Any Duck Hunters Here?

Tried it a couple of times, but had flashbacks of processing hundreds of chickens in my youth. I love shooting my shotgun, but I hate messing with feathers. I hate cleaning birds, I'll stick to shooting clays. Last time I was hunting ducks was before steel shot as well.
 
much the same

When I was a kid, in my home state, I would wade for miles on the Little Juniata River, in a set of hip boots, flushing ducks and catching a few passing as well. No dogs, no dekes, just a lot of ambition. But I got a real kick out of it. Nobody seemed a serious duck hunter, and I had miles of small, wadeable water all to myself. Never saw another guy. Later, when I lived/worked in Arkansas, I duck hunted public land and water and had a pretty good time. Not as many ducks as the big private leases, but plenty enough to keep me and a pal happy.

Like Wyosmith, that was with lead shot........and I believe the limit was 6 ducks. In fact, I don't know that I own a shotgun that has had a steel or alloy load down the barrel. I loved it though, as much as for the work of it and the camaraderie. I had the boat, and would scout the ducks....my pal had the retriever (Doc).

When I transferred to AL, the deer season was so liberal, and I was so into bowhunting deer, that I eased up and eventually quit my water fowling. The TN river and its backwaters are nearby (public), and draw some hunters, but there is an avid competition on spots and flocks, some of it quite bitter. I can often hear them banging away down on the river, while I'm in a stand up in the ridges.
 
I was a duck and goose hunter for many years. I always hunted with at least one other hunter. I hunted creeks, ponds, rivers, lakes and farm fields. Eventually I got into turkey hunting and bow hunting deer (a time consuming adventure.) Turkey and deer taste better. ;)
 
I duck hunt. Even though I have not yet this year(season started this past sat). I have been going less and less over the years(have been a duck hunter for 15 years). Seems as I get older getting up at 1am to drive 100 miles to try and "draw out" is getting harder and harder. I refuse to pay lots of money to lease a field so I hunt the managed public land on conservation property. It seems they are getting more and more crowded every year. This sat 86 parties showed up for 20 spots. That's like a 1 in 4 chance of getting to hunt.


I am sure I will go again at some point this year. But it seems I am slowly getting out of it. Maybe when my children get older I will get more enthusiastic about taking them.
 
I'm learning to duck hunt this year. Always hunted geese over fields to help farmers that didn't want them on the property.

This year I have been in the marsh in a kayak (blue) and the ducks think i'm a tourist. But in 3 outings I got a goose, woodduck, moorhen, and a bluebill. I've seen quite a few but next year I'll be better prepared with a kayak that isn't so hard to conceal and probably a few more decoys.
 
I use to when I was in Alaska.

As I have said before, currently, unless you are rich and fly out, hunting in Alaska sucks.

The exception is duck and goose hunting. I use to go across Knik Arm to the hay flats and marshes between the Big Sioux and the Knik Arm. Some of the best duck and goose hunting in the world.

Cook Inlet has the highest tides in America. I had a 20 ft jon boat I would hunt and live in while hunting. When the tide was out, you had nothing but mud, tide was in, nothing but water.

I would anchor the boat in a cut in the mud with a bank about 8-10 feet higher then me. The geese would fly low over the mud, I would set and watch, when I saw the first beak over the bank I would stand up and they would flair, almost stopping in mid flight.

Then Reddy, my lab would go to work. I got a triple many times, poor dog got her work out, trying to figure which bird to get first.

But she loved it, as did I.

I got burnt out on eating ducks and geese, ran out of people to give them too so I pretty much gave it up.

My fondest duct memory was when I was hunting the marsh across the Knik Arm. Water was mid thigh deep.

I saw two guys and a kid a short distance away. The kid must have been 8-10.

Anyway I watched as he shot at a duck, hit it but didn't kill it. Of course the duck hit the water and dived. As you know, when wounded they often dive down grab hold of some grass and never pop up again. That's what this bird did.

