Killer Late-season Duck Tactics
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Time to read 5 min
Late-season ducks can be tough. They’re usually tough. The details you overlooked in October or November or December are coming back to haunt you now. But, and while January ducks can be difficult, they’re not impossible. With a few tweaks and a major change here and there in your normal routine, you can start putting some weight on that duck strap again. Try these tactics. Invent your own. Do not, and I repeat, do not be afraid to improvise, adjust, and adapt to the situation as it presents itself. What have you got to lose, eh?
Use your goose decoys
Ducks like geese. And swans. Why? To ducks, geese and swans spell security. High-set watchful eyes, and plenty of them, always on the lookout for danger. Geese and swans also translate into free-floating food, tidbits pulled loose or dislodged by the deep-water feeding habits of the bigger birds. That’s why you often see ducks with geese. And swans. Now I’m not saying to pack a dozen tundra swan decoys into the field, though you certainly can do that. I am saying a dozen Canada floaters set with a tiny (4-6) knot of mallards, widgeon, and pintails placed to one side can be awfully effective. It works in sheetwater, too – 18 to 24 full-body lesser Canadas in 3- or 4- or 5-bird family groups, with six to 12 mallard and pintail full-bodies set 20 yards upwind.
Be a jerk
Years and years ago, Buck Gardner, a genuinely wonderful gentleman in addition to being a champion – and Champion of Champions – duck caller told me something I obviously never forgot. “If,” Mister Buck said, “I had to make a choice between using a duck call and using a jerk cord, I’d take the jerk cord every time.” Now this, remember, is a man who for decades has created, crafted, and sold duck calls for a living.
But he’s right. Late in the season, motion in the spread – movement, ripples, waves, something – can be the most important thing to the success or failure of a hunt. Spinning wing decoys? I don’t use them, and a lot of ducks and most geese don’t cotton to spinners; however, a simple Rig ‘Em Right (rigemright) jerk string with two or three teal decoys attached can, and often does, turn the tables. And ducks seldom flare from a jerk cord. You working the jerk cord incorrectly, i.e. from an unconcealed located, perhaps, but not the natural motion a cord imparts.
Whistle while you hunt
I’m no champion when it comes to blowing a duck call; however, I’d like to think I can hold my own most days. There are times, though, like during the late season, when ducks, and not only mallards but all species, seem to be somewhere between leery and downright terrified of a highball. When this appears the case, I cut back on the mallard talk – well-spaced contented quacks and very short low volume greetings only – and switch almost exclusively to a widgeon whistle. Breathy whistles, pintail trills, green-wing peeps; something other than your run-of-the-mill quacks. Do I leave my calls at home? No, sir; I just don’t reach for them first.
Practice invisibility
An older gentleman, a fellow whom I trust completely to know what he’s talking about when it comes to duck hunting, told me this. “You can run the prettiest decoys on the planet,” he said, “be that 100 or two, but if you’re not hidden well, they might as well be painted blaze orange. If you want to be successful, hide first. Decoy placement is important. Scouting reveals all the answers. But,” he continued, “if you’re not hidden, you’re not shooting.” And it’s just that simple. You. Have. To. Hide. Stand back. Look at your blind. Touch it up where necessary. Cover the dog. Cover the thermos. Pick up your empties and Little Debbie wrappers. Mediocrity is not an option here.
Wrap yourself in grass
Odd subhead, perhaps, but what I’m talking about here is leaving your traditional field blind behind, be it a box or fenceline or layout or pop-up, wrapping yourself in a ghillie suit or poncho, and becoming part of the environment. The farther you set yourself from what ducks see as possible places of predator concealment, the more likely they are to commit to a spread. And often without hesitation. Ghillie suits are not a cure-all. They don’t work perfectly all the time; nothing does. But when ghillie suits work – Man, is it incredible. Personally, I’d recommend a full-length poncho style ghillie, as it offers more complete concealment afield. Choose a color pattern that best matches the habitat in which you spend most of your days. And remember to hide your head, your hands, and your face.
(Try to) leave the pressure behind
Conservatively, 95 percent of my duck hunting is done on public land; that is, land anyone can walk or boat into, set up, and spend the day. That said, I’m going on four or five years now since I’ve encountered anyone on these little parcels of public ground. Why so alone? Well, three reasons come to mind.
One, I look for seemingly insignificant parcels of public ground; a little piece here and a little chunk there that most, if not all folks ignore as being just too small to bother with. They do exist; it’s just a matter of hunting them down, figuratively speaking, and finding them. TIP – The county tax assessor’s website can be an invaluable tool when it comes to researching hunting possibilities and potential.
Secondly, and if I happen to be handed a larger piece of public land, I break that property down into smaller, hopefully less obvious portions by way of observation and letting the birds “tell me” where I need to go. On one state-owned marsh I frequent throughout the season, I’ve started setting a small spread not 60 yards from where my truck is inconspicuously parked underneath the trees. More often than not, I’ll take the short walk back with three or four greenheads that dropped into the living room-sized puddle of water I’ve discovered. The birds like it, and the few hunters that drive past ignore it.
My final ‘secret’ to late season no-pressure success is really no secret at all. Yes, the access is available to anyone; however, the access isn’t easy. First, and while this doesn’t apply to all, I’m hunting tidal marshes, which means the rise and fall, often from four to eight feet on the incoming (flood) tide. Tidal waterfowling is a challenge in and of itself, and as such, I’m leaving some of the hunting pressure behind simply due to the tides. Too, I access almost all of my public places via a lightweight 10’ Aquapod skiff, either hunting out of the ‘Pod as a modified water-going layout blind, or using the boat as a transport to get me to high ground, after which there’s a walk. Often a long walk, and not a nice walk either. My point here is I’ve found the more difficult the access, the fewer hunters I’ll have to contend with throughout the season.
October ducks? Yeah, you can get away with being a little sloppy. A little careless. A little complacent. January? Well, the time for laziness and inattentiveness to detail has long since past. And that’s the key; attention to the details. And hiding. As I’ve been told, if you’re not hiding, you’re not shooting. And that’s a fact.
Author
M.D. Johnson
M.D. Johnson’s full-time outdoor writing career began in 1992. Prior to that, he worked with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Wildlife in their Outdoor Skills Unit, helping to coordinate hunter education courses and resources across the state.
