# Pass Shooting



## T Shot (Oct 4, 2002)

A post by Burly in the duck hunting forum has me wondering something. Does anyone enjoy a good pass shoot anymore? To me, the season isn't complete until I find myself ditch pigging in a blizzard for Snows or Canadas. Don't get me wrong, my first choice is laying in the decoys. But I just can't pass up the opportunity if it presents itself. I have had many good times sitting in a section line or dirt road. Anybody have some good stories?


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## tb (Jul 26, 2002)

I love to pass shoot. Still try to do it for spring snows. I used to love to do a duck hunt over decoys and then on the right day (i.e. very windy) find a place to pass shoot geese or cranes. But, nowadays, being an old man, I seem to just get back in the truck and scout ducks for the next day. But, you are right, I should be keeping my out a little more for the right spot.


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## huntingdude16 (Jul 17, 2007)

You bet. Thats basicly been the only way my dad and I have hunted cranes, and done it a few times for geese also.


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## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

Use to pass shoot honkers all the time. Good time if the birds are moving. If you got some buddies around it's even a good time when they aren't.
Dan


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## Phil The Thrill (Oct 21, 2005)

Pass shooting used to be all i used to do and I still enjoy a good pass shoot from time to time.


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## HATCHETMAN (Mar 15, 2007)

You bet. Sometimes the only way to get the little geese when they come off the roost in flocks of 500 a half-mile away. Usually the only way us CO guys get a whack at the snow geese too once you NODAK boys are done cuttin' em up!!


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## tumblebuck (Feb 17, 2004)

I've decided I like to stay dry. Trudging through the mud and muck is too much work. I've done a couple pass shoots this year and enjoyed it.

One question though... Say you find a couple of sloughs holding birds. The sloughs are separated by a chunk of land about 200-250 yards wide. The birds pass back and forth between the sloughs regularly. Inevitably, after you shoot, some of those birds will get up and leave.

Would that be considered as roost busting?


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## T Shot (Oct 4, 2002)

Do we have to turn this into a roost hunting debate? My absolute favorite is downwinding a field full of honkers. Quite a few years back, my father and I were out scouting our deer spots the weekend before rifle opener. There was a strong north wind and it was snowing pretty hard. We happened upon a field full of geese with more and more piling in over an old dirt road on the south side.

After securing permission to hunt the next day, I decided that I wanted to sit in the ditch of the dirt road. My father, deciding that it was too cold to sit, dropped me off and went to pick up a farmer friend in the area and watch from up the road. Geese were piling in all along the road, so picking a spot came down to finding an area that would hide me from the incoming geese and the geese in the field. The coolest part was just sitting there watching geese on either side of me not 10 feet off the ground. Finally, a group of migrators from the north spotted the field and immediatly went to work losing altitude as they made the swing right in front of me. I waited for what seemed like forever for them to make the road, but it gave me enough time for me to pick out the biggest bird in the flock. Finally, I sat up as they spread out right in front of me. The first shot crumpled the big boy, the second shot folded the bird next to it, and the third shot was a clean miss.

As I was out picking them up, my father dumped the farmer in the ditch to get him a chance and came to pick me up. He told me how they could see that group would work right over me. It was fun for him to watch as the sound took a bit to get to them. They saw the geese flair, saw two fold, then heard the shots. Although I didn't connect for my three bird limit, it is quite possibly one of my most memorable hunts ever. The first bird weighed a shade under 14 lbs, the second was just over 12.

Day two was a complete bust in the decoys. It got cold, cleared up, and the geese were nowhere to be found. I think this is the reason I can't pass up those opportunities when they happen anymore, because the next day those geese may be gone.


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## dosch (May 20, 2003)

Some of my best momories of shooting snows are sitting in a ditch or a fence line during the first heavy snow and wind. Birds are dumb and the shootn is good.


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## Blue Plate (Jul 31, 2006)

If a guy doesn't enjoy a good ditch pigging, he doesn't have a pulse, given the time and place.

