Do you shoot ducks on the water?

Neal Haarberg

Neal Haarberg

Active member
This last weekend we had a pintail land in the decoys and I shot it on the water. This brought up the discussion of how sporting is it to do this? My thinking is that we had done everything well enough to convince a bird to fully commit and land in the decoys plus this way there will be no shot in the breasts and the duck would be more presentable at the table. As a hunter it is my responsibility to take the most effective shot possible for a clean kill, minimize waste and to minimize the chance of crippling and possible loss of a duck. Just out of curiosity I was wondering what everybody elses take on this is. So would you wait for the bird to flap twice so you can shoot it on the wing 6" over the water or just water swat it and be done with it.
 
This last weekend we had a pintail land in the decoys and I shot it on the water. This brought up the discussion of how sporting is it to do this? My thinking is that we had done everything well enough to convince a bird to fully commit and land in the decoys plus this way there will be no shot in the breasts and the duck would be more presentable at the table. As a hunter it is my responsibility to take the most effective shot possible for a clean kill, minimize waste and to minimize the chance of crippling and possible loss of a duck. Just out of curiosity I was wondering what everybody elses take on this is. So would you wait for the bird to flap twice so you can shoot it on the wing 6" over the water or just water swat it and be done with it.
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Only when I use a spinner do I take the first shot at a duck on the water...
 
We only shoot cripples on the water. I have found that it is a much easier shot if the bird is coming into the decoys with its vital areas exposed. Cleaner kill. Ducks on the water unless you get a BB in the head can be tough to cleanly kill. No judgement from me on how you choose to hunt. If legal, and ethical by your standards, it is good by me. Plus I hunt with a bunch of guys who would think my decoys are real ducks if I allowed shooting ducks on the water.

Mark W
 
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I have been known to occasionally shoot a duck on the water that has decoyed in-personally I don't think that there is anything ethically wrong with it if you are after birds for the table. You did your part to get the duck to commit, now the goal should be a clean and quick kill. Actually my favorite shot to take is right as a bird's feet are about to touch the water as they are decoying in-hard to miss that one and 99% of the time it results in a clean kill, which is what the goal should be anyway. (Tod, if they come into the right part of the spread, you can kill the bird and pepper your spinner at the same time.) I will admit though that a water shot is never as satisfying as a clean kill out of the air.
 
I find I feel much better about my actions if I call it a "skillet shot" rather than a "water swat" when I harvest my bounty.
 
Neal, I agree with the argument, that to have a duck light in the decoys, you have done everything right....As others have said, it is easier to get a kill when the birds are on the wing, so if a duck lights, we try to flush it before the shot... but if we are picking and choosing certain birds, like on Saturday, when we had redhead limits and more swimming in the decoys... when the bluebill dumped in from overhead, unseen until he splashed I was on him just as he considered his mistake... not sure the wings lifted very much before I shot!
 
I don't take the shot unless the toe nails are touching water!.....hehe. If it provides a clean kill, I'll take that shot over a passing shot any day. I don't call it water swatting. I call pan frying.
 
I usually stand up for ducks and try to take them on the wing . If i have stalked them(Geese) I will line up 2 or 3 and ground swat them. It also depends on if I am a guest, on my own properties or hunting with the crew on public WMA's. I have never high five'd a friend for that great ground swat shot :)
 
That reminds me of a passage in "American Duck Shooting" by Grinnell relating to stalking geese, in the days of double guns I guess the standard procedure if you had managed to stalk on some geese was to use the first barrel on the water and the second in the air. So skillet-shooting has a long and distinguished heritage!
 
Unless its a species of duck I've never gotten before, I will flush them and shoot them quickly as they're lifting off the water. As someone already said, it's usually a clean kill. My experience with water swatting ducks, especially divers, is it's hard to get a clean kill.
 
Since you asked, No, ducks on the water are safe. I hunt not for substance, but for fun and unless I'm proud of the shot/kill I don't take the shot. The one exception is geese that swim out of the decoys when I'm waving and screaming my fool head off on shore. Then I've been known to take a shot at it to get it to fly (or not). Why geese? Because we have loads of them and the state wants them reduced and they are tasty. Have you noticed ducks always leap into the air instead of swimming away, so no need to resort to swatting, IMO.

Scott
 
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Great question and I'm wondering why I've never thought to ask this!

