Post Season

[Rick]

Let’s try this

Glad you responded, as I didn't think the link took until I clicked on what came up. Cute kid with more promise than many men.

[BGkirk]

Let’s try this

Glad you responded, as I didn't think the link took until I clicked on what came up. Cute kid with more promise than many men.

Glad you responded because I didn’t think it worked either.. I remember you giving me instructions on video posting but couldn’t find that particular post


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[DComeaux]

I did a couple of things this weekend with the season in mind. We did a little PM on the go-devil yesterday by changing the lugs on the main battery leads and added a new lug to the fuel pump lead. We also changed the oil and filter, replaced the tank and hose fuel connections, and replaced the existing fuel pump (1.5 to 3.5 PSI) to a lower PSI (.5 to 1.5). We had installed the existing pump early on last season at the camp as a quick fix as it was all we could find off the shelf at the time. We used it all season but at extended idles speeds like running crab traps, picking up birds or putting out decoys it would flood the carb.
It primes up fine and seems to run really good with no load but we'll check it underload as soon as we get out to prep for teal season. We did keep the removed pump as back up. We were going to get the decoys out and ready but it was too damn hot.

I made some new spinner wings today for teal season out of an old sign and some spray paint my wife had on hand. The old ones were crumbling. I think they'll work just fine.

20200705_151256_resized.jpg

I wanted to add that I got a letter from the UFWS yesterday asking if I'd like to participate in the wing study. I have my YES response in the mail box today.

[Duck Engr]

Spinner wings look like they’ll do the trick. Nice to see someone else who will figure out an inexpensive way to fix something instead of running out to buy a replacement.

[Rick]

Makes me wonder if all the coroplast wings for my old green-wing spinner are shot. Cut a couple spares when the first crapped out, but they're getting old now, too.

[Darren]

Those look great, DC

Have been side tracked with fishing and other summer things, can genuinely say it's hard for me to believe we are approaching the 60-day/2 month mark for teal season. Guess a contributing factor is I've really got no prep to do other than maybe picking up a few boxes of shells and a couple of cans of fogger (must have) to supplement the Thermacell.

Glad to see you (maybe) have a lil itch

[SpinnerMan]

Those look great, DC

Have been side tracked with fishing and other summer things, can genuinely say it's hard for me to believe we are approaching the 60-day/2 month mark for teal season. Guess a contributing factor is I've really got no prep to do other than maybe picking up a few boxes of shells and a couple of cans of fogger (must have) to supplement the Thermacell.

Glad to see you (maybe) have a lil itch

Don't underestimate how long it could take to find ammo. I had a variety of things I wanted. Took me going to about 5 stores to finally get most of it. Freaking crazy to see the empty shelves. Although I think they all had waterfowl loads. 9mm forget about it.

[DComeaux]

Those look great, DC

Have been side tracked with fishing and other summer things, can genuinely say it's hard for me to believe we are approaching the 60-day/2 month mark for teal season. Guess a contributing factor is I've really got no prep to do other than maybe picking up a few boxes of shells and a couple of cans of fogger (must have) to supplement the Thermacell.

Glad to see you (maybe) have a lil itch

Don't underestimate how long it could take to find ammo. I had a variety of things I wanted. Took me going to about 5 stores to finally get most of it. Freaking crazy to see the empty shelves. Although I think they all had waterfowl loads. 9mm forget about it.

Send me some 223 rounds.

[Darren]

Those look great, DC

Have been side tracked with fishing and other summer things, can genuinely say it's hard for me to believe we are approaching the 60-day/2 month mark for teal season. Guess a contributing factor is I've really got no prep to do other than maybe picking up a few boxes of shells and a couple of cans of fogger (must have) to supplement the Thermacell.

Glad to see you (maybe) have a lil itch

Don't underestimate how long it could take to find ammo. I had a variety of things I wanted. Took me going to about 5 stores to finally get most of it. Freaking crazy to see the empty shelves. Although I think they all had waterfowl loads. 9mm forget about it.

Send me some 223 rounds.

Dave I know you are upset with the ducks but .223 seems a bit much for teal season, no?

[DComeaux]

Those look great, DC

Have been side tracked with fishing and other summer things, can genuinely say it's hard for me to believe we are approaching the 60-day/2 month mark for teal season. Guess a contributing factor is I've really got no prep to do other than maybe picking up a few boxes of shells and a couple of cans of fogger (must have) to supplement the Thermacell.

