Odd question, but one that's come up twice this season.

What is the best method to dispatch cripples quickly?

We've had two the just refused to die.

"At first blush I am tempted to conclude that a satisfactory hobby must be in large degree useless, inefficient, laborious, or irrelevant."
— Aldo Leopold

I know all the ways official techniques and have used them, but in the end I just hold them by the feet and thump them hard against something hard, maybe several times. Hate the spinning neck breaker. I agree there are some that just refuse to die.

Need a hard boat or blind floor but a heavy boot stomp on skull crushing it will finish them. Neck wringing usually works for me but that skull crunch is quicker.

Dispatching crippled birds has never been easier! ? Adrenal Line (adrenal-line.com)

I picked up one of these at Easton a few years back. It is on my waders, and works as advertised. I know the old-timers would make one with a large nail, but these were cheap at the show. I find the hollow at the back of the skull, and insert in and up, wiggle a little and dead bird. Pretty quick and does not do much damage, though not sure the taxidermist would agree. For real trophies, I drown them, though that is not as humane I will admit. I have a crabbing net I use for retrieving birds and that is easy to hold them under for a time.

Dave Diefenderfer
Manassas, VA

"Once you set out to build a boat, throw away your square. And if you work on her after she's launched, throw away your level." author unknown

That finisher is interesting, though a little pricey. I dispatch larger fish with a small knife slid behind the skull to sever the spine. Better than bashing their heads in.

One on Saturday was still crawling and flapping after a head knock that broke the skull and drew blood. I was glad we did not have a kid or a first timer along.

"At first blush I am tempted to conclude that a satisfactory hobby must be in large degree useless, inefficient, laborious, or irrelevant."
— Aldo Leopold

Yes, I don't understand that, but I've seen it plenty of times.

I have one of the tools that Dave have has linked to have only used it a few times but is a handy thing.

Can't believe no one has mentioned just biting the heads off cripples. FWIW I usually just whack their heads on the deck of the boat.

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Take care, Huntindave McCann SHELL ROCK IA. ,,,,,, "As sailors grow older, the wiser ones move to smaller boats." Thomas Firth Jones, Multihull Voyaging

A little chomp right above and behind the eye does them in quick and doesn't mess them up and worse then need be.

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I never know which is worse: the sorrow when you hit the bird, or the shame when you miss.
http://www.hillmandecoys.com
Mullica Hill NJ

Well, I prefer to collapse their lungs or just sit on them. Depends on the situation. Is it more humane? Maybe not but since I never got the hang of wringing neck (also ugly pictures) or bashing their poor headbones on a gun stock (always ended up bloody and also not dead), I prefer to just sit on them or crush their lungs from their back.

Just let one of my friend's dogs retrieve them. They'll be dead by the time he returns from the retrieve.

Years ago I bought a Day's End Fowl Necker, a multi tool. I'm not sure if they are still being sold. The stainless pliers part of the tool breaks the neck of the duck. It does cut out the head bashing technique. For pheasants we grab them hard over the wings and pinch off their oxygen. Birds do their death flap in less than a minute. Probably same results to sitting on them Dani.
I have The Finisher on my lanyard as well.

Now I want to hear the best way to kill off a goose!

Dani wrote:

Well, I prefer to collapse their lungs or just sit on them. Depends on the situation. Is it more humane? Maybe not but since I never got the hang of wringing neck (also ugly pictures) or bashing their poor headbones on a gun stock (always ended up bloody and also not dead), I prefer to just sit on them or crush their lungs from their back.

For me it just seems to take too long and there is always something to do right then (manage dog, get boat situated, etc...) when I can't be sitting there dealing with snuffing out the bird. Standard technique tho and not bloody and there definitely are bashed brain birds that refuse to shut down.


Thoracic compression.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326487824_Rapid_cardiac_compression_An_effective_method_of_avian_euthanasia

Tod, I got to where I've learned to hold onto the bird for the most part and handle the dog or do whatever I need to. However, I know that I am in the south where water is warmer, the boats I use smaller in protected waters and generally the birds I see are smaller so my little hands can deal with them for the most part while doing what I need to.

Finally got the Finisher video to play for me.....that's essentially what we do with Alligators once we have them on the edge of the boat. Use a knife or chisel and sever the spinal column and then a coat hanger right through the brain stem hole in the skull. No gator is allowed on the boat until both of those things are done.

My experiences are nearly identical. I use a knee to the breast bone with all my weight and it works quickly. Maybe I need to go on a diet :) I will add this is a very good means if you plan to mount the duck as it doesn't present any problems for your taxidermist, unlike neck ringing.

