Conference vmsnet::hunting$note:hunting

    
    Speaking of Vermont...
    
    Opening day (Oct 10):
    
    Geese everywhere, my brother and I come out with 1 each, should have
    had our limit...but that's another story.
    
    Oct 11:
    
    Out to the bay for some duck hunting, pretty slow day, but we hit most
    of what we shoot at, 1 goose and 4 ducks total.
    
    Oct 13:
    
    Dave Rivers (fellow noter) and I on the lake, really should have had
    our limit within an hour...I couldn't hit the broadside of a barn,
    Dave starts out hot with 2 ducks (black and Ringneck) on first 2
    shots!!!  But he proves he's human and gets my disease of missing the
    rest of the day.  I ended up with 1 hen mallard (banded), 1 black, 1
    hen woodie.  A fun day hunting in the thick fog...couldn't see them
    until they were right on top of us.
    
    
    So to date I've been out duck hunting twice; 5 ducks, goose hunting
    once, 1 goose.  That's not a bad success rate for VT these days, I hope
    it keeps up.  Now I know you want to hear about the numbers of birds,
    like I said, geese are everywhere...I do believe however that they are
    staging up here at the moment.  Until the next cold front (hi pressure
    - north wind) comes up I think they'll sit pretty tight.  As soon as
    the conditions are right, look for our present geese to be coming your
    way...and fresh flocks coming down from Canada.  The local duck numbers 
    appear to be good, but we have high water conditions...so they're
    pretty spread out.  That's good actually, it's a little slower hunting,
    but the marshes don't tend to getted burned out quite as quickly. 
    There are definetly no flight birds to speak of, our first season ends
    this Sunday, the second season opens on Nov. 15....the flight birds
    should be thick by then....red legs here we come.
    
    Let me know how you make out...
    
    Kevin
    
    

    Kevin, are you in the Champlain area? if not, what part?
    
    Thanks for the info.  Fatten up those geese a little then send them
    down this way!
    
    Mark,
    

    
    Mark,
    
    I must agree. The N.H. opener was slow...real-slow.   We seen maybe
    40-50 ducks and 20 geese allll-dayyyyyy. I went out Saturday to a local
    honey-hole I've hunted since I was 14, 21 years now, and nothing, not
    even a fly-by....
    
    Last year was slower than normal as well. I agree with the summer-like
    weather, but I'm also thinking that with all the building thru-out
    the 1980's there's lot's of ponds, lakes, marsh, and rivers that were
    excellent and still are for ducks, but are now restricted to hunting.
    
    These birds today are not being pushed and circulated like they use
    to be before the building boom of the 80's. They just sit-tight and
    feed and no one's pushing them around. especialy on the morning of the
    opener. 
    
    What do you think? Does that kinda make sence?
    
    Rick  (Who's hunting Salem,Derry,Atkinson,Sandown,Windham, N.H. area's)
    
    

    
    Oh Yea. I forgot to mention, I did check out these restricted areas 
    and found rafts of ducks thru-out them all.
    
    As usual, us hunters are being pushed further and further North I'm
    afraid to say.
    
    Rick
    

    HI,
       JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW THE GENERAL FEELING IS FOR USING STEEL SHOT?
    TALKING WITH SOME FRIENDS HAS GOT ME INTERESTED? THEY ARE CLAMING THAT
    THE SHOT IS JUST NOT GOING OUT AS FAR AND IF IT DOES REACH THE TARGET
    LOSSES ITS KNOCK DOWN POWER THEREBY JUST WOUNDING THE GAME AND IT FLIES
    OFF AND DIES OR HEALS DEPENDING ON THE HIT.
           
                                                 LIN

    Rick, I'm sure the build up of the area is part of the problem.  I
    notice it more with geese than ducks.  So many of the corn fields in
    this area are very small with houses all around the edge.  You couldn't
    possibly hunt it, but the geese sure find it.  Infact I saw several
    hundred geese in three different such places on the way in this
    morning.
    
    While this may make it tougher hunting, I suspect it is also a
    blessing - particullarly with geese.  I think the large number of
    small "sanctuaries" have contributed heavily to the boom in the goose
    population and certainly encourages them to stay around the area
    longer.
    
    RE .5, there are several other notes in this conference on the debate
    of steel shot.  Steel definitely shoots differently from lead.  You
    will
    need to use a larger shot size and probably a more open choke.  The
    important thing is to take your gun out at pattern it with a variety
    of steel loads to make sure you know what patterns best for YOUR
    gun.  Supposedly, steel isn't as effective at longer ranges as lead is.
    However, my experience is that the limiting factor for 99% of the
    people is your ability to hit a bird at that great of distance.
    
    So pattern your gun with steel and keep your shots at reasonable
    distances, and you won't have any problems.  I haven't
    
    Mark,
    

    
    re .2
    
    Yes I am hunting the Champlain area, mostly the nothern part of the
    lake.  
    
    For the person questioning steel shot:
    
    As far as steel shot goes, I've been shooting it at ducks for 4 years.
    It is much different than lead.  Do alot of reading on it, there's
    plenty of information out there, understand the physical differences.
    The pattern is much tighter, in all 3 dimensions...I don't think there
    are more cripples with steel, if you know its limits.  For large ducks
    don't use anything smaller than #3, #4's really stink.
    
