Well, looks like I can't hold out any longer...

After telling myself for years I wouldn't do it, I finally cant resist any longer...I am starting to learn the trade of duck hunting this year! I have been a couple times before when I was in my early teens and loved it! Now that all of my buddies are doing it and after tasting duck for the first time (loved the duck poppers..), I want to at least learn to hold my own at a duck hole. I am a huge turkey hunter as well as deer hunter, so I have had years experience of learning how to be a woodsman, but any tricks or lessons y'all have that can help the learning curve? Such as what dekes? how wind direction affects a set up? calling tips? (I know how to do a feeding call but need to get a good call for comeback calls etc)

I understand that I will screw up a lot (like I did and still do some in the turkey woods), but if I am going to do something, I want to be the best I can at it. Thanks for the help yall!

Depends where you're going to be hunting

IMO, get a lease in the delta in MS or AR and go every weekend. When the bug hit me, that's what I did and some of the best times outdoors in my life has been in the flyway. Or go full force and get a boat, dog, and a GPS and hunt public in either state. IMO, you won't get enough exposure to true duck hunting in AL. In AL you will kill all the woodies you want and you will kill some big ducks in the right places but if you are gonna do it, go to the flyway.

Dr. B

Hunting small ponds, creeks right off the Tombigbee with a lot of woodies and mallards. I'm not hunting huge lakes with huge spreads just flooded timber and all...I wish I had the time bamaeyedoc, I'm currently in medical school and will just be doing it on the weekends every so often. The hunts I went on as a kid were loaded with ducks in a flyway, but I really will be just hunting with my buddies or my brothers. Just like in turkey hunting turkeys have tendencies sometimes (sometimes they don't lol), but are there any tendencies yall can fill me in on or unwritten rules ducks kinda go by?

Woodies are basically done flying 20 minutes after shooting light starts.

Woodies don't like to "decoy," per se. They pretty much are going where they are going to go regardless of if you are there with a decoy set up. However, if they land close by and are on the water they tend to like swimming up to the decoys, though.

Best thing to do is find little ponds or swamps with oak trees and they'll be close.

P.S. if you hunt them in the afternoon over a roost area, you're no doubt going to be shooting after legal hours so just don't do it!

Interesting about them swimming to dekes...I've heard they don't respond to calls and what not...Yeah appreciate that about a roost! What calls and from what company should I look into?

Don't do it. You think deer hunting is expensive...........

IMO, find some farm ponds with working cattle, find some swamps, leave rivers alone for now. I have killed many ducks over ponds in my life. Swamps are going to give you opportunity for mallards, gadwall, blacks, and teal. Of course woodies will be there but I leave them alone.

You said you had buddies that hunted. Try whatever calls they have and see what you like, everyone is different. You said you can feed call... the only time ducks do the rolling/ machine gun chatter is when they are flying. It sounds really cool, but not very realistic for feeding ducks. When they feed it is very broken up with quacks mixed in. Learn single quacks and 3-5 note calls, that will kill ducks. Call at tips and tails is a good rule, if they are committed and coming in don’t blow them out. Youtube videos of real ducks are good, and if you can find some real ducks to go listen too you can learn a lot.

Some good info here...Like the call at tips and tails rule...It's kinda like calling turkeys when they are committed let em come...I didn't know that about the feed call...Thanks for the info! If anyone has stuff to add please share...such as what to look for with a good duck hole, how weather affects the ducks etc.

In that case, just do all the scouting you can. Most swamps will have woodies coming into it in the mornings. When you start making big bucks, buy you a place in the flyway!

Dr. B

Ducks will typically land into the wind. So set up decoys on the upwind side. That will give you a crossing shot and ducks will not be looking directly at you. On calm days 3 decoys on a jerk cord will bring in ducks.

Alabama duck hunting can be slow on public areas except for the competition which will be fierce. If you have access to private ponds, creeks or sloughs then check them out. Shooting can be fast and furious.

Some of my most memorable hunts involved Alabama public land hunting. The aggravation of dealing with sky busting, constant hail calls, shooting swing ducks and general disrespect causes me to spend WAY too much money to hunt private land in Arkansas.

Awesome stuff man, notes taken! Very much so appreciate the info...will mostly be hunting private land unless I get in a boat with my buddies and all!

Good point. Regarding the wind, U hunt ducks in the exact opposite direction. Wind at your back. If u are well hidden and still, they will cup into your face and when they are in the decoys, take em! Keep face hidden with a mask or if u want the poo face, go for it. Knowing when to call is important. Do not call when they are facing you. Call them on the corners or when they are flying away from u. Don't try to blow the ass end out of the call.

