Duck hunting for idiots
12-18-2006, 07:40 PM
#1
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Tonganoxie, KS
Posts: 978
Duck hunting for idiots
I have never been duck hunting but would like to get into it. I will be hunting the N/E Kansas area. To be honest I don't even know what ducks are what other than Mallards. If anyone can help me out on what I will need it would be greatly appreciated. What I need to know is the equipment needed, what ducks can I hunt in this area and anything else you all think I should know. I have always hunted deer and pheasant but never any waterfoul. Thanks
12-18-2006, 08:37 PM
#2
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Manhattan, IL.
Posts: 106
RE: Duck hunting for idiots
Well, I am sure that it will be difficult tofind someone willingbut I would suggest that if at all possible you find someone to go with a few times. Duck hunting can be very overwelming calls, decoys, blinds, boats, waders, field hunting, water hunting, learning to call, ect.... I am just learning myself so I don't have any wisdom to share.
Good Luck!!!
Good Luck!!!
12-19-2006, 07:33 AM
#6
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location:
Posts: 6,357
RE: Duck hunting for idiots
I'm a novice duck hunter, but I can provide some advice.
#1: By federal law you must use non-toxic shot when hunting for all waterfowl. You do not want to use lead shot for duck hunting, unless you are prepared to commit a felony and perhaps loose your firearms owning privileges for life (I think a felony involves automatic loss of firearms owning rights for life, but maybe I'm wrong). One kind of non-toxic shot is steel shot. Older shotguns, for example my 1950's era Winchester Model 12 shotgun, were not designed to shoot steel shot and can be damaged by shooting this steel shot. The issue is steel does not deform as does lead shot, thereby producing different stresses on the shotgun barrels. Even with modern, post non-toxic shot legislation shotguns the advice is to not shoot steel shot in a shotgun employing a full choke. Because steel shot is less dense than lead, equal sized steel shot slows down more quickly than lead shot and hence has less killing power. Typically this is resolved by using steel shot that is a couple of shot sizes larger than the comparable lead shot. Some people get around this by purchasing special shot -- "hevishot," "bismuth shot," etc. -- which may overcome some of the disadvantages of steel shot. I don't know enough to comment accurately on these other kinds of shot.
#2: Most of your duck hunting will be in and around water and/or in rainey weather. You WILL get water on your shotgun. I couldn't use my older shotgun anyway with steel shot so I got a new shotgun which has a synthetic stock impervious to water. I prefer the looks of nice walnut stocked firearms, such as my 1950's era Winchester Model 12, but this consideration of water hazards drove me to the synthetic stock. By the way, I bought a Remington 870 Super Magnum Express 12 gauge for $289 that is entirely suited to duck hunting. This seems to me to be a very good price for an entirely suitable duck hunting gun. There are other suitable, inexpensive shotguns. If you want to spend more, go for it, but it isn't necessary.
#3: If you are an inexperienced wing shooter, get some practice on the skeet range, the trap range, or the sporting clays range. It is a lot different from rifle shooting.
#4: Ducks are migratory birds. Generally, ducks breed up north during the warm monthsand fly down south for the winter during the cold months. They get pushed down by bad weather. When it is warm late in the year, as it has been in 2006, the duck hunting is slow early in the season. On particular days when the weather is very warm and pleasant the ducks don't move, they stay put, which can be bad for hunting. On blue sky days the ducks fly high, making it difficult to hit them; on overcast, rainy days the ducks fly low, making it easier to hit them. Ducks will stay away from ponds when they are frozen, which they will be if the overnight temperatures are too low. On such days the ducks will go to rivers which will have some open water not frozen. You can think of this migration as a series of waves or a pulse of ducks going south. They don't all go together, they get strung out, like kids on a field trip walking in line at the zoo. Different species may come down at different times, depending on their tolerance for cold.
#5: Ducks are very social birds. They will look at a pond and consider setting down, but they really want to see other ducks there. This is whyhunters use decoys, to give the impression that this is a good pond and there is a party already in progress with their brother ducks in attendence, come on in!!! This is why hunters use duck calls, to invite these ducks in. You can call with no ducks visible, ducks will hear the call from a considerable distance away and come to the pond and set down.
#6: Many ducks are very wary, for example Mallards. When the ducks approach you want to be still. You also want to conceal yourself, for example in a duck blind, in the shadows of a bush, wearing camoflage, with gloves on your hands to conceal your white skin, etc.
#7: Preferrably wait for the ducks to just about settle on the pond before shooting them. When they come in to land, just before they set down they apply the "air brakes" by cupping their wings and leaning backwards. This is the best time to shoot them as they are decelerating and cannot adjust and reattain escape velocity easily. Of course, it is also best to shoot the ducks when they are close and in front of you.
