If someone were to ask me what the most important elements to a sucessful waterfowl hunt, I would say presentation and concealment. If you have these two things locked solid, you’re on your way to limiting out on birds. Since there are several places to hunt, as well as several types of waterfowl to hunt, we’ll focus on duck hunting over water:
Presentation, summed up equals decoys. The water keels my husband and I use are by Green Head Gear decoys. I try to steer clear of cheaper brands as the paint quality is significantly less. You get what you pay for. If you already own decoys, drag them out a day or two before you plan to use them. Muddy or dirty decoys won’t help your hunt. I use a mild dish soap, warm water and a soft bristle brush to give our decoy ducks a quick bubble bath. This also gives you a good opportunity to check for any problems- missing or damaged weights and line, missing or chipped paint and perhaps even one or two of last years hunting mis-haps. It’s also a great time to pitch a few of the older, scraggly decoys to keep your plastic flock top notch.
A few things well worth mentioning on presentation are “eye catchers” as I call them. Ducks love a little movement in a decoy spread, so it is well worth the time to rig up a jerk string to a few decoys, invest a few dollars in quiver magnets, ‘bobble butts’ and a mojo duck or two. My husband and I noticed a significant increase in the number of ducks coming closer, locking up over our spread, and landing in the spread when we added a mojo mallard. Some states do not allow the use of mojos, so be sure to check your state laws! If you happen to live in a state which does not allow the use of mojos, the company Expedite, manufactures an “Air Lucky” decoy which has spinning wings similar to a mojo, but wind spins the wings instead of a battery.
The next thing well worth mentioning is concealment. You can have a wonderful spread with motion in it, but if you’re not concealed, the ducks won’t come in!! On one particular hunt, my husband, my father-in-law and I were hunting a public pond. A fellow hunter on the other side of the pond came over as we were packing up and told us we were very well hidden, but as soon as we looked up at the ducks, the sun glared off our faces causing the ducks flare. Never underestimate the importance of a face mask or face camo paint if you are hunting in a spot where the sun will be in your face. Do not assume that the birds are dumb! They’ve more than likely been shot at before, which is something to take into consideration when working on concealment. Make sure your camo clothing will work for the area you are hunting. You certainly don’t want winter white camo if hunting in the reeds in fall. If you use blinds on the shore, make sure they look like they belong there. While out scouting for geese, my husband and I came across a lush green field of short cut grass and a slew. Right on the shore of the slew was an enormous haybale blind. It didn’t look right, and I don’t think the birds went for it. The blind stuck out like a sore thumb! Hopefully this helps you if you’re planning on getting started in duck hunting. If you have any questions, email womenhunters.com and they will forward it to me. I will try to answer any and all of your questions. Good luck, and happy hunting!
