New to duck hunting

[Reef tank luke]

So at 39yrs old I have started the addiction of duck hunting. I am completely new too it and too hunting. I have been down to the addington marsh a couple of times. But have minimal luck. We take the boat out and set up some decoys but have alot of high fly overs or just fly by. Could it be our decoy spread not being big enough? I only have 6 decoys. Or bad calling? Or should we just set up with no blind and decoys and just wait for them to come by. We spook them when we come in so they should come back? Basically any advice would be great. Again I'm just learning as I go. Cheers

[Ron.C]

I really got into duck hunting hook line and sinker 4 years ago (still pretty new at it) but its now my favourite type of hunting.

Birds can get harder to decoy as the season progresses. Remaining well hidden is very important if the birds are spooky. Make sure your boat/blind is well concealed.

Its also worth scouting the areas you want to hunt in advance and watch undisturbed birds and try to set up where you know the birds want to be. If you can do this and stay concealed, you can do very well with a small spread.


I love hunting windy, snotty days. The birds seem to decoy easier. Set up your decoys so the birds cross infront of you as the land into the wind.

It wont hurt you to increase the size of your decoy spread, especially if you are hunting big water.

I usually like to set up about 15-20 yards from where I want the birds to land and keep my farthest decoy within shooting range.

Dont be afraid to change something mid hunt if you are flarring birds.

Most importantly, DONT educate birds by skybusting. In my area I see guys shooting at birds at least 70-100 yards up. You'll be far better off passing on bad or low percentage shots and trying to turn birds with your calling then blasting at birds you dont have a hope in hell of hitting.

[Would Rather Be Fishing]

It's my set goal for next year to get into bird hunting for post-deer season activity (not sure if that's the right motivation, but I do like eating duck of the pellet grill).

I don't own a boat, but always wondered about the "concealment factor"... I can't see how you can "hide" in a boat? Or do you use the boat to get access to certain areas otherwise inaccessible and then get out the ol' waders?

I realize that might be a dumb question, but... like I said... new to waterfowling and ... don't own a boat :-)

[Ron.C]

Camo nets, burlap, manufactured marsh grass panels, natural vegetation.... .

I have a couple spots I hunt right out of my 14' jonboat or 15 ft canoe on tidal flats (during high tide) with very little natural cover. After I grass it in it just looks like a mound of vegetation

[Would Rather Be Fishing]

Sounds hardcore to me :-) Do you have a picture?

[Ron.C]

Not of the boat, but in the hunting dog thread you can see the grassmats used on my layout blind.

4 of these matts per box. 2 boxes (8 matts) will completly conceal my canoe or jonboat. Best part about them is the break up the outline of what they are concealing, hiding long straight edges. Hit them with some spray paint if you want to match them exactly with your local cover.

I also use them to make temporary land blinds. Takes about 5 minutes to set up a blind ( 4 mats) that is big enough for 2 shooters and a dog

[Wild one]

I only pretend to duck hunt and my skills are minimal but there is two things I know

You are better off to under call then over do it. If you are a marginal caller sometimes a few simple quacks that sound good are better then pounding away with crappy sounding hail calls

Ducks catch movement and colour way more then big game. If you are a pasty face staring straight up at them they often see you. Camp and a good hide can make a big difference

My guess if the ducks are staying high and passing by it’s one of 3 things bad over calling, they see you, or they have no interest landing in that area and have better place to be

Hopefully a duck hunter with more knowledge then I have chimes in

[wideopenthrottle]

in my experience (albeit decades ago), they will fly over looking for potential sites to land (or suss out known spots) but they tend to do several circles coming in closer each time before a leader bird will choose to land and the others will follow..it is critical during their circling to not be seen or they will bail out and go look for another spot...the more tired they are the less times they will circle before landing...another observation i could relate is that local birds act way differently than migrants

[Reef tank luke]

Thanks for the response from y'all. This Saturday I'm going to try a new spot that I've seen them land in often. Then they might be seeing my boat and me. So more cover and less calling. Hopefully that be better but if not it's still good experience. More info keep it coming thanks again guys.

[silveragent]

Reef, welcome to the wonderful world of waterfowling. I picked this up four years ago when I was a bit older than you and I live for this time of year.

