Is water swatting ethical?

[megalomaniac]

I had a LOT of fun shooting woodies past 2 weekends, but I am a TERRIBLE wingshot.

Back in the 80s and 90s when I duck hunted a couple dozen times, you just didnt shoot them on the water. If they got down without you seeing them, you flared them up, then shot. But most of my duck hunting was pass shooting.

Back then, I think I killed 1 out of 4, hit but did not kill 1 out of 4, then flat out missed 2 out of 4.

Thinking about it, for someone like me, it would seem to be much more ethical to let 3 woodies land, kill them with 3 shots, then get out of there to let other birds come in to rest.

I've run this by several duck hunters here in MS, and about half agree and the other half think that would be an act of Satan.

This was never an option before, as I had never solo duck hunted until this year, so in years past, everyone started shooting when a duck came within 40y, so it was rare for a duck to land in the spread unless it was before legal shooting light.

What do you guys think?

 

[MickThompson]

I don't have a big issue with it but on the ethics of a quick kill that minimizes crippling loss, I would put cupped up or flushing up at a moderate range (20-30 yards) as the ideal because wings, vital organs, and the head/neck are all exposed to gunfire. Sitting on the water, I want them close because the wings are folded and organs low or below the waterline. Flying straight away is the most likely shot to send a duck off crippled. The wings are flat instead of perpendicular to the shot and the guts completely screen the heart, lungs, flight muscles, head and neck

 

[GumbyGuy]

One of my favorite memories of bird
( sorry not ducks) hunting was watching a southern fried gentleman trying to get a dove to fly off a power line so he could nail it.
The guy could have been Slim Pickens double and he was even acting like Slim!! He was a carrying on and hollering, almost cussing this poor dove , beating his hat on his leg, I think that was the smartest dove ever, guy just wouldn't shoot it and it never flew while he was acting crazy. Fella,he finally gave up and went to shooting flying ones.

 

[Chaneylake]

Just tap your barrel with a dime before you shoot. This will make them raise their heads just before you shoot. It's an old market gunner trick

 

[tickweed]

I dont care either way.

 

[casjoker]

I don't shoot them off the water for waterfowl or out of trees/off the ground for upland. Not saying I haven't, when I was younger and the power of the moment influenced me, but I never felt good about it. Old-timers I hunted with drilled it into my head: it wasn't "sporting". Since early adulthood, I have also hunted almost exclusively with/over dogs, so that has practical implications for not doing it, especially upland.

I know finding time and a place to practice shooting can be challeging but I always get in a few rounds of sporting clays before duck season each year. I also took some wing shooting lessons a few years back. Made a huge difference in my confidence and hit ratio.

 

[yellalinehunter]

Hunting public land. If it's in range it's catching a load of shot. Hard enough as it is. Don't think I'd shoot an upland on the ground but it's rare you see it anyways. But a sitting duck in the decoys is why they make em foam filled

 

[jman 125]

In the words of Jase Robertson from his early days "some call it unsportsman like conduct I call it preferred". I always said if you land them in the spread you jave accoplished more than shooting them flying .But to each their own .
The holier than thou mentality is exactly why i quit duck hunting after15 years. Only thing i ever thought was a sin in duck hunting was sky blasting

 

[ImThere]

What's does water swatting mean?

 

[Displaced_Vol]

Only thing i ever thought was a sin in duck hunting was sky blasting

100/100 I'd rather a body water swat than sky bust at one.

In a perfect scenario I want to shoot him at the very last second that his feet are dry. My goal in duck hunting is to convince him to land where I want him.

 

[MickThompson]

What's does water swatting mean?

Shooting ducks on the water

 

[Carlos Viagra]

Shooting ducks on the water

Hang on… you mean to tell me those things can fly?!

 

[MickThompson]

Hang on… you mean to tell me those things can fly?!

Only if you're too slow

 

[Pic IN the Casa]

It's legal. It's ethical.

We've had birds, teal especially, land in our hole before anyone had a chance to raise a barrel.

 

[megalomaniac]

I don't have a big issue with it but on the ethics of a quick kill that minimizes crippling loss, I would put cupped up or flushing up at a moderate range (20-30 yards) as the ideal because wings, vital organs, and the head/neck are all exposed to gunfire. Sitting on the water, I want them close because the wings are folded and organs low or below the waterline. Flying straight away is the most likely shot to send a duck off crippled. The wings are flat instead of perpendicular to the shot and the guts completely screen the heart, lungs, flight muscles, head and neck

Im a noob, but hunting woodies for the first time in my life, they dont seem to cup/ put on the brakes before landing like mallard did back when I shot them.

