My first Duck!

[WesHarm]

Got my first duck ever this weekend. My first time going out for ducks ever. I feel super lucky and have to thank my buddy who did all the work setting up decoys and calling!

on that note, my buddy is a TERRIBLE teacher... anyone know some good videos/tips and tricks on learning to call? Picked up a cheaper double reed call that was on sale at Cabelas... looked online some, but wanted to see who on here has their own prefered videos/methods.

Another question i have is when setting up decoys is there a prefered spacing/ configuration or do you guys usually just put your decoys out kinda helter skelter and hope for the best?

Thanks for any tips!!! Never thought i would be much of a waterfowler but man my dreams were filled with ducks last night!!

[dak0ta]

Congrats! Youtube has plenty of videos to learn from. Also, go listen to some live ducks at a park chatter. Post your picture of your duck in the 2018/19 season thread under "The Marsh" subforum.

[HarryToolips]

Nice congrats, you cook it whole for a dinner or make sausage?

[WesHarm]

Think my brother-in-law (buddy) wants to try and make sausage this year :D

[Ron.C]

congrats on the duck. I took up waterfowling a few years ago. It's quickly surpassing big game hunting as my favourite hunt.

Best thing about it is that you don't have to take it too seriously. If you spook some birds with your calling or set up, there will be more coming soon.

There's lots of information on the net about calling, decoys blinds,,,,,,,,,, I'm not saying there's not a ton of good info there, but I don't think you have to get that critical when you are starting.

From one novice to another, keep it fun and experiment for yourself. Don't be afraid to change something mid hunt if birds aren't coming in. I like to try and get my birds committed to the decoys before I shoot. "weather I hit them or not, I think its cool as hell to see birds set right into the decoys."

When I started, I was putting my decoys way to far out. The birds would usually land short of my spread. Now I set my longest decoy about 25 yards from my blind and always try to create a couple pockets that the birds may want to land in. Seems to work pretty good most days.

My decoy spread is now made up of Pintails, Widgeon, Mallard and GW Teal. These are the birds I general see. I can't say that using different types of decoys really helps much on most days, but later in the season it seems to help as birds get more gun shy.

I have tried the " mojo " decoys. To be honest, I'm not sure they really helped. When you look across the marsh and see mojos everywhere, I think the birds quickly learn to avoid em. SO, I try and make my set different then what I see others do, or set up in a slightly different spot every time. I did however make a jerk rig "very inexpensive" and on days where the water is dead calm, you can add some motion into your spread that in my opinion works pretty damn good.

[MichelD]

Don't overlook simply roasting a duck slowly in the oven. Roast mallard is just about the favourite game meat in our house short of Canada goose.

[Foxton Gundogs]

Welcome to the madness.

[The Hermit]

I KNOW!! Who would have thought it but water-fowling is fast approaching parity with bow hunting! See Ron's post above... HE is a good teacher! Cheers and good luck this season! Now go get a triple!! :-)

[Wild one]

Ok my waterfowl skills are meh but yes I kill birds so take my advice for what it is

Calls I found some I can get ok with others I suck with. I bought about 12 duck calls only 4 are on my lanyard rest I gave away because I just can’t make them sound good( buddy makes them all sound awesome though lol). So you may need to try a few

In my opinion a whistle is a must add to the normal mallard call. Easy to use and in my opinion makes a huge difference with wigeon.

My spread for ducks is mallards and teal along with 4 geese. Don’t know if adding teal helps but gives another size profile and makes me feel cool lol. Geese I was told to add as confidence decoys and a chance of bringing in geese you don’t expect. I use 1-3 mojos

Set up I use a j or u spread basically leave a place I want them to land. I was taught to do it so I just do lol

eatting duck pan fried, and stew is most common