Killing Birds on the Water?

[seth30]

I have shot birds on the water   Not because I chose to, but because I had crippled them with the first shot, and they hit the water swimming away. I like to hit them on the flyby, due to the challenge of it.   And I love to eat the ducks and geese that I get, so my first priority during waterfowl is the freezer, second is to give my dogs the best day of there lives every time we go out.

[helzbelz888]

i dispatched a mallard hen last season that had been crippled by another hunter it was struggling to get close... it was heartbreaking to see the state of it.. it had a broken wing (extremely infected and green) and the bird was so skinny from starving there was hardly any mass to the bird..

Speaking of catching birds with your hands... my buddy caught a small grouse when he was taking a leak a few years ago. the little tiny bugger was hiding in the grass by his feet and when he stepped on the grass  by the ditch it got trapped under the the grass and he picked it up. (released shortly thereafter) haha it was so small it looked like a little ostrich with its big awkward looking feet.

[groundhog]

Its all good. As long as it is legal.
Why do some folks say it is unethical or unsportsmanlike to shoot a duck on the water or a pheasant on the ground. The same folks will say that it is unethical or unsportsmanlike to shoot at a running deer.
Bobcat, I hunt ducks for a lot of reasons and eating them is right up there at the top of my list. If you prepare duck right it is hard to beat!

[bagmNtagm]

duck in the water or in the air, either way im gonna shoot, i like to shoot the drakes though cause the hens you kill alot of new baby ducks coming the next year

[dannysdaddy]

I prefer flying shots.  I've taken shots on the water but it seems to be alot harder to kill em and im not trying to shoot them multiple times. if its legal its fine with me.  It you don't hunt ducks or geese then why would you put your  into something that doesn't affect you at all???

[Dmanmastertracker]

 I don't duck hunt much anymore but there was a time when I hunted ducks every week of the season, I was that into it. My experience with it is that I have seen far too many unethical or just plain bad shots cripple ducks in the air than I have on the water. The most important aspect is a humane kill, that said a non-moving target would seem to give a greater chance for a humane kill and the head is a bit easier target when on the water as opposed to in the air. One thing I was proud of all the time I hunted ducks a lot is that I never had a visible cripple that escaped me that I was ever aware of.