Tips and Tricks

[NelsonOutdoors]

I'm 100% new to OBO and hunting waterfowl. Wondering what the best tips and tricks you Gents and Ladies have learned over the years that you would like to share to OBO readers concerning ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING ABOUT WATERFOWL HUNTING. I know it's a broad question 

[JRW209]

DON'T MOVE, DON'T MOVE, DON'T MOVE! moving around even a little bit is the quickest way to scare ducks away. Get a decent call and learn how to use it. You can get how-to CDs or DVDs. Warm waterproof clothing is important because the colder and wetter you are the less you are gonna like bein out and probably the shorter your hunts are going to be. I have to use waders where I hunt but depending on where you hunt you might not. A dog is a big help but not absolutely necessary. Just a few things off the top of my head.

JW

[dukkillr]

There are 3 things that matter:

1) Learn to call.  Really learn.  Not $20.00 Wal-Mart calling like you hear so often.  Get a good CD because if you can't hear good calling you won't become a good caller.
2) Learn to work ducks.  You have to be able to do #1 to do this.  Go somewhere big and open like a giant public marsh and call.  Watch how ducks respond.  Learn when to use what, and when to shut up.  This, to me, is the essence of duck hunting.  Pass shooting ducks is no different that dove hunting or blocking pheasants, or shooting clays.  It's purely shooting.  But duck HUNTING is about making the ducks do what you want, and it's a beautiful thing.
3) Learn to shoot.  Really learn.  My soul dies a little every time I sit in a public marsh and watching the idiots with the 3 1/2" Mossbergs banging through boxes of shells on ducks at 80 yards.  They can't do 1 or 2, so they make up for it by shooting roman candles.  Instead, take the time to shoot some sporting clays or skeet.  Dove hunting is even better.  NOT TRAP.  You need a variety of presentations and cases of spent shells behind you.  A piece in SCI a while back suggested something in the range of 2000-2500 rounds before the average shooter could close in on being a good shot.  I've never counted, but I know it takes a LOT of shooting.

Obviously it's easier to learn from someone but be careful who you pick.  Lots of guys will tell you they know #1 #2 and/or #3 but they don't. 

The other things come naturally.  Gear isn't that important beyond a shotgun and a call.  Finding places, scouting, blinds, boats, duck ID, dogs... those things all come naturally when you've got 1-3 mastered.

[Flash]

Yes, calling is key. I can say from honest experience that good calling will work when everything else doesn't. I've seen decoys laid out on the Susquehanna flats that ducks flew right by but with the correct calling, they'd pitch in everytime. I never mastered the technique but witnessed some pros bring ducks in time after time.

[NelsonOutdoors]

Yupp my calls were from walmart / Big 5  CHRISTmas gift from ten years ago. Just ordered a RNT single reed Duck Hunter with CD from Cabela's funny thing cause I work at BPS. I live in California but... I still freeze on the rainy days but it's sooo worth it. I'd rather freeze than be sitting watching guys on tv do all the hunting. Getting new gear soon I'm just being picky on camo. Waterfowl Max4 or MOB Infinity? Does it matter for turkey / Big game wearing Max 4 vs MOB? and does it matter buying used decoy like on Craigslist vs buying new dekes? as long as they look decent and float or is the new shiny decoys attracts more birds from a distance with calling into the mix? I'm getting there with calling Can't do the feeder to save my life but my quack doesn't sound like a stuck pig anymore 

Thanks guys for your help keep the advice coming

[Land_Owner]

The biggest mistake is NOT setting up where the ducks want to be!  You can call all you want.  If the ducks are elsewhere, you are not gonna see any ducks.  So, scouting is FIRST and FOREMOST. 

Second biggest mistake is NOT KNOWING whether 6 deeks or 200 is the right spread.  This depends on where the ducks want to be, what they are used to seeing, how the ducks congregate the waters where you set up.  Too many deeks and the real ducks are not going to cup and come.  Too few and your blocks might be missed by overflying ducks.  The remedy here is talking to other hunters on the waters where you set up.  What is working and what is not.

Third biggest mistake is making the transition - from deer, hog and turkey hunting, generally all year long events (hogs on private land), or seasons open prior to ducks (deer and turkey), where you are trying to sneak up on the prey or are sitting quietly - to wing shooting a 35 mph bird.  That can be humbling at first.  I have missed a bird or two, failing to make the necessary transition while trying to "sneak up on them", and they were gone before I was ready.  The remedy is to practice wing shooting at clays and skeet...or don't hunt deer, hogs, and turkeys (NOT!).

[dukkillr]

Camo pattern couldn't matter less.  I regularly hunt in solid colored cargo pants, a earth toned shirt, and my black northface vest.  I'm the middle guy.  Camo and choke tubes are the two most over-rated things in hunting.  If you find someone who tells you that you must have camo pattern X be very wary of their advice, they do not know what they are talking about.


Good advice above on hunting where they want to be.  You don't need to be perfect, but you do need to be in the area.  The better you are at calling and working ducks the more you'll be able to break ducks off of where they may be going.  If you don't see ducks at all, you're in the wrong area.  It will be similar every year and you'll eventually figure out standard patterns.

[Specklebelly]

My advise is easy, don't go cheap on shells.  Get good quality as all the money you will spend on hunting a few extra bucks on shells wont really matter.

Good luck and enjoy the sport.