I started duck hunting on my own at 13yrs old and never hunted with a "more experienced person" until I was in my 20s. With that background, I've never understood what was wrong with shooting a duck on the water? I honestly still don't understand where this question/arguement comes from and what the background is behind it... anyone know the history? While I didn't get a chance to ask my father about duck hunting, I know from my grandfather that they duck hunted for meat (on occasion) growing up which consisted of belly crawling up to ponds in their cow pastures and jumpshooting... and then swimming out to retrieve them. His perspective was that it was a rich man's sport to target ducks specifically as you had to own property that was worthless for farming, boat, waders, decoys, etc. and they couldn't justify buying as poor farmers. I've always been of the impression that folks that didn't shoot ducks on the water were experienced enough to where they received no satisfaction for it... or they were just snobs. :)

On the public land we hunt in AL, the majority of ducks are gadwall and by the time they get to us from wherever they start their migrations, they are very wary birds. If you are setup so well that they are landing in your decoys, you have accomplished way more than the folks pass shooting high birds or shooting at ducks doing flyovers across your spread.

I've learned over time that the best kill shots are breast facing, feet in landing position. However I have a high success rate at shooting ducks on the water as well. Have any of you rabbit hunters ever shot a rabbit that stopped in a clearcut or just outside a fence line? Have you ever shot a squirrel that froze on the side or the fork of a tree... or only when they are running across the ground or branches? How about a turkey that walked on a rope to a decoy (which I don't use and think provides an unfair advantage)? Caught bass or crappie on a bed? ... I might be drifting from the topic but perhaps you see my confusion on what is considered acceptable in chasing legal game.
 
Let me give a little clarification on my stance on this. I obviously have no issue shooting a duck on the water. However when decoying birds in close feet down in the water may not provide much of a bird left for anything other than sausage. I will be having a BBQ in a couple of weeks and over the past couple weeks all of the birds I have shot, most backpeddling into the decoys had too many holes in the breast for me to want to present to friends, especially some that are not used to wild game. So in this case, Yes I wanted that duck that bad and the "skillet shot" was an appropriate choice. I also agree that the effective range on a ducks sitting in the water is much shorter than on the wing. At the same time a bird flying away does not have it's vitals exposed. Typically when I clean birds I will pluck the breast and if there are no shot holes I will finish plucking and it goes in the "roaster" pile and if there are any shot in the breast then it goes in the sausage pile. Since I made a duck plucker last summer I have been more prone to plucking birds this year and have made more "skillet shots" than I have in the past. I wasn't sure what the responses would be on this and was surprised at how many so far are in agreement with my point of view. I will be cleaning 14 birds this evening and we will see how many end up in each pile.
 
Been there, done that a very long time ago, when yes I was hungry for duck, and lead shot was legal. It's not up to me to judge. I met some old timers shooting blue bills over antique decoys near Turkey Point, Ontario. They told me "Anyone who shoots ducks in the breast is a Fool, and they would not bring much at market. Shoot em on the Rise going away". I'm a fool I guess, and I do dislike a duck or goose, with a breast full of shot. If they land, I yell then see what happens........

Problem is, in a marsh, when people take a water shot, even for cripples, shot travels a long way, and can injure other hunters if they are close by. Safety is the most important issue.
 
"Arkansas-ing" a bird for nothing.

My water shots are pretty much reserved for cripples, but I've been known to swat a bird now and again. A mallard escaped that fate this past weekend because about 40 more were making the swing to come in, and it just happened to plop down first.

I know plenty of guys who "crawl" snow geese down here and give them the first volley on the ground, then cut holes in the flock as they rise...they wind up chasing cripples for a while, but the tally can be sizeable. I always thought it would be the perfect application for a punt gun eased over a levee at a flock of feeding snows...

Not necessarily "sporting", but we as hunters are a finicky bunch. Shoot it on the water, you get sneered at for "swatting". Feet down, over the decoys, good job. Over the decoys but wavering, still ok. A passing shot on birds that aren't going to work, and you're a skybuster, even if the shot is within your skill level.

If you can kill the duck cleanly and bring it to the bag, so be it. I'd much rather have someone shoot birds on the water, take them home and eat them than the guy who shoots a limit over the decoys and throws them out or does whatever because, "he doesn't like to eat ducks anyway..."
 
I'm right there with you..if you have successfully lured a duck to land in your spread by making your decoys look realistic and being properly concealed, then why not take it on the water? That being said I try not to let ducks land but take them as they are back peddling and exposed, but sometimes ducks have a way of just swinging right in and catching you off guard. In my opinion taking a duck on the water is a lot more "ethical" than skybusting ducks passing over and crippling them.
 
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