# Going to Metzger Marsh saturday - First time duck hunter - What can I expect?



## bdawg

I'll be hunting from a boat and have it camoflauged with burlap camo sheets and pvc tubing. Going out with an experienced duck hunter. Using a 12 gage with full choke, 2 3/4" shells with #2 shot. Was looking for #4 shot, but they didn't have it at the sporting goods store in the 2 3/4" size. I'm more experienced shooting at rabbits and squirrels, so this will be different. 

Will there be a ton of hunters out there? A lot of birds to shoot? How many shots will I get?


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## Carpn

Expect lots of company


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## beaver

Lol , there is probably already a ton of hunters out there waiting. If you wait until morning , you'll be lucky to find a spot. Most camp out for opening day.

I've heard reports of a lot of teal in the area. My buddy shot limits the first three mornings of the opener in SE Michigan. So there are birds in the area. Metzger gets very crowded and you'll have all kinds of goofs , as well as experienced guys in there tomorrow. Expect plenty of shots if you can find a spot, but don't expect it to be a gentleman's hunt. It will be a war zone. Lol


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## Flathead76

You can expect a lot of sky busting out there. The birds won't have a chance to work the decoys. You can also try the mallard club and get the same results.


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## Minnowhead

#2 shot is good. You can still knock down geese with that size shot. I would open up
To a modified choke. Should be plenty of local birds. Once the shooting starts get ready, they'll be buzzing all morning. Might have your best shots right at legal shooting time. Good luck and post up pics when your done!!


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## lawrence1

With just the Marsh Zone coming in tomorrow it's sure to be packed. Wish I was going though. Next weekend for me. Be sure and report back. Good luck!


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## bdawg

Well, I would say we did pretty well. Would've done better if we could shoot straighter! Took about 35 shots myself and got 5 coots. I missed my 1st 10 shots before getting the hang of it. Not bad for a rabbit hunter I guess. between the 3 of us, we got 16 coots, 1 gadwall, and one pintail. Had 2 chances at geese and missed. They flew directly overhead, 30 - 40 yds up. Didn't see many ducks. The ones we did see were very high up and didn't come into our decoys. Didn't see any teal either. I think we weren't camoed well enough. Saw some ducks coming into our decoys they veared off from far away. My boat is unpainted aluminum. The made a blind from camo burlap and pvc tubing, but you could still see through in the bright sun.

We got there at 1am. There were at least 10 trailers there already. Was tough going through the weeds with an electric motor so we switched on the gas. Didn't like making that much noise in a quiet marsh. We tried to go to the other side of the marsh but there were guys already set up there. Didn't try to go into the shallow end of the marsh with my boat. Was afraid of hitting bottom in the dark in an area that I didn't know very well. My friend who knows duck hunting had only been there once and that time he had hunted from the dike with a kayak. So, we went out blind helped by a full moon, blundered into other guys areas then went back out to the edge of the open water. Ran our 2 boats into a patch of high grass 10' around about 30 yds from a much larger and thicker patch of reeds. Probably 150yds from the treeline on the opposite side of the marsh from the ramp. At dawn we saw coots swimming around us, but didn't shoot until they all started flying. It was a coot shooting fest the 1st hour! Every time some would shoot in the thicker areas, they would fly out low towards open water and around the thick reeds, giving us 30yd shots mostly. Our shooting chased them back in to the others. Didn't see any other boat in the open water. Watched ducks come into a spread with mojo decoys about 100 yds from us. It was a fun experience, just exhausting. Did get much sleep on the boat because of the cold morning. Had to pull over for a nap on the drive home. Wish I had gotten a hotel and made it a 2 day trip!


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## Tritonman

Are those mud hens any good to eat?


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## lawrence1

All those ducks around and you guys are shooting old green legs? Lmao


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## ldrjay

I learned not to bother with decoys. once we pulled them ducks actually started coming in.


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## bdawg

I ate them tonight. Tasted fine to me. Similar to deer backstraps actually. Just more tender. I soaked them in saltwater for a day. I have done this for rabbit and squirrel and it takes away the gaminess. Also scraped all the fat from the breast before soaking them. Tried the legs too. Tastes like squirrel, but not as tough.


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## bdawg

lawrence1 said:


> All those ducks around and you guys are shooting old green legs? Lmao


I didn't see many ducks except for very high in the sky later in the morning. Maybe because at dawn we were banging coots. My buddy said shoot and I shot. Didn't know what I was shooting at until he rounded up a few birds. There were hundreds of them out there! It was great practice and they made a decent meal.


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## beaver

Coots love Metzger. We shot a limit of mallards and teal one day up there. We also wacked a bunch of mudhens. We breasted them all out and cooked them together. None of us had any complaints. They tasted fine.


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