Field Hunting Mallards

Field Hunting Mallards
by Adam Brassfield - Pro Staff Contributor

WhenI was a kid, I hunted with old timers who did not believe in spending money ondecoys, opting instead to save three dozen 2-liter bottles and paint them blackand green. Nowadays there are so many good decoy companies with good color andshape that it is a job just picking one out that you like best. I like a decoythat is at least 17 inches long with bright backs and dark heads, especially ifI am hunting mallards. Also, the length of the anchor line should be at least 20 inches above the water level that you are hunting. This insures propermovement of the decoy in breezy winds.

Duckhunting in a field unit can be tricky, especially if your decoy placement isincorrect. Wind, sunlight and other factors come into play. Most duck huntersare in a hurry and do not take these things into consideration. Hopefully thiswill help.

WhenI hunt a field, the first thing I think about for set-up is that I want my backor left shoulder to the sun. A duck’s eyesight is very keen and the last thingthat I need is to get busted on final approach because I can’t see to make thecorrect judgment with my Beretta Xtreme shotgun. Once this is accomplished, mydecoy set-up is important. Again, if you process this before the hunt begins itwill reduce multiple movements, which can be a disaster. If you do not hunt fora living, you are limited to mainly weekends or a few days here and there,which is exactly why this is even more important.

Ido not believe in leaving decoys in the same pattern every day. Your decoyplacement should take into consideration both where you want ducks to land andwind direction. I have heard and read stories about aerial patterns on decoys,but I have to be honest and tell you that I have had no luck with this. Notbecause it does not work, but that I am not interested in trying to workmallards that are so high they are wearing oxygen masks. However, in a fieldunit, there is one set-up that has never failed me… if the ducks are there.Then I unleash the Beretta Xtreme!

Ilike to hunt with the wind off my left shoulder, blowing out in front of me, ifat all possible. I never want the wind in my face. This allows the ducks tosail over my head and I take a high risk of my blind or my boat being pickedoff. So, with the wind right, the decoys are placed like so: I use around fiveto seven dozen decoys in a broken “J” style set-up. The longest side of the “J”is determined by the wind direction. What I feel this does is give me atargeted landing zone with a back stop to prevent over-flight. This normallykeeps the ducks from passing up my shooting lane. See the picture for anexample. Good luck and smoke those mallards with your Beretta!

For more information on the new Beretta A400 Xtreme please feel free to contact me anytimeat my website or on Facebook.

Four Folks who Changed History and Chose Beretta

by Guns.com - guest contributor

This is a guest post from Guns.com. Check out Guns.com for news, original content, product reviews and editorials with a focus on objective journalism, quality and, above all else, guns.

A lot can get done on a name alone and when you’ve been making guns (or doing anything) as long as Beretta has, you tend to realize the value of this. That’s why we’re looking at a couple big names that changed the world but when it came to shooting, chose Berettas:

READ THE REST OFTHE STORY IN OUR NEW BLOG HOME. CLICK HERE.

A trap-shooting adventure

by Josh Leonard - Guest contributor

Hello Beretta Nation! My name is Josh Leonard, and I have been given the opportunity to write about Trapshooting for Beretta.

First a little bit about me. I am fourth generation shooter from a small town in southeast Indiana. I am in communication technology sales by trade, but my spare time is dedicated to my passions: my family, trapshooting, and motorsports. Some of my fondest memories growing up were at a local gun club with my father and grandfather, and each time I smell the burnt powder in a spent hull it takes me back to those moments. Here I am twenty-some years later shooting with some of those guys I remember from when I was shorter than a trap gun. I started shooting when I was around 14 with a field gun that I had gotten as a gift. I learned about the basics of the sport and shot as much as I could on a 14 year old boy’s budget. Then I turned 16, got my driver’s license, and my focus was directed to what seemed important as a teenager. Just over two years ago after my grandfather, who used to take me to the gun club, passed away I was going through some old things at my house and found a bag of hulls… oh there was that smell. Over ten years had gone by and it was still just a strong as it was when they came out of the gun. I told my now wife, “I am going to start trapshooting again” and she has been completely supportive since that statement. I went and picked up a Beretta 390, drug out my old single stage loader, bought some loading components, and here I am today. Well kind of. I still am shooting the 390, but I have upgraded a hydraulic loader to keep up with my shooting. I even got my dad to start shooting again, so it gives us something to enjoy together.

Over the course of my blog, there are several things I hope to cover. First of all, being only two years into registered shooting, I am a short yardage shooter (21.5 yds). However, I want to move closer to the back fence, so hopefully readers can follow me on my trek to get to the coveted 27 yard line. I am also in the process of shopping for a new Beretta. I am planning to pick up a 680 series gun that I can utilize to shoot all disciplines of American Trapshooting. I have yet to tackle doubles, and look forward to that challenge. So readers can follow me, as I adjust and adapt to a new gun while trying to improve my scores. (If I actually am able to learn anything worth passing along, I promise to share it) I hope to give some coverage to some of the shoots I attend such as State Shoots, The Cardinal Classic, The Grand American, and so on. I also want to touch on the state of the sport: not the political aspects, but rather the future. I think it is incredibly important to get the youth involved, and ATA’s AIM program is an excellent step in that direction, but I think we, as shooters, need to be activists for the insurance of the future of trapshooting. Finally, I hope to do some research into the mental and physical aspects of the game. Preparation and practice are two of the most important things to shooting. I am by far no expert on the mental part, and I am built like a typical trap shooter. So I have a lot to learn, but anything that I find helpful I intend to pass along.

