Jump shooting ducks 2020
 

Season opened last Saturday in Northern Indiana. I took the 32" 20 ga out for it's first outing with me. Thanks Jay.

Nice pics Jeff!

You should name that gun “Stretch.”





.

very nice Jeff and a great gun to boot. My favorite kind of hunting is jump shooting ducks on the salt marshes of Long Islands South Shore. There is nothing I miss more since moving to the mountains.

I am beginning to think more longtom Parkers live in the state of Indiana than anywhere!

Looks like a real nice gun. My guess is that's going to involve some red wine at some point.

Had a hard time clicking on this link, Jeff. Glad to see the old girl getting some exercise.

Jay

good for you jeff...very nice gun and picture I have never had the pleasure to hold one of the long barrel 20 ga as of yet....some day maybe....charlie

The duck season started with a bang, but dried up. I didn't see a duck on the ditches the last 4 weeks of the first season. Saturday the second season opened with temperatures of 11 degrees. There was finally some ducks back on the ditches. It is supposed to warm up the rest of the week, so I'm not sure how long they will stay.

That’s a beautiful gun Jeff!





.

It's just a vh 1 1/2 frame 12 ga. with 30" barrels. It's my go to duck gun. I would hate to guess how many ducks I have shot with it. I'm showing the good side of the action, the other side has no case colors.It has a coat of Timberlux on it to water proof the old finish.

Jump shooting?? Never done it. I usually get up at 3am. Put waders on. Set out decoys. Get the whining dog or dogs out Get in the blind. Scold them to be quiet! Freeze. Go home.

It’s great fun Andy. More like spot and stalk hunting or like walk ‘em up pheasant or grouse hunting.





.

Jump shooting is sneaking up on ducks along drainage ditches. Its basically walking one to two miles in chest waders, because if you shoot a duck, you get to retrieve it. While very productive, a beaver dam makes things very interesting on the retrieve!

Andy, your description of duck hunting is precisely why I have never done it!

Those are dandy late season curly tail mallards. Good job.

It's not hunting unless you suffer, right? I don't know that we have many places to do it, but perhaps a small trout stream would work near me. Season is open until next week, and I have my stamp. All I'm missing is a Parker to do it with!

A Parker is advised but not necessary to enjoy the thrills of jump-shooting puddle ducks. I did it all the time when I was a kid with a 20 gauge Stevens single shot, then a Parker Trojan 12 ga. then a Stevens 20 gauge pump. It didn't matter to me what I used, it was just a whole lot of fun!





.

I have no shortage of guns to use, but am merely making an excuse to get a 12 bore ; ) I don't know how folks decide which gun to use. Sometimes I look at the safe and have paralysis by analysis over what gun to use. Since getting my 28DHE Repro I just don't carry anything else for grouse. My O/U's are getting lonely, not to mention my Ithaca 37 and LC Smith and A5s.

There are other fun ways to jump shoot ducks, such as from a boat. Nash Buckingham and friends would have a paddler, or many times a poler as the water was very shallow and weedy. Man with the gun sat up front in the boat.

I do it alone in my camo fiberglass kayak, or with a friend in a Gheenoe. We are on streams with a good current, and the paddler in the rear of the boat just keeps the boat straight as it drifts with the current.

This is my hunting kayak:

https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/62057_800x600.jpg

https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/62058_800x600.jpg

During quail season we will jump shoot ducks on ranch ponds. If I don’t have my lab or the one English pointer with me that water retrieves we carry a stiff bass rod.
17 lb test and a top water plug. Saves wading in the pond or throwing rocks trying to get them to float to the down wind side of the pond.

new one on me bass fishing for ducks....bet it works....charlie

My lab, while still a young pup familiar only with Dokken ducks, officially learned to retrieve with a dead Canada goose, a bass rod, and a Hula Popper. He was swimming circles around the dead goose looking for something else. Once I snagged it and began pulling it to shore, he quickly came to understand his role in this world. That was a memorable hunt.

-Victor

Used to jump shoot with my friend who shot skeet on the Air Force skeet team back in the 50s he was the only enlisted man on the team.Him in the front me paddling or poling my double ender. We hunted a local large slough with lots of cover. What fun to watch him shoot. Lost track of the number of doubles and triples he made. Had him out for the opener this year, he is 88 and time has taken its toll. He has never missed a duck opener even in the service.

I had my plans for a couple of woodies jump shooting a couple of local WMAs. What is it they say about the best laid plans? At least I carried the gun. So much to do at that time of year, and so little time. I enjoyed this post very much.

The last three times I have been out, I have had a nice walk carrying my parker.
I have seen a few ducks, but they are very spooky. It must have something about
being shot at from Canada to Indiana.

After viewing the ice storm damage in my yard this morning, I decided to go duck hunting.
This is the last weekend.They are definitely northern birds.

Good choice Jeff!





.

That looks like a great day : )

Sure beats cutting up downed limbs. Beautiful ducks with an equally beautiful gun.

Glad I didn't have that ice here, you can imagine what that would have done, life in the woods. Usually good but trying at times.
There was just some fella on the tube yesterday saying that all those birds coming from up North were practically tame. His theory was lack of pressure in Canada due to the Rona. His theory, not mine. I'm just repeating what he said. :)

Jeff

Is that the 34” ?

Brett,
No its a 30" 1 1/2 frame 12. It's a easier carry than the 34".

I thought the season was over, but the geese have started coming into my ditches and fields. Season ends the 14th. The 34" vhe came in real handy on both hunts.

them long barrels will getem way up yonder....charlie

Nice. My Nephew shoots a fair amount of geese and makes some fabulous jerky, at least IMO. I'm going to get one of the 34's out tomorrow for some skeet if the club is open, we're supposed to get a little snow.

I breast them out and give the breasts to a couple of friends that are die hard goose hunters. They have them ground up and made into fabulous goose sticks.

What sort of ammo did you use in that long barreled Parker ?

I was shooting some of the old Winchester 3" #2 Bismuth.

That’s what I am talking about! Very cool goose hammer.

I never liked the taste of any goose other than the white front geese. I ate them all but gave them away whenever I could. I stopped shooting snow geese, Canada's and Ross geese in Saskatchewan. I took only the white front geese. They taste like a big mallard. I always picked them and took sixteen home each year, all the law allowed. The rest of my ducks and geese I gave to the Aboriginal people. They love to eat waterfowl but don’t shoot them because of the cost of the shells. My closest Aboriginal friend told me that one shell has to equal a lot of meat. They stick mostly to deer and moose. But they sure loved to eat the waterfowl I gave them. They returned the favor and gave me permission to hunt all tribal lands. They would show me where the moose were hanging out and helped me pack them out of the woods. I gave them all but 75 pounds which I took home.