Last year I started to get ducks decoying in and began to understand the whys and hows of why birds come in.

1. Some ducks who are flying high and don't vary in their direction are "on a mission" already. The leader knows where they are going to go and nothing will deviate them.
2. Ducks are social animals. If they are already in a big group they have no real reason to join a smaller group. This is why more decoys is helpful. And this is why if you have a small number of decoys you may attract singles, doubles or trios but not likely larger groups. I have 14 various dekes and I find I get that 1,2,3s coming in. It is like party psychology. The big parties are where it is at. This is why sometimes you will see one duck break off from a trio. Three's a crowd, even for ducks. I can only really drag that many dekes so it is good to partner up with a buddy for their dekes. Together you can put together not only a larger number but also different patterns. You also need to create a laneway for the birds to come in otherwise they may defer your dekes because there is nowhere to land.
3. Some duck species will join different species or will gain confidence by the presence of certain species. For this reason a lot of people will start with mallard dekes because nearly every other species will come in with mallards.
4. Windy and wavy days are awesome because that gives your floaters motion. Without motion it would be as if you drove past a party and through the window you only saw mannequins.
5. Wideopen is right. Resident birds have memory of being shot at and which areas are more pressured than others. If they see the same decoys out in the same area they will remember the last time their buddies were killed. I have a feeling a lot of my success is because of the migration. Newcomers come in and don't know the "no go areas".
6. The longer you hunt an area the more you see patterns in their movement. You'll be able to talk about how certain birds will always go from point A to point B and then in the evening go from B to C or back to A again. By observing that over time you'll know where to place yourself for better success. Unless you are jumping birds, the only way you get them to come to you is when they want to move. So "bluebird" days where it is sunny and clear are generally not worth going out for because the birds will have no reason to leave where they are. Bad weather, wind, cloud, tide are all changing conditions that make birds move either because their present area is disrupting their feed or because they think another area is better.
7. I am with RonC on avoiding skybusting as much as possible. Good shooters can pass shoot all day but then they know their limits and don't waste shots. I like boasting of getting a nice wing shot for sure but not if I missed the previous two shots. All I've done then is educate that flock not to fly over this area. And really there is nothing sweeter than watching birds actually decoy and know all your efforts served the bird up to you on a plate. Generally I know if a bird will come in for a landing after the second circle. If I get one overhead within 15y I will shoot it and with improved accuracy I generally will down it. A nicely decoyed bird will be practically hovering so is takeable by all levels of shooters.
8. I really have not had much provable success with calling so these days I will only call when they are far away hoping to get their attention and then I'll shut up. I only call again if they are not convinced and head out.
9. If in doubt when birds are coming in and you aren't sure of their intentions, do NOTHING, don't move, don't call. Let them decide. Be patient. Sometimes nothing will be going right and you start losing interest and suddenly a duck will pop out of nowhere and you will be cursing because you were not ready. My friends and I know this like it is one of Murphy's Laws. Or you decide to leave early and the moment you pull out, that is when the flock hits. It happens.
10. I have mojos and never yet was able to tell if they were having any effect. Others swear by them. My best days I've left them behind.

[Sako 75]

I put in my 2 cent worth. Being hunting waterfowls for 46 years. Through my experience I like to set my decoys in 2 groups. Right side groups is about 30-50 feet apart from left groups. You want the ducks to land want in big opening. Don't placed the (group)decoys to close together spread them out a least 5-10 feet part. Bunching them up together means the ducks are nervous and ready to take flight. I like to set my robo ducks about 50 feet away from the decoys. I used one tall pole and one short pole.

I notice on sunny days I get way more mallards coming in for some reason. Windy days are great for all kinds of ducks. When by myself I just target greenhead.

[Would Rather Be Fishing]

So where would be a good place to start playing around for someone from Coquitlam who doesn’t own a boat? Boundary Bay?

[VLD43]

Couple of points to keep in mind. Learn to use a call properly. Listen to how birds communicate in the marsh and try to duplicate. If you master a good hail call and feeding call you can bring in lots of birds. Study how birds raft up in different conditions and try to duplicate that pattern. As was pointed out, if your set is to tightly set, it gives the appearance of danger. Usually birds will raft on the lee side of a point of land in a stringed out pattern. Always have a hen as your lead decoy with a couple of drakes behind her. If you watch birds closely you will notice that in most cases hens always lead. When birds are approaching don't look up. The closer they get the more easily they will flair if they see anything that looks out of place. Be patient and study bird movements and patterns. Try your best to blend in to your environment. I have had some great shoots over the years, using no more than two or three decoys, and knowing how and when to call. Pay attention to detail and you will be rewarded.

