Tips, tricks, practice, must buys, etc...

[bowhunter1023]

You hit the nail on the head with this spot in that I can't pressure it. My plan is to only hunt it a couple times early and a couple late. There's too much unpressured ground within a mile of this place they can hit for me to be blasting away in there all the time. I was considering hunting it Saturday for geese just to observe what the ducks are doing.

 

[firstflight111]

You hit the nail on the head with this spot in that I can't pressure it. My plan is to only hunt it a couple times early and a couple late. There's too much unpressured ground within a mile of this place they can hit for me to be blasting away in there all the time. I was considering hunting it Saturday for geese just to observe what the ducks are doing.

Here's a tip for hunting the same field all season. hit it fast you don't have to kill a limit out of it .shoot what you want and get out fast ,go in light a few decoys so you can pick up fast and get out of the field .as long as you don't shoot at all the birds they will keep coming back .till there ready to move on .good luck ..

 

[firstflight111]

You can kill birds with the dog in the open. You can kill birds with you in the open too. But you will kill A LOT more with the dog hid and you hid.

Since we're on the subject of layout blinds... I like to position blinds (for right-handed shooters) so that they point slightly to the right of your killing hole. For a right-handed shooter it's much easier to swing across the left side of your body than the right. Positioning your blinds on a slight angle provides for a much more natural and comfortable shooting position, IMO.

Decoy numbers and layout... Pay attention to how the flocks are positioned in fields as you scout for the early season. You'll notice that the birds are scattered around the field in small groups. These are resident birds and they stick to family groups throughout most of the early season. Keep this in mind when setting your decoys. You may kill birds by setting one big glob of a spread, but I wouldn't take the chance... It's much more realistic to clump them up into family groups of 8-15 birds. You can strategically position these groups to create nice shooting hole just as easily as if you were setting a late season spread.

For ducks, IMO an absolute must-have is a jerk rig. This is the most underrated, underutilized piece of equipment amongst duck hunters. Spend 10 minutes of your life and make yourself a simple DIY jerk rig. Spinning wing decoys are great, but it's hard to beat the kind of water disturbance and turbulence created by a jerk rig.

One more thing I just thought of... THIS IS A GOOD ONE... When you're in the marsh and there's a break from the action or the birds quit working, go for a walk out through the decoys. Kick your feet through the bottom to really stir up the mud good. That contrast of dark muddy water you've just created will usually get the attention of every bird that flies overhead. Stirred-up water means active feeding... active feeding means "real" ducks... "real" ducks means safety... Ducks flying overhead convinced of food and safety equals what?... Dead real ducks. Same goes for hunting late season snow-covered fields... Walk through your shooting hole and exposed the bare ground. Kick up corn stalks and dirt. That contrast against the snow convinces the birds overhead that there's food down there. These subtle little details that most hunters leave out can often times make or break a hunt.

Okay some of your tips are just bad. to tell people to kick up corn stocks. is Considered baiting any way you do it .read your laws on baiting .

 

[firstflight111]

I like floating old bleach bottles and shooting the to practice that on the water shot . . Beer bottles work too! But make sure ya use beer bottles in a pond . In rivers after the first 12 practice runs the current can possibly sweep them away before you deliver a fatal shot .

Beer bottles really? do you have a dog? glad you live far from me !

 

[firstflight111]

Here's your tip for brushing up a blind you can buy fake grass .
but if you use local ditch grass having a good pair of grass cutters and a rake to make fast work of blind brushing . also saves you hands .like this .

 

[Beentown]

Hmm....we never use grass. Bean or corn stalks depending on what type of field we are going to be hunting. And mud. Lol

I guess we do use hay or straw for ww fields.

 

[jagermeister]

Okay some of your tips are just bad. to tell people to kick up corn stocks. is Considered baiting any way you do it .read your laws on baiting .

Are you serious man??? Kicking snow around to mimick bird activity in a field is considered baiting??? Boy... That's the first I've ever heard of that. Guilty as charged I guess...

 

[firstflight111]

Are you serious man??? Kicking snow around to mimick bird activity in a field is considered baiting??? Boy... That's the first I've ever heard of that. Guilty as charged I guess...

Exposing grain or grasses is baiting .

 

[firstflight111]

Here you go .