I want to thank Beretta for this opportunity, and also want to thank all of the readers who follow each of my entries. If there is anything the readers want to hear about feel free to comment and I will do the best I can. Till next time…

Live, Eat, Breath to Duck Hunt

by Adam Brassfield – Pro Staff Contributor

When I think about watching a group of mallards falling into my decoys on a cool, cloudy day, it absolutely sends chills on places of my body that I did not even know existed! I raise my Beretta A400 Xtreme and look down the barrel with butterflies in my stomach when my finger touches the trigger. It happens, the moment that nothing else matters. There are no phones ringing, no bill collectors interfering and no worries distracting. It is me and Mr. Greenhead in a moment of complete reflection of everything I have learned and taught as a professional hunter.

As I travel across the country in 22 states every year, speaking to nearly 180,000 people in person at my seminars, I have found thousands who feel exactly the same way. My group is called H.U.N.T.E.R.S. 24/7 WATERFOWL and we are dedicated to Beretta Shotguns. I duck hunt every day along the Mississippi flyway. I hunt flooded fields and flooded timber in multiple states and find that every experience has its teaching attributes. From decoy placement, gun care, calling tactics, dog training, shell selection and travel preparation. Together we will talk and learn over the course of these entries.

I am a full-blooded redneck that is very passionate about what I do and sometimes different articles leave people as confused as a one-legged cat trying to bury a mouse in a frozen pond. That will not happen here. I will always be straight forward and brutally honest. I was raised in Northeast Arkansas and started duck hunting when I was 9 years old with a bunch of old men who had no room for error… and no teeth, for that matter. I now live in Southeast Missouri where in the last few years duck hunting has excelled.

Just the other day I was in a duck boat in a flooded field while it was raining ice and spitting snow. Most people would not stay very long in these conditions, but I was wearing my Beretta Xtrema Jacket holding out for a familiar sight. In the last 30 minutes of the hunt it was as though the Mallards were being sucked in like a vacuum cleaner. In that time period Tasha, my gorgeous lady, and I limited out. It was a source of dedication that comes from way down deep and the confidence in our set-up that made it all happen. I am proud to be a part of this blog and I promise this will be fun for you and me.

I will be sharing pictures and video on occasion, but we are always updating this style of content on my website. Remember, tough hunts do not last, but tough guns do. The Beretta A400 Xtreme is the best waterfowl shotgun in the world. You can take that to the bank.

What Is Hunting About For You?

(by Brad Wilson - guest contributor)

Have you ever just sat back and asked yourself why you hunt? Have you ever wondered what it is all about with the expensive leases, high price of ammo, $1000+ guns, ATVs, boats, dogs, and so on?
I have hunted most of my life and sometimes I have to stop and ask myself what it is really all about. There was a time when all I cared about was getting that bull pintail sporting a pair of 8” sprigs or that mallard drake that had 4 curls, fully plumed out, with some jewelry on its leg. I have to admit I was caught up. I was more worried about showing off my accomplishments than being thankful for what I had been blessed with.
It wasn’t until about 4 years ago while I was at a Blast & Cast Men’s Ministries event that I realized that this “game” that we all take part in is more than we sometimes give it credit for. It is about sitting in a duck blind, brushed in by the natural habitat that had grown up around it. It is about watching the sun rise over the bay that has a thin layer of fog over the top of it and seeing a wad of early morning teal come buzzing into the decoys. It is about the smell of gunpowder when you pull the trigger on that brand new Beretta A400 Xtreme shotgun that you were so forunate to receive. It is about watching your dog work to retrieve the bird you shot but didn’t know was banded until you got it in your hand. It’s about friendships, camaraderie, and brotherhood that you share with some of the closest friends in your life. It’s about watching your first-born child shoot his or her first duck with your grandpa’s old Stevens single shot .410 and seeing the huge smile on their face. It’s about being able to share that same first duck with your brothers in the blind. It’s about taking your 70 year old grandpa hunting with you and soaking in his “infinite wisdom,” quietly, because one day he won’t be there to share it with you.
All-too-often we get caught up in the rat race of life, whether it be work, home, or these great outdoors that we were so graciously blessed with. All-too-often we need to stop, take a step back, and realize the money, time, and effort we spend has its own rewards that are far beyond what we sometimes give credit for.
So what is hunting about for you?

