doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com What are you guys bringing into the duck blind?

Curious as to what all of you fine gentlemen are armed with in the duck blind.

I've always used my semi-auto or pump, but am leaning towards a double this season.

What's in your blind?

Winchester Super X2 or when I'm feeling nostalgic a Browning A-5. I dont usually duck hunt out of a nice cozy blind, I'm in the water and my gun ends up in the water alot too. We actually sit in the water on marsh seats, guns get wet, sometimes they get dropped, just how it goes. The Winny has treated me good for almost a decade and its still going strong. I hunt the RWB and Platte in Nebraska mostly...along with salt marshes here in Utah...with the exception of hunting the Platte, both the RWB and salt marshes are nasty, silty beyond belief and 95% of the time you couldnt get a boat in there if you tried, pretty tough stuff to haul a nice double out into. Another thing...I shoot alot of ducks, bismuth or TM is too costly to shoot. In a typical season..I can go thru two flats of Kentfasteel easily. If I just hunted ducks less than 10 times a year...I guess I could justify shooting expensive non-tox. Until they make a double that is tough enough to shoot a truckload of Kent Faststeel and not fall apart, it'll be the Super X2.

Dustin

I will be using my 30" barreled BSS mostly, with my old Beretta 390 as back-up, or if it's really wet. When I go to Arkansas I will probably take the Super Fox for another outing. Just don't seem right not to take her in a duck blind at least once a year.

Stan

My regular steel shot gun, ten gauge AYA lightweight in unmodified factory condition. Backup would be a steel barrelled Parker, DH Grade, sleeved to steel and 3 1/2" chambers by Frank Lefever and Son. The AYA has never let me down so the Parker has never killed a duck or goose in my hands. I have not killed a duck or goose with any gun less than a ten gauge for about seven years. I have enough ten gauge ammunition to last my lifetime and more.

Define "Duck Blind" first please. Our early season "Nuisance Goose" season opens 1 Sept-runs 15 days, five bird/daily limit.
Usually warm, like dove season in Indiana- for me, mainly pass shooting at lower passing small flocks heading out to feed (cut oats mainly in Sept) or back to water. Either a 12 ga. M12 with Federal 2& 3/4" steel No 2's, or my LC Smith Longrange with 3" Classic Doubles non-toxic loads.

Then it is about a month until both goose and duck opens (60 day season- 2 Geese, 6 ducks daily limit-) in our SW zone- aprox mid Oct. until Dec- Same M12 for ducks (mallards mainly- 4 per day) by then resident geese are a bit wary- either M12 3" Mag or on nasty rain making days, my POS "Black Ops" duck/goose gun- Mossberg 835 Ulti_Mag with 3" BB steel.

I also do some field layout hunting with a local DU group- I love pumpguns, but a semi-autoloader has some advantage when you are shooting from a prone field folding camo blind, ditto a cramped layout boat.

I stay with 12 gauges- but I have my eye on a sweet Lindner Daly std. 10 with 32" Krupp steel barrels and DT- if I end up with this, I'll use RST special 2 & 7/8" shells-expensive, but safe in a hard to replace double.

Chokes with steel or non-toxic- all the above guns except the Mossberg 835 (it has choke tubes) are full choked, and I have been using steel in both M12's for over 20 years- NO damage whatsoever to the barrels- But I am mainly a pass shooter, for jump shooting and layout shooting I use the 835 with a Mod. choke tube. I like to hit big birds hard with a tight pattern, I don't like cripples. But your shooting style may well be different than mine, also age and reflex. I also practice a lot on incomers, off season on barn pigeons and crows, and I prefer an incoming bird as it means a fatal head shot (if you do your part right)--

If you use a double, possibly Imp. Cyl. and Mod. (as in an upland game gun) that might be right for decoys and jump shooting while floating a river- I would pattern test the gun with the non-tox loads just to see what it does for you, and I would recommend a std. weight 12 over a featherweight or lighter game gun (such as you might use for grouse or quail)

Good luck and have a safe season--

The 1800 acres of flooded timber I hunt near Stuttgart Ark. doesn't have a blind on it.

A little rain hasn't hurt my 10 ga. W.&C. Scott 'Premier Gun' in 130+ years and a handload of 1&5/8 oz of #4 Bismuth at 1260fps does real well out of the 32" light full barrels.
Cabelas had their Bismuth ammo on sale and I just got in a case of 20 ga. I may take my Scott 12 hammer gun with 20ga. Briley tubes a few times. It patterns really good with an improved modified choke.

The main deal when using these old guns is to have them cased really well for the boat ride.

I can believe that

nine pound winchester model 12 with 3" chamber and 32" barrel.

Most of the time I take a Baker double that was marked as a Montgomery Wards. Think of a nine pound plus gun with barrels thicker than heck and chokes of .050. In nice weather I take a Lefever HE or GE grade. The HE has a straight stock with beaver tail fore end that someone used as a trap gun for years. The GE is a restored gun that looks like new and I hate to get it too dirty.

I stopped taking autos and pumps duck hunting several years ago. When you get old you rather watch the birds work than shoe them away with rapid banging, tons of smoke and two ounces of shot here, there and everywhere.

Most of the time it is my plastic Beneli auto..... but last year I took out my 10 Ga. LC Ideal grade (a rail gun from the Maryland shores) w/ home loaded bismuth and nice shot and my Pedersoli 12 Ga. muzzle loader. (Never hit anything with the Pedersoli. I am restoring my LC so I am not sure how much she will go this year. I have also taken my Fox Sterlingworth ejector too. Also while pheasant hunting on my club I jumped in the blind with my 16 Ga. LC 3e and my 20 Ga. RBL.

This year I intend to do the same.

Life is good when you have so many choices! Kind of like looking into the liquor cabinet and not knowing what whiskey to drink!

Jerry