Help for a new duck hunter?

[BigSmoke]

New to the whole duck scene and just wondering if somone is willing to pass along any advice or even take me under their wing a time or two this season?
I'm living in victoria by the way.
Thanks

[northernsculler]

OK I'll bite on the advice:

Learn what a duck looks like at 20-30 and 40 yards. Go to a park where there are ducks and pace off the ranges.

Believe in your heart that any movement no matter how small you think it is will spook/flare waterfowl.

Study google earth till your eyes bleed

Study the regs till your eyes bleed

Study the birds, flyways, habitat requirements etc. Read everything on the DU web site to start.

Scout, scout, scout

Don't spend a red nickle on anything besides qualtiy guns, ammo and gasoline (ok maybe a few deeks) You cannot buy your way to success. Ignore the 'fashion' scene. That 300 dollar pair of camo pants represents an awful lot of hunting time wasted.

Before you go out with a mentor do some hard work yourself. There is a lifetime of stuff to learn and your better off coming at it with the respect that floudnering a bit will teach you. It is real easy to sit in someone elses blind and fold birds at 30 yards. It is another thing (and more rewarding) to be able to go out and get a few birds anytime/anywhere you want.

Spend some time at the range and soak up what ever the trap/skeet boys will teach you.

PATTERN your gun/load

and for emphasis

PATTERN your gun/load

Learn where to hold your face on the stock so that the pattern is centered on what you are looking at. Don't aim it -mount it properly and look at where you want the pattern to center.

Keep the gun moving

Wear ear plugs tsssssssssssssttssssssssssssst

[Foxton Gundogs]

OK I'll bite on the advice:

Learn what a duck looks like at 20-30 and 40 yards. Go to a park where there are ducks and pace off the ranges.

Believe in your heart that any movement no matter how small you think it is will spook/flare waterfowl.

Study google earth till your eyes bleed

Study the regs till your eyes bleed

Study the birds, flyways, habitat requirements etc. Read everything on the DU web site to start.

Scout, scout, scout

Don't spend a red nickle on anything besides qualtiy guns, ammo and gasoline (ok maybe a few deeks) You cannot buy your way to success. Ignore the 'fashion' scene. That 300 dollar pair of camo pants represents an awful lot of hunting time wasted.

Before you go out with a mentor do some hard work yourself. There is a lifetime of stuff to learn and your better off coming at it with the respect that floudnering a bit will teach you. It is real easy to sit in someone elses blind and fold birds at 30 yards. It is another thing (and more rewarding) to be able to go out and get a few birds anytime/anywhere you want.

Spend some time at the range and soak up what ever the trap/skeet boys will teach you.

PATTERN your gun/load

and for emphasis

PATTERN your gun/load

Learn where to hold your face on the stock so that the pattern is centered on what you are looking at. Don't aim it -mount it properly and look at where you want the pattern to center.

Keep the gun moving

Wear ear plugs tsssssssssssssttssssssssssssst

Some good advice here, but you are going to need waders, the up side of this is you wont need $300 pants(or any pants for that matter lol). Again you don't need to spend a fortune I bought a pair of Cambodian Tire $130 camo specials to get me through to the end of the season, that was 3 1/2 seasons ago, still wearing them the "good" ones I ordered are still in the box lol

[overunder]

don't let'em see your face either and learn to call well

[albravo2]

I'm about a year ahead of you on the learning curve.

I've learned a few things, especially that all the book reading and skeet shooting you do will be meaningless unless you find somewhere where there are ducks. Seems simple, I know, but its not easy to scout a migrating creature in the months that are easy for scouting. If you find some internet version of a flyway map with granularity better than 'BC, Alberta and Western Saskatchewan', let me know;-)

Then, when you find ducks, you'll learn how difficult it is to get the damn things within shooting range. I'm still trying to figure out if it is decoy placement, bad calling or poor camouflage but pretty much every duck I've seen this year has flared well before the dinner table.

All that said, I'm having an absolute blast learning things the hard way. I've found some great places and, so far, one place that holds ducks. I can't wait to go back there and try again.

My enthusiasm has been contagious and I now have four other newbies that have become similarly addicted. Ironically, that makes me the resident expert despite the fact that I have very little idea what the hell we're doing.

