sprigsss

This topic isn't about robo. But I've shot 2 3/4" estates in #3's for years and had no problems killing ducks. I bought a 3 1/2" chamber for deer hunting so why not shoot 3 1/2" shells at ducks if you have the capability. Estate makes a very affordable great shooting shotgun shell. Unlike you, I still use my hunting skills to get them close enough to shoot. And contrary to what most people believe, I don't get much more range with the 3 1/2" shells than what I get with 2 3/4" shells. I do get greater density for the rare occaission we get geese pass by. [ 08-22-2005, 06:36 PM: Message edited by: sprigsss ]

What tucker is trying to say is that he's a robo using P>$$y

I shoot ESTATE 3 1/2" #3's or 2's

Robotic Decoys are for pussies.

I shoot Estate 3 1/2" through my SBE I and haven't had a single jam yet. I've made several dove hunts with my father-in-law shooting dove loads as well. I haven't shot any Drylocks through it. I shoot 3 1/2" #3's with my Benelli out to 35 yards. If I'm goose hunting I'll shoot BB's with the pattern master choke tube. Did you clean the gun BEFORE you shot it? I was told when I bought mine its absolutely necessary to clean it before you shoot it. I was told that the guns come with a protective coating that must be removed and can be easily removed with common gun solvents. However, if you shoot it before you clean it the coating hardens and is extremely difficult to remove. The guy at the store where I bought mine told me he'd charge me $20 to clean it before I shot it, but if I shot a single shell through it, he'd charge me $75 if it wasn't cleaned before it was shot. You probably know this already, and if you didn't clean it before you shot it I don't know what you could do about it now. [ 07-19-2005, 11:53 AM: Message edited by: sprigsss ]

Once again you're comparing apples to oranges. There is a huge difference between between all of these items and robo. If you can't see the difference, I'm sorry you were never taught what hunting is all about. Butch, I am no liberal, and therefore will never contact any politician in an effort to get them banned. I would only support a ban if the majority of the hunters wanted to ban them or if data showed we need to ban them. And so far the data is showing too many juvenile ducks are being killed by robo. My opinion is based on the lines of fair chase hunting, and I believe they should be illegal for the same reasons electronic calls are illegal. The problem is the majority of the people out there care only about the numbers, they don't care about the sport. The only thing they are interested in is watching ducks fold and then bragging about how many they killed afterwards. what they don't realize, is by using robo they are only educating the ducks even farther and in the long run it will be 10x as hard to get a duck in whether they have robo or not. I refuse to do anything because everyone else is doing it. I'm sure the sportsman that took a stance to ban electronic calls and live decoys, received the same criticism I'm receiving now. The difference is some of us would like to keep it a sport as we are duck hunters and enjoy the challenge of matching our skills against the ducks wits, and then there are others that don't give a rats azz about the sport and only care about shooting more ducks. However, I don't believe robo should be banned because I don't like it. I have never and will never contact my legislator and ask him/her to ban robo. A ban by politicians will be a significant setback to hunters, because what will be next. But if hunters step up to the plate and do what's right, then I believe it is a win for the hunters. So rather than contact a politician, I choose to reach out to the hunters and convince them they don't need robo. After all if robo is banned, only those that refuse to learn how to hunt or put in the work to shoot a few ducks will be affected. Maybe this is why Tucker is so terrified they'll be banned. I on the other hand will continue to shoot ducks without robo. I was able to shoot around 50 ducks in 12 hunts last year all on crowded public hunting grounds, so this has nothing to do with my success, but everything to do with where this sport is going. First we had robo, then we had the mallard machine, then quiver magnets, then remote controlled decoys, then the vortex.................When will it end? At what point will hunters wake up and say, OK this isn't hunting anymore. The robots are doing all of the work and all the hunters have to do is sit back and wait then blast away. THAT IS NOT HUNTING. Its already gone too far and its time the real sportsmen take a stance and get rid of these things before it goes even further. Its only a matter of time before someone develops a remote controlled decoy that flies around grabbing ducks attention and then can be guided into the decoy spread with a flock of ducks right behind it. Sure that would be a fun contraption to play with, but it doesn't belong in hunting. If you're using robots to bring in the ducks for you, you AREN'T hunting.