Best teacher is experience and consistent encounters with the birds.

Dr. B

If you're just hunting small water: go buy a half dozen cheap mallard decoys. Rig three on a jerk rig made with a kayak anchor and bungee cord. Leave the call at home. Go find ducks, then hunt them the next morning. Setup exactly where you saw them. If they aren't within 40yds and treetop height, don't shoot at them. Don't worry about forming a pattern with your decoys, just toss them out there in a cluster. Be still, stand in a shadow, and ducks won't see you. If you notice them flaring more than once, change something.

Awesome info yall... really appreciate it all! Like the deke strategies bamaeyedoc and Atoler, but I have to say I would have to call at least a little maybe a quack or two when they aren't committed Atoler, otherwise I would just be deer hunting em....kinda like going turkey hunting and sitting on a field in a blind...ain't my style...How do y'all get to recognizing the ducks so fast? A greenhead is obvious as well as a woodie but what about the others?

It just takes practice on ID. You will notice wing beat patterns and body shapes are different. Experience is the best teacher there.

The teal are the ducks that come through the decoys like a rocket at daylight. Someone usually says "what was that?". If you weren't ready then they are gone. Wood ducks will announce themselves with a TOO-WHEET to let you get ready. Mallards will circle to allow you to get your bearings but mostly come in after a few passes or leave. Gadwalls will circle also but will circle until you get dizzy watching. Ringneck's and mergansers will swing though fast but will come back to see who was shooting at them.

Arkansas used to have an online duck identification guide. You mostly learn from practice but it helps to know what characteristics to recognize.

Oh now you need to call. That's what really got me hooked to the point that I started doing a little competition calling. The key is, just like in turkey hunting, knowing when to do it and what to say. Get Keith Allen's "Fundamentals of Duck Call Operation" CD.

You will get to the point of knowing which duck is which by the size. Woodies don't decoy much and you usually shoot them on the pass. Teal will buzz the decoys like little rockets going about mach 5 and either sit right down or make a wide swing and come right back giving you a second chance at them. They are delicious too!

Mallards are a lot like a turkey. Sometimes they will be like that 2 year old and come right in and act right and die like they are supposed too. More often though they will circle, and circle, and circle and cup their wings like they are gonna sit down and then something won't look right and they peel back off and are gone.

Dr. B

Awesome info here doc...Thank yall for the help! Let's kill em this year!

I do get woodies to respond to call in certain situations I have a couple woodie calls but the Buck Gardner woodie call is deadly.

I've read posts like this before and don't quite understand the part about shooting swing ducks. If 2 different groups of hunters are set up on the same slough and a flock looks like it's going to one setup, but happens to fly by in gun range of the second group, do you expect the second group to not shoot?

That's great if duck hunters show that kind of respect to each other, but I don't see that sort of courtesy in any other hunting. Or maybe I don't understand what you mean by swing ducks?

It is usually the other group shooting at them at 70-80 yards as they work your setup. If the ducks work both groups, then it doesn’t bother me if they get the shot first. More times than not though, they will just throw up a hail mary shot and noone will get a shot. These are usually the same people who come in 10 minutes before shooting light and setup 80 yards from you blowing on a kazoo with a pitbull as a retriever.

Lol, well that explains the frustration you guys are having. Anything on public water can be frustrating, even fishing has gotten so bad I don't wanna go.

Duck hunting is different than lots of other hunting because the quarry is very visible. There can be multiple groups of hunters competing for the same birds. Ducks almost always land into the wind so a group intentionally setting up downwind can ruin your hunt.

Imagine leaving the boat ramp hours before anyone. Because you scouted the area chosen is exactly where ducks want to be. Decoys are set perfectly. !0-15 minutes before shooting light a group motors in and sets up 100 yards downwind. It is public land so there is nothing that can be done.

The first mallards respond perfectly to your calls. They are circling your decoys and losing altitude on every pass. They pass downwind and drastically lose altitude. You call one more time and the ducks lock up like a fat man carrying suitcases. Then it happens, The other group unloads their guns because the ducks will get no closer to them. They normally are shooting way too far and don't kill anything. Often they knock feathers off a duck and it will be eaten by coons later. If they do knock a duck down, it falls crippled way off and they cannot recover it.

To give a turkey hunting analogy. You have a gobbler responding and coming on a string. As you see him coming through the woods 100 yards away a shot rings out through the woods. The turkey flies off and the "hunter" that crawled between you and the bird stands up. To add insult to injury, the bird was at least 80 yards away from the shooter.

Thanks for the reply. That helps me understand your frustrations better. I don't think I wanna become a serious duck hunter.

