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Why don't we hunt ducks like we used to?

12265 Views 16 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  aroostookbasser
Any ideas why it is most hunters skip the duck hunt? I used to love it...just can't justify the costs of steel, licences and gas/decoys/and guns.
How about you?

:camp1:
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I think you about summed it up. Partridge hunting is a lot less hassle.
I agree........ me, gun, partridge...... pretty simple.
(add dog ...... and mix well) = FUN !!!!!
:teatime:
You mean everyone doesnt duck hunt? Come sit in the bogs around me on opening day--hunters everywheres.
Funny, where I live you cansee & hear loads of folks out blastin ducks. And Merrymeeting Bay is always packed with skybusters.
I don't currently duckhunt because of time constrants but I do plan to get back to it in the future.
I quit duck/goose hunting the first day we was required to use steel shot. I had duck hunted from about 1954 until THAT DAY. I was stationed at the Submarine Base in CT when the law became effective. My oldest son & I went opening day with our new steel shot. We were hitting ducks that lead 7 1/2 field loads would of taken down. We always drifted by canoe on a small river by our home there. All we ever used there were light field loads, as a long shot was 25 - 30 yards. Anyways the crappy steel shot was not bring down the birds. I made up my mind I wasn't going to wound them like that, and we both quit that day. I never hunted ducks again until I moved back home to Maine in 1997. I was setting traps in a bog that fall and ducks were all over me. I said thats it, I've got to do the duck thing. The next spring I bought a Chessy pup off a friend in TN and haven't stopped since. I am happy to report that steel shot has greatly improved since that first year it was required in the 70's.
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Glad to hear you gave it another try once back home. I don't think your story is a rare one. I've heard the same before.
I know down here in Southern Maine, every time I turn around some frigging idiot is clearing land down to the lake's edge and building a little lake front home so you can't find a spot to sit half the time without peppering houses! I know there are lot's of places, but a lot of the places we were going have been som built up because of waterfront value...
Hey..times change..new wife likes duck....and is financing new Mossberg Ultimag.....i have been a very good boy this past year.
hey Aroostookbasser,
I never really got into duck hunting, until I started hanging out in your neck of the woods. Mattawamkeag lake has some great duck hunting.
I know....... wanna see alot of ducks and geese set up on the Meduxnekeag River.......... wow!!!!
I used to hunt ducks hot and heavy, steel shot slowed me down when the range was shortened and penetration wounded too many for my liking.

I tried it again when I bought and trained a Choc Lab to pick up wounded birds and had alot of fun, but the price of steel shot made it difficult to see the point with the daily limits added to stamp fees and so on.

Add in the smokepole deer season which is my preferance and the season is too short to bother with.
Reworked the numbers for myself and if I load my own and get my limit....... nah.

.......I'm just going to do it for the fun of it!
I gave up waterfowl hunting for the 2010/11 season because there were too many wannabe "duck commanders" out there all decked out with their shiny new semis...I was peppered with shot on a daily hunting the tilde side of the Saco River. This past season I stayed inland and did really well; kept to the hard to reach places, invested in a camo kayak and a new shotgun. (Stoeger M2000 Max 4 camo). Let's just say I'm back in the game...also got myself a choco lab pup this summer... We shall see how he does in the blind this year.
I may Give some Sea Ducks a Pop this Fall. Have the boat in the water and there are Millions of Eiders out there. The only thing is how do you recover the Sea Duck once you shoot it? Don't want to get to close to the rocks with the boat and you always have wind, current and tides to deal with. https://www.facebook.com/1025040534...41830.102504053425469/102738933401981/?type=1
I either have my kayak or I use a surf casting rod.
Are you launching out of Camp Ellis?
hey Aroostookbasser,
I never really got into duck hunting, until I started hanging out in your neck of the woods. Mattawamkeag lake has some great duck hunting.
Canadas are all over Monticello too!!
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