Eric

Try shooting them in the peeper, not the pooper.

"There is no try. Do or do not." Yoda.

I have trouble with the doing sometimes.

"At first blush I am tempted to conclude that a satisfactory hobby must be in large degree useless, inefficient, laborious, or irrelevant."
— Aldo Leopold

Glad someone else said shoot them in the head.

I am usually running the dogs off the back of the boat so I get the bird once the dog is in the motor well. I take them from the dog and quickly twist the head in one direction while twisting the neck in the other direction. Snapping the spinal column. On occasion I have been known to whack their heads on the side of the motor well. But if you do that they will bleed out through the ear canals and you?ll be amazed at the amount of blood that?ll drain. It?s a bloody mess. If it?s a bird that someone wants for taxidermy, I usually lay it on its back and do the thorax compression with the heels of both hands. I don?t have the iron grip of Superman that Andy has on those starlings.

I wring necks most the time, especially on big geese when hurrying to pick up birds. It is hard to wring necks in a layout blind or little Marsh boat. I don't bite ducks anymore, some smell and taste bad. If I am going to crush skulls I just put the head on the gunnel in the boat or a stout post in the blind and press with the palm of my hand. I have had some pretty lively cripples in the layout with me when more birds were working.

Regardless of how you dispatch them, some always seem to do the funky chicken and not go quickly.


Why get a low profile boat and put a high profile blind on it?

After quite a few years of wringing necks, kneeling on geese, and bashing heads I've become really sold on the finisher tools. A buddy of mine has one that he let me borrow and it's quick, easy, and humane, as well as being easy to make a DIY version of. On a related note, we raise and slaughter around 20 meat chickens a year and by far the easiest way to kill them is to put them head down in a killing cone and cut their throat with a sharp knife, the sudden loss of blood pressure has them dead in around 10 seconds and you don't get nearly the amount of flapping around you get when chopping heads off. I have wondered if it would be worth setting something like that up if you had a permanent blind?




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"We base our hopes upon a willingness to go to difficult-to-get-at places, to work hard, to freeze if need be, to rise early and stay late." -Gordon MacQuarrie

Avery- the K-mart of waterfowling gear

True story.

In high school a friend, a non-duckhunter, decided to take a taxidermy class. His instructor told him to bring a dead duck to class and he would begin the process of mounting his first animal. Not being hunting season and not wanting to go to the farmer's market Jay drove over to the local park where all sorts of domestic ducks lived. He coaxed a duck close enough to him with bread and stuffed the duck in a plastic heavy duty plastic bag. Jay decided to terminate the ducks life with the exhaust from his car. He taped the bag to the muffler and started the engine. The bag quickly filled up and popped off the tailpipe. Learning from this Jay cut a few slits in the bag allowing the fumes to flow though and escape the bag. This time he revved the engine, and in plain site of all the park visitors lord have mercy. His quote to me was "That duck was stone dead in 30 seconds." Proud of his accomplishment he duck to duck taxidermy class. The instructor held the mallard up and quickly noticed a MASSIVE body and itty-bitty wings. Sheepishly he said he did not want to know whose pet Jay offed.

Eric

I go back to my poultry raising days and make a cut just below the bottom side of the bill (where the jugular is). It makes a big mess, especially with geese, but it does get most of the blood out.

I had to do it to one today. We got two in the boat and they look stoned, I'm working on something else, and this goose wakes up and just beats me in the face with its wing and tries to run away inside the boat. I grabbed it and did the throat cut. Blood all over, but it ended quickly.

I thought I was the only one in this thread who "just shoots them again...but in the head." lol

I shoot bismuth, no more steel. Yesterday, buddy and I shot two brant. Mine, dead on impact. His took another 2 shoots with steel (which is what he was shooting). For the extra $40 a case I have no desire to chase cripples.

I use #7 steel trap loads for shooting cripples. Works well, lots of shot, head shoot them.

 
When my cousin and I were youngsters in the 1950's, my uncle Frank took use to butcher shops, and slaughter houses. His aim was to educate us as to where meat market food came from, and how it was done. Chickens, rabbits and other critters my grandparents raised. I saw and helped them get on the table.

When we began to hunt, we tried to be as good and humane hunters as possible. Sometimes it happens, other times it does not. We remember the times it does not.


To not let youngsters see what happens sometimes so that they have food to eat, is a attempt to sugarcoat something that cannot be sugarcoated.

