OK, not that anyone cares but I have to chime in here. I'm a third generation duck hunter, my grandfather hunted the Mississippi River over live decoys, experienced the Veterans day storm and taught me to shoot ducks feet down over the decoys. My father taught me to respect the resource, call, know how to read the birds and to NEVER shoot high. This high shooting thing seems to be the norm now and not the exception. Is it from all the shows and videos that show the high shooting or from people who have never been taught the right way, who knows but it's out of control. I hate to see this tradition rich sport going this way but it is what it is. Have I ever shot high? Yes, but only at birds that have already been shot into and are still at a killable distance when they come over. The only thing we can hope for is the lack of success these high shooters experience will move them on to the next "cool" thing to do.

This is what gives The "Hail Call" a bad name....doubt very seriously that they where "Hail Calling" if they where "Sky busting".
50% of hunters dont know how to really hail call.

Its something that I have just learned to live with if Im going to hunt public, also try new tactics for hunting public like for one, I dont go out early anymore.

Muddyfoot, you may be giving away a little too much right there. Everyone knows the duck hunting is over at 9:00am, nothing really flys after that, no need to hunt past 9 or so. I ain't buying that one bit, got to go early to kill'em.

Read my post again muddy foot, I never said they sky blasted, although there was a little of that, it happens... Note I said that on Monday, there was no calling and no skybasting, and it was awesome, it's how it should be. And the area was packed with hunters.. All it takes is one group to mess it all up though with highballing all morning and skyblasting.

Mo no hunting past 9:00?? Ever heard of 9:00 mallards? Man I love late morning birds, I hunt past 9:00 all the time, and see some of the best group of birds past 9:00.. If I do not have my limit I will hunt up to noon, most WMAs do not allow hunting past noon, if not I still shut it down by noon. My preference is to be done early morning.

Muddy foot many areas you go in late morning and you are liable to be running though someone's decoys.

I only hunt private.

I used to do that, not so much any more. The past few seasons, I've hunted with mixed groups and guys that I've met and who wanted to hunt together. If we click, the fellowship adds to the experience and I can honestly say I've made some great friends over the years from folks I've met out hunting. The downside is if they're not squared away, it sucks big time. I've come to realize they're usually wanting to hunt with me for the wrong reasons and bring nothing to the table. I've got enough dependents, I don't want or need any more.

I'm not a guide but I typically hunt 5 or 6 days a week. Some of the issues I've dealt with the last couple years.....

Running out of shells/being unprepared. one guy told me in the midst of a great hunt that he brought a little less than half a box of shells....after we spent 45 minutes walking in......happened two times in a row....same guy...if he'd limited it wouldn't have mattered...he had ZERO birds though. I don't know about anyone else, but there are times I shoot a box+ of shells to get a limit. Particularly if there are dove or snipe zippin around and it's dove or snipe season.

Bringing dogs to a group hunt that are poorly trained. I see it more often than not with dogs in the field, and it's become a bigger problem with more hunters in the field, even with guides dogs. WTF?....Example....recent incident....young lab shot in the jaw by the owner.....dog chased a wounded bird flying off, leapt in the air at the bird as the owner shot at it. Dog died. Not good. If you want to hang out and bond with Skippy, do it on your own time. No one wants an uncontrollable dog in their midst during the hunt.

Not understanding the importance of concealment, camo. and being still. Showing up in Under Armor Camo with bare hands and face.......not cool if your UA clothes have day glow orange UA logos plastered everywhere.....hunting isn't a fashion show.....well, yea, I guess sometimes it is, why else would someone pay big bucks for Sitka.

Shooting my dekes and mojos OK, you're forgiven. Not offering to replace them...unforgivable.

"Accidentally" snagging a couple of my fully rigged dekes and dumpin your cheap Game Winner BS in my bag instead when we're packing up. Seriously....you really think I can't tell the difference? .....If hunting with mixed parties, I typically set up my dekes by myself away from others spreads when hunting with mixed dekes. And yes, I will ask everyone to dump their bags to find the culprit... happened twice this year with acquaintances of guys I hunt with.

Unsafe handling of firearms. Proficiency with a firearm in Counterstrike or Halo does not equate to safe handling of firearms in the field.

Excessive or poor calling. Practice on your own time, particularly if you haven't developed the social skill of recognizing a certain look on folks faces when you see it.

Hunting someone else's honey hole after swearing you won't use it Unless they are invited. If someone wants to hunt one of your honey holes and agrees to never go in without being with you as a condition of being shown a great hunt, there is NO excuse for violating that agreement. Even if it's public and WAY off the beaten path that no one else knows about. Particularly if they txt asking if they can hunt it and don't get a response and still do it....no response typically means no. There is no excuse. And why they would even ask to hunt it by themselves after agreeing to the conditions is another problem entirely. (btw...it's a good way of testing folks to see if they're truly worthy of hunting ground zero.. .been doing it for years to weed out the jackwagons from the guys that get it and who are worthy

Hunting partners suprising you by bringing unexpected guests or bringing someone you don't care to hunt with and leaving them with you after they leave unexpectedly. I'm not a baby sitter. And I don't teach Duck Hunting 101. Bring an unknown to the party without discussing the matter prior and you will be hunting with someone else.

Regarding the last one, I recently had a buddy unexpectedly bring his 11 yo daughter to a duck hunt (I had the privilege of taking her on her first dove hunt this year:) I enjoy hunting with youth and have fond memories of being taken hunting as a kid, but we had an hour walk through some difficult terrain which I'd communicated clearly, at length, previously. Needless to say, I told him straight up that it was unsafe to bring his daughter and we would find ourselves on the front page of CNN if anything should happen to his daughter, and that he needed to sit this one out. He wasn't happy, his little girl wasn't happy, and I didn't want to ruin their hunt. but it was the right choice. I still felt like the bad guy.

Hunting requires common sense, courtesy, and skill. Sadly lacking in a lot of folks these days.

I feel much better now........



+1

How I pick hunting spots.

If I have to get there 2 hours before lst to hold the spot. I don't go there. Only mallards I've shot this year (only been opening weekend and the 3rd weekend. Been busy with personal issues) we pulled up to the spot probably 5, 10 minutes prior to lst put out a dozen decoys and hunted. If I can see 6 groups I'm likely not going to return for a while.

The poll about the range that is considered sky busting is a great ideal. But is talent to be figured in. For me 40yrd is long and anything pass 50 is sky busting. But I've been known to miss plenty of birds inside 30yrd. I like to call at any birds I see that don't seem to be looking in my direction. Fighting over a circling bird with dueling calls is stupid.

Come on Guy, you know me, you obviously missed the sarcasm in my response. And you know I do not hunt those park ducks anyway, they are way overrated.

Yeah, there's no ducks past 9:00, everyone should pick up and go home, especially them highballers, they need to rest their lungs.

I experienced some high balling feed chatter NONSTOP allllll morning. It was ridiculous. Then came the skyblasting when that didn't work. It's like the louder they got the more of a chance they thought they had to call them in. I'm new to public hunting and even I know that's a no-no.

I'm sure that happens, but I have to think it is rare. You do this and you are really messed up and have no clue about life...

I have had guys set up so close to me sometimes, that I actually finished groups of ducks for them... not kidding. I don't even really get mad anymore unless they miss. I just gave up the weekend public hunts for the most part- but if I do end up out there in the battlezone, just being able to work a group or two over the spread is all I need to recharge the batteries.