Mudhen, this has nothing to do about my own personal bag but everything to do with where these decoys are taking the sport. My "personal bag" has not suffered and robo has made me a better hunter if anything else. I don't care if you use robo next to me, you are using a legal tool to shoot ducks. But it would bother me if you used robo to suck in every flock of ducks that came by and you were next to some kid making his first duck hunt. I don't ignore the real waterfowl population facts. I have read them time and time again. I understand the populations now are above the long term average. I also understand that the population has been decreasing steadily over the past several years. I also understand this has more to do with habitat and weather conditions than anything else. You're missing my point, or just choosing to ignore it. The feds gather harvest data from each year. They then compare this data with the populations. Then they take into account hunter success and the current populations and set limits. If they determine that 1 million birds can be killed without hurting the overal population and set the limits accordingly and 50% of hunters use robo and shoot twice as many ducks, then what will happen when 1.5 million birds are killed? Sure it won't affect the population much as a whole, but as hunter success increases the feds will take this into consideration in the future. As more and more people use robo the percentage using robo will increase and the total harvest will increase. Therefore the seasons and limits will be reduced? What part of this do you disagree with? One thing I noticed is there hasn't been a huge increase or decrease in duck harvest. However the populations have been decreasing, therefore with fewer opportunities hunters' success is increasing. We can't keep shooting the same number of ducks each year while the population is decreasing. I am in no way jealous or bitter towards others that use robo as it is legal. I've hunted with them twice before and I didn't enjoy it, it wasn't hunting. I got to shoot my gun, but I didn't feel like I was hunting. We just turned on robo and waited. It was as simple as that. Location, calling, decoy spread, and concealment were no longer important. So I am in no way jealous of people using robo. Tucker, my tactics are quite different than PETA. I treat all the people that use robo near me the exact same way as I treat anyone else. I do not sabotage their hunts or show them any disrespect in the field whatsoever. I have good friends that hunt with robo, we just disagree on the issue. They readily admit that they don't care what happens in the future, they just want to kill as many ducks as they can right now. While I don't have a problem with them personally, I do have a problem with that attitude. They readily admit they're not in it for the sport, they just want to shoot ducks. If baiting, live decoys, and electronic calls were legal, they'd begin using them immediately. I just don't think that's hunting. The facts are always open to discussion. But while I present my opinion, facts, and personal observations you continue to resort to bashing me personally when you don't know me. Give me some facts and we'll discuss them. You've shown me the population facts, and I've interpreted them, where am I wrong on my interpretation of the facts you presented? Now show me some facts showing that robo has no effect on hunters success rates. [ 06-07-2005, 04:00 PM: Message edited by: sprigsss ]

Its clear that you are blind and cannot see the picture. You are comparing apples to oranges when you compare robo to other forms of technology. The other forms of technology that you mention do not have nearly the effect robo has on the ducks and other hunters. A-G-A-I-N you are comparing apples to oranges. I agree electronic calls should be illegal. I guess that makes me a hypocrite because I believe manual calls that you blow into should be legal? I also believe an electronic device that can be mounted onto a shotgun on a tripod that tracks and sights in the ducks on its own and pulls the trigger when the duck is in the kill zone should never be legal, but since I have no problem with a semiautomatic weapon, I guess that makes me a hypocrite? I'm sorry but you are dead wrong on this one buddy. What you see is what you get. I do exactly as I say. If I would state robo should be illegal and then turn around and use robo, that would be a hypocrit. But I do not hunt with robo and will never hunt with robo in the future. Also according to your Webster's definition, a hypocrit is someone who "feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude" you think I speak out against robo because that's what everyone wants to hear? I completely understand the meaning of the word hypocrite, maybe you should reread the definitions. Just being against one form of technology does not make one a hypocrit by using other forms of technology. It depends on the effect each product has on the ducks and other hunters. If you can't see the difference between a robotic animal decoy and a GPS for safety, Gortex for comfort, you're missing the boat and will never catch on. I'm afraid you have tunnel vision and only care about shooting ducks and shooting more ducks now, now about the future. Once again you cannot come up with any facts to back up your arguement so you repeatedly try to assinate my character. The first sign of someone fighting a losing battle refusing to admit defeat when he is defeated. "So robo allows hunters to shoot twice as many birds as hunters without robo? Oh, yeah, well yo' mamma' so fat...................." That's what your posts sound like.

