duckslayer16

i already hunt puddle ducks but i am thinking about trying to hunt divers
if u have any tips tell me
Thanks

Rangerlab

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!

jlb66

Ranger has soem good advice there on diver' s. I' ll throw out a couple little things. I love hunting diver' s I think it' s the unltimate but I don' t have an diver decoys so I just use my regular mallards set up in roughly the same aspect the ranger mentioned and that works great believe it or not. In fact thinnking back I can remeber killing more divers of mallard decoys that diver decoys. The only fall back to not using diver dekes is the visual asspect. The coloration on divers differs so much from puddlers that diver' s show up alot farther on bigger water than puddlers becasue of their dark dark blacks and brilliant bright white' s. Thus making them more visible to ducks farther away. Like Rnager said calling is virtually no existent in diver hunting but somtimes you have to call and the good thing about diver calls is they' re cheap, very cheap and they work great. I think I bought mine for $7 and it works great. BUt again like Ranger said read up on diver hunting becsue somthing that works for us may not work you it' s like anything in life you gotta find somthing you like, are comfortable with , and is productive. Diver' s are very forgiving they' re not like mallards the circle and circle. If they don' t come in almost right away they probably won' t come in at all. At most tehy may circle 2 times and that' s it and they are FAST so be prepared for fast paced action when they do decide to come in.

drgildy

Here is my 2 cents worth. Calling divers works very well most of the time on Bluebill, Redheads and Cans most of the time. The Goldeneye and Buffleheads I have never had respnd to calling. You don' t have to buya new call for divers though. Just take any single reed call (mallard) and when you see them going by just make a Brrt, Brrt sound in the call and if they can hear you they will usually swing to you like they are on a string. Try it this fall and I' m sure you will have success. I usually use some Bluebill decoys along wih a few Cans just because the white I think shows up alittle better but yes you can get by with Mallard decoys also. This is a little of what I have learned in the last 55 years of hunting. Good luck to you this fall!