Got into Ducks Last Year, Tell a Story or Give Advice!

[WanderingWapiti]

Howdy All,

Got into duck hunting last season. I suppose I love the contrast from archery elk and big game hunting. Archery elk/big game is full on/intense. The duck hunting I was doing was mellow. I was getting out on most Saturday mornings for a few hours at a time throughout the season here in CO. Walk 10 mins, set up, sip coffee, bang bang bang (or no shots at all), go home.

I didn't expect to get into it so much. The style I am doing is river/tributary hunting. Throwing out a half dozen decoys in eddies, maybe a Mojo sometimes, maybe not. It's proven to be successful enough. When I kill, I go running down the river (river is shallow in October and later) after the duckies! Ha!

I dealt with freezing my feet off in stocking waders, so I picked up some rogers boot waders on sale recently.

I guess, I am thinking through it... what's next? How do I keep this fresh?

I need to explore new areas this fall. I have a couple spots that have been fantastic and often not busy, but I think it'd be fun to try some new locations. Calling has basically been useless for me, so I could learn that.

If you could go back to when you were a new duck hunter, what would you do differently to enjoy it more? Not looking for anything ground breaking. Or, do you have a favorite duck story?

Just thought it'd be fun to talk ducks!

 

[MarkOrtiz]

We just finished our third season. Our first season we only went out 3-4 times, but it was enough to get hooked. Our second season, we happened to find a duck club close to the house that has 20 blinds and some decent water. We were really hooked. After the second season we bought a puppy. She was young for the third season, but she still did great. I think 1/2 the fun now is just watching her and training with her. I would say the next step would be to get a dog .

 

[DuckDawg22]

my hunting is anything but mellow. 3am boat launches, long runs in the cold/fog, set up in the dark and hope the marsh looks somewhat similar to how it looked when you scouted it a few days prior. It almost never does, early ducks flare, so then you're moving things around. Eventually you get settled in and a few ducks do it right and it makes the morning all worth it.

If I could go back and tell my rookie self something, it's killing one mallard or sprig that does it in the decoys is worth 10x a full stringer of divers. But I definitely get the excitement of seeing ducks turn on your decoys and feeling like you have to shoot em

Also wish I'd figured out the tennis ball retrieval trick sooner - I don't have a duck dog so I used to drop the blind and go get the ducks after each volley. Now I have a 9 foot surf rod with 60 pound braid and a tennis ball on the end that I can cast out and retrieve fallen ducks with. Picked that trick up watching guys with R/C boats at the local park lake use that method to retrieve boats that capsized. I can launch a wet tennis ball a quarter mile and the braid gets snagged in the feathers, works well.

 

[WanderingWapiti]

We just finished our third season. Our first season we only went out 3-4 times, but it was enough to get hooked. Our second season, we happened to find a duck club close to the house that has 20 blinds and some decent water. We were really hooked. After the second season we bought a puppy. She was young for the third season, but she still did great. I think 1/2 the fun now is just watching her and training with her. I would say the next step would be to get a dog .

That's awesome! Do you mostly hunt from/at the duck club now?

A dog is a tempting idea! How much do you end up training her on a daily basis?

 

[ethanbillingsley]

Old man I used to bird hunt with told me to never leave my gun when picking up decoys. I've killed many birds packing up in the morning just because I chose to make a few extra trips. Also motion is the name of the game with decoys. Jerk rigs, mojo's, or even moving water you are standing in is paramount for killing birds. I can't speak to birds out west but for the south any mojo works great. Especially the ones that sit right off the water. You can add some zip ties to the wings and they will continuously slap the water and add movement. Birds have great vision so stay camouflaged, stay vigilant, and most of all stay patient.

 

[WanderingWapiti]

Also wish I'd figured out the tennis ball retrieval trick sooner - I don't have a duck dog so I used to drop the blind and go get the ducks after each volley. Now I have a 9 foot surf rod with 60 pound braid and a tennis ball on the end that I can cast out and retrieve fallen ducks with. Picked that trick up watching guys with R/C boats at the local park lake use that method to retrieve boats that capsized. I can launch a wet tennis ball a quarter mile and the braid gets snagged in the feathers, works well.

I am intrigued by the retrieval method. Not sure I fully understand. Got any pics or videos of how that works?

 

[DuckDawg22]

I am intrigued by the retrieval method. Not sure I fully understand. Got any pics or videos of how that works?

No videos, but cast the tennis ball beyond the duck, and when you get close to the bird really slow it down, nudge it with the ball and get the braid into the feathers. It's usually enough to snag it, might have to do it twice. But beats breaking the blind down and blowing out any passing birds for the next hour.

To rig it, poke a small hole at the "poles" of the ball and use a coffee straw to bridge the gap. You can run the braid through the straw, at which point I'll typically add a 1-2oz tungsten punch weight and then terminate the line around a bead. When you get to the bird and stop the retrieve, the punch weight drops down and acts as the hook almost. Once the ball gets wet it helps with retrieving but it's almost more of a casting indicator.

