Need to know more about to shoot duck! questions are as under:
1. What is normal speed Mallard, Teal, Pintail etc.
2. Right or Left direction at 40 meters, what would be an ideal LEAD.
3. I use Lead (Pb) cartridges 8 number for first 1 hour and then start using 6 numbers, most of the people ask me to use only 4 numbers, can anyone guide me why?

Also would like to share some good link where I can read duck or Partridges hunt lesson

Thanks to all in advance.

IH

IH:

These questions are too generalized. Things change from bird to bird. Some ducks are barely moving while the next will be going a fast as possible, The wind also has an effect .

Some birds fly over the decoys and hover before they land. While other slide in at extreme speed.

Also, all shot shells are not the same. Some are faster than others. It depends on the shot weighs as a well as the load of powder. If the powder load was the same, a shell with 1 ounce load would be faster than a shell with a 1.25 ounce load. The lead would be different.

Personally, I think #8 shot is too small for ducks. I use #7.5 for quail. The #6 shot is minimum for me unless the ducks are really really close. In Argentina, we shoot # 5 exclusively.

Good luck!

Back in our 'lead days' I much preferred #5's for all my duck hunting. If birds are very close, 20-30y, then #8's or 7-1/2's will work.
Bird speed can be anything up to about 60 mph, very hard to generalize.
C.G.B.

IH

I am originally from India & I'll try to help.

I presume that your ammo is British tradition - I would not use #8 on ducks or even teal.

The British #4 = US #6 - That gives you an idea.

Regarding lead - I would suggest that you read the old books & practice on clay birds.

I found that swinging the gun / following the bird's head with the muzzle of the gun & then mounting to the shoulder results in me moving the gun at the same speed as the bird - quick or slow does not matter.

When I mount the gun like this I find that I automatically point the gun at the head of the bird & the gun is still moving & following the bird - quick or slow does not matter.

As I mount and follow the bird, I just swing ahead and fire as I keep moving - quick or slow does not matter. Swinging ahead while firing results in the pattern of shot catching the bird. The key is to keep moving the gun at the same speed.

I found this method does not require any calculation, estimate etc. & works for all species - quick or slow does not matter.

In the wide open lake & river areas of the subcontinent I found that it is very easy to under estimate range. What looks like 40 meters is often 60 meters or more!

What everyone has said is good advice.

If you'd like a little more of it from someone who's hunted ducks and geese for 50 years in the best waterfowling area of the U.S., I'll take a stab at it too.

I've never heard of anyone using 8s on ducks, excepting if that's just all they had and it wasn't a serious hunt, maybe an opportunity of the moment or something.

In the days of lead I used 6s in factory loads, but when I started re-loading and could use anything I wanted, I switched to 5s and never looked back. 5s were not always available in factory loads. I thought it the perfect compromise between 6s for over decoys and 4s for pass shooting.

I started out with 1 1/4 oz. of 6s in 2 3/4" shells and wound up using 1 3/8 oz of 5s in 3" shells. I don't remember the velocity, but I tried to not let the psi get over 10K.

As far as how to shoot, there are recognized ways. One is "sustained lead", which is mostly what I do when possible. For that you point out in front of the bird while mentally adjusting the lead (I'll get to that in a second), then you sustain that lead for just a moment and then fire. Another I call "follow through", which is coming from behind the bird, passing through, then getting out in front, then firing. The difference between the two is where you first point the muzzle, in front of or coming from behind. The final is jump shooting, which is mainly when one rises unexpectedly right in front of you, like when you're paddling your duck boat through the swamp or reservoir. There you don't have much time.

A variation of "sustained lead" is where you're in a pit and the duck jumps seemingly straight up from close by. There's an optical illusion of sorts involved here and you have to be careful about it. It LOOKS like the duck is going up so it's tempting to shoot by leading it, or shooting over it because you think that's where it will be. Actually, it's going AWAY more than up. So, you point UNDER it, and your shot will nicely meet it. I learned that in trap shooting, which is also good practice you should consider.

Anyhow, of the various things I learned the most important is, you can't do this by reading what others say no matter how helpful the advice. The only way is by doing and by doing it a LOT. It took me years. But once you learn, it's like riding a bike. You never forget and it transfers over from one gun to any other. But the important thing there is, computing the lead is something that MUST be learned by doing it. Nobody can tell you, X feet for each species. That's trying to be too technical or mechanical. It's more art than science.

Also, a typical mistake is to STOP your swing just as you fire. That's a fatal mistake and will always cause a miss. Guard against it. Repeat: if you miss a lot, see if you're checking your swing. Other mistakes are trying to shoot with only one eye open and trying to use the sights. The sights are only useful for shooting at a non-moving duck, like a cripple on the water.

Just one more thought. Remember you're working with a "shot string" that can be likened to where you have a water hose and swing it as you are spraying a moving target. That's a good analogy. Think about that.

Anyway, waterfowling's a grand sport and you're following in the footsteps of millions of great hunters. Good luck.

As far as shot size goes, I start out using 7 1/2 and 8 over decoys for the first half hour of shooting, then switch to 5's for when the birds stop decoying. I also carry some 9's for head shots on cripple. I figure its better to have more small pellets for a head shots than less big pellets. I have shot thousands of ducks and pheasant down in Mexico using 1 1/8oz #4,#5, and #6's at just under 1400fps and have found #5's to work best.

Hello Nakihunter & Shack,
Glad to know yours experiences, this weekend I was on duck hunt and tried to maintain SWING and FOLLOW THROUGH as much as I could do, and believe me, it works perfectly (got 43 ducks, mix bag teal, mallard, pin-tail and Po-chard).

Shack: the morning session (before sun rise) on decoy, it is the chance when we can use 8 number cartridges ( I use Fucci-Italian and Maxim)and ducks are become crazy to come into decoy where you can shoot at a distance of 10-15 meters, then whole day long, I use 6 numbers 34 gram for longer shot i.e 5-65 meters, this time I experienced that a lead of 10 meters at approx 60 meter upcoming bird got perfectly impacted with pallets and dropped like stone (was using MODIFIED-III), I believe, it was my control on swing and follow through, the same was repeatedly paid off.

I am so glad of you guys advise and really much appreciated.

Nakihunter:
Could you please guide me some link where I could see the old books or please send some name, I would love to read more books about it.

Shack:
I am totally agree with you about more practices and often to go to skeet range for practice.

Thanks a lot for guiding and wishing to listen more experiences from other members, sooner.

Regards
IH

Bob Brister has written several quality books about shooting birds (and clay targets) I'd suggest you find a copy of one and read it several times. Bob not only was an articulate writer but could handle a shotgun with the best of us.