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308BAR
05-31-2007, 10:58 AM
Well I'm getting things together for the my first fall duck season, and trying to do it on a budget. No dog, so i'll be relying on a good setup to retrieve and duck. I got a medium size inflatable which I'll rig up with small electric trolling motor (fingers cross hope this will work). Waders are must I guess.

However I got a few questions about decoys though and seeking the pros that hunted the marsh. How deep is the marsh and how long should I make my anchors lines for the deeks?

I know the shooting and no shooting areas but is there any other details that I should know before venturing out on the marsh to scout for location?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Ian F.
05-31-2007, 11:36 AM
Water is deepest next to the dykes, over your head deep! Once you cross the channels it's wadable depending on the levels at the time of the season.

Dano has the pitt down tight so hopefully he'll jump in, but at opener last year it was 2 - 3 feet below the top of the beaver dam, and later in the year it was 2 -3 feet OVER the beaver dam, so it fluctuates.

Most of the vegetated areas you can walk on no problem, but you will learn the whys and wheres..

For anchor length I have about 6 foot and most of the time, outside of a main channel you will be fine. If you want to be extra safe, go with 8.

As for what to avoid or look out for, hard to say, get out and play. I try to look for others blinds, determine if they are active and give them resonable distance. It's a big marsh, not too many venture into it so there's lots of room. I would say to make sure with that rig, you venture no further then you feel you can safely get out in should things get nasty!

I'm a big blonde guy, if you see me out there say hello!

Very best,

Ian

Dano
05-31-2007, 10:33 PM
Like Ian said, around the opener we were able to walk around the back sloughs at about mid-thigh level. Later in the year I hardly went out over 5 feet from shore. I use 6 foot lines, lots of weeds to hang the weights on.
Lots of room out there, just play it casual until you find out where other guys are and give them room. There's lots of areas where you'll have a quarter mile to yourself. Without a dog, you need to find a larger open area and limit your shots to over the water. Unless you're a good shot like Ian (and make a lot of clean kills), I advise you to try and hunt with someone who has a dog if possible. You'll see why when you get out there, it's easy to lose a bird even if you have a good dog.
If you still get out there, get on downed birds quickly and finish them off if they are still swimming, this will keep lost birds to a minimum.
Good luck, stay close to the big blonde guy with lots of decoys if you find him!:)
If you see a guy with a Vietnam style hat and 2 boys hunting an island surrounded with a couple hundred decoys, you've found Dave (well, maybe just a boatload of decoys:)).
You'll know where I'm at, I call a lot and we shoot a lot too!:)
Dan

dave
06-01-2007, 10:37 AM
Welcome 308BAR

Jeez, its not that big a boat and the boys get bigger every year. There can't be that many decoys.

Ian and Dano have pretty much covered it, just make sure to use a pole or oar to check the depth before you jump out of the boat. Early in the season a lot of the open water was only a few inches deep but by Christmas it was over my waders (only happened once).

I'm only going to pick up a couple more this year and since Ian's carving is so fine, I expect to only need to use the two of them this year:-D. Seriously, early in the season a dozen decoys seemed to be more that enough and later in the season I never used more than a couple of dozen.

When you get out and scout think about what might work for setting up based on the wind direction, which can be different everyday. You want the wind at your back so a few options facing different directions is a big help.

Ian F.
06-01-2007, 11:07 AM
WIND, different?

there must have 6 or 8 times this year where the wind changed direction 3 or 4 times in a morning!

The one constant though is the rain falls down, or some version of down most days!

Ian