*Not sponsored by Drake Waterfowl in any way.
The padding in knees and ass stood the test. Whether is was barbed wire, logs, stumps under water, getting out of the boat, getting in the boat, kneeling on the rocks, twisting in your chair while pass shooting… all these happened this season and there is absolutely no harm done.
Right on your chest is a spot to hold 12 shells! That helps a lot when there is quick shooting going on. If you combine that with a shell belt, you’re going to be ready for anything.
Up here in Minnesota it gets really cold. It’s hard to feel the trigger pull with gloves on and even harder to call. With fleece lined pockets at the chest, I never even needed gloves. I was able to warm up my hand no problem and keep the bulky gloves in the blind bag. The other pockets are also magnetic which are awesome when you are moving around as much as water-fowlers do.
After the first hunt, I was soaked. I used my waders from last season and they had developed several holes in them. After that I knew it wasn’t worth it and I decided I would just sweat it out in my 1600 gram Eqwaders. To my surprise, that did not happen. The entire season I was very comfortable and had no problems. They aren’t quite “breathable,” but they are definitely comfortable to hunt in all year. Next season, I’m going to be start with these from day one.
The shoulder straps are a pain when it comes to shouldering your shotgun. I have had this problem with almost all the waders I have tried so it is nothing new. All I do is go with one strap when it actually is time to shoot. It also doesn’t fit as snug as I would like and it is a “no-buckle” strap so there isn’t any way to get around this.
The straps on the ankles are also a bit bulky. They are there so you can tighten the grip around your ankle and prevent your boot from slipping out in the mud, but I never used this feature. They just get in the way and catch on things like the side of the boat when getting in and out.
The cloth that is suppose to protect the boot not only gets in the way sometimes, but it also hold water long enough to get it in your boat. I get in and out of my boat at least 20 times a hunt and so a lot of water collects over time. Not a deal breaker, but definitely annoying. On the plus side, there is little to no mud that gets caught in the cloth.
I recommend these to you because they stood up against an entire season. I have NEVER use a pair of waders for a second season because they all have failed. The welding on the seems is fantastic and the durable material is second to none. I highly recommend them.
The only reason I would buy another pair next season is if Sitka came out with some in their Optifade Marsh Pattern.
Cal grew up playing football at a young age before his time at Armstrong High School. At Armstrong, Cal was an All-Metro selection for football as well as a team captain and a driven leader on and off the field. Leaving high school, his dream was to play football at the highest levels possible. RCTC is a junior college in Minnesota that quietly has one of the most well respected football programs in Juco. RCTC is nationally ranked almost every season and recruits some of the best talent in the country. It was here that Cal played with some amazing athletes and was challenged in every way to be his best self.
Though his time on the field has passed, he has replaced this drive for the game with a drive for the hunt. He is focused on bringing his passion and love for hunting to every person he can.
Football taught me what it meant to work for something greater than yourself. When I played football there was no separation between my teammates. The color of your skin, where you were from, how much money you had, who you loved, the mistakes you had made…none of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was what color you bled, how hard you worked, and what sacrifice you were willing to give. What an unbelievable thing in our world today. We started camp with 120 players and traveled to our bowl game with 53. You had to want it.
I have found in my short life that passion is the only thing that makes me JUMP out of my bed. Without passion, I drag. I can’t decide what I want or why I’m doing what I’m doing. When I left football, this passion was gone. I was dragging myself everywhere I went. I think that a lot of us are searching for what we truly love.
We spend years and sometimes even a lifetime searching for our true passions. In my opinion the biggest factor just comes down to how hard you’re looking.
I found Waterfowl Hunting because of one of my dearest friends Joey Vassallo. He literally forced me into a boat and pushed me into a blind. I owe this love to him. My experience is that good friends will set you straight in time. Surround yourself with people that are more passionate than you and you will be truly blessed.
My life is headed in a million directions and I love it. Starting Midwest Flyways has been one of the best choices I ever made and I couldn’t be more grateful to be doing it alongside two of the most driven and passionate people I know. I’m looking forward to growing MWF, working on other projects that remain to be seen, and propelling my passions into everybody I meet. I want to share my love for life with anybody I can and Midwest Flyways will continue to be one of the greatest ways for me to accomplish this.
Music
Track one:
Music by BENSOUND http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
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Track two:
Daybreak by Electric Mantis https://soundcloud.com/electricmantis
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Music provided by Audio Library https://youtu.be/1cgXZLQieRk
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The best part of buying vortex products is their VIP warranty. They will replace or fix any damaged functionality of their products regardless of how the damage happened as long as it wasn’t deliberate. UNREAL.
We would have no hesitation buying Vortex Products again, including these extremely affordable Diamondbacks.
This article is to help young hunters who are just getting into the duck hunting and don’t want to go through the trial and error of cleaning birds the wrong way. Hopefully this article/ video helps you not go through some of the nightmares I’ve encountered while cleaning my ducks and geese.
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Watch the video for a quick tutorial demonstration.
The single feed call is exactly like it seems. It is a duck (maybe two or three) feeding on the water. It is an effective call for most hunting situations and used when hunters what ducks to think there is food in the area for them to eat.
When a flock of ducks are already interested in your spread and the greeting call has already caught your attention, pull out the chuckle.
When doing the feed call, use the part of your tongue just under the tip and the roof of your mouth. As you release air and snap your tongue down, raise the back of your tongue up to the back of the roof of your mouth to cut off the air. The faster you do this process, the more it will sound like a chuckle.
The rolling feed is an expansion of a single feed and would be really only used in areas where there might be lots of feeding ducks and you have put out both the right style and the right amount of decoys to justify using it. This style of feed calling is mostly used on stage in competition calling to show your tongue control and skills.
The honest answer is that this call isn’t something you would need to use very often. You can, however, use this style in short spurts,(1-3 seconds)varying the tone, voice, and direction of the call to sound like multiple ducks aggressively feeding.
When you’re learning to do a rolling feed call that best advice we’ve been given is to walk around saying good as quickly as you can. goodgoodgoodgoodgood just over and over as you walk through the grocery store or wherever you are. This isn’t what you’re going to say into the call but it’s a great exercise to get you more comfortable moving your tongue quickly enough to do a great rolling feed. When you start learning the rolling feed, you want to start small.
Watch the video for a quick tutorial demonstration.
Take your monofilament line (we use 400lb) or whatever line you use and cut it to length.
Slide a crimp onto the line and create a loop that you can use to attach the decoy to your carabiner. Make sure there isn’t any excess that can get caught on your decoy and crimp it down.
Clip the swivel on to the decoy and run the line through one side. The swivel goes in between the two crimps once it is all said and done.
Run the second crimp down onto the other side of the line and loop through the weight, attaching the excess to the other side of the crimp.
Once the weight is looped on and the line is in place, pulling the weight and the line against each other will tighten the crimp and make the smallest loop possible. This way there is not a big loop for weeds to get caught on.
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Everything you need to know when considering the Benelli M2.
This article is also in video form and can be found here
I’ve had my M2 for about a month now and I gotta say, I straight up love it. We’ll see how it stacks up in the first season, but from what I have read, I think it will be able to handle the cold weather and harsh conditions.
From what I’ve been able to test so far, the gun pulls up really nice and sits well for a variety of people. The recoil reduction is on point. I went through several boxes and felt just fine. It comes with 5 choke tubes, but the full choke says not to use steel shot with it, so if you want to shoot with a full choke, I would recommend getting something like the Pattern Master Code Black. Check this link to see the difference between that and the Improved modified choke that comes with your gun.
I thought it was a nice touch that the gun came with a case. However, in order to use it, you have to take the barrel off which gets old after the second or third time. The breakdown is pretty quick, not as fast as the super Vinci but definitely easy. Just a quick removal of the end cap and the barrel slides right out. Speaking of the barrel, the M2 comes with a number of different barrel lengths. This one is 28” and it definitely makes those long shots a little easier to hit.
This is an inertia driven shotgun, which I am a big fan of. It makes it really easy to clean and take care of. Not to say that gas driven isn’t good, I’ve just had good experiences with inertia driven.
One thing that takes a little getting used to, is the shell lifter. I noticed that if I don’t run my thumb along the slide, it gets caught when I pull it out and pinches me pretty good. Another work around for this is to use your other finger to push the slide up while loading the extra shells.
The gun is pretty light coming in at 7.1 lbs. unloaded. Lighter than the SBE II that weighs 7.3 lbs., but heavier than the Super Vinci that weighs 7 lbs. I compare these guns because the M2 has a retail price from $1400 – $1500, while the SBE II and Super Vinci retail from $1600 – $1800. The M2 is the only one out of those guns that cannot take 3.5-inch shells, but unless you’re goose hunting, I don’t think you will miss the extra half-inch.
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