good source for learning about waterfowl hunting.

J

jrcampbell

New member
wanting to get more into duck and goose hunting, especially geese, and I'm wondering what a good source would be for learning. DVD'S, BOOKS, ETC. A source that runs thru everything from scouting to decoy set ups and calling would be great. Kinda getting tired of the pass/jump shooting game and wanted some more action.
 
IMO, there's not a lot of that kind of material out here these days. It's all about killing limits and blowing the [beeep] out of a duck cal and name brand gear. Your best bet is to find someone who has been killing birds the "right" way for a long time and learn from them.

Location is 100x's more important than any duck call you could hang around your neck. Scout from a distance and set up a few decoys where the birds were the next day. Be still, cover your face, when you think they are close enough, let them get a little closer. DO NOT set up any closer than 200-300 yards from someone else. Birds like to land into the wind, so ideally you'll have the sun and wind coming from behind you.

And the last tip for tonight, have fun!
 
Ducks unlimited magazine can be infromative. But it can also be page after page of garbage. some of the tv shows out there can be good to. Drakes migration nation is a good one. Best bet is to find someone to learn from though.
 
I, may have to check it out. was looking more along the lines of a dvd that I could learn decoy setup, and calling. One hunting site is probably enough, lol.
 
I agree whole heartedly with Quackaddict, be where the ducks and Geese want to be and have been! If the geese are not coming into a field it's 10x harder to decoy them than if they have been feeding there for a few days. A magazine called wildfowl is good magazine.
 
If you want yo learn how to call ducks, here's my suggestion.

1- get you an easy to blow double reed call and a good instruction cd/DVD. IMO, the Haydels DR85 and their cd is THE WAY to get started. http://www.haydels.com/pages/duckcalls.html
RNT has a couple of decent ones too. http://www.rntcalls.com/products/section.aspx?type=7&id=6

2- listen to live ducks. Find a park and just sit and listen to them, then try to reproduce what you hear. Lots of the crap you hear guys do on a call isn't very realistic

3- practice, practice, practice and learn to READ ducks. Too much calling saves a lot of ducks' lives every year. Experience is the best teacher. You aren't going to call in every duck you see, I don't care how good you get. So try to figure out why you didn't call in that last bunch and eventually you'll start getting the hang of it.
 
Birds fly with the wind and land into it. Get the wind at your back. Hunting water I lik to use a "hook" spread with the the hole in front of the blind.

in a feild I use an "H" spread with the shooters in the cross bar of the H. They arnt always perfect set ups but they are simple.

Keep stationary decoys looking into the wind. If your using shell decoys I like to have one "sentry" to every 3 feeders. If ducks are your primary target I find it helps to put a pile of snow goose decoys where you dont want the birds at. They also catch the eyes ofwhite front geese. We put two mojos infront of the blind and ad a 3rd and a fourth and a vortex as the season goes on.

Im not a pro but thats the tips I have to offer.
 
thanks for the tips guys, I'll definately check out those dvd's. I'll probably be hunting geese more than ducks, the bulk of the ducks near here seem to be on big water and the river, I don't have a boat but I know of some shallow eddies I can get into with waders. No electric decoys here for ducks, can use them in the spring snow goose conservation season, but we don't get many of them around here.
 
NE, spinners are illegal in some states.

my tips to you to become a good goose hunter:

1) get you a good goose call, don't have to be one of them High dollar ones either, but a good one, a flute is good for a beginner and practice, practice, practice with it. go to a local goose holding spot and listen to them and repeat what they do thru the call.

2) get you some full body decoys, 5-6 will be fine for starters, set them out in a family group down wind of you and lay still til last minute, when I started goose hunting, I had a flute call, 6 fb decoys and 2 pieces of burlap one to lay on and one to cover me with, I would lay between the corn rows and and wait til the geese was just about down before I sat up and shot my limit of 2 geese. also, if you get water decoys you can use them in the field also.

3) go to your local sporting goods store and talk to the local guys and find someone that goose hunts and see if you can tag along, that way you don't have to buy anything til your ready to hunt on you own,
 
Whatever you do don t do it alone. I don t care how good you are or how fun it looks it can be a nasty game. Good luck and be safe.
 
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