Just curious as to how many of you didn't win the "race".

me.

I walked into a spot that some guys in a boat had set up on. They were about 40 yards from shore and from the way their flashlight was coming I thought they were on the other side of the lake so I kept going. I found out they were in their boat offshore when I finally walked up beside them. I walked past them as far as I could get and went around a point.

Apparently one of them had too much Halloween fun because I heard him puking about 30 minutes before LST with his buddies cheering. I wonder if puking in the water could be considered baiting?

I guess that would depend on what you ate, how deep the water was, and if any of the good stuff was floating.

creamed corn, black beans and rice for dinner.


baiting?

Game warden: "Sir, I'm afraid i'm going to have to ticket you for hunting a baited area"

Hunter: "Officer, I swear to God I didnt bait the area"

Game Warden: "How do you explain all the floating corn husks and peanuts?"

Hunter: "Them's beer nuts, and a side dish of corn"

Game Warden: "Excuse me?"

Hunter: "I puked."

I got flashed out of an entire area lol. I drove 10 hours to pick up my new boat on Friday so I didnt get up as early as I would have liked. Rounded the corner into the mouth of the river and there were at least 5 groups set up at 4 AM. Never seen that many hunters in this area with the water as low as it is.

Thought we got out early enough only to get flashed out of 2 spots. We ended up going out on the main lake point and got 3 birds for our effort. It sure beat sleeping though.

Did LSU get his waders off in time or do we have a story coming??

I was hunting a public area with lots of guys flashing all over the place, but I found a spot the boats couldn't get to and picked out a good shooting lane. The hunters around me didn't seem to mind, or else they just understood that it was opening day on public water... as long as everyone has a zone of fire and no one gets sprayed- bring it on!

I was pretty lucky. Showed up at 6:00 and i was the only soul there. There were some people coming by to scout as I was picking up my decoys. I hope they're not there next wk.

We didn't have any problems this weekend, either. We did the same thing, dove_buster. Got a real late start on Sunday, were afraid we were not gonna' make first light AND be beat to a spot, but nope. There was a couple of hunters on the other side of a point nearby but a good distance away. We didn't even know they were there until they took their first shot.

At 4:15 am. there were 8 lights/boats in my area. (and more to come) I went off to what used to be a good spot that has always been pretty good when water levels were higher.
I waived off one boat. And waived off a guy who had to walk a half mile or more just before shooting time. I would have invited him with me but he came around the point with 15 minutes before LST. I heard him dragging a bag of heavy deeks around the point before I even saw him.
Still both of these 2 groups setup close to me. They even shot more than I did...but it was the first day.

We walked into our spot Saturday and Sunday morning and set up the decs. We beat the guys comming in by boat by about 15 minutes on both trips. It was so shallow that if the boats didn't have a Mud Buddy or Go Devil they weren't going to get to where we were anyway. We had a few guys make it up to where we were at and had one boat get stuck about 5 yards from our set up. I had on waders so I went out to help them get loose and headed them out to the deepest part of the flat we were on. They were able to get back into the cove quiet a ways and it sounded like they had a really good time.
We had mostly woodies, teal, and gadwall. I don't believe I saw anything that was considered migratory at all. I didn't bring home a single bird. We made a lot of shots, but we were trying to sort out steel shot and realized after the first box of shells we were stretching the shots out to far. The last time I duck hunted you could still use lead shot and drop birds on 40 yard shots with no problems what so ever. The reality of the situation with steel took a while to settle in with me, from what I'm seeing it looks like the steel is pretty much out of steam at around 25 yards.
Sunday morning I dropped a woodie at about 20 yards, it hit the water in front of me and just disappeared, I guess he went diving. I sent the dog in after it but she couldn't find him. I kept watching the water in the area where he went down and finally I saw him get up and gingerly fly off. He flew right into another group of hunters and they finished him.
I think I'm going to use my full choke tube this next weekend to see if I can get a little more range out of this steel.

I don't think you need to choke up... just speed/shot size up. What type of shells were you using?

Good steel loads are absolutely deadly at 40 yards. The problems are; many people can't judge 40 yards accurately and wind up shooting at birds more like 60 yards, and steel shoots way different than lead at distances shorter or longer than 30 yards. At real close range, it gets there much quicker, so you have to actually cut down on the forward lead you would use with lead, but at more than 30 yards, it slows quickly, so you have to give it more forward lead, and at 40 it is A LOT more lead. The actual patterns though are usually very good, and the pellets carry enough energy to get the job done at a true 40 yards. It's just takes some getting used to before you can consistently get pattern and bird at the same spot at the same time.

This morning, 6 shells is all it took to down my 5 birds, all between 20 and 40 yards, all stone dead when they hit the water. I was shooting cheapo Winchester Experts, too. I'm not trying to brag. I'm just letting you know that it can be done. The problem isn't in the steel.

I use xperts too... great load for ducks! I use #2's and #3's in 3" high velocity. Robohunter's right on when he says your leads change at about the 30 yard mark. There is a clear difference in lethality though, from a 2-3/4" shell and a 3" or 3-1/2". I would also not hesitate to say that someone having trouble leading birds should shoot one of the higher velocity loads- probably something between 1400 and 1500fps.

Speed kills.

I load my own steel loads. I have one load that I can push 1 1/16oz of #2's at over 1700fps. My buddy says I have to lead behind the ducks with this load.

Sorry I haven't got back here in a few days. We have one computer and two kids that think they should be on it all the time. I am shooting #2 3 inch Xperts in 12 gauge. I need to work on the lead definately. I told one of my duck hunting buddies at work what was going on and he agreed that I wasn't getting enough lead. He said I was probably hitting them in the back half or the middle and to bring them down instantly I need to get out far enough in front of them to get a head shot.