funny boats for duck hunting.

http://bankesboats.com/predator.htm

I've heard the ducks are sorta of "blind" to the scull boats, supposedly something to do with not making any splashes as you work the oar.

I've heard you can cruise right through a 'raft' of ducks and they think you are just a log.

 

Ducks may not be Rhodes scholars but I doubt that they are that dumb. Sculling involves side to side motions from the person doing the sculling. That motion is enough to spook the wary little critters. Aside from that, I like the referenced scull boat except that it is not roomy enough for both me and my dog.

 

Rabbits are easier and you dont need a boat.

Ducks are clever and can talk.

 

Duck punts were usually paddled with the shooter laying prone. The paddles were often very short, so that the shooter could paddle very quietly and not spook the ducks. This video shows the technique: http://www.youtube.com/v/pwEwF7VAaEA

I built a West Mersea Duck Punt last year, there's a thread here somewhere describing it. My duck punt is pretty typical of the design of many, low profile, flat bottomed and canoe shaped. Usually they had a mount on the bow/foredeck for the duck gun, a very large bore shotgun.

 

I think the record for ducks shot with one shot of a duck gun is an amazing 60.

When he says it is a big gun he means a big gun.

 

Yep, it's usually a pretty big gun. Take a look at this video, about 14 seconds in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kdG2dwNb60

 

small caliber punt guns

 

- not sure about ducks and geese definitely aren't dumb, but some birds are. I recall drifting past some low reed-covered islets in an old fiberglass canoe about a decade ago. I was using a slow, stealthy indian stroke, spying on some redwings who were definitely aware of me but not spooked.

When I resumed normal paddling the redwings stayed put but a young heron that I hadn't seen took wing very noisily. I don't think it had actually seen me until I lifted the paddle from the water, must have thought I was a weird-looking log. I'd never heard a heron make a sound before that, and I don't know which of us was the most scared . . .

Normally it's hard to get close to a heron at least around here where there's almost no boat traffic, but on another occasion I coasted past a low-hanging tree on the bank. Again when I resumed paddling a heron took fright, but not flight. Poor thing tried to fly through the branches and richocheted into the water. Never seen one so clumsy but I suppose when your legs are that long every move has to be planned ahead. It got back into the air OK, looked a bit wobbly for a few seconds.

 

I hear ducks learn the range of shotguns, and tended to stay JUST out of range of 3" mag, till the "Heavi-Shot" and 3 1/2" came out and surprised a few.

Where hunting is totally illegal, like our local Community Center lawn, flocks of big fat geese will stroll about eating shoots about 2 weeks after lawn seeding.

They got "Palo Alto Duck Pond" where ducks and geese will aggressively demand stale bread to be thrown. When I say "aggressive" I mean you don't want any child under 4' near the birds or their might be any kid to be seen when the flock clears.....but less than a mile away hunting is allowed and the birds are wise to it and it said to be "challenging" with all the tricks needed.

 

My labrador used to love to jump in the local lake and swim out to the waterbirds. She picked on a large flock (fleet?) of geese once, they partially surrounded her and herded her back to shore. They used to try that when I was paddling but the older ones seem to recognise me now and don't take much notice. But then, every paddler and hunter has a stock of goose stories . . .

 

Yeah, I hear geese know to let a dog swim out about halfway to their 'offshore' nesting island, then fly out to confront the dog, and hammer on his exposed head, knowing he is basically helpless with fairly long slow swim back to safety.

Fortunately for the dog, his head including eyes and ears are well protected as dogs/wolves evolved nipping at the heels of large hooved animals, so permanent damage is rare.

Like biting a toad, it is one of those lessons a dog never forgets, and then will be very wary of swimming any distance from the bank if water fowl are around.


Then you got "Watch Geese" in place of Watch Dogs.

 

- ah, Rome and all that! Standard goose behavior - they are very social and even run day-care centers with two or three big adults looking out for far more nestlings than they could possibly have hatched. The other adults presumably head off someplace for breakfast. The sitters don't seem agressive at these times although I don't push my luck, they just herd the kids out of danger. At certain times I've also noticed large numbers of juveniles being escorted by a few large adults, looked like school activity. Of course, the yearlings have to be taught the snowbird route too. Remarkable critturs: I get a lot of opportunities for bird watching at the local lake tiny though it is. Here they are chasing off a big intruder -

 

On opening duck shooting morning in New Zealand some duck shooters found it funny and some found it not so funny.

Unusual duck shooting protest makes shooters angry - YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtuVeD9TlfM

 

I would vote for this: http://www.fin-duckrent.fi/index.php?page=finduck&la=en

 

Just stupendous!