    Personally I've seen some incredible shots with steel, I myself have 
    dropped birds dead at 40+ yds, I use #3's, 3" magnums (1 3/8 oz of
    shot).  I've also seen alot of the "classic steel shot cripple", that
    is a bird that gets a few pellets and keeps pumping for 2-300 yds...
    they are usually dead when they land, but they can go a longgggg way.
    A good dog is a must to reduce these losses.  I was lucky enough last 
    weekend to recover a black that was hit with 3 pellets (in the gizzard
    area) that went about 200 yds in the thick grass.  My dog found the
    bird piled up under a thick patch of marsh grass, it must have crawled
    in there just before it expired...I was pretty pleased.
    
    Kevin
    

    
    	Way to go Superdog, I mean Dokken!!!!!    :')
    
    For other noters out there, Kevin's dog Dokken has been nicknamed 
    "Superdog" by other Northern Champlain marsh sloggers.  It's fitting.
    I'll let him tell the story, if it's not already in here somewhere.
    
    - Rob
    

    do tell. i love stories about dogs!

    Re: .1 
    
    >>>Dave starts out hot with 2 ducks (black and ringneck) on first
    >>>2 shots!!
    
    Upon cleaning the black, I found that it was hit with two #2 pellets.
    One in the head, and the other went completely through the breast
    and blew a hole straight through the heart!
    
    Ofcourse I had planned it that way right from the start.....
    
    Dave (who got a permit to hunt the wildlife refuge in Swanton this
    	  coming saturday!  Allowed to take one guest.  Not sure who's
    	  going yet, but...............Kevin, put those kneepads away!)

    I've seen plenty of ducks and geese thus far.  In fact, I watched a
    pair of woodies (hen and drake) feed across the river from my blind
    this past Sunday.  I decided to enjoy the show rather than shoot at
    them.
    
    I've found that I'm more patient with steel shot and it's made a huge
    difference for me.
    
    Saturday was too foggy, not allowing enough reaction time for a good
    shot.  Sunday I only got out for an hour and my Dad missed a couple
    of mallards.
    
    Mark.

    
    OKAY....okay...the Superdog story: (you really had to twist my arm)
    
    Being a clear day I knew the hunting wouldn't be super, but my wife
    (Nat) had been wanting to go duck hunting with me to see the dog work all
    season.  Upon arriving in the marsh and setting decoys its apparant
    it's going to be a tougher day than usual.  I notice 3 hunters standing
    in the tall marsh grass, no decoys, just pass shooting.  When they
    position themselves like that it really kills the decoying.
    
    First bird to come in is a hen mallard, she drops with 2 blasts from my
    Winchester model 1300.  An easy retrieve for the dog, Nat is pleased
    she got to see Dokken in action.  Just as she's praising the dog
    shooting erupts from the grass behind me...the 3 guys, shooting at a 
    green head way out of range.  The bird is coming in high and fast, I
    empty my gun attempting to bring this obvious cripple down.  The bird
    hits the bay out about 100 yds from my boat.  Even though it wasn't
    my bird, I immediately send my dog (knowing the guys in the weeds
    didn't have a chance at it).  This drake is not going to be caught 
    easily, he has alot of life left in him.  Dokken chases the duck toward
    the mouth of the bay, she's about 10 yds. behind the bird, and about
    300 yds. from my boat.  I'm getting a little worried...she's a long way
    off.
    
    It's obvious now that the bird is tiring, as it starts to dive, but the
    water is about 4' deep and the duck can't seem to get a grab on
    anything on the bottom.  Dok is getting really frustrated, whining and
    splashing trying to get this duck.  I'm watching her through my
    binoculars, she's way out there, maybe 350 yds.  It's far, but not so
    far that you can't make out what's happening.  The dog is diving after
    the duck, and not doing a very good job at locating the bird under the
    water.  She learns, however, that if she sits still the bird keeps
    popping up all around her, getting pretty close.  
    
    She waits....and she's gone...completely underwater...my heart is in my
    throat.  Almost instantly she pops back up with that green head in her
    mouth...my God there were tears in my eyes I was so nervous.  Anyway
    here she comes trucking in as proud as a peacock with that bird.  I
    never thought more of my dog than I did at that moment...she truely
    would give her life for me and this sport.
    
    Back behind me a very loud applause breaks out for the dog.  It seems 
    just about every hunter around had watched this retrieve.  I had a
    smile so big it actually hurt.
    
    To finish the act I offer the duck to the 3 sky busters...they refuse
    it and tell me the dog earned it.  I made mention of how out of range
    the bird was....and they responded in agreement.
    
    The story doesn't end there...you see I didn't know these guys...and
    didn't get a real close look at them.  So the next year I'm coming
    across the bay to the boat launch...a group of hunters are dropping 
    their boat in, I try to avoid them, just kind of wanted to stay out
    of their way.  When one of them says "Hey....Hey...isn't that
    SuperDog?", when another in the party responds "Yeah that's Superdog
    alright", that's when I had to ask if they were talking about my Dok.
    Then we reminisced about that truely incredible retrieve.
    
    Kevin and Dokken

    Thanks, great story! You gotta love those dogs! Man's best friend was
    never a truer phrase. But I give up, what kind of dog is Dok? I know
    she is not blue with a red cape and a yellow S on her breast.
    
    Don

    
    
    re .13
    
    Yellow lab female, about 85 lbs (and there's no fat).
    
    Kevin

    Great story!
    
    RE: the previous question, wasn't it obvious from the story what
    king of dog it was :-)
    

    Oh,  so she does have a yellow S on her     :^)