Glad to see you (maybe) have a lil itch

Don't underestimate how long it could take to find ammo. I had a variety of things I wanted. Took me going to about 5 stores to finally get most of it. Freaking crazy to see the empty shelves. Although I think they all had waterfowl loads. 9mm forget about it.

Send me some 223 rounds.

Dave I know you are upset with the ducks but .223 seems a bit much for teal season, no?

Road trip band hunting, head shots.

[Darren]

Those look great, DC

Have been side tracked with fishing and other summer things, can genuinely say it's hard for me to believe we are approaching the 60-day/2 month mark for teal season. Guess a contributing factor is I've really got no prep to do other than maybe picking up a few boxes of shells and a couple of cans of fogger (must have) to supplement the Thermacell.

Glad to see you (maybe) have a lil itch

Don't underestimate how long it could take to find ammo. I had a variety of things I wanted. Took me going to about 5 stores to finally get most of it. Freaking crazy to see the empty shelves. Although I think they all had waterfowl loads. 9mm forget about it.

Send me some 223 rounds.

Dave I know you are upset with the ducks but .223 seems a bit much for teal season, no?

Road trip band hunting, head shots.

Oh yea we'll all be stacked with bands in no time and then we'll be some real proven slayers.


Spinner makes great point on the ammo availability, haven't looked myself but this isn't a time to take anything you used to know for granted. Though I may be going the way of the boutique/specialty shell maker this year anyway as I alluded to late last season, and their stuff is in stock. Limited sample size last year had some nice results.

[Ericdc]

That $40 a case rebate on the federal speed shok gonna be hard to beat.


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[Duck Engr]

That $40 a case rebate on the federal speed shok gonna be hard to beat.


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Wow

[BGkirk]

Meanwhile I’m buying out a cousins discounted steel shot inventory who is calling it quits.


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[Duck Engr]

Meanwhile I’m buying out a cousins discounted steel shot inventory who is calling it quits.


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More for the rest of us! I mean, that’s a shame.

[Darren]

Meanwhile I’m buying out a cousins discounted steel shot inventory who is calling it quits.


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More for the rest of us! I mean, that’s a shame.

Sadly, those calling it quits only stand to weaken our strength as a lobbying entity for conservation programs, etc. If only it were the public land crowds thinning........can assure you it's not.

Have long been a regular on the $100/case shipped to my door type deals, but last year seemed a tipping point in my frustrations of watching well hit, in range, grays fly 300 yards only to fall dead as a hammer which put me out the blind more often than I care to acknowledge to work the dog to the area. As a result, I missed ops, and I caused missed ops for my partners still in the blind. Instead, going for something of higher density, smaller shot size, and thus higher pellet counts for more pattern density. Hey, always got to tinker with something.

[BGkirk]

Meanwhile I’m buying out a cousins discounted steel shot inventory who is calling it quits.


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More for the rest of us! I mean, that’s a shame.

Sadly, those calling it quits only stand to weaken our strength as a lobbying entity for conservation programs, etc. If only it were the public land crowds thinning........can assure you it's not.

Have long been a regular on the $100/case shipped to my door type deals, but last year seemed a tipping point in my frustrations of watching well hit, in range, grays fly 300 yards only to fall dead as a hammer which put me out the blind more often than I care to acknowledge to work the dog to the area. As a result, I missed ops, and I caused missed ops for my partners still in the blind. Instead, going for something of higher density, smaller shot size, and thus higher pellet counts for more pattern density. Hey, always got to tinker with something.

Remind me of what shells these were again?


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[Darren]

You can look back on the chatter in my log from last season where a few of us kick around ideas and some different offerings.

I ended up trialing a box of BOSS 2 3/4" #5's, it's a copper plated bismuth I believe, so pretty darn dense. Killed ducks dead, but surely my steel did a lot of that too on most occasions. Only way to really see the difference is a longer trial, and find if it results in fewer sail-off birds, wasting less of my hunt time. THAT will be the difference I'm willing to pay for, if comes to be.

https://bossshotshells.com/boss-difference/


Im not quite ready to break out the .223 like DC. And because he made mention of doing something teal-season-prep-like, I had to go put a hand on a couple of my Lucky Ducks this morning and will put them on a maintenance charge when I get home later. (Was glad to find they were still of hunt-ready charge when I kicked them on though, 6 months removed from last use.)

