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When calling to ducks only call when needed. Start with soft quacks and three to five note sequences. You can get more aggressive as needed until you get the desired reaction from the birds. Some days you wont need much and other days you really have to lean on them.
- Chad Carlson |
When setting decoys for ducks, as with geese, get away from the standard letter shape formation. Use a random pattern with little and big groups of decoys and leave the fewest decoys where you want them to land. Also don’t be afraid to set the decoys close to your hide. If you are concealed well you should be able to land birds in the hole at 5-15 yards consistently.
- Chad Carlson |
Make a habit of getting in and out of a hunt area quickly. The quicker you can shoot your birds and pick up your spread, the sooner the birds are able to get back to the area and rest. This will result in better hunting for you during the season.
- Chad Carlson |
Don’t take shots at birds just because they are in range. Make it a true hunt and call those birds down into the decoys where you can make quick clean kills.
- Chad Carlson |
If you ever get a problem with your favorite duck call starting to stick take the call apart and apply a very small amount of chapstick to the tone board. This will act as a water repellent and keep saliva from sticking to your reed.
- Eric Strand |
If your hunting pressured birds and you begin to notice ducks being cautious to the same old tricks you have been using all season, change it up and do something completely different than anyone else in your area. If that means using more or less decoys, jerk cord, rebuilding your blinds or hunting out of different areas I can tell you that doing something different will put more birds in your decoys.
- Eric Strand |
Don’t be afraid to use goose decoys when hunting ducks! I use goose decoys whenever I can, from the fields, to the river systems, lakes and reservoirs. Geese are a great confidence decoy for ducks and they will help get and keep the birds attention when hunting competitive areas. Use full bodies and put them on a sand bar, levee, dike, flooded field or ice and use floaters to control where you do and don’t want your birds to land. Once you start using goose decoys I doubt you’ll go back to hunting without them.
- Eric Strand |
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