Decided to give it up
 

Me and my buddys waterfowl hunt and we are all pretty good callers. and we have good full body decoys and some shells and floaters and we know quite a bit about duck and goose hunting to kill some but it dont work. we know how to make a pocket for them to land in and that they land into the wind so we know most of the keys.but we never have success. we get camouflaged good and they dont come. this mornin we didnt even see a duck or goose. and when we see them they lock up and then fly away. but they shouldnt be flaring because there is nothign to flare from. so we decided to give up waterfowl hunting.

RE: Decided to give it up
 

do you have your decoys for sale if so let me know by e-mail thanks

stateline outdoors

RE: Decided to give it up
 

Hey!! Dont give up dude! It's not to hard, where you live? Maybe try a guide. A good one will teach ya how its done pretty good, and if not, just watch and see what he does. If nothing else, try pass shoot hunting or jump shooting. Find a common flyway for small flocks and get in the middle of it for pass shooting. For jumping, find where they're sittin and sneak up on them... As for whether to shoot them while on the ground, you'll have to look at OTHER threads on the message board... :D

Dont give up. Keep tryin. If youre at rock bottom, it can only get better right?

----------------------------------
just gotta hunt

RE: Decided to give it up
 

Hunter,

I have been very frustrated while "trying" to learn to hunt the watefowl myself. The only thing I can recommend is that if you enjoy it, stick with it. Hunting is not killing, but enjoying the outdoors and the company of the others whom you are with.

If you do not enjoy the persuit, do not try turkey hunting. They are worse than waterfowl!

Good Luck with the Duck!

RE: Decided to give it up
 

Just keep trying new techniques if somthing isn't working don't stick with it. Stay mobile maybe smallen your spread. Jsut don't give up completely we've all been there and know how frustrating it can be but just stick with it and it'll all work out. Just keep experimenting.

Wait, wait, ready PLUG EM!!!!!

RE: Decided to give it up
 

Don't give up Hunter. Waterfowling done right is an art and takes time to learn and with every new area or species one goes for there is more to learn. I was lucky to have a good mentor. He never came out an told you how to do it but would come by my hide and make little comment when we'd b.s. during a lull in the action. Kinda like in the movie,"didn't put enough dirt down,saw it right off".
In three years or so you will start to get a handle on it. Keep at it ,it'll get better believe me.

RE: Decided to give it up
 

A bad day of hunting is better then a good day at work. Enjoy the outdoors and your company.

RE: Decided to give it up
 

Actually, if the geese/ducks are locking up on your spread, it sounds like you've almost got it. Maybe get a guide to come with you and observe one day, and ask him/her for suggestions. I'm in south Texas, and when the birds get here they've seen every decoy ever made, heard every call ever blown, and can tell what kind of shotgun you have on their way into the spread. Overall... hard to decoy. Many flocks lock up, look things over, and slide away. That's where craftiness and experimentation become real important. Do things differently - you may hit on something the birds haven't seen.

RE: Decided to give it up
 

I am fairly new to waterfowl hunting myself. There has been many occasions that I am not getting the birds to decoy like I want them. I belong to a club on Marylands eastern shore. Coming from experiance DONT GIVE UP! We may not always get the birds to do what we want, but I dont miss to many weekends, because I enjoy being with good friends. And thats what hunting is all about.

RE: Decided to give it up
 

No birds around here. Am ready for the geese or next year. Put in for my first turkey permit and will take a few deer next year. Starting on the yotes here soon.

RE: Decided to give it up
 

Hunter,
You never know what Mother Nature will bring you. I thought that I was pretty good with my call but yesterday made me reconsider.

We do not get a migration in my area like the ones on TV, but I saw near 400 ducks yesterday! I called and called trying to bring them in. It seemed like the guys just over from me were getting all of the action. As I was sulking and not paying attention, I had a couple of mallards LAND in my dekes.

After close examination of my thoughts and pride, I realized that maybe it was not my dekes, but my calling. Please think this over before you quit, we need hunters to keep hunting alive and legal!

Good Luck with the Duck!

RE: Decided to give it up
 

Do not give up! Try, TRY, TRY different things. Here in SE PA the geese get hammered. Get as many different areas you can that are close to where you see geese and rotate them. Do not shoot the farms to often or to frequently. Our geese see so many differnt spreads, we have to vary what we do. Never set up your decs in the same fields the same way. Vary the spread. we even vary the numbers of decoys. Are you laying in the fields? If so, you have to be completely camoflaged and perfectly still until the very last minute. Lately, this year, We've resorted to sitting right in among the decoys dressed in black fleece tops or sweats over our our camo, and black ski masks. This has allowed us to turn our heads, and muffle our calls, and laugh our fool guts out cuz they they come right in and try to land on us. The Flash of a hand or face, glasses or camo movement away from your spread will flare them every time. Even when they're committed. Try the black outfit, call softly, and You will have a BLAST!!!

RE: Decided to give it up
 

If you saw some this year you did rather well. Nothing but empty skies around here this year. The ones we did see were already educated and very hard to finish.

RE: Decided to give it up
 

Well i hope you and your buddys reconsider. Listen ive been waterfowl hunting almost 25 years, and im still learning. Alot of factors come into play , e-mail me and i wouldbe more than happy to help. FOWL

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[Deleted by Admins]

RE: Decided to give it up
 

Hunter4life87,

Listen to what people are saying.... DON'T GIVE UP!!! Believe me, I know it's tough. I am frustrated at times too. I just started out last season and didn't know anyone, didn't know what to do, heck I didn't know anything! I kind of figured I'd just strike out on my own and do it myself. Boy was I wrong!!! No lie, I was 0 for 16 before I finally got my first one. I knew some people who knew some people, and lo and behold, I was invited to take part in a big duck/goose hunt up on a lake.

