In my book, diver duck hunting is about as good as it gets! Those fast little ducks can really get your blood flowing. In some ways hunting divers is easier than hunting puddle ducks (especially mallards). As a whole you don' t do much calling, so if your not a good caller it isn' t a handicap. Also, while you do need to cover up, it is not as crucial as when hunting mallards because divers rarely circle decoys as much as mallards do.

If you don' t have a boat, you will probably want one. Most of the time you will find divers on bigger bodies of water, not the little potholes you find puddles in. If you don' t have any diver decoys, you may want to buy a couple dozen or so (blue bill decoys seem to work good for all divers, and are usually the easiest to find). A set up that works good for me is to put out a straight line of about 2-3 dozen decoys extending out to the middle of the lake, and at the front of the line putting a group of 10 or so on either side of the line, creating a open landing area about 15-20 yards in front of me. The theory is that the birds will follow the line down and land in the opening. Sometimes it actually works!

I would suggest getting a book or magazine about diver hunting and just try out some of the things they talk about. Then just experiment, and find out what works for you. Don' t worry, diver ducks can be very forgiving, if they are around they will usually come by and at least give you a look. If they don' t come in, just keep trying different things until they do.

Diver hunting is a blast. You won' t regret getting started. Good luck!