You cleaned your duck gun at the end of last season didn't you? No? Shame on you. For this waterfowling season, you need to do a maintenance check on your duck gun. Duck hunting is often a dirty business and is tough on guns. If you start out with a cruddy gun, you can almost count on malfunctions, usually at critical moments, while shooting.

With modern ammo, bore corrosion is seldom a problem. It's everywhere else that gets gunked up -- particularly the action. Strip it down and clean it out. Use degreasing agents to soften up gummy deposits. Dig into tight spots with an old toothbrush and pipe cleaners. I sometimes use an air-pressure hose to really blow things out.

Autoloaders are quite reliable when properly maintained but are particularly sensitive to fouling in their mechanism. It's not the autoloader's fault if it quits autoloading because its critical components are filthy.

When the gun is clean, lightly lubricate it and you're ready to go.

Clay target shooting is great practice for game shooting. All of the clay target games can help hone your skill at "shooting flying." However, Sporting Clays offers more of the steeply rising and dropping targets that duplicate common waterfowl shots than trap or skeet.

If you are a clay target enthusiast, you probably have a special shotgun all tricked-out for your favorite shooting game. That's great; I love good guns and think everyone ought to have five or 50. Specialized target guns help you shoot top scores when there's a trophy on the line.

However to tune up your waterfowl shooting, take your duck gun, with the tight choke in place, to the target range. That "too-tight-for-targets" choke tube will help you get used to the tight patterns produced by steel shot and improve your ability to put them on target. Your target-range score may drop but you'll be rewarded by better shooting where it really counts -- in the duck blind.

It's no fun to get all dressed up for duck hunting and have no way to go. Standing by the road at 4 a.m. with a burned out wheel bearing or trying to crank a cranky outboard in the dark are not my ideas of a good time.
Getting your duck boat shipshape for the season pays dividends both on the road and on the water.
*Drain the gas tank and clear the fuel lines of old, probably contaminated, gas.
*Check all rubber lines and fixtures for weather-cracking.
*Change the oil in your outboard. Check and change the sparkplug if necessary. A full-scale tune up isn't a bad idea either.
*Check your trailer tires for wear and cracking. Re-pack the wheel bearings now and on a regular basis during the season.
*Check your boat for dents, dings and other obvious damage that could spring an icy leak while you are hunting.
Tending to duck boat maintenance gives you a head start toward a trouble-free hunting season.

The shift from lead to steel shot continues to plague waterfowlers with confusion about proper pellet size. Because steel is less dense than lead, a steel pellet, say a #4, is lighter than a lead #4 pellet. The steel #4 carries less energy to start with and loses its velocity and energy faster than a lead #4. The general rule of thumb to retain roughly the same pellet energy delivery on a duck, is to go up one pellet size with steel. (A #2 steel pellet hits about as hard as a #4 lead pellet.)

However, the most noticeable differences between steel and lead show up at longer ranges. Waterfowlers who shoot only close-range decoying ducks and/or in tight timber situations probably don't need to go to bigger pellets.

If your waterfowling includes long shots at ducks, you might want to go further -- up to #BB steel. A BB sounds big for duck hunting, but the way steel pellets shoot, it provides extra power at longer ranges.

There are a number of wader styles and options. The basic styles are boot- or stocking-foot waders. Stocking-foot waders require additional wading shoes and are a bit more flexible. However, due to the muddy, mucky, debris-laden wading associated with waterfowling, most waterfowlers prefer boot-foot types.
Boot-foot waders come chest and hip high. Obviously, how deep you expect to get into your duck hunting determines how high your waders should be. However, there is something to be said for chest waders even if you never go into water above your knees. They provide for dry sitting and they are warm, particularly if insulated. Form-fitting neoprene chest waders are really nice in cold weather.

Field shooters usually don't need high-water waders. However most field shooting involves mud and some standing water. Very often knee-high all-rubber boots do just fine.

Always wear quick-wicking liner socks with rubber footwear. Rubber traps your own perspiration and without liner socks you'll get wet feet anyway.