How to Jump Shoot Ducks

Video: How to Jump Shoot Ducks

When Duck Lore host Sean Weaver couldn’t make the trip to hunt waterfowl in Kansas last fall, Seth Morris and I took his place. Now we don’t quite have the calling and decoying chops that Sean has, but we can jump shoot birds with the best of them. Jump shooting is a good move to pull out of the bag of tricks when you’re in an unfamiliar place, need to kill time at midday, or just want meat for the freezer. While the idea of flushing and shooting...

How To Jump Shoot a Limit of Ducks

Out of necessity, I started my waterfowling life as a jump shooter. It’s the simplest, least gear-intensive form of the sport, and all I had was a shotgun, $10 PVC barn boots, and a taste for wild duck. I also had ponds and creeks on our farm that held wood ducks early and mallards late. I’d make a circuit of the place, easing my head over the dam to scan ponds, sneaking through standing corn, and walking along the creek. My shotgun was always at...

How to Cook Diver Ducks

Diver ducks, migratory waterfowl that feed on fish, mollusks, and aquatic invertebrates, get a lot of praise on the wing but a bad rap at the table. Despite this reputation, hunters sure shoot a hell of a lot of them each season. According to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the take of shovelers, scaup, ring-necked ducks, eiders, oldsquaw, scoters, buffleheads, goldeneyes, mergansers, and canvasbacks is well beyond a million birds annually...