#8: Ducks generally tend to come in to land flying into the wind. Arrange your hunting position so the wind is blowing into your face or perpendicular to your face. The ducks will come to your decoys, so again place yourself with the likely approach of the ducks in mind.
#9: Some duck hunting is in shallow water, for example in flooded timber. In this circumstance it may be useful to own chest waders. If you use chest waders, it is a good safety practice to wear a "wader belt." This is a belt around the middle of the chest that will prevent water from flooding into the waders if you fall into the water. It is VERY awkward walking in the mud with waders in crotch deep water, so falling into the water is not nearly as unlikely as it might seem until you have tried it. Do yourself a favor and use this belt with chest waders. Wader belts are sold by retailers, but you can improvise a belt with anything, such as sash cord or other rope, a la Jethro of the Beverly Hillbillys!
#10: When several ducks come in, if you hit the first duck you shoot at well but don't kill it outright, rather than spend a second shot on the first duck, try to knock down a second duck. Since the first duck is coming down anyway, you can deal it a killing shot later. It occurs to me there may be some limitations to this tactic, and you certainly want to recover wounded birds and not let them escape, but this seems a tactic that can work often times.
This is about all I can think of. There is a lot more to this than I know about at this time. I am a novice, like I said above. Get hooked up with an experienced duck hunter or with a guide to really learn what is going on. Also, this will save you some of the start-up expenses for equipment, as these guys will have decoys and maybe other gear (calls, for example) so you can defer these expenses until later. It is a lot of fun, and duck meat tastes great!
#1: By federal law you must use non-toxic shot when hunting for all waterfowl. You do not want to use lead shot for duck hunting, unless you are prepared to commit a felony and perhaps loose your firearms owning privileges for life (I think a felony involves automatic loss of firearms owning rights for life, but maybe I'm wrong). One kind of non-toxic shot is steel shot. Older shotguns, for example my 1950's era Winchester Model 12 shotgun, were not designed to shoot steel shot and can be damaged by shooting this steel shot. The issue is steel does not deform as does lead shot, thereby producing different stresses on the shotgun barrels. Even with modern, post non-toxic shot legislation shotguns the advice is to not shoot steel shot in a shotgun employing a full choke. Because steel shot is less dense than lead, equal sized steel shot slows down more quickly than lead shot and hence has less killing power. Typically this is resolved by using steel shot that is a couple of shot sizes larger than the comparable lead shot. Some people get around this by purchasing special shot -- "hevishot," "bismuth shot," etc. -- which may overcome some of the disadvantages of steel shot. I don't know enough to comment accurately on these other kinds of shot.
#2: Most of your duck hunting will be in and around water and/or in rainey weather. You WILL get water on your shotgun. I couldn't use my older shotgun anyway with steel shot so I got a new shotgun which has a synthetic stock impervious to water. I prefer the looks of nice walnut stocked firearms, such as my 1950's era Winchester Model 12, but this consideration of water hazards drove me to the synthetic stock. By the way, I bought a Remington 870 Super Magnum Express 12 gauge for $289 that is entirely suited to duck hunting. This seems to me to be a very good price for an entirely suitable duck hunting gun. There are other suitable, inexpensive shotguns. If you want to spend more, go for it, but it isn't necessary.
#3: If you are an inexperienced wing shooter, get some practice on the skeet range, the trap range, or the sporting clays range. It is a lot different from rifle shooting.
#4: Ducks are migratory birds. Generally, ducks breed up north during the warm monthsand fly down south for the winter during the cold months. They get pushed down by bad weather. When it is warm late in the year, as it has been in 2006, the duck hunting is slow early in the season. On particular days when the weather is very warm and pleasant the ducks don't move, they stay put, which can be bad for hunting. On blue sky days the ducks fly high, making it difficult to hit them; on overcast, rainy days the ducks fly low, making it easier to hit them. Ducks will stay away from ponds when they are frozen, which they will be if the overnight temperatures are too low. On such days the ducks will go to rivers which will have some open water not frozen. You can think of this migration as a series of waves or a pulse of ducks going south. They don't all go together, they get strung out, like kids on a field trip walking in line at the zoo. Different species may come down at different times, depending on their tolerance for cold.
#5: Ducks are very social birds. They will look at a pond and consider setting down, but they really want to see other ducks there. This is whyhunters use decoys, to give the impression that this is a good pond and there is a party already in progress with their brother ducks in attendence, come on in!!! This is why hunters use duck calls, to invite these ducks in. You can call with no ducks visible, ducks will hear the call from a considerable distance away and come to the pond and set down.