Last year a field had a few thousand snows in it.. They were coming off a nearby lake and landing in a wheat field. This old gravel road ran in between the two. My buddies and I spaced out on this road and "pigged" a few snows and blues. Good times!!! At one point my friend dropped a blue in the middle of the gravel road. Around the corner a semi-truck carrying grain comes rolling down the road heading for that blue. Nothing funnier that watching my friend run for that goose before it was run over.


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## goosehunter20 (Oct 19, 2006)

Theres nothin better than getting out of school and sitting in the ditch flock shooting snows.


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

tumblebuck said:


> I've decided I like to stay dry. Trudging through the mud and muck is too much work. I've done a couple pass shoots this year and enjoyed it.
> 
> One question though... Say you find a couple of sloughs holding birds. The sloughs are separated by a chunk of land about 200-250 yards wide. The birds pass back and forth between the sloughs regularly. Inevitably, after you shoot, some of those birds will get up and leave.
> 
> Would that be considered as roost busting?


Without turning this thread into a roost busting q & a... I think the answer is ... It depends...

It depends on if the sloughs are holding ducks or geese. Geese won't stick around for that... but ducks will transition between the various sloughs in an area if there is wind to keep them moving.

Strictly looking at how you present your scenario, you'd have to sit and make a judgement call on the birds sitting on the water. If it is a large (50+ birds) sitting tightly packed in the middle of the slough that is a roost. I don't think I've seen a scenario where a large flock of geese sits on a tiny body of water where they weren't using it as a roost....

Ducks are a whole different story, and you'd have to look at how the ducks were sitting on the water, what kind were they, their movement to from the water vs swinging the slough etc...

my .02

Ryan


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## quackwacker (Aug 12, 2003)

This year we ended up having a pass shoot experience that was unexpected. We had seen a large flock of geese land somewhere out in a large CRP field, but since we were driving down a highway it was difficult to figure exactly where they landed. My cousin and I decided to just start scouting from the high points. We narrowed down where the geese were and figured they had gone into two ponds. We setup in between the ponds and the flock on the downwind pond must have heard us, but couldn't quite locate us. They came off of the pond directly for the larger pond with the larger flock. We were laying out in the CRP and they came over us at 15 yds up. I shot three times and had three birds. My first natural triple on geese. My cousin wasn't as accurate as he ended up with one. It was fun at any rate. :beer:


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## Gildog (Jan 30, 2007)

used to pass shoot geese on the farm--this is within two miles of LOW. Many different ways--hunt the lakeshore for ducks and geese, hope they aren't too high when they come over; get downwind of the field they are piling into on a windy day, pick off a few without spooking the whole flock; or getting between them and the lake and waiting until they go for water...they would go straight to the lake 95% of the time.

but like others have said...that was in my younger days and I don't do it as often anymore!


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## nebgoosehunter (Aug 18, 2005)

Thats how I shot my first fall snow. Couple years back a few thousand canada's and some snows landed upwind and I snuck through the irrigation canal to get within 60 yards before they spooked, flew up wind then turned back toward me at 20 yards high. Noticed a pair of snows out at 50 yards or so and I knew I had to try em out. Shot once and one dropped like a rock, still had geese going over me so I shot two more honkers, threw another shell in and got one more honker for my limit. Great time since nothing was flying near our decoys all morning in the next field over. I pass shoot a ton during the spring just because I don't have a big spread yet. Seems to work just fine for me.


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## rowdie (Jan 19, 2005)

When the geese stage along the river and are feeding in the corn, I prefer to pass shoot them. That way they come back eveery day, we never scare them inot feeding on the other side.


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## Kucker (Jan 13, 2007)

Once things freeze up around Aberdeen, I love nothing more than a good drive to Pierre to pass shoot honkers.


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## Quacker Wacker (Oct 12, 2006)

Pierre is by far the hotspot in december it has soooo many geese. Lots of fun times happen there. :beer:


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## WaterfowlJunky (Mar 16, 2007)

i would have to agree Pierre is great but i still dont pass shoot them............so you guys are the ones shooting the geese as they pass the canal .....thanks......J/K i do just fine decoying even with you guys pass shooting them...must admit ive done it a few times if we dont get our limits in the morning decoying


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