Thread: Game bird diary for all

Tuesday 3 mallards and 2 swans, my son managed to shoot both swans with one shot!

This evening 4 mallards.

A tad cold out there tonight with fresh snow on the Ruahine Range.

Bugger all shots heard in the district.

We got a few though.


Mum would spit tacks using her car as a hunting wagon.lol

I did put a towel on the passenger seat for Bo.

7 last night shooting down swamp whangamarino. 8 today .so packing up after a snooze and head home

1 last night and 3 this morning. Frost and fog till 10am made it pretty tpugh to see birds before they land. Give it another go Sun morning but will be cold and foggy again I think. Gave my gun a dunking too so dismantled and cleaned it this afternoon.

Originally Posted by Woody

1 last night and 3 this morning. Frost and fog till 10am made it pretty tpugh to see birds before they land. Give it another go Sun morning but will be cold and foggy again I think. Gave my gun a dunking too so dismantled and cleaned it this afternoon.

not your sxs you had for sale a while ago I hope

Has anyone else shot Rio Bluesteel 36gr #2s ??? I bought a box and have been using them for ducks and swans but can't hit anything. I'm not a very practiced shooter but I could swear at least 1/3 of my shots were good enough to take one down... Remington 870 with a full choke (because some of the shooting on the lake is as things fly over me in their flight path)

I've called in two groups of mallards and haven't dropped a single one, shot at two swans 35m out and not a shred of evidence of my shots. Thoughts??

My brother, nephew from another brother, son and potential son in law, all arrived after lunch expecting to shoot some ducks, no pressure
So we load up the ute and head round to a mates place, exchange pleasantries and are duly informed there are a couple of ducks paddling around in some flood water in front of the Kahikateas by the double gates.
Righto and off we go.
Might as well put the boys in pole position and give them a chance to dirty their guns.
We fan out a bit and I signal the boys to walk forward, my brother and I casually walking behind them, 60 to 70 ducks jump up out of this puddle, @#%$@!%$!!!
The boys scratch down 2 and by the time I'm able to get to a safe shooting position I'm only able to be one from one.
Dog earns her keep and we recover the 2 woundies that are playing hide and seek in the rubbish under the kahikateas.
We jump back in the ute and head to under elbow in the drain, as we roll to a stop by the haybarn we spot a lone drake in the drain a 100 yards up, naturally he takes flight.... further up 40 more join him, #@$%%#@!!!!!!
Anyhoo, we eventually came home with a tally of 9 mallards and 1 parrie which included a fun 45 minutes before dark calling in ducks to the puddle in front of the Kahikateas.
I think I might set up something in those kikes for next year

No experience with Rio steel, but shot a lot of their lead "Mini Magnum" in Remington 870 and 11-87.

The Remington full choke tube did not shoot well with #2 shot or buckshot, of any brand. The patterns were blown with very few pellets in the centre. Modified choke was much better.

It would be worth shooting a few patterns on big sheets of paper/cardboard and see what's going on. Those Remington chokes are quite short and the bigger shot sizes seem to have trouble.

Use a mod choke see if you have improvements a full choke will shoot a very tight pattern with steel.if your not spot on with your shot you won't have enough pattern to hit infront or slightly behind the bird .

Originally Posted by mikee

not your sxs you had for sale a while ago I hope

Nope. My 84 yr old beretta S2 12ga. Going very well with bismuth.
2 mallard this morning. Bugger all shooters out so birds not moving, made it hard.
Thor with the second retrieve this morning.

Originally Posted by slk12

Has anyone else shot Rio Bluesteel 36gr #2s ??? I bought a box and have been using them for ducks and swans but can't hit anything. I'm not a very practiced shooter but I could swear at least 1/3 of my shots were good enough to take one down... Remington 870 with a full choke (because some of the shooting on the lake is as things fly over me in their flight path)

I've called in two groups of mallards and haven't dropped a single one, shot at two swans 35m out and not a shred of evidence of my shots. Thoughts??

how does it pattern???? WHERE does it pattern??? not hard to put up cardboard box at 40 yards and see whats happening..... full choke is either clean kill or a miss... you could easily be a yard high or low.... some guns like head hard down on stock,others different,pattern it and find out.

roated one of thosde mallards on wednesday night -between that and a pan full of fresh veges had enough for delicious feed and leftovers got blitzed into a very rich delectable soup. BUUUUUUUUURRRRRP.

Originally Posted by slk12

Has anyone else shot Rio Bluesteel 36gr #2s ??? I bought a box and have been using them for ducks and swans but can't hit anything. I'm not a very practiced shooter but I could swear at least 1/3 of my shots were good enough to take one down... Remington 870 with a full choke (because some of the shooting on the lake is as things fly over me in their flight path)

I've called in two groups of mallards and haven't dropped a single one, shot at two swans 35m out and not a shred of evidence of my shots. Thoughts??

Mate you're way overchoked, especially with steel. Likely the cause of your misses, I'd be going no tighter than modified. I've had no issues with Rio steel, as always different guns/chokes pattern differently so it pays to check.

Good evening shoot with @stagstalker 14 mallards for the evening.

Originally Posted by The bomb

More birds seen this year than in the past but wind wrong direction for my end of the lake,ended up with 7 mallards and 3 sky panda for the Saturday morning,pulled the pin before dark as boat retrieve was going to be too hard in the dark,slippery paddock launch with steep hill as well makes things interesting in good weather much less wet and dark,took boy for a drain walk and got a nice fat green head that the pup did a good retrieve on so good weekend all up ,pup wasn’t too keen on the wounded Canada retrieve though the look on his face was priceless as he motored back to the boat birdless!!

I'm sure you took him back and assisted retrieve??? A sure way to prevent future issues is guarantee a successful retrieve,eg set up up to win.my old bitch failed on swan when young and refused to try for ten years...my fault entirely