We are responsible for our actions, and are far from perfect, that needs to be taught as well. Then it is up to the individual to decide if they can live with the good, and the not so good that happens. There is no one perfect solution.

As hunters/mentors when we take youngsters and new hunters out. We pray that all goes well, and that we have done our best to prepare them in all ways of a responsible hunter.



my 2 cents











"Art does not reproduce what is visible - but makes things visible." ~ Paul Klee, artist, 1920

I'll keep some steel in the pocket going forward for that. Most of my steel I have now is reserved for dire situations...if I for some reason can't get bismuth. I figure it's better than throwing rocks at ducks.

I used #6 steel dove loads for cripple swatters with great results.

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Carl
Mobile, AL
DHBP Member since 1998

"Life is too short to drink bad beer."
Disclaimer: This post and/or report is not a substantiation of or reflection on the true accuracy of the present surveying methods. It is only a report on or comment concerning local observation and/or results. Your results and observation may vary based on your location, local water conditions, food supply, weather conditions and migratory patterns "

I'll agree with Jay and say that the bismuth is nice, except the pellets shatter inside the birds when they hit bone. That being said, I bought a "case" of 200 boss shells (2-3/4" 3/5 combo). Paid more than I'm used to for shells, though they are "reasonable" in this day and age. I'd say I'm crippling significantly less ducks in the first shot, and the follow up shots with the same shells drop them quick. I was hesitant on the 2-3/4", I actually ordered them by accident, but I've been dropping even the tough little old squaw at 40-50 yards with single shots with the boss shells. Never could do that with steel.

I switched to the copper plated bismuth last season, shooting exclusively 20 gauge #4s and I found that I cripple far less birds than with steel. Is it worth the massive upcharge? I'll leave that up to the end user.

I'll have to pay closer attention to the bismuth shattering on bone contact, I haven't noticed that myself.
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Coastal NJ

I've found pieces of the bismuth in random chunks. Like if you smashed the shot with a hammer. I assume it's from contact with bone, but maybe breaking apart in the barrel too. Outside of my realm

It may well break up on impacting bone, but I haven't looked close enough in a dead bird to be sure. It definitely breaks up some leaving the barrel, I've seen it on pattern paper and in the water when shooting at birds down low. If you watch for it you'll see what looks like dust hitting the water, or spatter/tiny holes on the paper.

The tendency to shatter was one of the reasons Bismuth didn't take off in the mid-90's, supposedly the current alloy is somewhat malleable. The Boss shot will shatter if you hit it with a hammer, but not as easily as I recall the early Bismuth shot doing.

I'm trying the Boss shells a little this year, so far I give it an OK. Had good luck with 28 gauge #7 on grouse. Haven't shot enough ducks with the 12 gauge 3", #4's yet to be sure either way.

For me the best ever shot was the discontinued Remington HD, followed by Hevi-Shot which is now my go-to. The two closely related Tungsten based shot types are IMO better than lead ever was and I wouldn't switch back to lead if it became legal. Very few cripples to deal with, W alloys are dense enough to penetrate heavy feathers on the body and kill the birds with body shots. Agreed, however, that one pellet of any kind in the head is worth several in the body.

A bunch of sick bastards...lol. this post brought back memories. I was hunting brant with a childhood friend, (we grew up together since 5 years old). when one came in and he shot it. So we retrieved the Brant and it was still alive, so I did the, hold the head swing the body ring the neck. Any way the head popped off in my hand, Being humane I said to my friend look at this. He became ill, unloaded his gun and wanted to go home, so we did, he never hunted again. I was 17 at the time, and now Im 67 and I can remember it like yesterday.
"When those birds stool".....takem!

That will always happen sooner or later with the windmill method, haha! One of the first times I took my daughters duck hunting (they were about 7 and 9 at the time) I did that and accidently popped off a gadwall's head right in front of them, they weren't too badly shocked but they will still bring it up years later. Making memories I suppose.....




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"We base our hopes upon a willingness to go to difficult-to-get-at places, to work hard, to freeze if need be, to rise early and stay late." -Gordon MacQuarrie

Avery- the K-mart of waterfowling gear

I think the seemingly more cost effectiveness of a lot of this shot will lead to steel being obsolete or just really unpopular. I wasn't a believer until I absolutely stoned-dead a black duck that was decoying on the far end of our spread. As anyone knows who hunts black ducks, they tend to do that. We walked it out to get the bird and it was 40 yds if not more. #5 bismuth, 3", from a 12ga with an IM choke. Keep in mind, #5 was the shot size. That lethality at that distance with that shot size is just impressive. I originally started with #3 bismuth and the damage was just too much on ducks inside 40 yds. I now keep them for geese like snows and canadas.