 

[UpTop]

Dude, turn around and run! It will take over your life and consume you

 

[KurtR]

That's awesome! Do you mostly hunt from/at the duck club now?

A dog is a tempting idea! How much do you end up training her on a daily basis?

Every day. It can be as simple as making them wait to eat or go through doors or as complex as going out and running a poison bird quad with multiple re entries.

I dont even really care about shooting much and more its running my dog that makes me smile and seeing the looks on my buddies face when he does a couple hundred yard blind they never thought he would get the bird.

Every thing else has taken a back seat to waterfowl hunting so i can maximize the time with my dog in short time he is around. Its been my first love since my grandpa took me in the blind 40 years ago.

Scouting is the number one thing i would go back and tell my younger self put the time in finding the birds.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

A dog man, get a dog. Specifically a lab from a good pedigree.

 

[WanderingWapiti]

Two votes for a dog. Might have to be two dogs, one for me and one for the wife. She loves mini aussies. Which seems to be a trend these days.

Can a lab that lives in a suburban home be ok in -20 F temps with running water, ice and snow? Honest question, seems like those temps would be tough on even the hardiest of dogs.

 

[RockAndSage]

Can a lab that lives in a suburban home be ok in -20 F temps with running water, ice and snow? Honest question, seems like those temps would be tough on even the hardiest of dogs.

It'll blow your mind how capable labs are in frigid temps and water.

Besides a good dog, one great tip I picked up is to make sure your decoys are not facing the same direction - alerted birds face into the wind just before they take off, and that definitely makes calling in birds a lot harder. Relaxed birds are facing all different directions.

 

[kwackkillncrew]

i like to hunt ducks, dont do much puddle duck hunting any more because theres to many people and i got enough toys in the yard for our other activities. Sea ducks are by far my favorite to hunt, especially the scoters. I use a paddle board to get all my ducks. I have use a musky rod and a top water lure before to retrieve them in MN when the floated out to deep in the BWCA

 

[TimberRunner]

Dude, turn around and run! It will take over your life and consume you

this guy knows. Duck hunters spend more $ and time than any other hunting group.

I've spent more time and money duck hunting than anything else, including NR big game tags. I remember walking into reservoirs with 6 decoys and a mossberg pump. I'm glad it's a different level now.

Club, SxS, boats, dogs, etc. I wouldn't change a thing.

We just ordered 40 doz higdon battleships for our club. Should keep us busy texas rigging those for a while.

Hunt fronts. Weather is like the stock market in duck hunting, you want it warming or cooling. Both move birds. I also enjoy rain hunts.

My yella dog

 

[KurtR]

Two votes for a dog. Might have to be two dogs, one for me and one for the wife. She loves mini aussies. Which seems to be a trend these days.

Can a lab that lives in a suburban home be ok in -20 F temps with running water, ice and snow? Honest question, seems like those temps would be tough on even the hardiest of dogs.

They can if you take the right precautions when they get wet. bring a towel to dry them off get a good fitting vest . Some where for them to get out of the wind. There are a bunch of clubs out there that would be great help and fun to help training. Take your wife and have her watch them run a 300 yd blind and she will forget about the mini aussie . Then you can have two labs haha

 

[CMP70306]

Went on my first waterfowl hunt on New Year’s Day with my brother and some of his buddies. I got my first goose then promptly went home and ordered a bunch of TSS/steel duplex loads because bismuth sucks. I’m glad I got to kill my first goose with my old Superposed but they had the decoys set at 40 yards and after double tapping two different birds that flew off I finally got lucky and this one caught a #1 to the head.



So my advice from my sole trip is that unless you get a ton of opportunities don’t skimp on ammo if you can avoid it. Next year I’ll be borrowing my brothers Maxus 2 to hunt with so I can use better ammo and I’ll be bringing my golden along as I really want to see her retrieve a goose. Got her comfy in her blind, just have to make sure she stays there when the birds come in.

 

[Timplant]

I did it when I was a kid and then backed off and now the last 5 years have been insane.... lots of cold and lots of birds in northern michigan! Come on over sometime, from flooded corn field honkers too late season divers we've got it all...... and when I say it bites you it bites HARD, Have a dedicated surface drive havoc, and a new pup at home. I saw it up above, and I hunt any day I can, but BE SITTING ON STORMS. Weather moving in or weather moving out, you can literally watch the birds follow or be pushed in by rain wind clouds. Best times of the last 10 years in the layouts or the pit blinds with the boys, some good dogs, and a hot cup of coffee!

 

[TimberRunner]

Very much a communal hunt. A definite contrast from sitting in a deer stand or hunting turkeys solo.

 

[WanderingWapiti]

Very much a communal hunt. A definite contrast from sitting in a deer stand or hunting turkeys solo.

Yeah, that is really a fun part of it. Getting to hang out and hunt. Love it!

 

[spur60]

I don't care if it's jump shooting wood ducks off a small pond or decoying 5000 mallards to the spinners in a corn field, I love all of it.