Embarking On A Waterfowl Journey

(by Brad Wilson - guest contributor)

It was a warm September morning. The sun was due up in a couple of hours, and what we like to call “The Rebirth of an Addiction” was about to take place. The boat was parked in a cane break that harbored what we would soon find out to be a waterfowler’s dream. About an hour to legal shooting time, we decided to go ahead and throw out the decoys and get set up. The spread was going to be large and very inviting. We had just over 15 dozen blocks of various species tossed out and bobbing up and down with every ripple of the salt water beneath them. As time grew nearer, the feeling inside was comparable to your first kiss but with a slight difference. See, this feeling was familiar but never ceases to change when this time of year rolls around. It is a feeling that you have been looking forward to since the last day of the previous season, and it is something that non-hunters could never understand. An addiction. A feeling. A passion. The morning ended with full straps of Blue Wing Teal and little did we know was a true sign of things to come.

My name is Brad Wilson, and I am just your average Joe that grew up in an industrial town just outside of Houston, Texas called Baytown. I was raised as an outdoorsman by an outdoorsman. My dad was an avid deer hunter and we shared many cool Texas mornings in a deer stand in the piney woods of deep East Texas chasing that elusive wall hanger that so many have a yearning for. It wasn’t until the age of 21 that I was introduced to waterfowl hunting by a really close friend that I worked with. Matt is still like a brother to me, and we are blessed to be able to get out in the field together a few times a season. From then on there was no looking back. I have hunted ducks and geese all along the Texas Coast every season since. I am also an avid fisherman and will get a line wet every chance I get whether it is chasing speckled trout and redfish in Trinity Bay or black bass and crappie on Lake Sam Rayburn. I have an extremely understanding, beautiful, and loving wife, 2 awesome sons that I share my passion for the outdoors with religiously, and 2 labrador retrievers that are not only my duck dogs but family as well. I shoot a Beretta A400 Xtreme, have recently been drawn to reloading my own shells, and run a JB Custom duck call on a Cut Em Custom Lanyard that I made myself. God, family, my country, hunting, fishing, and guns are the things in life that I love in that very order with the last three running hand in hand with each other.

I was very blessed to be asked to write for the Beretta USA Blog, and I look forward to sharing as I “Embark On A Waterfowl Journey” over the next few months. I hope you enjoy!

It's your time to tell me what you think

You guys are social-media-savvy, so I might be preaching to a well-educated choir, but, from time to time, I'm asked why Beretta is so active in social media.

The answer, in my opinion, is easy: contact. Contact with our customers, with those who use (or are thinking about using) our products.
Beretta Nation was born to allow people like you to be a step closer to us. Gone are the days of a brand being a distant "entity" that people only partially knew.

The advent of social media for Beretta is deeper than one would think. The vision for a more open, accessible and interactive Beretta came from the office of Mr. Franco Beretta himself. As someone who is holding the rudder of a 500-year old company, he knew that Beretta exists thanks to its customers. Feedback and contact has always been at the root of how Beretta operates: in the 19th Century, in Gardone Val Trompia, the Beretta family created a showroom that would be the place where business was conducted. People would literally walk in and see the World of Beretta. This showroom (today it is the site of the Beretta Museum) sits attached to the Beretta villa where the family lived.
Today, with business in all Continents, conducted in dozen of languages and including millions of transactions every day, the Beretta showroom needs to move from a physical place to a digital one. But the sentiment behind it is the same: it is the desire to be in direct contact with the customer, to understand what the Beretta Nation needs and wants, how they like our products. It is a deep understanding of the importance of transparency in what we do, of keeping the promises we make, and of giving employees a way to communicate with every customer in a way that is as personal as possible.

I see our Facebook account not as a way to push product, but as a way to connect, seek feedback and - as importantly - listen. Our Twitter activity is a tool that lets us tell you about our day-to-day activities: meetings, decisions, funny stuff that happens at the espresso machine (our form of water cooler,) cool pictures and shared ideas.

I have learned more in the past six-or-so months of activity than I had in over a decade of trade and consumer shows, of press conferences and meetings.

Beretta Nation is a community, now; one that I value and one that, I trust, will always give it to me straight. There's no wrong opinion. People are usually very complimentary. Sometimes they are not, and that's ok: our social media activity is also a way to make things right, when we drop the ball.

YouTube is another wonderful community. We do have a lot of fun, filming our how-to videos, our product overviews and our presentations. There is a reel of out-takes that I'm always tempted to show. Should I?
I also dabble in forums. These aren't "Beretta turf" and so I walk in as a guest. I will give my opinion, sure, but I let other people talk. The enthusiasm and honesty that reigns in forums is truly heart-warming. (PS: check out the Beretta Forum!)
So... why social media? Because we can't fit all of you in our Accokeek factory, or we would. We want to hear from you. We want you to be the driving force behind our next Five Centuries of business and success.
But I do want to hear from you: do you follow us on Twitter? Are you a Facebook fan? Have you seen our videos? In other words: are you Beretta Nation?
What do you expect out of social media presence? Did we deliver? What do you like best about what we do in this area? Where can we get better?
After all, blogs are made just for this!