Duck Hunting Questions

[Bob J]

Have done very little duck hunting before. I have access to a 6 - 8 acre marsh surrounded by hardwoods and pine forest. See mallards fly over all the time when we're deer hunting. My brother and I are thinking about getting some kind of small, stable jon boat, camoflaging it with brush and see if we can get a few ducks.

The woods go right to the edge, its real brushy around it. Would a jon boat be the best way? Shoot sitting or stand up and shoot? How far out do you put decoys?

 

[biliff]

The woods go right to the edge, its real brushy around it. Would a jon boat be the best way? Shoot sitting or stand up and shoot? How far out do you put decoys?

Depends on the depth of the water. Sometimes its just easier to wade in and lean up against a tree to camoflauge yourself.
If you do go with a boat, learn to shoot sitting down unless its an EXTREMELY stable boat.
Decoys are to bring birds in. Ducks land into the wind like an airplane. They also won't fly over or land immediately on top of other birds. They need an opening to come and land in. A common decoy set up is in the shape of a fish hook. The idea is to get the birds to land in the opening of the hook.
-----------d d d d d d d
Wind ->---d landing zone
-----------d d d

--------------Blind

Set your decoys so the landing zone is about 20-25 yards out from your shooting position.

"d" is a decoy. Everything else is pretty self explanatory. If you do a google search on duck hunting, you'll get a million variations on the same theme.

 

[Bob J]

Thanks, BB-
Not having a retriever, how long can you leave downed ducks in the water? Do they float for long? Or is it better to wade/paddle out immediately and get 'em?

 

[biliff]

Thanks, BB-
Not having a retriever, how long can you leave downed ducks in the water? Do they float for long? Or is it better to wade/paddle out immediately and get 'em?

Without a dog, it's been my experience that you want to get out after a downed duck IMMEDIATELY. Not because they sink (they'll float for days) but because they have a habit of coming back to life and swimming/diving/flying off. If they get into the brush or dive into submerged vegetation you've pretty much lost 'em unless you have a good dog. When you go out to get 'em make sure you bring your gun and extra ammo and don't be afraid to use it. Try and close the distance as fast as you can and if their head comes up blast 'em again and keep closing the distance and blasting 'em until they stay down. A wing broke mallard on the water is one of the hardest creatures on the face of the earth to kill so close the distance as fast as you can cause you need to get a couple pellets in the head to finish 'em off.
Saw a couple of new duck hunters in the blind next to me lose a mallard last year. They downed it, celebrated for awhile then one of 'em went after it without a gun. Got halfway to it when it uprighted itself and started swimming off. By the time he got back to the blind, got his gun and waded back out the duck was long gun in the brush.