Duck Hunting Tactics
By Ira Miller
The mallards circled twice before finally committing. I waited until they were well in range before standing. A minute later I was holding my first ducks of the day a pair of fat northern mallard drakes. My hunting partner, Eric, had also scored as well killing a hen and missing a drake on his third shot. It did not take long for a couple teal to come bombing in. We both stood and I dropped the one to the right while Eric learned just how much air there really is around ducks.
After that I decided to sit back and do some calling and let Eric do the shooting. I was also confused why we were doing so well while the rest of the lake was getting very little action. While I didn�t have long to think because Eric soon had two more ducks in the bag, there were a few things that I thought about the separated us from the other hunters and other things that have helped me in the past.
Dare to be different
You hear it all the time, "put your decoys in a C configuration and you are guaranteed success�" Fortunately most hunters follow this or one of the few other standard decoy layouts. Ducks get use to these configurations especially in the later part of the season. If you ever see ducks on the water you may have noticed that they aren�t in C configurations, instead they are scattered all over the place. Your decoys should be the same. Just be sure to leave some landing pockets within shotgun range. Another thing you may have noticed is that most people take out tons of decoys. While there are times that lots of decoys work wonderfully small spreads of two dozen and under will work very well specially in late season. One other thing that may effect how you place your decoys is the weather. If its hot then the ducks will be more spread out but if its colder then the ducks will be closer together in an effort to stay warm.
If you don�t have something nice to say don�t say it at all
My hunting partner and I are both pretty good at calling ducks but it is startling how many times when ducks come in when we are not calling. I think one of the reasons for this is that the birds are pretty pressured and get use to the non-stop calling from inexperienced callers. Now days I find my self-doing less and less calling and more and more shooting. At first my hunting partner was skeptical but one night we put the sneak on a group of ducks on a pond. It was amazing how little they called even when ducks were circling. I am not saying that you should stop calling but rather suggesting that there is no need to over call.
Travel light move fast
Be portable. This goes along with having a smaller spread. The smaller is the quicker you can relocate. This is especially true when hunting small bodies of water. If you see ducks dropping into another body of water you can quickly get over there. Also be sure to not overlook small bodies of water many times they will provide the best shooting and offer less crowded hunting situations.
Diversity Matters
Many hunters have several dozen mallard decoys and do perfectly fine. However you will be giving yourself the edge if you have a verity of decoys. While this does not always help it seems the ducks get use to the same thing over and over much like the decoy layouts. Mixing up the decoys just further improves your odds of success.
Last fall I used one dozen mallard decoys, a half-dozen pintail decoys, a half-dozen teal, and on occasion two geese. However the area I was hunting did not allow changing of location, if it had I would have used less decoys. Another decoy you may want to consider is a confidence decoy. A blue heron decoy placed about 100 yards from your spread works well. Sleeping ducks known as sleepers work well, as do feeders. I like to use the feeders on a jerk cord for added realism. A jerk cord is just one way to add movement you your spread and is very cheap. Another way is with rotating with type decoys and with shaking decoys but these will cost a bit more.
While I am not going to promise that the things I described will not get you your limit every time out if even at all. I do know that they work for me and hope they work for you. Good luck and have fun.
