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

[Oregon]

I've been duck hunting for 35+ years. For me, it's all about the dogs. I have 5 right now that I rotate. If I couldn't have some good dogs for some reason, I'd stop duck hunting the same day.


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It’s absolutely uncivilized having to pick up your own birds!
Lost her 2 weeks ago.

New pup just celebrated his first birthday about the same time.

 

[BucksNBulls]

It’s absolutely uncivilized having to pick up your own birds!
Lost her 2 weeks ago.
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New pup just celebrated his first birthday about the same time.

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My condolences. That Yellow of mine is almost 12 and I know his time is short. He has been my favorite dog of a life time and there have been many to choose from.

 

[Oregon]

My condolences. That Yellow of mine is almost 12 and I know his time is short. He has been my favorite dog of a life time and there have been many to choose from.

Yeah. You just never know. Brown dog was only 10 and from an extremely reputable NW breeder. I always have 4-6 dogs in the house and it’s never easy. Love them non stop and that’s all you can do.

 

[molliesmaster]

Overall, having grown up around the MS flyway and having been exposed to some various duck camps in the Mississippi Delta, SW Tennessee and Arkansas, I'd confidently conclude that, at least based on my exposure, duck hunters as a sub user group are my least favorite subset of hunters. Know it alls, condescending pricks, gear snobs to the next level, grown versions of frat boys (or maybe even just active frat boys).... and, even worse, the rich version of all of those types thrown in a room. Bump it up a level to the true rich man's clubs where you have SEC football on the big screen in the duck blind, a bloody mary bar waiting for your return and an employee to clean your ducks for you. AND, almost none of the guys at this level even eat duck. Many of them have never eaten it even once and will look at you sideways at the mere mention of cooking some to eat. Oh, and they are all fat, everyone of them. The obesity rate amongst duck hunters in the Southeast is effectively 100%.

Wait a minute now, at 6'1 and 195 lbs, I'm hardly what people call fat. I'm also poor, probably because I spent the majority of my "education" years chasing ducks around the southeast. So clearly it isn't 100%, maybe more like 98% or around there.

I'm not gonna lie, though, if someone wants to fix me a Bloody Mary when I get home, I probably wouldn't be mad at it.

 

[molliesmaster]

To the OP considering duck hunting: Just mail me a check for $1000 every year, punch yourself in the balls a few times, and take up golf.

You'll come out ahead every year and save yourself a lot of trouble, guaranteed.

 

[ianpadron]

Duck hunting used to be my favorite thing on Earth. I was truly obsessed to the point that I moved from WI to WA specifically because of their 107 day duck season and Puget sound wintering grounds...yes, that obsessed!

Things that make it way more fun in order from most important to least.

1) get a dog. I'll never duck hunt again without a dog, truly makes the hunt. I was blessed with an incredible field Golden "Super" Cooper as my first hunting buddy and he and I have watched more sunrises, greenheads get folded, teal swarms get blasted, etc. than any duo should have the right to experience. The bond with a good bird dog is indescribable, truly a best friend.

2) scout/plan in the off-season. There is nothing more exciting than hiking into a spot you saw birds in or that looked ducky in the off-season, once fall hits. Sometimes it's a bust, but most of the time you'll kill a few. Build a brush blind, stash some dekes, whatever... the prep and anticipation is half the fun. Here in MT, I only hunt small beaver ponds that I have to bike or hike into, or canoe only spots. Knowing there is a 0% chance of seeing other hunters and 100% chance of filling a strap of greenheads and woodies gets you out of bed a lot easier than combat hunting near a well known refuge, lake, river etc.

3) get a really nice shotgun. Has nothing to do with vanity. High end waterfowl shotguns are flat out amazing tools. Pulling a gun that's special to you out of its case adds a lot of enjoyment to the hunt for me. When I upgraded from my old Remington pump to a Winchester SX4 it was a major infusion of fun to the hunt, not to mention the amount of misses went to basically zero. I've added a few since then and they all come with that warm n fuzzy feeling haha.

4) last one is to learn up on waterfowling culture/history. Similar in nature to upland hunting and fly fishing, there is a beautiful legacy aspect to waterfowling that a lot of new waterfowlers are entirely unaware of. I was fortunate to learn from a good friend that grew up on the shores of Lake Winnebago, a waterfowling mecca in the Midwest. He had learned from a rag tag bunch of old timers and they passed on a true reverence for the process. From hand carving decoys, repurposing feathers for tying flies, collecting waterfowl artwork, etc. I find that approach more satisfying than the energy drink pounding, sky blasting, dude bro duck hunters who hit the scene circa 2020.

 

[RockAndSage]

Duck hunting used to be my favorite thing on Earth. I was truly obsessed to the point that I moved from WI to WA specifically because of their 107 day duck season and Puget sound wintering grounds...yes, that obsessed!

Things that make it way more fun in order from most important to least.

1) get a dog. I'll never duck hunt again without a dog, truly makes the hunt. I was blessed with an incredible field Golden "Super" Cooper as my first hunting buddy and he and I have watched more sunrises, greenheads get folded, teal swarms get blasted, etc. than any duo should have the right to experience. The bond with a good bird dog is indescribable, truly a best friend.

2) scout/plan in the off-season. There is nothing more exciting than hiking into a spot you saw birds in or that looked ducky in the off-season, once fall hits. Sometimes it's a bust, but most of the time you'll kill a few. Build a brush blind, stash some dekes, whatever... the prep and anticipation is half the fun. Here in MT, I only hunt small beaver ponds that I have to bike or hike into, or canoe only spots. Knowing there is a 0% chance of seeing other hunters and 100% chance of filling a strap of greenheads and woodies gets you out of bed a lot easier than combat hunting near a well known refuge, lake, river etc.