The three of them search and searched and couldn't find the bird. I learned that this was the kids first duck and they didn't want to loose it.

I asked if they wanted help, and the father told me it was useless, the bird was tangled some where in the grass.

I pointed in the direction where I thought the bird hit the water and told Reddy "dead bird". I was almost like she watched the whole thing, she swim out a bit, dived and came up with the duck.

She started to bring it to me and I said "NO" and pointed to the kid. She took him the duck and I've never seen a happier kid. He would have paid a million bucks for that dog if he had it, but I wouldn't have sold her.

Best part about Bird Hunting is a good dog, there were no better the Reddy.

I gave up bird hunting altogether when she got old, crippled and I had to put her down.
 
I still hunt Geese here and there, but ducks, at least here in CO, taste slightly worse than pond scum. When steel shot was mandated, I stopped hunting ducks altogether.
 
Duck hunting was my first hunting passion. I started in the days of lead shot, shooting #4 or #6 2 3/4" shells. It all began in the St Johns River Marsh as well as the Indian River in Florida, and then expanded as I went to college to include numerous lakes in Central Florida as well as the Merrit Island hunting areas on NASA property.

Thanks to the USAF, I've hunted several states now and the species increased from teal, pintails, widgeon, ringbills, and fulvous tree ducks to included green heads, goldeneye, buffleheads, canvasback, gadwall and all manners of geese.

Even though I still have ample decoys and camo netting of various colors and sizes, I just don't get out much anymore. Work seems to trump a lot, and without a boat, it really limits where you can go. One of these seasons I'll get back into it.
 
Yep, both ducks and geese. I've been waterfowling for around 35 years or so.

It's been pretty slow this year so far, not sure why.

 
I duck hunt. I've been learning for about 3 years. I am hoping to have a big hunt around Thanksgiving with a good friend and my dad! Last year we limited out two days in a row before lunch. (That last duck is always elusive!)

I really need to find some duck hunting mentors locally. I'm thinking about going to the Ducks Unlimited banquets and trying to meet some folks! Any advice?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk
 
Worc.....you're doing it wrong.

You need to move the decoy that's off your right knee 3 feet farther out.
(sure good we real experts are here to help huh?)
 
Down here in louisiana most people are either deer hunters or duck hunters. It's very expensive to do both unless you live very close to where you hunt.

When I was young I deer hunted til duck season opened then went solely after ducks. Now with 1 teenage and two preteen boys I have to do both. Keep the kids happy and the freezers full.

If you are just getting started remember the puddle ducks are the best eating. Diving ducks require more seasoning unless you like the strong muddy fish taste. After 25 years of duck hunting I label all birds before going in the freezer. Some are used for certain recipes only.
 
Worc.....you're doing it wrong.

You need to move the decoy that's off your right knee 3 feet farther out.
(sure good we real experts are here to help huh?)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip Wyosmith, you xpurts r great. I should be limiting out now and slapping high five's with my buddy buddha!:)
 
I found a rather large beaver pond on some public land probably 15 years ago. I used to hunt it twice a week for about 5 seasons before anyone else found it. It was my most guarded secret, but someone else figured it out eventually. Apparently they had a big mouth because it got really crowded after that. I was able to still kill a few, but it wasn't as good as when I had it to myself.

During those 5 years when no one else was hunting there I never got closer than 50-100 yards from the pond. They were mostly wood ducks roosting on the pond and at daylight they got up and flew to a subdivision a few miles away that had several small lakes in it. I just got in between then and shot them at tree top height. The spot was about a 10 minute drive from home, but about a mile hike. I'd get up, kill 2 birds and be back home before my wife got up on Saturdays.

Once the other guys started hunting right in the pond it messed up the predictable flight patterns and required wearing waders and carrying decoys for the 2 mile (round trip) hike.

The state eventually sold land bordering the pond to develop an industrial park. The pond was too close to buildings and no hunting is allowed there now.

I'd love to go again, but haven't found another good spot. One day I'll pay for a guided hunt somewhere good.
 
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