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Jesse's Hunting > Hunting Articles > The Diana Factor (Women in the Field) > Get Ready for Quack Time
Get Ready for Quack Time
Heather Reddemann - JHO ProStaff
- Minnesota
September 26, 2005
Pre-season practice
Get out and spend some time re-familiarizing yourself with your old gun, or learning your new ones. Here, the author gets some time in on clay birds, before going after the real ones. |
One of my own personal favorites is waterfowl hunting. I live in the state of Minnesota which is in the Mississippi flyway. I count down the days until I can be sitting out in my blind with shotgun in hand, watching the sun rise over the horizon of cattails.
One way to get ready for the season is to get out to a local gun club and shoot some trap, sporting clays, or skeet. The duck tower is my favorite challenge because I have the hardest time with it. Normally you will have five blinds set up, and from a high tower, these clay pigeons come soaring in, most of the time straight over your head.
Perfect timing and an understanding of your effective range are very important when shooting. Most shotgunners’ effective range is less than 40 yards. Consistency is key, and that is why it is important to get out and practice your shooting skills before the season is here. Remember to always keep your gun chamber open and visible to others at the range, and practice safety first as you would in the field. The bonus is, it is a good way to help pass extra time when you are thinking about the upcoming hunting season.
It is also very important to pattern your shotgun before the season. Patterning your gun helps you to understand your pattern density and pellet strikes at a given range, and can give you a better idea of your gun’s effective range. Most shooting ranges have a particular place to pattern shotguns, or you can mark off your own range in a safe area. Make sure to place a backstop behind the target, and be realistic at ranges you choose in accordance with hunting situations.
The goal is to achieve at least four hits on the bird, which should decrease your crippled birds. According to studies, the unretrieved loss of waterfowl is about one bird in four in North America. If we could retrieve every bird, we would increase our annual harvest by 25 percent.
I also like to take inventory of the gear that I have and need. A hunter will always have their needs and wants but it is important to be ready to go when opening weekend arrives. Take a look at your decoys and make sure they are properly strung and weighted. It is also a good idea to put your contact information on the bottom of them, especially if you hunt public water.
Check your waders for wear-and-tear and leaks, and make sure your goose and duck calls have been properly cleaned. If you haven’t used them for a while, old food particles and various forms of bacteria can build up in them. Pull your calls out before season and keep in tune.
Brush up for the coming season
Pre-season is the ideal time to get out and brush up your blinds, rather than waiting until you're actually hunting. |
One of the most important things to getting ready for the season is to read up on your rules and regulations, especially if you travel to other destinations. It is always a good idea to brush up on your waterfowl identification so you knowledgeable hunter. So wherever your waterfowl season takes you this fall just remember one thing. “Head down, eyes up, barrels out and watch them fold!”
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