One of the funniest mornings I ever spent in a duck blind was with a A grade Fox double, shooting ducks over wooden blocks that had been made by the Ward Brothers. My hunting partner was an "expert collector" on Ward Brother decoys and just about died when he saw what we were shooting over. I thought that pompus jerk of a doctor would die before we were done.
I put the decoys out in the dark while he was safely in the blind. At first light he noted we were shooting over "real", wooded, decoys and that pleased him. In about ten minutes he noted that they were a passing copy of the Ward brothers style. In another ten minutes he started to ask if they were just copies or real. Just before I shot a Teal that buzzed the decoys at about 200 mile per hour I mentioned that they were real. I thought that the doctor was going to take a bullet for the decoys.
When I picked the decoys up I did wipe them off and place them in canvas bags to protect them. They traveled first class. Had to keep an eye on the doctor to keep him from pinching one or two decoys. At the time my spread was worth about 50 to 100 Fox A grade doubles. I hunted over them every year for about 20 years just because they were meant to be hunted over. And yes I am sure that they picked up a stray pellet when the ducks came into the decoys. Not every day you get to shoot a decoy worth several thousand dollars. Of course if you shoot them too often they would be worth about what the scrap lead or now bismuth would bring.
So hunt with your nice guns. None are perfect and they deserve to be hunted with and you should use them in the field. If you fall they will give you something to look at until you get up.
