It's been a while everybody, I've been spending too much time freezing my butt off in the cold. The duck numbers in my area are much lower than last year. I don't know how many more times I can go in single digits and come home with an empty game bag.
Any cold, late-season pointers?
p.s not alot of ducks, ducks are very wary, high flying geese, very little open water, decoy or no decoy?
The elusive duck
The elusive duck
A dog is only as good as his trainer.
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jimbo&rooster
- Rank: 5X Champion
- Posts: 1252
- Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2010 4:22 pm
- Location: Sullivan IN
Re: The elusive duck
Well... there are a couple ways to go about it. the best way is to find where the birds want t o be and be there waiting when they get there. once the temps get to the low and single didgets, most of the ducks have moved on out of the country and are following the freeze line, but when its cold look for open water. i like to hunt rivers when it gets below freezing and hunt sand bars, you can get some decent pass shooting in if your patient. And then there is the possibility of field hunting for geese.
As far as decoys go if you arent seeing a bunch of birds together then dont use alot of decoys, this late in the season I may only use 6-8 decoys. if you are starting to see migrating flocks of geese yet (we arent) then you can get away with big field spreads. If you have the option to hunt a river bed or sand bar I like to load the sandbar up with as many decoys as I can get on them, mixed ducks and geese. these tend to be good loafing areas for birds after a hard freeze.
Last of all make sure you are camoed up! the birds that are around have seen it all by now so hide you and hide the dogs. and less calling is better than poor calling late in the season.
All those days coming home with no birds and still going out and trying is what make the difference between a duck hunter and a duck shooter. Every one has to earn their stripes.
JIm
As far as decoys go if you arent seeing a bunch of birds together then dont use alot of decoys, this late in the season I may only use 6-8 decoys. if you are starting to see migrating flocks of geese yet (we arent) then you can get away with big field spreads. If you have the option to hunt a river bed or sand bar I like to load the sandbar up with as many decoys as I can get on them, mixed ducks and geese. these tend to be good loafing areas for birds after a hard freeze.
Last of all make sure you are camoed up! the birds that are around have seen it all by now so hide you and hide the dogs. and less calling is better than poor calling late in the season.
All those days coming home with no birds and still going out and trying is what make the difference between a duck hunter and a duck shooter. Every one has to earn their stripes.
JIm
A limit on the strap is nice, but the kill has nothing to do with tradition.
Re: The elusive duck
If you are getting into ducks, they get very decoy shy and call shy this time of year. I've had to go down to as little as one or two decoys before they start coming in. And sometimes I've switched to a wigeon whistle call to get the attention of ducks that have been burned by the mallard call all season -- and even then I use it sparingly.