3) get a really nice shotgun. Has nothing to do with vanity. High end waterfowl shotguns are flat out amazing tools. Pulling a gun that's special to you out of its case adds a lot of enjoyment to the hunt for me. When I upgraded from my old Remington pump to a Winchester SX4 it was a major infusion of fun to the hunt, not to mention the amount of misses went to basically zero. I've added a few since then and they all come with that warm n fuzzy feeling haha.

4) last one is to learn up on waterfowling culture/history. Similar in nature to upland hunting and fly fishing, there is a beautiful legacy aspect to waterfowling that a lot of new waterfowlers are entirely unaware of. I was fortunate to learn from a good friend that grew up on the shores of Lake Winnebago, a waterfowling mecca in the Midwest. He had learned from a rag tag bunch of old timers and they passed on a true reverence for the process. From hand carving decoys, repurposing feathers for tying flies, collecting waterfowl artwork, etc. I find that approach more satisfying than the energy drink pounding, sky blasting, dude bro duck hunters who hit the scene circa 2020.

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Fantastic post. All of it, but especially appreciated the note about waterfowling history and culture - it adds a lot.

 

[WanderingWapiti]

To the OP considering duck hunting: Just mail me a check for $1000 every year, punch yourself in the balls a few times, and take up golf.

You'll come out ahead every year and save yourself a lot of trouble, guaranteed.

Haha, duly noted. I went in about a grand last year, buying a gun and some cheap decoys to get started. I'll keep in mind to take up golf!

 

[WanderingWapiti]

@ianpadron, thanks for the comments. For this year, I do think spending some time scouting will be really fun. I am still so new to it.

I am curious to see how the duck migrations are this year if we get more weather, but I am basically starting to think that most of our ducks are year round ducks and not really a part of the major migrations. I live at 9000 ft, and the ducks went down to 8000 this year. I think they'd go a bit lower in a bigger winter, but it seems like they just shuttle over to a local reservoir if that's the case. The local ducks didn't seem to go very low this year and they've back in my neighborhood since early April this year. There are geese everywhere right now too.

I picked up a Weatherby Element II in October as my first ever gun and shotgun. It's been great. The reviews leaned toward it being a good buy for the value. Maybe in a handful of years I can go fancier!

Hmm, the culture piece would be great! I know nothing! I'll have to check that out.

 

[WanderingWapiti]

I'd also like to add that the wife and I were sat by the river this week watching the sunset. We watched the geese, a beaver and some ducks. Watched a pair of mallards fly over calling, so I called back and success, they turned around and landed 50 yards down stream. They paddled slowly upstream looking for the call.

My wife said I was a dork, but I felt like a 12 year old kid. So, I can at least call a little bit! haha!

 

[MTBackroads]

Hunting birds is all about dogs.

 

[OneGunTex]

last one is to learn up on waterfowling culture/history. Similar in nature to upland hunting and fly fishing, there is a beautiful legacy aspect to waterfowling that a lot of new waterfowlers are entirely unaware of. I was fortunate to learn from a good friend that grew up on the shores of Lake Winnebago, a waterfowling mecca in the Midwest. He had learned from a rag tag bunch of old timers and they passed on a true reverence for the process. From hand carving decoys, repurposing feathers for tying flies, collecting waterfowl artwork, etc.

This is so true and glad you called it out.
In a room full of duck hunters recently, I got laughed at for saying that we have been killing ducks over decoys in America "for thousands of years." But honest to goodness that is a true statement - go look up the Lovelock Cave Canvasbacks. Waterfowling has roots in this country as old as sticking bison with pointy sticks.

 

[BuckSkinKiller]

Scouting kills the most birds. Got back into duck hunting over the last few years and leaned quickly that there is no replacement for windshield time. You could be in the right field but not the right spot. Make sure you’re where the birds are and it will make the rest easy. Here’s some piles from last season!

 

[BuckSkinKiller]

never give up....never surrender! I am always nervous when people bring dogs where we sea duck hunt, too many sea lions. I had a pack of them give me hell last year when i was trying to pick up decoys on my paddle board.

I mean it’s either you bring a dog or end up losing half your shot ducks. I only get out sea duck hunting about once a year and it’s fun… but there’s nothing like calling and turning birds into your spread

 

[kwackkillncrew]

I mean it’s either you bring a dog or end up losing half your shot ducks. I only get out sea duck hunting about once a year and it’s fun… but there’s nothing like calling and turning birds into your spread

thats not true at all. gettem in close enough and you dont have issues. Dont take dumb shots and use your last shot as a cripple killer. my buddy and i shot 34 ducks on our sea duck hunt this year and lost 1. 1 weekend we shot 80 some sea ducks between 5 of us and might have lost 6. Call me crazy, but i would rather loose a duck or 2 everyweekend then to chance losing a dog to a dumb sea lion.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Used to be a duck fanatic, with 3 babies under 4 years I am just big game hunting for a while, but my favorite is small water/ rivers. Love working a leery flock of green heads and getting them to commit, man it can be a science and an art form, setting the spread, hides, getting the perfect weather day, sometimes pre storm sometimes during sometimes post, got to the point where I was only shooting decoying drakes on public spots in Co and we would still limit 4-5 out of 20 hunts which I considered a W. Got real real busy during the Covid times, but man something about whistling wings on an absolute freezing morning right as the sun is creeping up, feels like my childhood, or like Christmas morning! Always a great time