[Ericdc]

I haven't had any trouble with the federal steel or black clouds I've used for the last year. Just can't justify paying 2 to 3x as much per shell when I'm not losing birds.


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[Rick]

Can't say the 16ga Boss rounds I've run though my old pump have shown anything over the steel I've been shooting, but I'm more interested in getting birds close than hitting them far - and not too far into the 100 round bulk sack that gauge only comes in...

[SpinnerMan]

Those look great, DC

Have been side tracked with fishing and other summer things, can genuinely say it's hard for me to believe we are approaching the 60-day/2 month mark for teal season. Guess a contributing factor is I've really got no prep to do other than maybe picking up a few boxes of shells and a couple of cans of fogger (must have) to supplement the Thermacell.

Glad to see you (maybe) have a lil itch

Don't underestimate how long it could take to find ammo. I had a variety of things I wanted. Took me going to about 5 stores to finally get most of it. Freaking crazy to see the empty shelves. Although I think they all had waterfowl loads. 9mm forget about it.

Send me some 223 rounds.

They have plenty of .22 hornet rounds which was the only thing on my list that everybody had. Inherited from my grandfather. It was his poaching rifle so sniping banded geese would be par for the course for the gun. It's more fun to shoot at the rifle range than the .22 and a lot less kick than the .243 and .30-06 that I have. It's my wife's favorite gun to shoot at the range.

last year seemed a tipping point in my frustrations of watching well hit, in range, grays fly 300 yards only to fall dead as a hammer

We had a season where it seemed like we couldn't kill a duck dead to save our lives. I tried different shells, different shot size, different choke, ... Since then, I am back to the same stuff I started that season off with and haven't had a problem but that one year more lost cripples than ever for me and my regular hunting partner. Ever day it seemed we were chasing them and losing them. It was extremely frustrating but it was just one of those things that was nothing but a bunch of bad luck probably compounded by lack of confidence leading to more bad shots and more "bad luck" and more frustration.

[Darren]

We had a season where it seemed like we couldn't kill a duck dead to save our lives. I tried different shells, different shot size, different choke, ... Since then, I am back to the same stuff I started that season off with and haven't had a problem but that one year more lost cripples than ever for me and my regular hunting partner. Ever day it seemed we were chasing them and losing them. It was extremely frustrating but it was just one of those things that was nothing but a bunch of bad luck probably compounded by lack of confidence leading to more bad shots and more "bad luck" and more frustration.

While I won't discount the underlined factors, because those certainly can play their part, I've observed the same issue since I really started making a lot of hunts, especially in marsh shooting grays/mottleds, occasional mallard, roughly 2004 season. Back then I was shooting cases of Xpert 2's and 3's. Since then, have dabbled in black cloud, blind side, higher end premium traditional steel, etc. etc. with much the same results. We stacked plenty of birds but the observations have mounted over the years and last season's more sparce ops left me further frustrated when I'd lose out on a scarce op by being out of the blind working my dog on a bird 300 yards down wind out in open marsh.

We are shooting less these days, so it's not so much a cost factor (shoot one case now instead of previously 2). May have me writing about going full circle back to 2-3's round steel for 2021 season but at least I will have tried something different.

[Ducaholic]

Spending 100 dollars more on a case of premium shells is a no brainer given what I spend on hunting generally speaking. I'm not trying to take it all with me anyhow.

[DComeaux]

We had a season where it seemed like we couldn't kill a duck dead to save our lives. I tried different shells, different shot size, different choke, ... Since then, I am back to the same stuff I started that season off with and haven't had a problem but that one year more lost cripples than ever for me and my regular hunting partner. Ever day it seemed we were chasing them and losing them. It was extremely frustrating but it was just one of those things that was nothing but a bunch of bad luck probably compounded by lack of confidence leading to more bad shots and more "bad luck" and more frustration.

