Next Year....What will you do different!

[Green Duck Truck]

How are you going to mount the outboard to your pod? Off to one side? Curious cause I have one also and am interested in putting a motor on it.

I have the factory motor mount on my Pod. So it’s on the back to one side.

 

[duckrogers]

Putting venom reflex sight on shotgun practice with clays , patern try bbb on geese , order some reel grass or other material for lay out blind , try to kayak hunting

I've never tried this, but I've heard of people using red dot sights for trap where the lead is small. However, it does not seem like it would be useful for crossing shots with a big lead like skeet or sporting clays or bird hunting.

 

[plarsen111]

Late response here...but I want to jump on the ammo band wagon.

I am going to buy 4-5 or more cases of either Remington Hypersonic or Remington NitroSteel.

I have shot many other types of shells (Apex, Fiochi, Federal, Winchester) over the years (40-45 hunts per year), but there is something about these shells that give me confidence. Birds just fold. I am tired of birds getting away.

 

[Ronbow]

On shells, used the original Hevi-shot years ago, and it is really deadly. But too expensive. They have brought it back as Hevi XII. Really liked Hevi Metal original, but they lost me when the "improved" the shell by switching from Hevi shot to bismuth for the top layer. Didn't get good results there. So tried bismuth, Kent, Hevi, and Boss. Had great results with Boss with 2 3/4" #5 and 3" #4, when I learned to use a tighter choke, usually "Hevi Extended Range". And then this year with their 3/5 duplex. Yes, it shatters in birds. Yes you do get 100 yard flyers that then drop dead from the sky. And yes you do use less shells because most bird stay where they are planted.
Then was able to get Apex Waterfowl S/TSS #3 #8 duplex. Yikes that stuff is deadly. Yes, $1.86 a shell but on my last three days of shooting went 8 for 10 and not close decoy shots. No swatting required. That #8 TSS is the real deal.

 

[Spencer5100]

Is it really this hard for people to get birds close enough to kill with steel? Never once have I been on a duck hunt where I felt like good old 3" steel 2s weren't sufficient. The one exception being days where I am targeting one bird and know will only shoot at that bird-- in those cases I use tungsten.

In all honesty I was thinking about going to some kind of cheaper steel load this year. Some of the 1 oz 5s/6s sold for doves/ upland/ target shooting are pretty appealing for ducks over decoys.

 

[Scott yellowdog]

Well I know that some of you have one last weekend. But my hunting is done. So I am starting to clean and stow gear and evaluating next year. There are some things that we will be changing.

1. We will be getting invisaman blinds for next year. With the log gone we have to adjust to new conditions. Coffin blinds are great for the mud but will not work in 2' of water which is part of the tide cycle in our prefered location. We think this may be a potential solution. We are at least going to give them a go. They are stupid expensive so we have to start saving now.


2. I am evaluating my shotgun shell choices. I will NEVER buy winchester shells again. There was a marked difference between shooting Federals, Kent, and Winchesters. Same shooter, way different results especially at the end of the season when the birds are shy and you have to set up a little further from the decoys to get any action. I had numerous birds get knocked down then suddenly revive and fly away! More than any other year I can remember. I lost birds that swam away. Just not hit hard enough.

The question I am wrestling with is if I go away from steel and go to one of the heavy shot alternatives. I have not done this due to the expense. But when I look back at my season what I am realizing is the sheer number of shots I am taking waterswatting crippled birds. If an alternative to steel would give me better performance I might be able to justify the extra expense by actually using less shells.

Any thoughts on what to avoid or what to get?

We have it pretty dialed in but there is always room to improve and tweek.

What are your thoughts after going through the season?

What an awesome topic. We had a pretty nice year , but a few tweeks, water was low in Kansas ,opening day we realized the distance to the decoys was a bit far, I had an Avery panel blind I bought but never used , the second day we were never seen. Years past we each just hide good as we can in the natural set up, but if there's high activity we beat it down and it prolly don't look good anymore. That panel blind taught us a lot and this year we bought a three man a frame ,and we all have purchased layout blinds, feeling like now we got most conditions covered. We already had a blind on the xpress . My shot shells are a focus this upcoming season. During the pandemic I panic bought on availability, but I am gunna try to improve that but still staying in budget. I want a lucky duck swimmer cause my higdon got an Icycle on beek and eventually it rolled over ,so I noticed the different posture and feel that will do it. I love my higdon though. Gunna repaint my boat but I'm replicating the xpress paint scheme , jus sprucing it up.Heavy on my to do list is, I live 30 minutes from a sporting clay facility in a natural setting , I'm gunna log in some rounds . I got glasses now and things have changed with my eyesight so I think the repetition will help my confidence. Y'all I'm a guy who lives to waterfowl and when I'm sitting while hunting my mind is thinking how cud we improve this set up . If I got it covered our success shows up on the bow.

 

[Josh carpenter]

I've never tried this, but I've heard of people using red dot sights for trap where the lead is small. However, it does not seem like it would be useful for crossing shots with a big lead like skeet or sporting clays or bird hunting.

Reflex sight flew off after first turkey shell , my hard head didn’t crack it , probably put it on my pistol

 

[badhabit]

Brush front of blind better. Industrial type nat veg. Our blind gets a lot of use and the front seems to always get broken down. Guys can't stand to shoot with a twig in front of them it so siloettes faces.
Pull the trigger more.

 

[Action]

Brush front of blind better. Industrial type nat veg. Our blind gets a lot of use and the front seems to always get broken down. Guys can't stand to shoot with a twig in front of them it so siloettes faces.
Pull the trigger more.

You’re going to have to get approval from the board of directors. Might take a year since I proposed helping putting a blind up last year and then fishing season started. Nothing crushes the hopes and dreams of building blinds than an avid fisherman who’s the head of the board.

 

[badhabit]

Oh the plans that were discussed at the end of the season and adding another blind!!