charlie brown

I am from Nevada. As a lot of people might imagine there isn't too much water, and the water there is gets hit pretty hard during duck season. We have the normal species of ducks, mallards, redheads, pintail, as well as scaup (sp?), and coots and moorhens. I know of quite a few little places along some creeks and little out of the way places such as in gullies and such that hold a little water here and there that also hold a small number of birds and don't get pressured very much at all, so they have like their own little haven. I am wondering how I might hunt these little out of the way places. Should I set up a few decoys and call like in a normal duck hunting situation, maybe jump shoot, or place some decoys as I walk along a section of creek bottom, and then backtrack, and spending a small amount of time at each location before moving on? I have never duck hunted before, and know very few people that I could go with, because they are always busy and we never have the same time off together. I also have no dog, so hunting these smaller waters where I could retrieve my own birds would be about my only option. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

BLKLAB

charlie brown, i hunt several places along creeks like your here in MO. I have found that if the pressure is nil I just place out about 6 t0 12 decoys and sit back and wait for them. Scouting is your best weapon. If you can find holes they use jump shoot them and then throw out some dekes and wait they will be back. I have killed lots of ducks by doing this especially in the winter when everything freezes up except the creeks and rivers.
there was a article in DU a couple months back about creek hunting. good article.
Good luck I hope this helps.

Wildfowler

I would think that the best option for you is evening flight, wait for the ducks to come to you, not you look for them, settle down about an hour before dusk, put a few decoys out make sure that you have a good call, and not much can go wrong, also if these places are not shot over much, you might even think about feeding them, barley is best in about 3" to 6" of water, feed it every other day and you will be surprised the number of ducks that will visit, but dont over shoot it, every 8 to 10 days is good,
wildfowler

Carpmaster

I have had lots of success jump shooting and pass shooting in little creeks, also small ponds/potholes can be great with a few dekes(6-12) depending on size.

TheRick

Make sure to check the regulations before you put any kind of food in the water. It may be legal in some states but here in Minnesota baiting is illegal.

I would stick to just a few decoys and you may not even want to call. If these are local birds that have lived there all year then they won't need any calling to bring them in and may even shy away from it if you do call. I would go out in the morning to scout out where they are sitting then come back before sunset and wait for them to come back from feeding. Most important thing to do is cover up in the existing cover. These birds know exactly how the landscape in this area should look like so building a blind or anything like that may spook them.

Carpmaster

baiting for waterfowl is illegal in michigan, and i think since waterfowl is federally regulated it is illegal everywhere

charlie brown

Nope, no baiting here guys...Thanks for the advice though, I will consider all of it.

Wildfowler

did not realise that feeding flight ponds was illegal over with you, over here in the UK it is not, i have a Farmer friend who has 3 ponds and i start feeding Barley from August, the duck season here starts 1st September until February 20th, on the ponds i have mostly Mallard and Teal.
wildfowler