Skyblasting

[HoofsandWings]

I remember those days  my rule of thumb was if I could not see the colors on their head or their eye balls they were out of range !

What about when you age? If I went by colors on head, I would have to wait until they were 20 feet away.
Eyeballs? That would be a lot closer.

[MP123]

Tshot goes a long ways. With a scope, chances are better.

Yeah, maybe 00 buck instead of T...   

I saw some guys yesterday that unloaded on ducks that must have been 300+ yards.  They were basically just specs in the sky.  Pretty crazy...

[HoofsandWings]

300 yards? For me ducks are a speck in the sky at 100 yards.

[Atroxus]

I don't get it either...I can barely hit them within 30-50 yards.  Personally with my shooting, I have found more success waiting for them to actually land in the decoys, then scare em up and pop them as they are taking off and moving slower. Or if they won't flush when I try to scare them, shooting the first one on the water works to get the rest airborne. 

[MP123]

300 yards? For me ducks are a speck in the sky at 100 yards.

Yeah, it was pretty nuts.  I think guys see the whole flock at that distance and think for sure they're going to hit something not realizing the pellets won't even get there.

I'm sure we've all taken shots that were too long (I know I have) but this was comical.

[Come Get Some]

I think it is a lack of education. Anybody can buy a shotgun and shells and go out hunting. It is no different than all of the guys on the river banks with 10' leaders that do not know fhat fish will actually bite or the guys that buy a bow or rifle a week before the season. There need to be a qualification test. That would weed out most of the hunters and fishermen out there.

[scout/sniper]

Tshot goes a long ways. With a scope, chances are better.

Yeah, maybe 00 buck instead of T...   

I saw some guys yesterday that unloaded on ducks that must have been 300+ yards.  They were basically just specs in the sky.  Pretty crazy...

You may be on to something here.
I recommend steel TTT with an X-Tra full turkey choke.
We might get a few weekends without them as they save up for a new gun. 

[Badhabit]

As much as we think the shooters are shooting at birds FROM OUR VIEW which is probably a good distance away I'd venture a guess the birds were not that far away from the shooters as you may have perceived. I don't care how far the birds are away from the shooter, if ya miss you're a skybuster/blaster. Period.
Unless you are in the blind with them any distance more than a 100 yards away you're not going to accurately tell how high/far the birds were from them.
I hear way too much moaning and groaning about skybusting.
About 4 years ago I was hunting blind 21 at McNary and my buddy was hunting blind 22. We watched them knocking birds down all morning. From our blind it looked like they were taking them high 50 yds or higher. When we met up in the parking lot I asked him how far he thought they were shooting birds.  He said the birds were only 20 to 25 yds away. Wow, I said we would have guessed 50 at least. This guy is a good hunter and was with 3 other good hunters that day so I don't doubt for a second they were shooting at 25 yrds. I learned then that only being 200 yds away the perception of how high the birds were was really off.
So now I won't call anyone a skybuster unless I'm in their blind and seeing it first hand.

[BOWHUNTER45]

I remember those days  my rule of thumb was if I could not see the colors on their head or their eye balls they were out of range !

What about when you age? If I went by colors on head, I would have to wait until they were 20 feet away.
Eyeballs? That would be a lot closer.

That means they are to far ...quit wasting shells and if you have to wait until they are 20 ft away then you are worse off than me ...   I can not see anything up close any more ...they need to be out there ....I always had good eyes but lately I am blind ..

[ICEMAN]

I think that alot of guys see how far their shot actually travels and start thinking that it is lethal out there at that range.  Sluice a duck at the far edge of your spread and you get pellet activity way out there....

Reminder to newbies to duck hunting; Your effective range of your shot is far less than you think! Stop wounding birds, learn to wait to shoot when ducks are close, kill more, wound less.

[ghosthunter]

You can take a good dog out to Samish any Monday and walk the dike and corn and pick up a limit of cripples without firing a shot.
There are a lot of ducks setting wounded .

[MC37493]

You can take a good dog out to Samish any Monday and walk the dike and corn and pick up a limit of cripples without firing a shot.
There are a lot of ducks setting wounded .

I went out there a week ago and walked the dike with my dog to see the layout like you had suggested and my dog brought me back four mallards throughout the walk you arent kidding!

[Brad Harshman]

That is the saddest thing I've heard in a long time.  Tragic just tragic.

[h2ofowlr]

You can take a good dog out to Samish any Monday and walk the dike and corn and pick up a limit of cripples without firing a shot.
There are a lot of ducks setting wounded .

To bad many of them are pintail hens.  I let my dog work the corn there and he kept bring back pintail hen after pintail hen.  I pitched them in the open, so the birds could make quick work of them.  The skybusters can't identify them at the range, they like shooting them at.

[Jim Sr.]

And we here are such perfect shots.... Yeah some get all ancy pants and have no restraints. I do blame it on the ones in the blind that are "In the Know" and let em do it....