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Honestly have never really shot a lot of these. Did shoot five tonight. All in the decoys and everyone of them was crippled. And two of them even after given second shots on the water at no more than 40 yards away and they still managed to get away in the cattails. Using 3 inch number three shot federals. Same shot I’ve been using for years killing mallards, pintails , widgeon, teal and even geese with no problem. was it just me or are these Birds tougher. In hand they don’t seem anything special In regards to toughness

They're no tougher than any other duck to me... They die just like all the others... I'm just going to say it's one of them bad (unlucky) days... You're shooting could have been off just a scosche today?

That’s what I am thinking. I really have been shooting like crap. My only other thought is these are newly purchased shells and maybe with the rush to push the shells out something is not right. However most likely it’s me hahaha

You can pattern them shells and see... I've shot a lot of federal shells in my lifetime and like them... I've shot 3 in federal number twos for several years now, and haven't had a problem, but they are old shells...

Have had a lot of out-of-state guests say they've found their grays a particularly wary species, but never particularly tenacious to life once shot. Ours are generally easy to toll and kill.

It can be frustrating trying to kill any duck swimming away at a distance with large shot. I usually buy a couple boxes of steel #6 (or even #7), for the denser pattern, and it sure helps when trying to hit'em in the head whilst they are swimming away.

Try pointing a little lower.
The idea is to skip shot off the water.
Seems counterintuitive but works.

I'm a master at swattin cripples.

I aim a little lower too. It works on the non-cripples too

We used to get a decent number of gadwalls. I don't know where they went. Last gadwall I shot was in a snow covered field. Don't have to worry about them swimming away there

SpinnerMan wrote:I aim a little lower too. It works on the non-cripples too

We used to get a decent number of gadwalls. I don't know where they went. Last gadwall I shot was in a snow covered field. Don't have to worry about them swimming away there

Up here you need to hunt every day and then you're there when they come thru. If we get icy in November that's when I've seen them mostly.
Down south is dufferent

[quote="SpinnerMan"]I aim a little lower too. It works on the non-cripples too

This is very good advice, most people shoot over birds or behind that's the reason they miss...

Ricky Spanish wrote:

SpinnerMan wrote:I aim a little lower too. It works on the non-cripples too

We used to get a decent number of gadwalls. I don't know where they went. Last gadwall I shot was in a snow covered field. Don't have to worry about them swimming away there

Up here you need to hunt every day and then you're there when they come thru. If we get icy in November that's when I've seen them mostly.
Down south is dufferent

I've shot them opening day. We didn't get a lot, but they were consistent and around all season. Used to be Mallards, wood ducks, then gadwalls as far as numbers. Mallards are about 80% of our ducks, woodies maybe 10%, and gadwalls used to be a little less than woodies, and a small number of random odds and ends making up the rest. We still use the IL DNR log sheets. Originally as a club we were required to, but they changed the law years ago, but we kept using them. So every hunter signs in and then logs their kills by species when they sign out. The guy that runs the duck hunting puts out a summary every year. They just dropped off worse than our overall numbers dropped.

Speaking of the odds and ends. One year I think there were maybe 10 ducks for the whole club that weren't mallards or wood ducks and I got 5 or 6 of them Speaking of being at the right place at the right time. Unlike the last 3 years where I haven't even shot a duck of any variety in 3 seasons there and only 1 hen mallard 4 seasons ago

SpinnerMan wrote:

Ricky Spanish wrote:

SpinnerMan wrote:I aim a little lower too. It works on the non-cripples too

We used to get a decent number of gadwalls. I don't know where they went. Last gadwall I shot was in a snow covered field. Don't have to worry about them swimming away there

Up here you need to hunt every day and then you're there when they come thru. If we get icy in November that's when I've seen them mostly.
Down south is dufferent

I've shot them opening day. We didn't get a lot, but they were consistent and around all season. Used to be Mallards, wood ducks, then gadwalls as far as numbers. Mallards are about 80% of our ducks, woodies maybe 10%, and gadwalls used to be a little less than woodies, and a small number of random odds and ends making up the rest. We still use the IL DNR log sheets. Originally as a club we were required to, but they changed the law years ago, but we kept using them. So every hunter signs in and then logs their kills by species when they sign out. The guy that runs the duck hunting puts out a summary every year. They just dropped off worse than our overall numbers dropped.

Speaking of the odds and ends. One year I think there were maybe 10 ducks for the whole club that weren't mallards or wood ducks and I got 5 or 6 of them Speaking of being at the right place at the right time. Unlike the last 3 years where I haven't even shot a duck of any variety in 3 seasons there and only 1 hen mallard 4 seasons ago

There is a whole hell of a lot more water up where you're at.

Thanks for all the tips on shooting ducks on the water but having grown up shooting seaducks on the Atlantic and many divers up in Alaska as well as seaducks there too, I am pretty well-versed on killing cripples on the water. Thus the reason for the post (curiosity if gadwall are somehow a tougher bird). I will chalk it up to a bad day of shooting

Scouted that spot tonight and the numbers have tripled. Not sure if I will stick to my original plan of hunting ducks in a field tomorrow evening or if I will hunt that pothole again. Definitely need to hunt it before the weekend.

They're not super chicken.

Ricky Spanish wrote:They're not super chicken.

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but you are super chicken