Tundra Swan with a Hammer 10
 

I had a good hunt on Friday morning at Lake Mattamuskeet in North Carolina. I was using a zero grade 1882 Parker Top Action 10 Gauge #2 frame with 32” twist barrels. It was about as perfect as you could get. Three of us were hunting and a flock of 3 came in 30 minutes after we got into the blind and each of us got our bird.

I was shooting 2 7/8” Track of the Wolf brass shells with a hefty scoop of 4 drams of Goex 2f and 1 ½ oz, of ITX BBs. I shot first and my bird dropped :)

My 2 other friends were shooting 3 ½ 12 gauge autoloaders and were amazed at how effective my old Parker was on those big birds. The guide said it was the first time had ever had someone hunt with black powder and he too was impressed.

I was thinking of trying to write all this up for a Parker Pages article as that has been on my list for a while. It was a fun hunt in some beautiful country.

I am not sure what happened when I uploaded the picture, but double click for a nice close up...

Wow! How cool Jay,!!

Congrats!

Awesome

I stopped by the taxidermist on the way home yesterday to drop off a duck that I want mounted and there were at least 3 Tundra Swans in various stages of completion; every one of them tagged from that area in North Carolina. Must have been some season down there! Never ceases to amaze me how huge and beautiful they are.

I am a believer in the ITX shot. I hand load it in 12 and 16 gauge for water fowling and have had good success with it. I contacted Ballistic Products about shooting ITX through my 10 gauge lifter with twist barrels that is choked full and full and they recommended against it. They recommended Bismuth.

I wish I had room in my house to do a full body mount of a swan flying and hang it with fishing line from the ceiling. There were a lot of birds and I wish I had taken more pictures. Here is a quick cell phone video to give you an idea of the numbers: https://youtu.be/qEzn0Kqksko

Matt, that is interesting what Ballistic Products said about ITX shot. I had "assumed" it was softer than steel and would be safe in composite barrels. Especially using black powder shells.

Freaking awesome! Parker goals right there.

Congrats ! Im curiouse how these things are as table fare ?

Really cool. Congrats!!!!

love the storey of the black powder swan...and with my favorite gauge the old 10 gauge.....charlie

Craig, I have never eaten one before, but I will be able to tell you tomorrow night. I got some mixed opinions on how good they were and how to cook them. Looking forward to finding out...

There’s a guy here that I preserve hunt with a couple times a year . Seems to me he and his ex wife went to NC and killed a pair around five years ago , just don’t remember how he said they were at the table .

If you don’t mind saying who’s guide service did you use ?

I had a swan fly over while hunting on the Altamaha River several years ago. It was too high and I was not sure if they were in season, so I passed. Was a cool experience though.

ITX is softer than steel but is harder than Bismuth and I suppose with larger shot could possibly be a problem with tight chokes. Ballistic Products is probably being extra cautious with what they recommend through damascus and twist steel barrels.

Jay,

Congratulations on your hunt. I hunted the same area about 14 years ago. I was hunting with a college buddy and his wife. Both he and I got swans, his wife wasn't lucky that trip.
He and I were using Ithaca 37'S, his wife was using a semi-auto. All were 12 ga 3" using T shot. My wife cooked mine with wine. It was really good.
I've been wanting to get back down there and do it again this time with my 10 ga zero grade, 3 frame 1888 hammer Parker. I am thinking about using IMR 7625 with bismuth, however you got me thinking about using IXT shot.
Again - Congratulations

Jack Kuzepski

FWIW , for web foot creatures I load 1 1/4 weighed ounces of Bismuth in an SP-10 wad pushed with 30 grains of SR7625 and it patterns well in all my 10’s I’ve tried it in , almost forgot I do put a 16 gauge overshot wad on top to keep the crimp flatter .

Craig, I will send you the guide information. I don't have it, but I asked my friend for it. I was along for the ride on this trip and just showed up with my 10 gauge Parker and black powder shells.

You do have to apply for a tundra swan permit, which works on a lottery system. Some guide services may already have permits they can let their clients use. From what my friend told me the chances a very good for a permit. He has applied and received his permit the last 4 years in a row.

By the way I didn't get to cook anything last night, but I will tonight. I will let you know how it turns out.

On the ITX BB shot, I probably would not have used it had I know that it wasn't recommended. However, after patterning it and hunting with it using black powder I would use the same load again if I was swan or goose hunting(black powder only). Balistic Products may have been overly cautious, which I certainly understand. I did some searching and I can't find any BB sized bismuth sold in loose shot. So if you want softer than steel BBs or even BBBs, ITX may be the only option(please correct me if I am wrong on this).

Thanks ! A high school/ Parker friend stopped by the shop today and as I was showing him a Parker at my truck I asked him if he was intrested in going next year for a swan hunt and he told me he was headed down next week I believe he said ! Told me he went two years ago and got one didn’t draw a tag last year and got another this time . As to loose Bismuth I got all I have from Precision Reloading #1’s and BPI #2’s and #4’s . Seems to me Precision also had Bismuth in BB’s .

I shot one a year ago along with my 2 nephews and son in law. My son in law is in USMC while he was at Camp Pendleton in California. He meet a chef there we cut the Breast in 3/8 inch strips and fried them in butter. We cooked them like you would a steak. Do not over cook them. They were very good Loren

Bismuth BB https://www.precisionreloading.com/cart.php#!l=BS&i=BB

My dad told me years ago that the young ones were OK but the older birds were tough. Since we don't have a season on them here I guess I'll never find out for myself.

Swans and Parkers were made for each other.

I ended up making chili out of the swan and served it over rice, which was good. I had a few pieces out of skillet and it was not bad(but not great) on it's own. I wouldn't call it a delicacy, but I enjoyed it.

That is nice to see that they make bismuth in #BB. I need to order some in #4 anyway, it would be interesting to see how bismuth BBs compare to ITX BBs.

If I can put some time aside I will write up the hunting trip with some background on the Tundra Swan and include more pictures for a possible Parker Pages article.