Montezuma report
 

Craig and I have been banging away at the marsh. The birds continue to be few and far between. We had a couple big days the best of which saw my friend shoot 8 ducks with 7 shells and 3 doubles in a row! He had just returned from a DU trip that was not as productive as he had hoped for and needed to shoot his gun. Lets just say he was "focussed"!

Here is a picture I took Saturday of a really fully Plumbed up grey duck (gadwall). Its been years since I have seen one that looked this nice. Took a quick photo on the back of the boat as the sun was in my favor. "The 1910 16 ga. 32" straight grip 1 1/2 frame VHE ("Nightmare") brought him down hard.

Beautiful bird!

And a beautiful Parker VHE too!





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Was re-reading "The last stories of the old duck hunters and was surprised to come across the poem quote. Said to myself "I've seen that before. I agree with MacQuarrie

I really like those long barrel 16 s...the duck and gun go well together....charlie

Nice going Mark! Love the gun but what load were you using?

Daryl -

16 ga 1 1/8oz. Kent Matrix #5 - Thanks Bob J.!

Great post Mark! The Gadwall is one of my favorite ducks; in the heyday of the early 1980s they were frequent visitors to our favorite marsh impoundment at Deal Island MD.

Widgeon were in the greatest abundance then, but you were liable to find any variety of puddle ducks coming through during the season, including the occasional Pintail. No divers there usually; they preferred the big water just to the west between Hooper's Island and the mainland and the "Gun Barrel" straight to the southwest towards South Marsh Island, a legendary stronghold for Cans and Redheads since anyone began keeping records (well back into the late 1800s).

Good load. We killed mostly Widgeons in SD last year.

I’d like to be a fly in the blind with you guys. I’m sure I would learn a great deal — about ducks and the “proper” way to take them. Thanks for posting.

We have two hunts lined up early in our season here. Mostly released mallards down here, but there were a lot of wild ducks last year so who knows.