Jump Shooting Creeks

[jhill528]

Good afternoon,

So after many times quail hunting along a local creek back in the National Forest, I have decided that I want to try jump shooting the Mallards that I am always seeing. They do not usually spook when I walk up on them, and I don't expect to see anyone else out after them. This will be my first time hunting Ducks, let alone jump shooting them. My plan is to shoot the first one right off the water and then try and get at least one more as they flush. Since I do not have any waders, I figure I am going to be doing a lot of "Swimming" and I am ok with that. So, I am looking for a bit of advice if anyone has ever hunted ducks like this. Should I approach from upstream or downstream? Should I shoot the first one on the water or let them flush first? After I have got off the first couple of rounds should I instantly go to retrieve the birds or just hunker down for a minute incase the birds that flew away circle back again? Any other advice would be greatly appreciatted. I am not trying to shoot limits, just to have a good trip with plenty of new memories. Thanks again and safe hunting to everyone.

Johnathon

 

[MoReno]

One thing I always brought with me was a pack rod with 12 lb test and a weighted lure. Dull the hooks and kept it in my pack. Makes retrieveing birds easy and kept me dry! This was before dogs in my career, fun as hell!

 

[jbcaptain11]

sounds like a good way to practice your fishing accuracy .. aproach from downstream in case they float down and retrieve as quick as u can to avoid losing em

 

[jhill528]

I like the idea of the fishing pole, as long as i avoid wasting time fishing for all the native Rainbows. Jbcaptain, the float downstream was what i was thinking. Luckil this is a fairly narrow creek that doesn't flow that fast. I am almost more excited for duck season than I am for D13 rifle season to open. I will be taking my Go Pro on all my hunts this year so hopefully some good videos. Thanks for the input.

 

[Plain ol' Steve]

The fishing rod is a good idea but make sure you have a freshwater fishing license on you. Even if you are casting a marlin jig to retrieve your duck.

Good Luck.

 

[IK13]

Remember that waterfowl hunting is non-tox only. Jump shooting or not, if you get checked, you better have some steel shot (and/or spent steel shot shells) on you.

 

[Limited Out]

Bino the birds from a distance, get a landmark like a tree relative to where the birds are. Walk up on the birds from outside the drainage and come in from a 90 degree angle at the landmark, use the lay of the land as cover. I don't think they will come back, make every shot count. Have a nice Mallard dinner!!

 

[jhill528]

Fishing License...Check, Non-toxic shells....Check and as for using the land as cover that part should be easy because there are some seriously tall cattails and brush surrounding this creek. I just hope these ducks will get up above the brush and not just fly right abouve the water. This should really be a lot of fun.

 

[Limited Out]

In that situation 9 times out of 10 the ducks will go close to straight up.

 

[mod700]

Couple of pointers, most of the time birds will face into the current, approach from downstream, less chance of them seeing you.Sometimes in thick cover, with multiple birds down, its easy to loose a mark, carry a couple of small rocks with flagging tied on them, toss one as close to where the bird fell as you can, as you look for the other one, makes it easy to come back to for reference.Remember where you jump birds along the creek,..they tend to like the same areas, and should be a good spot to look at on your next trip. Good luck! Mike

 

[spectr17]

If you can take a long pole too just in case, maybe even put a frog grabber on the end as you will eventually dump one into the thick stuff and not be able to break enough of it down to retrieve your duck. I did this last year while jumping wood ducks. One landed in the biggest mess and I couldn't get in close enough to find it. I went back to my truck and got the machete and hacked away for about 1/2 hr and still couldn't find the duck. I circled several times to see if I could get a peek of it but even if I could have seen it, I would have had no way to reach in and get it. Even a dog wouldn't have been able to penetrate this stand of whatever it was. It was thicker than manzanita.

Most of the ducks went straight up like mentioned before but I had some sneak down crik through the trees along the banks and a couple flush out the other side of the crik. A partner can help by flushing them out over more open area to drop them. When you do get up to the creek be ready to shoot even after blasting a few rounds. Some ducks will hold extremely tight and flush right when you least expect it.

 

[Tag Stew]

Ik13 has a VERY good point, make sure you have non-toxic shells and I mean ALL your shells should be non-toxic. I only mention it because you mentioned you may do this as a combo quail hunt. You don't want to get checked and try and explain that you were hunting quail with lead n ducks with steele they won't care, trust me on this one. I jump shoot ducks quite a bit mostly woodies and mallards, all the above advice is solid, although atleast from my experience on the creeks I hunt the birds will almost never circle back and come back in. They will however be back in there the next day or later that evening sometimes. The only advice I can give that I didn't see covered was don't rush your shots You have way more time than you think to get a second and sometimes third bird, with that being said make sure to stay on one bird and focus on it until it is down. And mark your birds well even if it means not taking a third bird, not sure how think it is there but on my creek there are lots of blackberries which can swallow birds in a flash. I think you mentioned cat tails ,but not sure how thick they are there. Good luck!

 

[jhill528]

I am so glad to see this thread come back to life and with some awesome advice. I will definitely be leaving the lead shot at home just to be safe, and the cat tails can be pretty thick here. As for dropping multiple birds, I am going to stick to my shot one bird and really focus on it. It really upsets me when i loose a bird, but if the opportunity arrises to take a second shot and i am confident in the first bird, i'll take that second shot. And as for a pole, i am trying to think if maybe a really stick ocean pole with a big hook tied to the end would work, sorta like a gaff to get the bird out of the thick cover if i can't reach it.

 

[sean english]

Circling back? First mallard I got was like that. I stayed put and watched them make a big circle. Three in line. I gave the leader a good five feet and dropped the last bird. I was surprised. Autopsy revealed a single shot in the chest. Long time ago in IV.


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[Orygun]

There are extendable golf ball retriever or decoy retriever poles that work well. I use a golf ball retriever pole with a nylon trout net attached to the end. Worked pretty darn well in the Owens. The net would get caught in the brush from time to time. In general if you can get on the downwind the ducks will fly into the wind. If you have birds over open ground taking a second isn't something to worry about. If you keep your shots close, #6 steel works just fine on mallards and other big ducks. And does great for upland game, 'cept wild pheasants. All our wildlife areas went steel only years ago and when the local shops started carrying 6's I tried them and they certainly do the job.

 

[jhill528]

Now that we are talking shot size, I have a box of #3 Hex Shot that a friend gave to me just a couple weeks ago. He just bought it because he thought it would be funny to switch out in a couple of our friends guns during Dove season, as a joke. Is the #3 shot way too big for this? Or should I just invest in a little bit smaller shot? I really don't expect the ducks to get very far before I make the shot, so I would hate to destroy the meat.

 

[Tag Stew]

I personally use #2 but carry a few smaller shot sizes in my pocket for finishing any cripples on the water , for me and my gun #2 shoots the best at flying birds but does not pattern well on the water. I think you will be good with the #3 for jump shooting.