His scenario pretty much sums up a major factor in me quitting. It's gotten to be a constant battle nearly every morning.

Once, I drive 15 hours straight through to Kansas for the opener. Scouted that afternoon upon arrival, then sat at the gate, cooked dinner with my buddies and napped in a lawn chair for a couple of hours. The first truck showed up at 12:45am. So off we went into the marsh. That two hours of restless sleep in a lawn chair was all I'd slept in the past two days. We trudged a hour walk down the levvys and through the water to the spot I had witnessed so many birds using the day before. Set our decoys, and sat there for hours and hours. Waved off several groups of hunters coming in by boat and one group that walked in. They were all respectful and moved several hundred yards away. With shooting light getting close, we see flashlights coming down the levvy in the distance. When they got closer, I shined them with the spot light. Almost immediately you could hear them cussing about "somebody's in their spot". After a few minutes they hadn't moved, so I yelled over at them that it wasn't going to be safe to hunt that close together. Saw a flashlight back up on the levvy and assumed they were moving on. About 3 minutes before shooting time, we had birds landing all around us. All the sudden, a volley rings out right where those idiots had stopped on the levvy. Scared the crap out of me. Only 100yds away and had no idea they were still there. That started a fun filled morning. They shot boxes and boxes of shells, without killing a bird. That levvy was the refuge boundary, and every bird coming to our spot had to fly from their direction. Birds at 100-200yds were getting shot at just to flare them. The final straw came when a group of mallards made it past them unoticed. They started working us, making two or three passes. As they lined up into our decoys, these idiots all unloaded into them from 150yds away. I could hear them laughing... That was the straw that broke my sleep deprived self. Unloaded my gun about 20' off the water and started yelling some choice words at them while I quickly waded over there. Guess they got the message that some or all of us were about to go to the hospital, because they were 200yds down the levvy headed to the truck when I made it to where they had sat. Believe we killed 7 or 8 after they left.

I've got dozens of stories like that, although most of them I was in a better state of mind. Don't get me started on the time my hunting partner shot the buzzbait.

Duck hunting used to be fun. Now, there's encounters like that about half the days you spend on the water.

"Don't get me started on the time my hunting partner shot the buzzbait."
please share

Indeed! If duck hunters are less considerate than some bass fishermen, I know I don't wanna get involved in it. I really thought I was about to witness a killing on Lay Lake one day between a crappie fisherman and a bass fisherman.

Yes sir, you've got to share that one now.

x2!!!

you forgot the part where the other hunter just blows every call he has, as loudly as he can, as poorly as one can, constantly as soon as he sees a duck flying 5 miles away.

What is mean by swing ducks is this ain't a dove shoot. You have to give your fellow hunters enough space to work their birds. 200 yards isn't enough in my opinion. I give 400 at least and I don't call at ANYTHING circling someone else's spread. 200 yards is about enough to work your birds. Another 200 and you can put your decoys down.

Most of what I see nowdays on public land... decoys 200 yards away from someone else. That's too close.

Here is why...When birds swing out past your spread the other group pass shoots or calls way too much and blows them out of the slew or just decides to shoot them at 75 yards. That's 125 from your hole. In duck hunting that's freakin close.

That's what I see on public land today. Use to not be that way. Thank 60 day seasons is where it began... and 20 years later Duck Commander for driving the stake right through the heart. You don't get the courtesy any longer. Too many hunters and in particular in Alabama not enough land. And that's why I no longer hunt public land and thus ducks anywhere as much as I use to.

Think about it. We are overcrowded. And there was no Vision from the DCNR when it came to waterfowl hunting. Never has been. We have a whole state of rivers that Alabama power got to use to charge us money. They didn't build a single area managed for Waterfowl to my knowledge. They just sold lake lots and tried and still try to keep people from hunting. You can't even get out of the boat.. That is dam criminal in my opinion.

Another rookie question I must ask, What is the cheapest ammo I can find that's good? and where is the best place to get it??

Academy normally has the best prices. The cheapest steel shot you can find will work just as well as expensive stuff, no matter what anyone tells you. But several brands and ass what patterns. I was always partial to xperts in bb or #2. In the timber or for teal I would wax them with low brass steel target loads.

By the box Academy is probably your best bet. Case prices vary widely and you can usually get a good deal and free shipping. Rogers, Macks Prairie Wings usually have good sales. Federal blue box and Experts were my go to cheap loads. But I hear good things about Rio & Estate. Many times if you catch the sales right the premium loads will be the same price.

If you get the ducks close the brand will not matter. I have smoked ducks with low brass 7 steel.