Photo by Paul Tessier

I had my best duck season ever last year. I killed nearly twice as many birds as the previous year, but pulled the trigger less than half the number of times. I also only lost one cripple, and that happened when a wing-shot widgeon kept diving away from Lily, my yellow Labrador retriever, until it drowned. Most of my birds fell quickly and didn't move after they hit the ground or water.

How did I do it?

In one sense, the answer is simple: I finally began to shoot a shell that matched my shotgun and the type of hunting I do.

The subject of shotgun shell selection for waterfowlers can be complicated. Nearly every hunter will end up with a different type of load, depending on their gun, the type of ducks they hunt, and the way they hunt them.

The narrative for my dramatic shooting improvement began when I broke the stock on my old double barrel. It is a 1930s-era Riverside 12 gauge that I inherited from my grandfather. It is heavy, with 30-inch barrels, and twin full chokes. Although I knew that it was potentially bad for the barrel, I shot steel shot through it when I hunted ducks. I planned to retire the double and get a new gun, one that would hold three shells and handle heavier loads. But I couldn't find a pump or automatic that appealed to me, and newer side-by-sides were out of my price range. So I kept shooting the Riverside and did okay on birds that came in close to my decoys.

Then I broke the gun. Lily had just made a long, swimming retrieve on a drake mallard. When she reached the beach, she put the bird on the sand to readjust her grip. The duck started to wriggle away, and without thinking, I hit it in the head with my gun butt. It killed the bird, but the 60-year-old stock shattered.

I figured that now I would definitely buy a new gun. It was the middle of duck season though, so I borrowed a pump 12 gauge from a friend. It took 3-inch shells and magnums, and he recommended No. 2 shot. Contrary to what I expected, my shooting deteriorated slightly. Initially, I attributed it to the fact that I wasn't accustomed to looking down a single barrel. I continued to shop for a new gun. I went to sporting goods stores, large and small. I attended a gun show. I also frequented pawnshops. But I couldn't find a gun I liked.

When the person who loaned me the pump wanted it back, I borrowed another pump. My shooting continued to limp along, and I became increasingly frustrated. I was missing birds that were in range. Even worse, I was hitting ducks, sometimes repeatedly, and they weren't falling.

By the end of the season, I decided to fix the double. I ordered a new stock from a mail order house, and fitted, sanded and stained it that summer. Now that I had made a new commitment to the double, I also decided to stop shooting steel through it. This was partly because I now want it to last longer. But it was also the result of reading a passage in an old Jack O'Connor book about the superiority of smaller shot and denser patterns for ducks. I ordered a few boxes of Kent's Tungsten/Matrix shells -- non-toxic shot that is as heavy as lead and may be shot through old barrels -- in size 5 for the right barrel and 3s for the left.