along the beach...took the shotgun and managed to bring down two high mallard hens as they tried to get out to sea...one was fat as a fat thing and full of grain...the other not so much but still a good table bird...both plucked out and in freezer.
Finally got out for a shoot after missing opening weekend, (first one missed in 26 years). Got out with the boys for an evening shoot and we managed 4 with the side by side 28 gauge.
Opening morning in the Whangmarino Swamp was about as bad as I have ever seen. While I had ok water the swamp was basically dry with very few birds around. Even early there was very little shooting and by 8.00am it was all over with not a shot to be heard anywhere. Pulled the pin about 10.00am and went to plan B. walked a few creeks and jump shot some farm dams to get a tally.
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@mawzer308 What breed of side x side is your 28ga? I have been after a good one for ages but most of the prices I have seen look like "telephone numbers"Quote:
Originally Posted by mawzer308
@mawzer308 What breed of side x side is your 28ga? I have been after a good one for ages but most of the prices I have seen look like "telephone numbers"Quote:
Originally Posted by mawzer308
Parry and a mallard this morning and a mallard this evening. missed some chances tonight by looking the right way at the wrong times : )
River was low so not much but a puddle in the backwash I was shooting on this morning two had a look but didn't have a go at them.
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Saturday turned out alright for us with another 6 Mallards and a Pukeko too. @mikee just an Akkar, wood to metal work fit and finish is good, mobile chokes and deeply blued high gloss barrel. Works for me :thumbsup:
90% of my shots under 30 meters.Quote:
Originally Posted by Micky Duck
ok fair enough.... for years Ive had two chokes..imp cyl ---1/4 and modified -----1/2 the lighter choke seems to be great jump shooting BUT when Ive got the modified in I kill just as many birds but can stretch range a bit more.... always start opening with 1/4 and change to mod by 10 am.... sometimes it stays in most of season...but most of our ducks are PAST 30 yards...I managed to kill birds at 50 yards (measured) with a sk11 choke this year so begiggered if I know now LOL.
Used 12g with 1/4 choke and 3" 4's last night, everything I shot at went down dead but forgot to operate the pump a couple of times, have used nothing than semi for many moons but brought a Remington 887 on a wim, love using it when the pump gets operated. Will go back to 20g semi in the morning, won't have to think then.Quote:
Originally Posted by Micky Duck
LMFAO Ive just gone from pump to semi after 7-8? years of using pump...havent tried to rip forend off semi...... yet .....but have seen fella do it, and nearly fell over laughing.
Not a bad shoot this morning on the lake, calm conditions made it hard but the birds that came in decoyed well. Ended up with 5 and now that I'm home the wind has picked up, typical. Tired pups having a good rest now.
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Took Bo down to the the river.
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I was fishing but had the shotty on my back,when I heard the parries flying down river..dropped the rod an into them!
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i,ll pass on toothin those to breasts dundee:thumbsup:
Iight rain this morning but still no darned wind. The ahotgun is an s2 Beretta manf 1939. 82 years old. It was recovered from a wrecked Italian truck by a NZ soldier in the Libyan desert during our WW2 scrapping.
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Another river retrieve for Bo.
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One mallard hen tonight. Very calm and quiet but a beautiful evening.
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Good morning on our local bit of big water. Some good shooting first up with some dismal shooting later in the day. Plenty of wind which was good, only problem was it blew most of the ducks to the side opposite our maimai haha.
you have a spoonie drake...and some good greenheads...careful a certain "person" will be acusing you of hiding the hens LMFAO.....
1 grey this morning, bugger all around.
Two mallards at the big pond last night but dead calm tonight.No shots fired but sure beats sitting around the tv watching politics and covid crap!
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Paddock shoot last night where lots had been coming in the evening before. Damn hard trying to not stick out in the blinds when the ground is just dirt but we still managed a few that came close enough. (Don’t even need to try for parries lol). Had a good play with some JJ Lares calls I borrowed, suffice to say my CWC The Mutt is getting upgraded/replaced.
Windy with light rain,time to go home when Bo turned the headlamp on!
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Spent a couple of hours out on the Kaipara last thursday. Went solo cos all my mates were busy. Decided to shoot 'green' so gave the females a pass. A pleasant 2 hrs made very special when this bird came along......Saw it about a mile out coming directly towards me. watched it the whole way. It never flapped its wings once, just glided along into the easterly, neither gaining or losing height.
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Here is a closeup.....
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I normally dont believe in signs or legends etc, but on opening weekend I received a text on sunday morning that one of my cousins was in Auckland ICU fighting for his life. I would have pulled the pin on duck shooting but where I was I had to wait for the tide to come back in before I could get out of there. My cousin was also one of my closest friends and a mentor. Got a text about 2 hrs after the first saying that he didnt make it. He loved the Kaipara and spent a lot of time up there.
Reading up about White Herons/Kotuku when I got back on thursday gave me pause to think.
RIP Brian
Edited to add: Only seen 2 Kotuku in 60yrs of spending time on the Kaipara. The First time was in 1993 just after my Grandmother passed away.
Great post Allgood :thumbsup:
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They get a place in the opening day post..
Strangelook8n drathaar :)
good line up....and I see you ALSO line up the sex's seperately...good to see you are 2/1ish like most folk are seeming to be. some nice fat looking drakes there,enjoy the eating.
Thats a nice looking hound, I tried getting into duck shooting last year but bugger me I couldn't hit the buggers! lol
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Originally Posted by Woody
We have all sorts... not just the bearded wonders
:)