Enought said, you aren't interested in hunting at all. The GPS does not give me the confidence to go out in unsafe conditions. If its foggy I do not leave the campground. I only use my GPS if I'm in the blind and it gets foggy. If I see the fog coming I try to hurry up and leave before it gets too close. So, no, it doesn't help me shoot more ducks. A pirogue is a technological advantage? Sure maybe if you compare it to the caveman days. Before the gortex jacket, I kept black garbage bags in my dry box. So I've always stayed out in the rain before. The gortex hasn' t allowed me to hunt in any conditions I haven't hunted in before I got the Gortex jacket. I'm not doing any bichin as you put it. I'm stating my case to outlaw robo. Those that are afraid to lose it are the ones crying and bichin. As long as it is legal, I don't care what you're doing. But nothing will stop me from trying to get these things banned. Well yes you're partially right about one thing. It does bother me that individuals that know nothing about duck hunting can toss out robo and shoot a few ducks. This leads to uneducated people shooting illegal ducks. I see it all the time. If they had to spend time to learn how to hunt, they'd probably learn some identification skills as well. I wish I could tell you how many times I've watched these inexperienced people shoot mottled ducks and pintails during the Teal season and dozens of pintails the duck season. If these people would learn to hunt from other hunters, they'd pick up these skills. The other facts come from every report I've ever read about robo. Fine me one report that says hunters using robo shoot less ducks than hunters without robo. I'd love to participate in a study comparing the effect of nearby hunters on other hunters. I gaurantee you from personal observations, my success has always been the same whether there are people next to me or not. The only time my success decreased when another hunter set up near me was when a robo was used. I don't care what gear, decoys, or gun you have, you will have no effect on my hunt. You may shoot more, but you won't affect my hunt. Its obvious this isn't a dead horse. If this was a dead horse, you wouldn't participate in the discussion, studies wouldn't be conducted on them, and individual states wouldn't be outlawing them. The states that outlawed them outlawed them because of FACTS. There is NO reason they should not be banned nation wide. So quit crying about losing your precious crutch and why don't you learn how to hunt in case they are outlawed nationwide. Its obvious that you are terrified they will be banned and then you won't be able to shoot a duck by simply using the few hunting skills necessary to shoot a defenseless duck.

Sure I read the entire 19 pages of that report 3-4 months ago and read it again. What does it state that the duck population is over their long term averages? But the populations have also been decreasing over the last several years. I agree habitat loss and drought are the main reasons for this. My point is when is it going to end? When my dad hunted as a child there were no limits. As more people began hunting and hunters became more successful, the limits and seasons were decreased. Sure our seasons are longer now with higher limits because of the huge population increase at the turn of the century. But the numbers are decreasing from their peak. As we keep using more and more technology to shoot ducks, such as these mechanical decoys, more hunters will continue to be more successful and eventually we'll have a 10 day season and if you're lucky you'll get to purchase 10 or so duck tags. I think we should stop it before it gets to this point. Anyone with any hunting skills can shoot a duck without robo. I absolutely disagree that someone that flips a switch and shoots ducks have hunting skills. I began hunting with a single shot 20 gauge, I upgraded to a Rem 1100 12 gauge, and now shoot a SBE. Sure I shoot more ducks now than I did then, but it had nothing to do with any of the technological advancements. If I would go back to using all the tools I used when I first started hunting I would be as successful as I am today. I'm a better hunter today, because I stopped listening to duck calling champions and began mimicking the ducks, I do more and more scouting and stopped just setting up in the same spot year in and year out, I build much better blinds now than I used to as I figured out that more time spent building a blind meant more ducks later on, I scouted out areas that not only held ducks but would also hold water on low tides. Sure I own neoprene waders, a gortex jacket and a GPS. The GPS is strictly a safety device in case I get fogged in, it does not help me shoot more ducks. The gortex jacket keeps me dry and warm, but I always stuck it out if I was cold and wet (unless I was dangerously cold and wet) so that doesn't help me get more ducks, I also wear neoprene waders, but before I had waders I used a pirogue and pushpoled my way to my blind, so the waders do not help me shoot more ducks. At the same time if I used all of these products, it would have no effect on other hunters. If I used a robo, it would have an effect on other hunters. I don't care if you use your robo, they are legal. I don't care if you set up right next to me, I welcome the challenge to get the ducks in. But thats why people use robo, its no longer a challenge between them and the ducks, they believe as long as they shoot more ducks than the guys next to them, they had a good day. Well if you want to make it a challenge between hunters, do it with skills, not the pocket book and some robot. I listen to these guys every single weekend at the campgrounds, brag on how the ducks drop straight in to robo, while others near them without robo shoot nothing. They think its funny that this robot allows them to be more successful, and therefore they believe they are better hunters. I know exactly how important facts are. I've used nothing but facts to make my decision. Although I knew the sport was headed in the wrong direction the first time I seen one of these things at the sporting goods store. I didn't know if it would work or not, but I knew robots attracting ducks wasn't hunting and would do nothing but detract from the sporting and fair chase element. I've read dozens upon dozens of studies that have been conducted on robo. They all state that at least twice as many ducks are killed when robo is on than when its off. So when more and more people begin using robo, get ready for reduced limits and shorter seasons, that is also a fact. But since thats what the robo users are asking for I guess they'll be happy. Because if the limit is reduced to 3 ducks, they'll be able to say they limited out more often. Again the robo hasn't hurt me, its only made me a better hunter. I continue to be successful so my success has nothing to do with my opinion. It was everything to do with a robot ruining the sport. In my opinion hunting is using your hunting skills to get close enough to the game to shoot them. Using robo does not require you to use any hunting skills and therefore it IS NOT hunting. You might as well go to the local city park and blast away at some tame ducks that are running to you for some bread.

Hey we do agree on something. I believe Habitat is the #1 most important thing to help/hurt the duck population. But should we only take into account the most important aspect and ignore all others? I have a manuscript at school that was forwarded to me by one of the researchers. They conducted over 1 thousand studies. After everything was said and done 2.3 times as many ducks were killed when robo was on than when it was off. Will this cause the waterfowl population to plummet? No! But they also report the numbers of people using the decoy has increased in every state. In some states it has been found that 69% of the hunters use these decoys and the percentages are constantly increasing. So while it might not cause the population to plumment it will have a great effect on the total harvest. As more hunters become more successful the limits and length of season will be reduced. Is that what we want? Less time to enjoy our sport that already lasts only a few months out of the year? I also believe robo causes first year ducks to commit suicide. We won't see the results at first. But as less and less young ducks arrive to the breeding grounds and the older ducks begin to die, we will see the effects in the "very long run." I have no problems with state managing their wildlife as they see fit when it comes to deer and other non migratory species. But the ducks hunted in Minnesota at the beginning of the season are the same ducks we'll be hunting in January. One state's actions or inactions effects the rest of the states in this country. We'll never see results if they are banned in a few states. They need to be banned nation wide. If robo is banned, the only people that will suffer are those that refuse to learn how to hunt. Its not difficult to shoot birds without robo.

This has nothing to do with my success. The first year I hunted next to robo, yes my success was down. But overall it made me a better hunter. I didn't cry or complain, I adjusted, scouted harder and payed more attention to the ducks that were on the water. This past year I made 15 hunts and I killed 60 ducks, right at 4 ducks per hunt, I'm in no way complaining that I didn't shoot 90 ducks and limit out everytime. I would have been greatful had I killed 30, 20, or even 10 ducks. Killing ducks is just a bonus of being out there. I've read a ton of scientific data. Why don't you find me one report about robo's that showed they were less effective. I have spoken with Biologists that are doing research on this very issue. The number of ducks killed and the size of the flock responding to calls and decoy spreads are significantly higher when robo is on than when it is off. I've yet to find one report that says other ways. Maybe its just a coincidence on those graphs that you show that many of the populations peaked around the 2000-2001 season and then decreased substantially from then and this was the same time robo was introduced into the sport. Am I so naive to think it was only robo? No. I understand drought and the condition of the praries is the predominant factor. But to ignore the effects robo is having is stupid.

I understand your point totally but again totally disagree. You're saying that hunters that are more successful are more skillful. I totally disagree. Putting out a robo and flipping on a switch requires no skills. This means the kids that showed up in a red bass boat, in a poorly brushed blind, and naively tossed out 2 dozen decoys in 6" of water when the tide was about to start dropping, and find themselves on dry mudflat 30 minutes later were more skillful hunters than me and my buddies. Although we built a well-brushed blind out of natural vegetation located around the pond we were hunting, placed out 5 dozen decoys in small groups as we have observed many of the duck flocks around us, in a location that the ducks were using for the past several days, in a spot with 14" of water that would still have 6" of water after the tide finished dropping. We do know how to blow a duck call, these people never touched a call. So by putting our a robo the need for several other hunting skills and factors was negated: 1. concealment 2. location 3. calling skills Although they didn't have these three skills/factors, they are more skillful because they had a robo. That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. I do agree with one of your comments, "If you were a truly skilled caller, you wouldn't need the aid of a man-made device to make your calls seem more lifelike and realistic." My point exactly! I don't need a robo to shoot ducks, but some of you people do! Maybe you finally understand what I'm trying to say. Forget our opinions on the matter just look at the facts. Limits and seasons are set assuming hunters will kill "x" amount of ducks. As more and more people begin using these decoys, more ducks will get killed, and the seasons and limits will have to be reduced. Once again your decision to use robo will affect all of those that do not use robo.

I'm not sure what message you are talking about, but I didn't learn anything new from your post, other than you can't back up your opinion with facts so you attack me for a few small typos. I believe in some cases its wrong to generalize. Like a guy with brown hair breaks into my home, so all brown haired men are robbers. Yeah thats wrong. But I stand by my opinion that all mechanical decoy users are simply looking for an easy way out and can't compete with hunters on public hunting grounds with their hunting skills only. Why else would they use robo? If they were interested in the sport they would welcome the challenge. Instead they are only worried about how many they can kill now.

Tucker, Stop being a prick. Its obvious from your corrections you knew exactly what I was saying. I'm in graduate school for chemistry so I'm in the lab almost all day. I only get a few minutes every now and then to browse the internet. When I make a post, I don't write a rough draft, proof read, make corrections, and then type up a final draft. I do that enough with the manuscripts I'm publishing, I don't have the time to sit here and do it on this forum or the many other forums I participate in. Maybe I should have been clear on one other point. When I said they outlawed baiting, I should have said they outlawed hunting over bait. We have WMA's throughout the state of LA, but none of them act as bait stations because every single one of them is hunted. If you want to get a robot, good for you buy you one. Its just not for me. I don't want to set up a robo and have the blind next to me scratch because I was too lazy to call in the birds myself. See next year when I get a big flock to decoy, I'll know it was my calling and hunting skills that got them in. You may believe it was your hunting skills, but you will never actually know. As far as hijacking the thread, I think this has everything to do with the thread. He was asking about mallard machines. In my opinion they are in the same category as robo, all robotic decoys should be illegal.

Well when the season is closed there's usually few ducks hanging around and then its time to start fishing. However, before the season begins after building our blind we usually spend nearly the entire day in the blind videotaping. Sure I agree every duck you take is one less that others can't shoot. But I've hunted along side other hunters ever since i started hunting and never had a problem with other's calling or the shotgun that they used. I started out with a single shot 20 gauge and did just find next to pumps and automatics. I usually hunt with 3-4 buddies and we hunt two blinds about 150 yards away from each other. On almost every single occaission both blinds always had similar success. We'd both limit out, or both do poorly. Then when we tried hunting with robo it was much different. The blind with robo often limited out while the blind without robo would shoot nothing or 1 duck. We always do a ton of scouting on low tides to put our blinds in areas that hold water when the tide bottoms out. I remember one particular weekend when group of guys set up next to us in a red bass boat. You could see the boat from our blind, it was not camouflaged well at all. When the tide bottomed out at 7:00 that morning they were sitting in the middle of a huge mudflat with no water, and all the decoys laying on their sides. But they had a robo and the 3 of them continued to blast away at mallards, grays, and Teal all morning long. We shot at 1 Teal that weekend. It was the same result both mornings. Now I've always believed location was the most important factor, but those guys were not where the ducks wanted to be. I've yet to see ducks decoy to open mudflat, well unless theres a robo there inviting them in. When you're hunting near other hunters, it doesn't matter if they shoot 1 time or they shoot 6 times the ducks are gone. The difference is both blind will still get ducks if the type of gun is the only difference between the two. If one blind has a robo, the other will get little to no ducks. I on the other hand, welcome the challenge to hunt next to robo, I don't care if people pull ducks away from me with it. Its more of a challenge for me. But I will be having my first child this september. And 5-6 years from now I may be taking that child on his/her first duck hunt. Or there may be another father out there taking his child on his/her first duck hunt, I would not want to pull ducks away from that child with a robot. Now if I happen to pull a few with the duck call, then he'll probably learn something from that. But pulling them in with a robot, teaches that kid nothing other than its all about how many you kill, not the actual hunting part. I choose not to hunt with robo because: 1. I believe it will have negative effects on the population as more and more people are using them. 2. Robo in the long run will only create more intelligent older birds that won't decoy anywhere (I watch them now circle live ducks dozens of times only to fly off, this never happened before robo) 3. I don't want to negatively affect other hunters with a robot. 4. Hunting isn't a challenge between hunters, its a battle between hunter and duck where you use your hunting skills to get them in. I did not feel like I was hunting when I used robo. If you disagree with me on these points, then you don't care about the duck population, you're not worried about what its doing to the ducks and you're success or your children's success in the future, you could care or less about the hunters next to you, and you aren't interested in hunting, only shooting. You said you stopped golfing when all of these advancements came out, the truth is these advancements had no affect on you. You could choose to ignore all of these advancements while others took advantage and your handicap would not change. If other hunters take advantage of robo your hunting success will be affected. SAY NO TO ROBO and YES TO HUNTING! [ 06-01-2005, 11:18 AM: Message edited by: sprigsss ]

