P.S. Are they still talking about oiling snow geese eggs up in the Arctic to try to control their numbers given that hunting doesn't seem able to over the past 20 years or did that idea fade away...?

this I agree with. in my case I didn't have the 2nd gun there to get off more shots. I had been given a few nontoxic safety to use in a not safe to shoot steel 16 gage double gun I have and wanted to shoot a few ducks with the old girl. since I only had a few of them I also took along a 20g 870 to shoot steel out of if shot the 6 or 7 16 g shells I had. but just so happened after dumping 2 mallards I saw my 20 in the rack grabbed it and shot 2 more shots. missed one splashed another. It was not planned or intentionally.

Amen

Big problem with shooting late or early on Waterfowl is ID of both species and sex. Duck limits are highly regulated and certain species have low limits and hunters need to be able to ID positively what they shoot, which low light conditions are not good for.

Tray is right on track.
He knows of what he speaks.
Ducks get a lot of pressure up and down the flyway.
Not too much to ask them not to be shot in dim light.

You're just trying to drag me into arguing the point with you.

Ain't happening fed!

I couldn't care less what you decided to do in college or your career.

Go back to posting about the Ukraine-Russia war or something and leave me out your thoughts.

A lot of people have posted on this thread and you singled me out...again.......that's my "imperical evidence"!

Fed's kinda right, though.

Anyone ever targeted Bluebills and Ringnecks? Limit for one is 2, limit for the other is 6. I can tell you at exact shooting light you are NOT making that distinction, lol. Time limits are there for a reason. Plus if you’re into it, sometimes telling the difference between a drake and hen is an issue as well.

Lots of examples.
Gadwall vs hen pintail for instance.
There are dumb game laws, but shooting hours for ducks ain’t one of ‘em.

Most common duck species misidentified in low light are : mallard hen, black duck, and mottled duck. Also a TRUE black duck vs hybrid blk / mallard. Proper ID between these two can make a difference in your bag limit.

In the point system days (AKA the bad ole days) proper ID of what you were shooting was super important.

After 32 years working duck hunters in one of the most primo waterfowl areas in the Midwest, it is shocking how many hunters don’t know their ducks in hand, much less on the wing.

Well, claycreech, you'd be bummed with me because I generally ID a duck when its in hand, yeah some are easy, such as teal vs a larger duck, and drake mallards are usually easier to ID in flight, although early in the season not that much. If any of you can see a dull yellow bill vs an orange one at 30 yards when the target is moving at 30 mph, you're a better man than me.

P.S. I bet I've shot less than 10 pintails in eastern South Dakota in the 20 years that I used to go out a lot so mixing up a hen pintail vs the much, much more numerous hen gadwells wasn't really going to happen. But whatever. .

Ok, fair enough Swamp Wolf, I'll leave alone but I have one more question for you. And, given your mood, I'll bet a coin or two you won't answer it. When you did your commercial trapping for the timber companies/owners and other trapping action that you got paid doing, did you do it in the same county (or however your area of responsibility are carved up in Georgia) that you were also the conservation officer in?

not knowing any duck hunters and having zero experience with ducks I can't tell them apart very well at all. it's uncomfortable looking up a dead duck to see what it is and how many you can kill or if you can kill them.

needless to say my duck hunting was only over a couple of years at the tail end of season. have not been in years and don't plan on it . maybe geese easy to tell apart from other birds and no requment on male or females.

So those stories you tell of shooting ducks from the hip with a shotgun in each hand were made up Clay?

I killed 5 quail on a single covey rise. First 3 shots yielded 4 birds. Had a late riser try and cut behind us, dropped a single 20 ga shell into the chamber and killed it.

Then had a covey of close to 20 birds get up an hour later and most flew straight away and missed all 3 shots. Very humbling.

Obviously Jayme lol.
Been a pretty serious duck hunter for well over 40 years. Never saw a need for 2 guns lol.

I rest my case.

I learned from The Waterfowler himself…

A buddy of mine was sentenced to 3 years in the Navy to avoid jail time over "taking more that three shots" at a flock of ducks. He had his regular duck gun and his family heirloom shotgun with him the blind. The game warden, which his family had prior history with, decided to come down hard on him and proceeded to attempt to confiscate both of his shotguns and said that if he didn't turn them over, he was also going to confiscate his truck.
Well, of course none of that happened. When the warden reached to take his grampa's shotgun from his warm and very much alive hands, he hit warden upside the head with the shotgun and left the ole boy very much disheveled in the duck blind and went home.
Let me just say this, while I don't condone such behavior, I can certainly understand it. The family history with this Barney Fife game warden goes way back. The ole boy is dirty, and was never able to get anything to stick on the whole family up until that day, but it did cost him a knot in his hard head.
I don't know exactly what my buddy was convicted of, but it was not a felony. This was over 35 years ago. If it had happened today, he'd be on the terror watch list and prohibited from having a firearm. None of that happened to him. His punishment was serving his country and receiving veteran status. God Bless America.