#6: Many ducks are very wary, for example Mallards. When the ducks approach you want to be still. You also want to conceal yourself, for example in a duck blind, in the shadows of a bush, wearing camoflage, with gloves on your hands to conceal your white skin, etc.
#7: Preferrably wait for the ducks to just about settle on the pond before shooting them. When they come in to land, just before they set down they apply the "air brakes" by cupping their wings and leaning backwards. This is the best time to shoot them as they are decelerating and cannot adjust and reattain escape velocity easily. Of course, it is also best to shoot the ducks when they are close and in front of you.
#8: Ducks generally tend to come in to land flying into the wind. Arrange your hunting position so the wind is blowing into your face or perpendicular to your face. The ducks will come to your decoys, so again place yourself with the likely approach of the ducks in mind.
#9: Some duck hunting is in shallow water, for example in flooded timber. In this circumstance it may be useful to own chest waders. If you use chest waders, it is a good safety practice to wear a "wader belt." This is a belt around the middle of the chest that will prevent water from flooding into the waders if you fall into the water. It is VERY awkward walking in the mud with waders in crotch deep water, so falling into the water is not nearly as unlikely as it might seem until you have tried it. Do yourself a favor and use this belt with chest waders. Wader belts are sold by retailers, but you can improvise a belt with anything, such as sash cord or other rope, a la Jethro of the Beverly Hillbillys!
#10: When several ducks come in, if you hit the first duck you shoot at well but don't kill it outright, rather than spend a second shot on the first duck, try to knock down a second duck. Since the first duck is coming down anyway, you can deal it a killing shot later. It occurs to me there may be some limitations to this tactic, and you certainly want to recover wounded birds and not let them escape, but this seems a tactic that can work often times.
This is about all I can think of. There is a lot more to this than I know about at this time. I am a novice, like I said above. Get hooked up with an experienced duck hunter or with a guide to really learn what is going on. Also, this will save you some of the start-up expenses for equipment, as these guys will have decoys and maybe other gear (calls, for example) so you can defer these expenses until later. It is a lot of fun, and duck meat tastes great!
12-19-2006, 08:17 AM
#8
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: ALBERTA CANADA
Posts: 844
RE: Duck hunting for idiots
ORIGINAL: bhensley
Alot of money, guides, man, you guys are scaring me!
Alot of money, guides, man, you guys are scaring me!
Ive hunted fowl for 20 years,, I hunt with a guideonce ortwice a year. Matter of fact im closing out my season tomorrow using a guide,, more sofor access too a certain area than the use of his equipment and or skills.
12-20-2006, 03:56 AM
#10
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Estill Springs TN USA
Posts: 270
RE: Duck hunting for idiots
Duck hunting is almost as complicated as asking about breeding a dog
Some good info. has been given especially by Altsatian. I see you already have a wein wine winna,,, a retriever (beautiful dog just hard to spell the name) and that will help you a lot if he/she doesn't mind the water. Waders are handy too. If you want to keep things simple (and cheap) to start with then........
If you can find some ducks feeding somewhere in the afternoon on a body of water they will usually return to the same spot the next morning at daylight. You do not need decoys or a call in this situation, just hide good in range of the spot where they were feeding and they will usually come into the same place.
Or a different approach..... try to find the ducks feeding mid-morning and then spook them without shooting at them and they will usually come back in pairs within a hour or so. Again they will commit without decoys or calling but it will help a lot more in this situation.
IF you decide that you like it, then buy all the goodies. This is where the money comes in. Who knows, you might quit everything else and just duck hunt and I might even let the dogs use the front yard and be a FYB instead of a BYB
Thanks for sticking up for me BTW
Some good info. has been given especially by Altsatian. I see you already have a wein wine winna,,, a retriever (beautiful dog just hard to spell the name) and that will help you a lot if he/she doesn't mind the water. Waders are handy too. If you want to keep things simple (and cheap) to start with then........
If you can find some ducks feeding somewhere in the afternoon on a body of water they will usually return to the same spot the next morning at daylight. You do not need decoys or a call in this situation, just hide good in range of the spot where they were feeding and they will usually come into the same place.
Or a different approach..... try to find the ducks feeding mid-morning and then spook them without shooting at them and they will usually come back in pairs within a hour or so. Again they will commit without decoys or calling but it will help a lot more in this situation.
IF you decide that you like it, then buy all the goodies. This is where the money comes in. Who knows, you might quit everything else and just duck hunt
and I might even let the dogs use the front yard and be a FYB instead of a BYBThanks for sticking up for me BTW