Im sure im doing it wrong, but the woodies seem to dive bomb my holes, hit the water before I even knew they were coming, then im trying to flush them up to shoot them flying away.

I would never think of taking a running shot on a turkey. Why I am I trying to make woodies run before I shoot at them?

 

[Chaneylake]

my favorite shot is swimming right to left unless i have a hangover then it's sitting still

 

[Bone_Chaser]

It must boil down to teaching. I was always taught to never shoot a quail unless it flushed, a dove was okay on a power line or branch for the women or children, and ducks however you can get them around here.

I like them best about the time their toe nails touch the water. Hunting the big water in East TN a lot of birds land at long range in open water and will swim in at first light if you're in a good spot. Ive always taught everybody to stand up then shoot. Most of the time they stick their necks up or lift off the water and you get a much more favorable angle lol.

 

[CBU93]

Never shoot a duck swimming in the water…always wait for them to stop.

 

[Grnwing]

Hunting woodies in the timber and brush at first light, you either have to shoot them as they brake the canopy or once they hit the water. When they the get in between the canopy and water they disappear in the background. They are a fine eating duck!

 

[ImThere]

So is Sky blasting mean you missed?

 

[Patrick H]

Just my opinion:
Killing is killing.
Some don't view killing birds while they are mostly stationary as fair chase. But deer hunters kill many deer who are mostly stationary feeding in a plot or in the woods. Not as many deer are killed via deer drives while the deer are running.

 

[deerhunter10]

Im not a duck hunter. But hunt quite a bit of wood ducks on farm ponds. So we shoot some off of the water. I won't shoot doves off the line or or out of trees but I dont care if one does either. Imo especially with steel loads the way they are. When able to make a quick kill to me that's ethical.

 

[drake799]

I was listening to a podcast while back and a man was telling how his grandfather had taught him that was the only way you shoot them. How you hadn't won the game and didn't deserve to kill them if you didn't sit them on water. This was in Arkansas timber Real old school mentality

 

[WaterSwatter]

So is Sky blasting mean you missed?

Skyblasting is shooting them at too far a range (60+ yards) where you will likely miss or create a cripple. It also educates birds and makes them decoy/call shy.

 

[WaterSwatter]

Oh, and my username says how I feel about this topic

 

[megalomaniac]

I was raised/ taught to hunt by my Papaw. He lived/ starved through the Great Depression, so hunting was not for sport, it was strictly for supplemental meat. To him it was a sacrilege to ever shoot a moving target, as there was a higher chance for a miss... and if you pulled the trigger on a shotgun, you better get something in return worth the cost of the shotgun shell. I've seen him line up a covey of quail out of the pickup truck while they were on the ground and kill 7 with one shot. I've seen him kill 5 ducks in one shot on one of the farm ponds after they lined up. Doves only got shot on the powerlines or in trees, preferably lined up to kill 3 or 4 at once.

When I was about 16, my personal ethics conflicted with this, and although we always ate what I shot, we were not starving. Shooting birds in flight has been the way I've always hunted birds since then, although it drove my Papaw crazy.

But for the first time I'm actually thinking it might be more ethical to shoot woodies after they touch down, again to ensure only shooting at and killing 3 birds, instead of shooting multiple times at multiple birds, and risking cripples.

 

[Gravey]

I've wanted to kill a wood duck for 5+ years to have it mounted but it hasn't happened. I duck hunt once a year maybe twice just to hang out with some old college buddies. I'd kill one however I could as long as it was legal. That said I always thought it was frowned upon to shoot one in the water.

 

[WaterSwatter]

I've wanted to kill a wood duck for 5+ years to have it mounted but it hasn't happened. I duck hunt once a year maybe twice just to hang out with some old college buddies. I'd kill one however I could as long as it was legal. That said I always thought it was frowned upon to shoot one in the water.

Best bet is to go in the early woodie season or opening weekend of the regular season, lots of them around then. I didn't see a single one from christmas on this season

 

[Schap]

No problem water swatting….

 

[GUNNERX2]

Best bet is to go in the early woodie season or opening weekend of the regular season, lots of them around then. I didn't see a single one from christmas on this season

He wanted one for mounting. Early season woodies are pretty sad looking. Still eat good though.