I was with seasoned veterans who have been there, done that, seen that, and did it all multiple times over. I watched them, listened to what they said, and did what they told me. Sure enough, a pair of Common Mergansers came zipping in 12 o'clock high, right at us, 2 feet off the water. The lead hunter said, "Take 'em" when they were in range. I popped up, took aim, and Ka-BAM! I got two birds with one shot! Improved cylinder choke at 20-25 yards worked great!

You just need to hook up with others that can show you around and hopefully put you on some ducks. Believe me, I was all but ready to chuck it all in too, but I couldn't do it. I wanted go duck hunting and be successful no matter how hard I tried.

Good luck to you!

Butch

RE: Decided to give it up
 

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote<font size=1 face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
Me and my buddys waterfowl hunt and we are all pretty good callers. and we have good full body decoys and some shells and floaters and we know quite a bit about duck and goose hunting to kill some but it dont work. we know how to make a pocket for them to land in and that they land into the wind so we know most of the keys.but we never have success. we get camouflaged good and they dont come. this mornin we didnt even see a duck or goose. and when we see them they lock up and then fly away. but they shouldnt be flaring because there is nothign to flare from. so we decided to give up waterfowl hunting.
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>

RE: Decided to give it up
 

I hope your still reading this thread i gave up bow hunting out of the same frustration you are having. so i decided to try ducks, i love the water, bein outdoors and all that, my duckhunting dream was to have a hen and drake wood duck mount, i thought it would take time and alot of experiance before i would accomplish my goal, the first two ducks ive ever taken was my dream combo ill be pickin em up from the duckstuffer soon this was also the first year out on my own and the only ducks ive ever shot ill probably be in for a dry spell now, i never got a deer bow huntin but i got two birds i wont ever forget im also new to this forum so dont quit on me now!

RE: Decided to give it up
 

dude dont give up.everyone has a bad season my season in ky.i have hunted almost everyday if i wasnt working.3geese 15ducks season goes out fri jan 31<img src=icon_smile_dissapprove.gif border=0 align=middle>

RE: Decided to give it up
 

I'm going to agree with everyone else Don't Give up!!!! Man, there have been plenty of times when I have left the field empty handed. Hell there was one time when I missed a bird about 15 feet away from me. At those times when you get frusterated just relax and enjoy where you are at with the company you keep. Nature is pretty cool. Just enjoy it. It will come, just give it time.

RE: Decided to give it up
 

Some things that worked for me.

One is watch where the local ducks land and feed during the off season where you plan on hunting. Now if you do not have a chance because it may be new or hard hunted and the spots you picked are taken. Do not turn but wait for the birds to start coming in then set off run the shore when you finally find birds and they rise quickly and I mean quickly set up right there. There is a reason they were there and you did not fire on them they should be back given a little time.

Next if their coming in DO NOT CALL, if they buzz and do not lower for a shot call tell they turn then shut up Do Not over call. If you want to hear a call fine if you want to have shots at birds do not over call but remember LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. They say geese you can call often but in my home state they become call shy in a hurry, then again it could be my calling but it seems to work some days and not others I would suggest letting the geese tell you what they want to hear.

The advice given is good for few decoys. At times just 5 decoys spread around a 3 decoy mallard machine have done wonders. Set you spread whether it be ducks, or geese in multiple little spreads that blend also make sure you have 2 to 4 dekes that looked like they just landed and are coming into the spread, this will help draw them in.

Some times a good Robo duck may be the trick or a large spread but mostly it is to dublicate whats around at the time and LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.

If you are giving up, sorry to hear if your going to try a few more times try doing it just a little different then what you have been doing. If your getting results you do not like, I would cease doing what gives those results and try something different, you may have heard there is more than one way to skin a cat. Soo I would definiately give up on the way you have been attempting to duck hunt and try another way to duck hunt just a little different could make a large difference in being successful.

RE: Decided to give it up
 

HUNTER
DONT GIVE IT UP. MY GOOSE HUNTING THIS YEAR NETTED 0 BIRDS, WE HAVE KILLED MANY IN THE PAST, JUST A BAD YEAR CANT WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR. AS FAR AS DUCK HUNTING IT CAN CHANGE LIKE THE WEATHER ONE GOOD DAY THE NEXT YOU WONT FIRE A SHOT. BUT THATS HUNTING.
HAPPY HUNTING:)

RE: Decided to give it up
 

Don' t give up! I' ve been hunting for over half my life and you have to take the good with the bad....If it were easy they' d call it " shopping" ;)

Kimmie :)

Hang in there! My dog came from Pinckneyville, IL looked like good goosin' country out there to me...

RE: Decided to give it up
 

do you do some scouting. if you get a good spot of scouting and set up at the right time you should get lots of birds to come threw. as for locking up some birds just get shot at to much and are alot more spectial than others. but dont give up, i have had bad days waterfowl hunting, but i love it and if i have 3 bad yrs in a row i would still hunt cuz i love it. even seeing birds is a good day to me

RE: Decided to give it up
 

dude don' t give it up if u keep trying u will someday get one
i didn' t get one for awile to but i kept on trying and i eventually got one[8D]

RE: Decided to give it up
 

Never give up perstience pays off. A bad day of hunting beats a good day of work