Tungsten and bismuth will eventually replace the majority of steel shot being sold. Steel just stinks. It's too fast, beats the daylights out of thin wall choke systems like Beretta, and doesn't kill birds.

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I agree, the sooner hunters move away from steel the better, the cripple losses shouldn't be tolerated. Unfortunately, no shot type can make up for poor shooting, a little off season practice wouldn't hurt many weekend warriors either.

You had it right.. then you kept typing... NO GATOR IS ALLOWED IN THE BOAT!!!!!!!!!!!! no need to go on

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***Phil (Chesapeake Boy) Nowack***

http://www.mapleridgetaxidermy.com
http://www.philnowackphotography.com

Nothing like the north wind pushing snow at your back, a bird in your hand, and chessie with ice on his coat at your side.

Birds brought to you courtesy of Nikon, Benelli, Kodi, and Otter

Yep.. I normally shoot #6 Tungsten ( HW13).. or #5 bismuth. I have more clean kills... and fewer shots. Actually doesn't doesn't cost more in the end.

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***Phil (Chesapeake Boy) Nowack***

http://www.mapleridgetaxidermy.com
http://www.philnowackphotography.com

Nothing like the north wind pushing snow at your back, a bird in your hand, and chessie with ice on his coat at your side.

Birds brought to you courtesy of Nikon, Benelli, Kodi, and Otter

Jeff- a cheap pair of pliers, right behind the eyes, crush the skull. This works well and you don't have to bite it.


As far as shot. I agree with using the best you can afford. I'm old enough to have gone from lead to steel everywhere(now non-toxic). I have always watched birds fly away with feathers coming out with steel, very rare with the better non-toxic. I believe that every duck that flies off after getting hit dies from it, at least most of them do. I've used much of the available non-toxic over the last 20-25 years that is available retail. Remington Wingmaster HD was the best-6's were good for everything including geese, followed by Winchester Extended Range HD, Kent Tungsten Matrix further behind, and then the bismuth loads. I used the Rio bismuth for a couple of years and thought that was as good as any bismuth load I had used. I won't say I never lose a duck shooting this stuff because I do, but that is usually due to it falling in a place I never should have shot it with or without dog.

If you are shooting ducks close in, say 10-20 yards average, they are trying to land, steel is fine, kills great. Just don't get a ton of that in the Del Bay marsh except GWT. Black ducks, 25-40 is more common(by the time you get your gun up). That has as much to do with the terrain and the tides as anything. The water level is going to change if you hunt for more than two hours, and you have to take what you get on the day you're going, and work around the water levels, which means hunting where you can. Which isn't always where the ducks really want to be.

This year, you got what you could find. I bought some new Federal stuff with a blend of steel and tungsten. I've taken one shot, killed a teal, so I have no idea how good it is. But hopefully will find out in the next few weeks!

I've had two scotch doubles this week shooting #4 bismuth out of my 20 gauge so that's at least one way to make it more efficient!

Also folded a snow goose at 45 yards with the 20 the other day too, the boss stuff continues to impress me.
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Coastal NJ

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Chicken......skeered of a dead, brain scrambled gator

NOT Skeered of one that just came off the grill or out of the deep fat fryer!

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***Phil (Chesapeake Boy) Nowack***

http://www.mapleridgetaxidermy.com
http://www.philnowackphotography.com

Nothing like the north wind pushing snow at your back, a bird in your hand, and chessie with ice on his coat at your side.

Birds brought to you courtesy of Nikon, Benelli, Kodi, and Otter

I've use a Bird Necker Tool for the past 10 years, they are available from Lion Country Supply.

Agreed. I scotch doubled two green heads while walking the marshes of Maine this weekend. I was u loaded, near the road heading back to the truck. Two green heads flew out of a 1' wide draw and flew off. I was able to load and shoot and hit both with a single shell of BOSS #5 bismuth at about 40-45 yards and take them both down. I didn't even know I hit the second, too focused on the first, but my partner saw the second drop as well. I'm a believer in the bismuth now

Hunted yesterday with bismuth shot (for the first time). When I was cleaning the birds we harvested I noticed a small piece of shot in one of them (much smaller than the intact pellets I found). So it did appear to break apart.

What a pither!





Don't just do something, Stand there!

I forgot to post these of broken shot