# Roosters or Waterfowl



## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

*Which is more difficult to hunt?*​
Late season Roosters1537.50%Late season Waterfowl2562.50%


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Which is more difficult to hunt?


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## DJRooster (Nov 4, 2002)

I vote for the waterfowl but I have been on the X late season for waterfowl when it was about as easy as it could get. One time during a blizzard it was snowing so bad that the birds couldn't see the decoys but if you would just stand up they would fly right to you because you were the only landmarck they could identify with. We cleaned up big time on mallards and snows. Other times we have had the 30/30 event! 30 birds in 30 minutes! If you time the migration and get the right weather it doesn't get much easier than that!


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## Maverick (Mar 4, 2002)

Sorry but you can't road hunt for waterfowl. The late season birds are as smart as they get. You have to be within your A game.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

I think roosters are tougher.

They are in the air when you get out of the pickup.


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## GooseBuster3 (Mar 1, 2002)

Mav we always have our A game with. :wink:


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## Shu (Oct 21, 2003)

Roosters!


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## Remmi_&amp;_I (Dec 2, 2003)

Maverick said:


> Sorry but you can't road hunt for waterfowl. The late season birds are as smart as they get. You have to be within your A game.


The question used the word "hunt" not shoot!  I think on a typical winter day, walking through 2 feet of snow to get to a cattail slough is damn tough. Then you need to be quiet so you don't spook the birds, then fight through the thickes parts of the cattails, and etc...

I think late season roosters is my favorite hunting of all!


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## dblkluk (Oct 3, 2002)

I gotta go with waterfowl, only because pheasants never break your heart by flying right at you, only to flare at 75 yards.


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## tumblebuck (Feb 17, 2004)

Roosters! Maybe I just have more fun outsmarting a running rooster than a flying mallard.


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## gandergrinder (Mar 10, 2002)

I've done lots of pheasant hunting and shot my share of roosters but to be honest the only reason I go is to watch the dog work. In my opinion with a good dog pheasant hunting is not very challenging. Hard work sometimes but not very challenging. Unkennel the dog. Follow the dog. Dog points the rooster, shoot the rooster. Repeat twice more and go home.

Easy if you have a good dog, difficult if you don't. The challenge is in the dog training (I have alot of respect for anyone who can train a good upland dog) and not so much in the hunt. From a wingshooting standpoint roosters are pretty easy compared to waterfowl.

But then I'm partial to waterfowling so that might make a difference.


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## Maverick (Mar 4, 2002)

Remmi when was the last time we had 2 feet of snow? Where did I say anything about shooting? As soon as you step out of the car and load the gun you are hunting!
As Ken wrote:


> They are in the air when you get out of the pickup.


Let's be real here, try setting up 200-300 decoys in 2' of snow then sit in the snow for 4 hours or more and then have to pick up all 200-300 decoys again. Then tell me which is harder?

My point was that you can't just drive around and get 1 or 2 ducks that are hanging around by the road in the late season!


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## bullocklabradors (Oct 18, 2004)

gandergrinder,

Well said!


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

I guess I would ask...Which is the more difficult to get in shotgun range?

Not including ...how deep the snow is,or how long it takes to put out or pick up decoys,or how cold you get.


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## jamartinmg2 (Oct 7, 2004)

Good post! I have had challenges, and successes with both! Sometimes it is just a mix of a little luck and a little skill. If forced to give an answer, though, I would have to say waterfowl is tougher. The birds you are after most likely have been shot at before... probably quite a bit since they are much more visable than upland game tend to be. With pheasants, depending on where you go, there is a decent chance that there hasn't been a lot of pressure put on them, especially if you are hunting on some posted land that only you, or a few people, have access to hunt on.


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## Anas Strepera (Nov 10, 2004)

Waterfowl are tougher to hunt. With the amount of skill it takes to first find a good spot, then set a good decoy spread, conceal yourself and call the birds into range, there is much more work involved into getting waterfowl into range than pheasant hunting.

I've always liked waterfowl more because it's interactive. With pheasants your goal is to scare the bird to get it to fly. With waterfowl your goal is to convince them that you are other waterfowl even to the point where you communicate to them. For me it is all about fooling them. With pheasants you don't get to do that.

Ruffed grouse are a tougher upland hunt than pheasants.


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## Shu (Oct 21, 2003)

I think mid-season waterfowl are the toughest waterfowl to hunt. They have been gunned a few times since opener and are generally decoy shy, call shy, etc. On late season migrators I've had some unbelievably easy hunting on those late season ducks that just drop right in. Not always, but often enough when the conditions are right.

Roosters on the other hand get tougher to hunt each day and if you don't think you have to fool some roosters late in the year you haven't hunted them much.

As far as shooting them, I guess it's a toss up. I think a mallard or goose in the dekes at 20 yards is about as dead as it gets. An unknown rooster flushing at 20 yards shouldn't be that hard of a shot either.


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