 

[firstflight111]

Hmm....we never use grass. Bean or corn stalks depending on what type of field we are going to be hunting. And mud. Lol

I guess we do use hay or straw for ww fields.

There's almost always a green patch in fields . I hunt a lot of green grass all season long till snow hits.

 

[Carpn]

There ain't nothing wrong or illegal about clearing a little snow .

 

[jagermeister]

Here you go .
View attachment 23414

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I'll keep doing what I do.

 

[firstflight111]

There ain't nothing wrong or illegal about clearing a little snow .

When you add kick up corn stocks , grain and exposing what ever it is illegal to hunt .read the definition of baiting when you expose something its baiting plain and simple .
you young guys need to go over your laws .anything you're unclear of can easily be cleared up with a call to your local game warden .
so when you mess up on waterfowl it's a state and federal crime .lets teach the greenhorns the right way.

 

[bowhunter1023]

I'll listen to JB and Jake as I know them to be top quality sportsmen. If anyone knows the laws, it would be JB.

"Tact". Google it new guy.

 

[firstflight111]

I'll listen to JB and Jake as I know them to be top quality sportsmen. If anyone knows the laws, it would be JB.

"Tact". Google it new guy.

Sorry boss that's posted from the odnr web page .in case you missed it, That's the law .
just looking out for the greenhorns ,seams to be a lot of first time waterfowlers on here .

If you want to kick or expose grains grasses or what ever , that you're prerogative . Waterfowl is a lot different from deer .

I'll listen to JB and Jake as I know them to be top quality sportsmen. If anyone knows the laws, it would be JB.

"Tact". Google it new guy.

 

[Rutin]

Pretty sure moving corn stubble to brush your blind in or kick stubble around is NOT considered baiting. The fields have been cut for months by the time we hunt them. Well past 10 days..... At that point your hunting a field that was taken by normal agricultural means and yes it still has crop on the ground. Otherwise the birds wouldn't be in it! Or we wouldn't be allowed to field hunt in Ohio bc no matter how you look at it EVERYTHING could be considered baiting.

 

[firstflight111]

Pretty sure moving corn stubble to brush your blind in or kick stubble around is NOT considered baiting. The fields have been cut for months by the time we hunt them. Well past 10 days..... At that point your hunting a field that was taken by normal agricultural means and yes it still has crop on the ground. Otherwise the birds wouldn't be in it! Or we wouldn't be allowed to field hunt in Ohio bc no matter how you look at it EVERYTHING could be considered baiting.

Read it exposure of anything it baiting .

 

[jagermeister]

Sorry boss that's posted from the odnr web page .in case you missed it, That's the law .
just looking out for the greenhorns ,seams to be a lot of first time waterfowlers on here .

If you want to kick or expose grains grasses or what ever , that you're prerogative . Waterfowl is a lot different from deer .

Thanks for looking out. Try to use a little more tact when you come on here instead of spouting off about what's right or wrong... Especially as a "new" guy. I don't care what you're trying to say... The way you convey yourself will determine whether anyone listens to you.

Your interpretation of the law is different from mine (and others here it seems). The man in the green pants will interpret it however he/she sees fit. I highly doubt I'd get a ticket for kicking snow and exposing ground, but hey you do your thing I'll do mine. I see it as no different from kicking up mud in the marsh or in the flooded timber... Or dropping an ice eater in to open up a hole. Bottom line is you're trying to entice ducks or geese by making your spot look more appealing from the air... It's got nothing to do with baiting. But like I said, you do your thing I'll do mine. If a new hunter goes out there relying solely on shit he/she read on the internet, that's a whole different problem altogether.

 

[Big_Holla]

Kinda sounds like we're splitting hairs here, besides how often do you even have snow to kick off of corn stubble anyways LOL!

 

[jagermeister]

Kinda sounds like we're splitting hairs here, besides how often do you even have snow to kick off of corn stubble anyways LOL!

Maybe I was misleading in post way back when that firstflight decided he had to dig up... But my whole purpose in kicking snow is to expose the soil beneath it, not so much the stubble. When you see where birds have been actively feeding, they dig through the snow to get to the grain. There's a distinct contrast between the snow and the soil. The snow takes on a "dirty" look from the air. Birds flying over notice this shit. In summary... I'm not kicking snow to expose grain... I'm kicking snow to mimick an active feed, which helps convince pressured birds that it's OK to land in my decoys.