[mastercaster]

Usually birds will raft on the lee side of a point of land in a stringed out pattern. Always have a hen as your lead decoy with a couple of drakes behind her. If you watch birds closely you will notice that in most cases hens always lead. Pay attention to detail and you will be rewarded.

Now that you mention that I believe you are right. Last week I was out with a friend doing a field shoot. There weren't all that many birds flying but when 2 or 3 would come our way to the decoys they came in from our left. Because I was on the right of my buddy, we came to an agreement that I would shoot at the lead bird and he'd take a shot at the next one coming in from behind.

Let's just say I was calling myself "Hen Boy" by the end of our shoot. There just weren't enough birds to just pick out green heads, otherwise we would only have gotten to shoot at half the birds we eventually got because obviously we would have rather had all green heads.

https://i.imgur.com/aaTjeVs.jpg

[VLD43]

Now that you mention that I believe you are right. Last week I was out with a friend doing a field shoot. There weren't all that many birds flying but when 2 or 3 would come our way to the decoys they came in from our left. Because I was on the right of my buddy, we came to an agreement that I would shoot at the lead bird and he'd take a shot at the next one coming in from behind.

Let's just say I was calling myself "Hen Boy" by the end of our shoot. There just weren't enough birds to just pick out green heads, otherwise we would only have gotten to shoot at half the birds we eventually got because obviously we would have rather had all green heads.

https://i.imgur.com/aaTjeVs.jpg

Thanks for the reply. I used be pretty hard core hunting waterfowl. Spent a lot of time reading about and studying birds. Usually like most things, the devil is in the detail. By the looks of the picture, you appear to be pretty accomplished yourself.

[mastercaster]

Thanks for the reply. I used be pretty hard core hunting waterfowl. Spent a lot of time reading about and studying birds. Usually like most things, the devil is in the detail. By the looks of the picture, you appear to be pretty accomplished yourself.Not really. Getting to go with a friend every one in awhile who has access to some private land really makes a big difference,,,,location, location, location. haha He's also a very proficient caller so it's a good combo. This is just my dog's 2nd year on waterfowl. Generally, I'm a hardcore deer/grouse guy who spends a lot of time doing that.

All through my teens I was lucky enough to take trips back to Alberta with my dad to hunt ducks on a relatives farm land so I've basically had a 4 decade absence from waterfowl hunting.

I just want to get my griff out there as much as possible doing what she was bred to do so I've spent a ton of hours training her and allowing her to learn the ropes while out in the field. She's been a quick study in that regard. All the other bird hunting I've done is on rivers/water which is very hit and miss.

https://i.imgur.com/9vknnxz.jpg

[MichelD]

Thanks for the tips Sako75 and VLD43.

I never knew that bunched birds indicated danger.

I went to one of my former go-to spots on the Pitt River yesterday, but things have changed. For one thing, there was a permanent blind still standing last year but over the winter it got blown over and washed up into the marsh. The other thing is that for some reason or the other they have moored a long row of barges all along the shore leaving only a thin strip of foreshore that you can watch for ducks. Also, duck flying long the river on the other side of the barges can't see my mojo and decoys either.

The blind survived demolition by the authorities but the weather got it. Shame. It was nice to have a shelter on those wet snotty days that the ducks move in. It was a real chore to cycle along the dike about a km with a blind bag in my bike basket balancing a backpack mesh bag with 12 decoys, my mojo, a folding chair, a length of burlap and a bundle of bamboo sticks top, balancing my shotgun across the handlebars.

There was no cover to put the blind up against so it stuck out like a sore thumb and I got no ducks to even come and have a look though there were dozens that flew over in the three hours I was set up there.

[fearnodeer]

Over cast and windy days are the best, keeps them flying lower.