Well if you don't see the difference between camo. calls, waders, GPS's, flashlights, and a robotic decoy attracting the ducks for you, I'm sorry you were never taught what hunting is all about. The truth is it doesn't matter what pattern of camouflage I wear or don't wear, the decision you make to use camouflage will have no affect on my hunt. Whether you use a GPS to get to your blind or not, will not affect my hunt. Whether you use waders or choose to get wet, it will have no affect on my hunt. If you choose to use a crack barrel single shot, or a SBE, it won't affect my hunt. If you choose to use a robo duck, it will affect my hunt and every other person around you. If you want to affect someone else's hunt, do it with your duck call and decoy placement, not a robot. If you can't see the difference, its because the only thing you're concerned about is killling and then bragging about how many you did kill. All of the items you compared robo to are like golf clubs. You buy a set of Pings, instructional tapes, and get some lessons, and I use my Dunlops. You will probably shoot a lower score than me. However, I will still shoot 100 whether you use Dunlops or Pings. You may beat me, but your game will have no effect on my game. If I'm shooting a single shot, it doesn't matter whether you shoot a single shot as well or a 10 gauge auto. You may shoot more than me, but I will shoot the same. You are comparing Apples to Oranges. I do use a GPS now for safety, but I've arrived at my blind for 10+ years with no GPS and did just find. The GPS has no affect on the duck population. I work my but off building thick blinds of natural vegetation. I don't need camo in my blinds, so camo will have no affect on the duck populations. I rarely use a flashlight when walking to my blind. I look at the oil rigs in the gulf to get the direction I need to walk so I spook as few ducks as I can while I'm making the 350 yard walk to my duck blind. Once again the facts are out there and more hunters are shooting twice as many ducks because of robo. Yet many still choose to ignore the facts and take a stand for robo. These are the individuals that could care or less about hunting, the future of the sport, and the future of the ducks. These individuals are selfish people that are only interested in "how many ducks can I kill now". SAY NO TO ROBO and YES TO HUNTING! [ 05-31-2005, 08:52 PM: Message edited by: sprigsss ]

I"ve yet to have a single problem with my SBE and any shell. I shot 4-5 boxes of 3" and 3 1/2" steel shot through it and since then I've shot everything from 1 oz. dove loads to 3 1/2" buckshot and I haven't had a single jam yet.

