Idaho hunter 58

Wow is about all i can say after what I saw today! I was driving out to one of the local lakes to see if people were ice fishing, and near the docks there was a big 10 X 10 Ft. hole in the ice. And there were hundreds of ducks in and around it. I was prob. only 10-12 yards away in my car, and they couldn't care less. But here is the crazy thing... the ducks in there were not all normal ducks. There were prob. 50 or so reg. looking mallards and hens and then prob. about 10 large black ducks that i have never seen before. There were also some big white goose looking things with huge orange beaks, unlike anything i have seen before, and the craziest thing of all was about 4 duck/goose mix birds. They had orange/yellow feet/legs, and they looked about the size of a goose but with mallard kind of markings. I can't explain it, it was insaine!


So with that out of the way i have another question. I am wondering if i couldn't go to another side of the lake, away from houses and mix some Tide with water and throw it out on the ice to look like water, and then put 20 or so duck decoys around. Do you think this would work? Does anyone have any other ideas on how to fool the ducks???

Thanks! Please respond with any ideas, or if you have ever seen any of the crazy looking ducks!

Idaho

Bigfoot223

some people might have some thing to say about putting tide on ice for fish health reasons maybe im wrong but you might want to see if thats ok to do that or legal. a way you might get ducks to come on ice might be to throw some grain on the ice then put out some decoys i heard it worked for this one guy i know. good luck with it

johnch

I use black plastic sheeting and sit decoys on the plastic .
I use a piece 20x 30 .
You will need to use ice or snow chunks to hold it down and a few in the middle
I use 2-3 doz duck or 18 goose decoys
I use a laydown blinds covered in white. Or you can lay on the ice in white clothes ,some even sit on white plastic chairs if the ice is rough
Paint your gun white
Lots of times the birds will hover over the plastic and not land ,but an easy shot.
You will laugh so hard it hurts the first time you watch a duck try and land on the plastic.
Ducks doing cart wheels is funny

Idaho hunter 58

thanks for the tips, the black plastic idea sounds a lot easier, and possibly more enviroment friendly. I think i would just lay on my back with white cloths, and cover my gun with a towel or something. Thanks, i will try it out next week and post some pics.

psandhu

throw some grain on the ice and hunt over it...get caught and the authorities might throw you in a cell for a while. that's baiting.

Idaho hunter 58

yeah i thought the idea about grain sounded a little fishy. I will read my regs to see what it says, but I would guess that baiting with unatural grain would be illegal.

moose1915

buddy, the federal laws are strict and will ruin your life. there are a lot of horror stories about guys who lost thier cars, guns, licenses, etc because of baiting waterfowl, and a LOT of these guys werent even the ones who baited... they were just in the vicinity of bait. don't even think about it , it's not worth it!

try the tarp idea

or get dynamite... (JUST KIDDING)

good luck
moose

Solax

I've heard of people using grape kool-aid and throwing that on the ice like you were planning on doing with the Tide. That'd probably work.

Idaho hunter 58

LMAO! I heard this story about this guy and his buddy who drove their car out onto the ice and threw a stick of dynamite to get a hole, and their yellow lab ran out after it and brought it back, they started shooting at it to scare it off, but all they did was confuse it... so the dog ran under the new car... blammmoo. Noooo, I think i will stay away from the dynamite thank you!


Grape kool aid might do the trick. The tarp idea sounds really good though too.

canis_lupus

round here when we are huntin mergs .... we go to the baitshop and buy a doz minnows .... toss em on the ise edge and let the guns roar but wait .... thats baitin too