While I won't discount the underlined factors, because those certainly can play their part, I've observed the same issue since I really started making a lot of hunts, especially in marsh shooting grays/mottleds, occasional mallard, roughly 2004 season. Back then I was shooting cases of Xpert 2's and 3's. Since then, have dabbled in black cloud, blind side, higher end premium traditional steel, etc. etc. with much the same results. We stacked plenty of birds but the observations have mounted over the years and last season's more sparce ops left me further frustrated when I'd lose out on a scarce op by being out of the blind working my dog on a bird 300 yards down wind out in open marsh.

We are shooting less these days, so it's not so much a cost factor (shoot one case now instead of previously 2). May have me writing about going full circle back to 2-3's round steel for 2021 season but at least I will have tried something different.

Sky buster..... Long range commando

[BGkirk]

I’d blame it on my hunting partners for all the cripples
I will say I’ve chased my fair share of gray ducks for a few years hunting brackish marsh, if they’re tough to get front and center they might as well be tough to be brought down.


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[Rick]

On the last morning of lead in Louisiana, a buddy and I were shooting high antimony lead Nitro Magnums (at $15 a box) and still had a relative rash of "crushed" specks get their wings under them and fly off out of sight. The lead/steel debate was, of course, hot as Hades at the time, and we remarked that it would be good to remember that morning.

I have.

Not that it still doesn't piss me off to be out of the blind with workable birds about. Though never more than the afternoon I gave the dog a break at home because I was taking a friend who's among the very best of game shots I've known for a pair of specks I knew he'd stone. Spent way the hey too much of that afternoon tromping down stubble 400+ yards from the blind for bird I never did find. God knew what he was doing when he made dogs.

[Darren]

No shells on order just yet, but darn sure got a full maintenance charge in on the two mallard lucky ducks overnight. DC got me itching to do something productive in preparation.

Still one daunting task ahead of the bunkie area season......old blind still in place, no funds by our parties to replace it, thus significant repair efforts will be required if we dont want to be faced with pumping down waist deep water for every hunt.

Side walls are in good shape, floor is very thin. Considerations being made for pouring some kind of epoxy or tar-like substance to make for a 2 inch deep layer uniformly across the bottom. Hope to find out if it's drained itself or needs pumping in next couple of weeks.

[DComeaux]

Still one daunting task ahead of the bunkie area season......old blind still in place, no funds by our parties to replace it, thus significant repair efforts will be required if we dont want to be faced with pumping down waist deep water for every hunt.

Side walls are in good shape, floor is very thin. Considerations being made for pouring some kind of epoxy or tar-like substance to make for a 2 inch deep layer uniformly across the bottom. Hope to find out if it's drained itself or needs pumping in next couple of weeks.

I would recommend you try flex seal liquid rubber in the gallon can. You could clean the bottom as best you can and insert paneling or 1/2" plywood cut to fit tight. Clean and dry as best you can the side walls and pour the flex seal rubber compound generously over the wood, spreading it out to your desired thickness and up the walls just a bit. This may or may not get you through a season or two at a lower cost.

I was very skeptical of this stuff at first but we used/tried the spray version on the riveted boat we use with the go devil and it has worked great. It stayed dry through the entire season last year. We covered every rivet on the bottom of the boat and some at and below the water line on the sides. We're going into season two so I'll get to see how it's holds up. Pricing is about $90.00 per gallon.

[Darren]

Indeed considered Flex Seal for all the reasons you mentioned, but the deal breaker is the price. We feel we're going to need some bulk given how little metal is left on floor (so can't just do a film of the stuff). Thus for a one inch coating, we'd need about 22 gallons.

22 X $90............and you can nearly buy another blind. We are figuring on a heavy layer on the floor of the goo, whatever sealant it may be, then placing a sub floor of decking over that to distribute weight. Just needs to be some kind of pourable/spreadable semi-liquid that can be left alone for a month or more to harden.

[DComeaux]

Indeed considered Flex Seal for all the reasons you mentioned, but the deal breaker is the price. We feel we're going to need some bulk given how little metal is left on floor (so can't just do a film of the stuff). Thus for a one inch coating, we'd need about 22 gallons.

22 X $90............and you can nearly buy another blind. We are figuring on a heavy layer on the floor of the goo, whatever sealant it may be, then placing a sub floor of decking over that to distribute weight. Just needs to be some kind of pourable/spreadable semi-liquid that can be left alone for a month or more to harden.

Hit up one of the riots and join the looters. I'm sure they're not taking the working materials from those stores.