I have thought not twice about them, but each and every time I've seen them work on public land. If there is 1 blind with a robo and 4 around it with no robo, the 1 blind with robo will do almost all of the shooting. I have been in the blind with robo and in the blind without robo and its the same thing every time. The times I did hunt with robo, it wasn't hunting, I could blow the most obnoxious sounding sound on my call and stand outside of the blind and the ducks still come in. I wasn't hunting, I was just loading and shooting, no fun to me. At the same time while I was using robo, I watched my buddies do little to no shooting only 100 yards away. When we swapped scenarios and I was the one hunting without robo, I watched them shoot all morning long, while I never even pulled the trigger. No other technological advantage has as great a negative affect on other nearby hunters than robo. If you want to negatively affect nearby hunters and pull ducks from them, do it with your calling skills, not some battery operated robot. Robo's should be illegal for the same reasons live deocys, electronic calls, and baiting are illegal. Again, robos are for losers that can't hack it with their hunting skills. If you don't like to hunt and all you're worried about is shooting your gun, robo is probably for you. But hunters don't use robots to attract the game for them, they attract them with their hunting skills, or use their hunting skills to get closer to them. Dozens upon dozens of studies have been completed on robo, all of them say the same thing, twice as many ducks are killed when robo is on than when its off. This equates to one thing, as more and more hunters begin using these crutches to shoot more ducks, the limits and seasons will be reduced. But its ashame too many people aren't worried or concerned about the future, all they care about is how many ducks they get to brag about right now. Sure the older ducks are slowly catching on, but the first year ducks are getting slaughtered by these things. So why the people are looking for an easy way out, they are in fact creating an older population and will make it even more difficult to shoot a duck in the future and will see horrible consequences down the line when these older ducks begin to die off. I for one welcome the challenge to hunting smarter ducks, as its the challenge I enjoy most, not just the shooting part. I believe shooting is only a small percentage of the actual hunting. I'm more concerned about where these things are taking the "sport" of hunting and what it will do to the duck populations in the long run. People keep saying it doesn't matter as long as you don't shoot over your limit. If this is the case we wouldn't need any restrictions except limits and seasons. We would be able to use live decoys, electronic calls, and bait our ponds. And if the amount of ducks killed by hunters is negligible to the overall population when compared to starvation, disease and predation, we wouldn't need individual limits on canvasbacks, scaup, black ducks, etc. Robo's suck and people that use robo are not hunters. SAY NO TO ROBO and YES TO HUNTING! [ 05-31-2005, 02:22 PM: Message edited by: sprigsss ]

Roboducks, mallard machines, and other motorized decoys are for losers that can't hack it on public land when other real hunters are nearby. All of these things are bad for the sport and should be outlawed.

I'm sure they've been eaten already but here is my favorite recipe. 1. Brown the ducks thoroughly in olive oil along with some andouille sausage. 2. Remove when browned and add to a baking pan. 3. Add chopped onions, bell peppers, celery and any other vegetables to the skillet and cook down. 4. Stuff each duck with the sausage and slices of fresh jalepeno and green apples. 5. After the vegetables are cooked down and are soft spread across the top of the ducks. 6. Add a 50:50 mixture of Italian dressing:White Cooking wine to a depth of halfway up the bird. 7. Cover very well so it doesn't dry out and bake on 350 for 2-3 hours until done (varies with different ducks) ***As long as you have enough italian dressing and wine its almost impossible to dry the bird out if its placed breast down. I cook mine until they are literally falling apart. I usually cook Teal with this recipe using around 4 Teal with a lb of sausage and cook them for 2 1/2 hours.

I've killed 12 ducks in 6 hunts our first split. I killed 10 of those the first weekend, and hunted the last two weekends for 2 ducks. I killed 2 mottled ducks, 3 Teal, 3 Grayducks, and 4 Scaup. Last year during the first split we almost always shot our 4 mallards. Many hunts we went home with 4 mallards only. During our entire first split, I shot at 1 mallard, and of course I missed. We averaged right at 4 ducks per hunter, per hunt last year during the first split. I've hunted with 1 other buddy on all 6 hunts and our total was only 16 ducks. I've been skunked on many occaissions but usually always see ducks, especially lots of high flyers. I saw less ducks this first split than any other split I've hunted. Hopefully the cold weather this week will bring some more down before the second split opener next weekend.

The patternmaster holds a better pattern than the factory tubes that come with the gun, but I don't think its worth the money if you're shooting a Benelli. I sure would like to know whats different with the Benelli and why it won't shoot buckshot.

I've always been told the same thing when I purchased my gun. I shot every buckshot I could find in my IC, M, IM, F, and pattern master choke tubes. My patterns were the tightest with the pattern master and the biggest with the IC. Although the pattern master pattern was the best, I still had a huge hole in the middle of the pattern (i.e. where the deer's head would be) Another thing is the copper plated patterned better than the other shells and the #1's were better than the 00, but still not good enough for me. I just ordered some of the hevishot buckshot from cabelas. I'll let everyone know how those pattern.

1. marinate whole Teal in italian dressing for at least 24 hours 2. brown the ducks thoroughly in olive oil and then remove and add to a baking dish 3. brown a few links of andoulle sausage and stuff them inside the Teal 4. Sautee onions, bell pepper, and celery until tender 5. While sauteeing vegetables stuff Teal with two slices of apple and two slices of fresh jalepeno surrounding the sausage 6. Pour the sauteed vegetables over the Teal 7. Add a cup of white cooking wine and bake at 350 until done This is by far my favorite way to eat ducks. My neighbor gave me this recipe last year and now I cook almost all my ducks and doves like this.