St. Larry Brockville ON area

[CanadaGoose]

Took my Bro-in-Law out for a mourning of fun, and hopefully some shooting.

Got there real early to get set up and settled in, well before light. Again we had birds sitting on our planned spot. We made some noise getting to the spot, hoping to scare the birds farther out in the river. It worked like a charm. As we setup the birds slowly made their way across the mighty St. Larry, all the way to a bay on the U.S. side of the river. This worked out good for us, as they lift off the river and head to the feilds on the Canadian side. After sunrise the birds slow left the river for the feilds, and we watched 1000's of birds head off to feed. :biggrin:

After all the geese were gone we decided to target the duckies until they returned from the feilds.
We managed 4 Mallards just in time for the geese to return.

I just learned how to properly make music with my Magnum Clucker. So I figured today would be a testing day for me. I have no idea wether my calling was perfect, or the decoys were perfect, or the birds were just stupid. But almost every flock of birds, that was in earshot of my calling, had to swing by to check us out.

I decided to let pass, all flocks over 25. Even they wanted to look see what the deal was. :rofl:

The first flock was a triple. I smoked the first at 20 yrds, pulled on the next bird and folded it. B-I-L missed all three shots on the remaining one. :huh:

Next came a pair, I wait for the Bro-in-Law to shoot. we stand together, raise our guns together, the birds start to flare and I have a bead on the lead bird. Finally the BIL shoots, I see his bird rock, but keep on going. I quickly pull on that bird and give the backup shot to put the bird down.

Just a quick note I forgot to mention, This is his 3rd time waterfowl hunting.

I decided to hold off my shots until he fires, that way I can figure out where he is shooting. Turns out he shooting over the birds.He shoots left with a dominate right eye.

So now we get a single coming in. It his the 35 yrd stick and is cupped and crossing. I tell him to take em, 2 complete misses at 20 and 25 yrds. I snap off a shot at 30 or so and put another in the bag.

Next flock is a bit bigger, maybe 15 birds, I yell take em at 20 yards and dropped 2 while emptying my gun. Bro in Law folds 1 on his final shot. Load the gun quick, and give it the cope de gras.

Now with my limit I'm loaded for ducks, and to back up the Bro in case of wounded birds.

A few flocks later we end the day. I had to finish off all of his last birds. He's hitting them enough to rock them, but not fold them. It may be a gray area for me to back him up but I'm not letting wounded birds fly off to die later, because of poor shots.

Here is a shot of the setup from a distance.


http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y129/FishingFreak/DSC02300.jpg

The blind with a part of the setup.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y129/FishingFreak/DSC02302.jpg

the floaters.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y129/FishingFreak/DSC02303.jpg

Incoming. After we are done for the day
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y129/FishingFreak/DSC02307.jpg

Landing at 30 yards. After day was finished.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y129/FishingFreak/DSC02308.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y129/FishingFreak/DSC02309.jpg


The end results. :biggrin: :biggrin:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y129/FishingFreak/DSC02313.jpg


Bro in Law with his limit and 2 bonus ducks.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y129/FishingFreak/DSC02320.jpg


Me with my limit and 2 bonus ducks. :biggrin:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y129/FishingFreak/DSC02321.jpg

[skeet]

Congrats man. Like to see someone doing well on those critters.:D

[fabsroman]

That is a great narrative and those are some great pics. If I had a day like yours, I would have a grin on my face for quite a while.

As far as your grey area at the end of your post is concerned, it isn't grey at all. If you knock down the bird, the bird is yours. Period. Now, if you are both shooting at the same time, it would be really hard for any game warden to figure out exactly who shot what, but you have to be shooting pretty close together. If your brother in law shoots, and then you start shooting after he has unloaded his gun, then anything that falls will definitely be counted as yours.

I'm not naming names or anything, but I am pretty intimately familiar with a guy that shot 9 out of 10 canadas while he and his buddy were hunting them, and the game warden was watching them after the warden had checked them and was in the process of writing up the buddy for not having a state stamp. The game warden never mentioned a thing to either of them, and later on that week the buddy was giving compliments to the other guy's father about the shooting ability of the other guy.

Personally, if I were in your shoes I just wouldn't write about this stuff and I would try to back your brother in law up throughout the entire hunt so that both of you can get your limit legally. He will also get more attempts on the birds that way.

Last but not least, take the brother in law to the skeet range. It is utterly frustrating some times to waterfowl hunt with people that cannot hit the side of a barn with a shotgun. Honestly, I think anything within 30 yards should be dead when waterfowling. Beyond that is where a lot more skill is required. At 20 yards or less, the person has lost the fundamentals if he isn't hitting the birds consistently.

By the way, did I already mention that it was a Great Story and Great Pics?

[CanadaGoose]

Thanks Fabsroman, The last 3 birds I finished off for the Brother-in-law were all hit hard and gliding, they would of went down farther out in the river. The law states that we must make every attemt to retrieve wounded birds. I just happen to finish them off before i had to chase them on the water.

From now on i'll omit the finishing off part, If I have to do it again.

[fabsroman]

Having those wounded birds glide for hundreds of yards sucks. However, there can be a silver lining to that cloud to. My yellow labs first goose retrieve was on just such a bird. He was probably 6 or 7 months old and the goose must have gone 300+ yards in the field. He had to go over a hill to get to it, and I couldn't even see him after he crested the hill. So, I started walking that way. Lo and behold, he appears at the top of the hill, goose in mouth, and he stops there for a second with his tail wagging like crazy. Then he proceeds to bring the goose to me, the entire time with his tail non-stop. I knew I had a pretty good dog at that time. Kind of knew it when he retrieved a dove at 10 weeks and he didn't even flinch to gun fire on that day. Kind of knew it a month or two after that when he made a couple retrieves on ducks. However, that wounded goose put all doubt out of my mind.

Honestly, if I were you I would just keep shooting until both of you had your limit. If you have been hunting enough, you will generally know pretty quickly which bird he is shooting at, so just put a round in it for good measure if it hasn't folded up already. Wounding birds sucks, but that is part of our sport.

Post more pics and stories if you can.