Last weekend a friend of mine and I went to upstate New York for our annual, Thanksgiving Weekend Duck Hunt. We had a great time, as usual. On Saturday, we woke up to a foot and a half of snow, so we hunted a protected bay in Henderson Harbor, just off the main part of Lake Ontario. We both limited out (6 birds apiece) by 9:30 in the morning. We shot 6 different species: Mallards, Black Ducks, Canvas Backs, Red Heads, Goldeneye, and one beautiful drake Hooded Merganser.

On Sunday, we travelled a bit Northwest of Watertown, and put the boat in at Chamaunt, and set up in the lee of a small island on the St. Lawrence River. The shooting started out fast, but really slowed down by 7:00. We eventually limited out, but not until 11:30. Most of the birds taken were Mallards, and Black Ducks, with one Gadwall taken.

My friend and I were both using Remingon 11-87s, with Haydel's Passing Choke Tube, and factory loadings of Hevi-shot #4s and 6s. As usualy, the Hevi-shot performed beautifully, if we did our part. I actually killed 2 birds at @60 yards. Thats farther than I like to shoot, but both times the birds were hit poorly with the first shot, and were still flying, so I took a chance, and lucked out.