[Sako 75]

I would love to take out some new duck hunters out but I got full crew already. Some guys I am taking out are from this site. I'm the oldest guy from our group. I like the young guys because I always say great shots go pickup the ducks. I hunt on private farm in Lowermainland. Sorry can't say excactly where.

[RYoung26]

So at 39yrs old I have started the addiction of duck hunting. I am completely new too it and too hunting. I have been down to the addington marsh a couple of times. But have minimal luck. We take the boat out and set up some decoys but have alot of high fly overs or just fly by. Could it be our decoy spread not being big enough? I only have 6 decoys. Or bad calling? Or should we just set up with no blind and decoys and just wait for them to come by. We spook them when we come in so they should come back? Basically any advice would be great. Again I'm just learning as I go. Cheers

I too am trying to get into waterfowl hunting. I'm looking for public land so I can practice on my own or in a small group, but there's so few places that are "public land" in the greater vancouver area that aren't too close to a busy area, making me nervous about walking around with a shotgun and some gear. I drove past the Pitt-Addington marsh on Christmas day, and it was dead in terms of birds. I was hoping it would be swarming with birds. I don't know if it was the time of day, the weather, or the fact that the walking paths were pretty busy. But I saw a total of maybe 5 ducks in total on the way to the marsh and nothing actually in the marsh. Mind you, I did just do a quick scope. I will probably go back this weekend, maybe earlier in the day and see how things are then.

[silveragent]

Ryoung26, some days the ducks aren't flying. It can be anything from temperature, to "blue bird" days (sky blue and sun shining), to little wind or low tide. Pitt marsh is not my area but where I go you may not see the ducks until you go to a certain area and only if you can spend the time to sit and watch for an entire morning or afternoon. Your time driving past an area may have been the wrong snapshot of time to see them. Almost all animals are more active at dawn or dusk. Basically changing conditions prompt them to move, otherwise you have to jump them where they are resting. If you see them flying, they are trafficking from an area of rest to feeding or vice versa or just for social reasons.

[RYoung26]

silveragent, I do believe it was a combination of things which resulted in not seeing many birds. It was a relatively mild day, quite a bit of blue skies, little to no wind and it was in the early afternoon. I didn't spend too much time there, though I would like to scope it out better closer to sunrise on a day with better conditions for hunting. Have you tired Pitt marsh before? Is there a specific reason you don't hunt it?

[silveragent]

It was a relatively mild day, quite a bit of blue skies, little to no wind and it was in the early afternoon.

That would explain a lot. Bad weather for humans is good weather for ducks. Mid-day is resting time for most animals. In my area they are typically down in the flats eating away and any flights are random at that point.


Have you tired Pitt marsh before? Is there a specific reason you don't hunt it?

Ladner is just closer to me and I just don't want to wake up the extra early time to get there. If I were closer I would try it. By reputation, though, I was told you need a boat or dog in that area which I do not yet have. Whereas in Brunswick and Boundary you can get away with not having either depending on the spot. If you were to spend a day at Pitt Marsh you would already know more than me. If that is closest to you, then that is what I would do. Just get out there for a day and observe or take your gun and hope to get lucky but you would definitely gain knowledge.

[RYoung26]

That would explain a lot. Bad weather for humans is good weather for ducks. Mid-day is resting time for most animals. In my area they are typically down in the flats eating away and any flights are random at that point.



Ladner is just closer to me and I just don't want to wake up the extra early time to get there. If I were closer I would try it. By reputation, though, I was told you need a boat or dog in that area which I do not yet have. Whereas in Brunswick and Boundary you can get away with not having either depending on the spot. If you were to spend a day at Pitt Marsh you would already know more than me. If that is closest to you, then that is what I would do. Just get out there for a day and observe or take your gun and hope to get lucky but you would definitely gain knowledge.

Sadly, nothing firearms related is close to North Vancouver :( There is the odd rod and gun club dotted about in Poco, Richmond, and out in the Fraser Valley. But in terms of huntable land, and more specifically, "public" land to hunt, you best be ready for a field trip. Both Pitt marsh and Boundary Bay are just under an hour to get to from where I live. So there isn't one that's really "closer" for me. I guess I'll just have to scope out both, take my own readings for how long it takes to get there, how many birds frequent the area on given days, etc. and do my homework. But thanks for the tips and knowledge. Very appreciated.