My advice is to work hard to put the pieces in place by yourself. Then if you ever do end up hunting with an experienced duck hunter so much more of what he/she tells you will make sense.

PM me if you want to know a few places that don't hold ducks. I won't tell you where they are, but I will tell you where they aren't and that may save you a bunch of time.

[northernsculler]

LOL, I just assumed every one on here had waders, life jackets and a canoe. Yeah big time on the face, back of hands. Wear a ball cap.

Guess the calling is a debatable point. I have always sucked at it so I like to believe it is not so important.

You could try a piece of cloth on a broom stick. Now adays they call them mojo ducks and they take batteries but any thing that looks like that locked up wing flutter as a bird drops in amongst his buddies will do.

First steps though are learn where the ducks are. Learn how to kill em well and figure out how to get close to em .

Warning waterfowling is HIGHLY addicitve.

[lorneparker1]

Some good advice here, but you are going to need waders, the up side of this is you wont need $300 pants(or any pants for that matter lol). Again you don't need to spend a fortune I bought a pair of Cambodian Tire $130 camo specials to get me through to the end of the season, that was 3 1/2 seasons ago, still wearing them the "good" ones I ordered are still in the box lol

I don't wear pants or waders.

[lorneparker1]

I'm about a year ahead of you on the learning curve.

I've learned a few things, especially that all the book reading and skeet shooting you do will be meaningless unless you find somewhere where there are ducks. Seems simple, I know, but its not easy to scout a migrating creature in the months that are easy for scouting. If you find some internet version of a flyway map with granularity better than 'BC, Alberta and Western Saskatchewan', let me know;-)

Then, when you find ducks, you'll learn how difficult it is to get the damn things within shooting range. I'm still trying to figure out if it is decoy placement, bad calling or poor camouflage but pretty much every duck I've seen this year has flared well before the dinner table.

All that said, I'm having an absolute blast learning things the hard way. I've found some great places and, so far, one place that holds ducks. I can't wait to go back there and try again.

My enthusiasm has been contagious and I now have four other newbies that have become similarly addicted. Ironically, that makes me the resident expert despite the fact that I have very little idea what the hell we're doing.

My advice is to work hard to put the pieces in place by yourself. Then if you ever do end up hunting with an experienced duck hunter so much more of what he/she tells you will make sense.

PM me if you want to know a few places that don't hold ducks. I won't tell you where they are, but I will tell you where they aren't and that may save you a bunch of time.


This post should be a sticky. This is the way to go about it. You are welcome to hunt with me anytime.

[Foxton Gundogs]

I agree with O/U on the calling, after 55 years in the marsh it's been my observation bad calling is worse than no calling at all and good calling can make your day. As for MoJos, they are hit and miss, sometime they are duck magnets but other times they will flare them, I do know they are not the magic bullet they once were.

[Ian F.]

http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?14596-Waterfowling-101-getting-started

wrote 3 or 4 of these back in 2007

[Foxton Gundogs]

I don't wear pants or waders.

I can never unread that EVER

[BigSmoke]

This has turned into a very great thread! I appreciate all of the advice you guys have given me. Looks like I've got some work ahead of me... sound's like it should be a great season!
If anyone is headed to NL to try their luck at a moose or caribou, I'd be more than happy to pass along my years of knowledge in that area ;).
Thanks again fellas!

[albravo2]

This post should be a sticky. This is the way to go about it. You are welcome to hunt with me anytime.

Thanks Lorne,
I am going to take you up on that this season.
Underwear is ok, right?

/a

[northernsculler]

I am starting to wish I had never mentioned pants!

Bigsmoke, Another piece of advice might be to join your local rod and gun club. Great way to meet people and it is basically free cause you get the BCWF liability insurance with your membership. Let it be known that your a guy who will do the carrying, slogging and coffee/fuel buying. Lots of older fellas out there that would be happy to get back out for a couple shoots if they had a reliable hand to do some of the heavier lifting. Anything useful that I know about waterfowling was learned while carrying a merc 9.8 from the pickup to the transom.

[Foxton Gundogs]

Thanks Lorne,
I am going to take you up on that this season.
Underwear is ok, right?

/a

Just make sure he doesn't want to share a layout with you :mrgreen: