bigDman

i am thinking about waterfowling next yeat everone says it is alot of fun and indiana game and fish mag gave me some good spots to try out what are some things i need to know i have a 3 year old lab who is trained she is ok and i have the guns i think how much can i learn until i get there.

Worc

Get some decoys and calls first of all. Practice you calling by getting a tape or cd. Try to use a few decoys at first and place them in a letter J or C formation. Ducks always land into the wind, so try to place your blid facing the wind. They tend to land short of decoys, so don't place your decoys more than 30 yards away. Ducks tend to circle counter-clockwise.
Where camo and where a face mask. Stay still and low when ducks are coming in. Don't over call! These are a few tips for puddle ducks. Not sure what kind of ducks you are after. Check other waterfowl sites for tips and articals and read as much as possible.

Carpmaster

I waterfowl hunt in michigan all the time, I agree with Worc, but on a goose/duck hunt in Indiana over this last new years i found awesome hunting in picked corn fields for both, but the best spread we used was a, "X" spread with a half dozen mallards out on the edge of the geese spread, I am by far no expert but we had an awesome hunt, my best ever!!! Indiana is great for geese. It was so muddy that we will be taking layout blinds this year. By the way our goose spread consisted of 12 silouhettes, 3 supermag shells, 8 bigfoots, 12 magnum shells and very important(i think for open country) a Foiles Flag. Hopefully that helps a little.

bigDman

hey thanks for the help i plan on doing more goose hunting here than anything but will i need calls for them just wondering is a 12 2 3/4 big enough for them or do i have to shoot 3 inch thanks again

BigBore1895

I would not recommend 2 3/4 inch for ducks, much less geese. These birds are tough to shoot and tough to kill, so get a good 3 inch load and that will be great. For geese, I like anything from #2's to BBB's, depedning on what my shots might be that morning. Good luck, and welcome to the "why-the-hell-did-I-get-out-of-bed-at-3:30-in-the-morning-for-this-miserable-wet-cold-stanky-marsh club!" Trust me, when the geese are honkin' and the guns are blazin', you will know why!

Carpmaster

I agree with BigBore in that you should use 3" shells, I have posted in other threads that i feel the faster the load the better. You can spend alot of $$$ on waterfowl loads, but as far as steel goes for geese it is hard to beat Kent Fasteel or Federal Speedshok BBB's in a 3 1/2" load at 1550 fps, if i was going to go back to 3" i would use B's or BB's for geese to help get a more dense pattern.

plainsman

As already stated,get a couple of good calls and practice hard. Incorperate that with some dekes and practice[pattern] your gun. Winglock and GK make some great goose calls at a very good price. Decoys don'y have to be "top of the line", however GHG makes awesome decoys at a great price. Last year I shot #1 1/8 3" faststeel at everything and did quite well. Hope this helps some. For more detailed info, PM me, I can give you some great "ponds" to look into.