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

[WanderingWapiti]

I only call and shoot decoying birds, have no issues with anyone else's style or techniques it is just the way I like to hunt!

Location is the first priority, after that hiding well is

If your goal is to shoot birds with minimal investment, sneaking is the way. I own thousands of decoys but I still enjoy a good sneak. Whether it's quietly sneaking up through the grass to a slough edge to pop a couple wood ducks, or belly crawling a fence line to rip into 15,000 feeding snow geese.

I like it. Good reminder you don’t have to have all the toys. Just go hunt.

 

[WanderingWapiti]

Man good advice here and different styles. I like it. Stoked for October

 

[Sandhills]

Cocaine is likely cheaper and less addictive.

Used to hunt em hard. Kind slowed down for a couple years but last year I hunted half a dozen or so times and got a guy from work and his sons into it.

We were hunting a public marsh on a fog day, I usually have pretty good luck on fog days, and the boys got dove bombed by teal while there dad was walking back from their vehicle. They scared it em pretty good but no birds dropped. The younger of the two looked at his brother and said " They're Quick! They're fckin quick!" He then looked at me and kinda got an embarrassed look. I said they are fckin quick aren't they! My wife got a good laugh when I told here because the younger of the two was in her classroom the year before.

 

[BigDuckHunter]

Lots of good thoughts on this thread already. I do have one piece of advice to add though.

Think long and hard before you get a dog. You can kill plenty of birds without a dog and shouldn’t have any trouble retrieving them if you take smart shots.

I’ve seen plenty of hunts ruined by dogs and plenty of guys who used to kill lots of birds struggle to kill them after buying a dog.

All that said, my dog is my best friend and a great tool. I enjoy hunts twice as much with him as I do without, but I’ve also spent well over a thousand hours training him and often plan my day around our training sessions.

If you are going to invest in a dog, take the time to make sure it’s coming from the right litter and understand the time commitment it’s going to take to get the dog to the point where it actually makes your hunts more enjoyable.

 

[RockAndSage]

Lots of good thoughts on this thread already. I do have one piece of advice to add though.

Think long and hard before you get a dog. You can kill plenty of birds without a dog and shouldn’t have any trouble retrieving them if you take smart shots.

I’ve seen plenty of hunts ruined by dogs and plenty of guys who used to kill lots of birds struggle to kill them after buying a dog.

All that said, my dog is my best friend and a great tool. I enjoy hunts twice as much with him as I do without, but I’ve also spent well over a thousand hours training him and often plan my day around our training sessions.

If you are going to invest in a dog, take the time to make sure it’s coming from the right litter and understand the time commitment it’s going to take to get the dog to the point where it actually makes your hunts more enjoyable.

So much truth in all this. Even with putting in a reasonable amount of work, the difference between your overall hunting experience with a given dog in the first or second season is usually a different universe from their 5th or 6th ones. My dad made me feel a lot better when I was working with my first dog and had a rough first season, when he said, "All the great hunts in the later part of their lives really makes you just forget the difficulties of the first couple of seasons, it gets better."

 

[Bfoster16]

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

Nothing better than a good lab

 

[WanderingWapiti]

What calls do you guys/gals recommend?

I am spending all my money on too many fun things this year. Won't have any left for ducks! haha!

 

[Davyalabama]

I hunt divers, I don't use a call. I use sort of flutter of the tongue (now some of you stay off those comments) it makes a type of shrill that will usually turn them back after a pass through.

 

[Sandhills]

I hunt divers, I don't use a call. I use sort of flutter of the tongue (now some of you stay off those comments) it makes a type of shrill that will usually turn them back after a pass through.

Growling into a mallard call works pretty good at turning divers

 

[KurtR]

What calls do you guys/gals recommend?

I am spending all my money on too many fun things this year. Won't have any left for ducks! haha!

I got a ph-2 it’s not expensive I’m not a very good duck caller I just quack and chuckle a little . Now goose calls I might have a problem. I have a drc life sentence and short drop , molt gear mg rush, grounds half breed and a foiles straight meat. I like the drc life sentence the best for the big geese up here. Oh and a bill Saunders speck call.

 

[WanderingWapiti]

I got a ph-2 it’s not expensive I’m not a very good duck caller I just quack and chuckle a little . Now goose calls I might have a problem. I have a drc life sentence and short drop , molt gear mg rush, grounds half breed and a foiles straight meat. I like the drc life sentence the best for the big geese up here. Oh and a bill Saunders speck call.

I saw significantly more geese last year thank ducks, but had no decoys or calls to try and bring them in. Maybe I should get one just in case they come flying over like last year.

Would they show interest to calls even if I only have some duck decoys on the river?

 

[OneGunTex]

I saw significantly more geese last year thank ducks, but had no decoys or calls to try and bring them in. Maybe I should get one just in case they come flying over like last year.

Would they show interest to calls even if I only have some duck decoys on the river?

Possibly. Might drop low enough to check you out to get a passing shot.
Also never hurts to add a couple (like 2 or 3) geese to the edge of your set

 

[WanderingWapiti]

Possibly. Might drop low enough to check you out to get a passing shot.
Also never hurts to add a couple (like 2 or 3) geese to the edge of your set

I like that idea. I'll have to think if I want to throw em in the water or usually there's a nearby field or two.

 

[OneGunTex]

I like that idea. I'll have to think if I want to throw em in the water or usually there's a nearby field or two.

I'd throw a couple floaters towards the distant end of your J or off to the side of your blob. Never had an issue with ducks finishing to that, but i actually did have issues flaring ducks at my pond when we tried to add a couple dozen goose silos on land.

Of course, that might have been because it was the second Friday after the first Saturday with an 8mph breeze and my dog was on the right and someone sneezed funny. F****g birds

 

[Hnthrdr]

Would absolutely learn how to call and decoy birds, that is the best part of duck hunting imo. As for calls most mass produced calls work fine and you won’t really get a benefit from expensive stuff until you have mastered the basics

 

[WanderingWapiti]

Copy that. I'll need to doom scrolls less and check out some different duck and goose call options.

I'm excited for it. It turns out that my elk archery season is getting more and more impacted by work, but the duck season is ideally when it starts snowing, so the dirt work I gotta get done should be done by then and I can relax into duck and rifle seasons. wooo.

@OneGunTex , I'll definitely try that this year when the geese start flying!

@Hnthrdr , any calls you like for ducks and geese?

 

[Hnthrdr]

I like zink, ph2 is easy to use, duck commander triple threat is easy to for goose zink, buck Gardner honker hammer, my most used call is a 5/1 whistle and just a standard wood single reed, I like quieter calls on rivers vs open water I like loud double reeds