Rugged Record: How To Hunt Ducks Over Water
Duck hunting at first glance looks like a difficult and expensive type of hunting to try, but with the right information and some affordable equipment, you can be shooting greenheads in no time.
Hunting ducks can be intimidating. You look online at videos and see hunters in head-to-toe camo, with dozens of decoys, fancy shotguns, dogs for retrieving, custom boats, and more. You may have never gone and don’t even know where to start. Then you start figuring out that you have to be careful about how many of each kind of duck you shoot, and also have to know where to set up on the water depending on conditions. Sounds intimidating right? Don’t let that stop you, it isn’t as hard as it appears when you first start figuring it out.
With some basic information and equipment, you can be out hunting ducks before you know it.
Want to learn more? Let’s get into it:
Where should you go and set up to hunt ducks over water?
The best way to find a place to hunt is to do some scouting. Usually, this looks like driving around looking for ponds and bodies of water that have ducks on them. You can also spend some time using maps and apps like onX Hunt to find places to check out.
Once you find land this way, you’ll have two options of what that land is: public or private land. Public land is the easiest to gain access to, as long as you are in the correct season to hunt there, you’re allowed to hunt. Private land can be a bit more tricky. You’ll have to figure out who the land owner is and how to reach them, but Once you do you can give them a call or find them in person to ask for permission.
Pro Tip: If you’re planning on asking to hunt private land, bring some sort of gift for the land owner. Something like beer or food is usually a safe bet.
When you find some water that looks intriguing, make sure there is some sort of cover for you to hide in. This is usually tall cattails, but could also be woods or anything else next to the water that can hide you.
On the day of your hunt, where you set up will also depend on if you have decoys or not. If you do and you want to set them up to your left and right with a pocket in the middle for ducks to land int. You’ll want to do this in calm bays where the wind is at your back. This allows the ducks to land in the water into the wind and in the calmer area that they like. If you aren’t using decoys (which is okay) you can set up to pass shoot. If you are pass shooting, the wind doesn’t have to be at your back. You’ll want to look for places where the ducks are flying low over the water at chokepoints where the water narrows.
What equipment do you need?
Duck hunting has gained tons of innovative equipment that some people claim you need and all of it is crazy expensive for someone just starting out. Luckily, there are very few things you actually need to try out duck hunting.
For the bare minimum, you’ll want these:
Camo clothing. Ducks are capable of seeing you if you stick out like a sore thumb. Unlike pheasant hunting where you want to wear orange, for ducks you’ll want to be completely concealed in camo. Get yourself your favorite kind of hat, a jacket, and some sort of camo pants/bibs/waders and you should be good to go.
A shotgun. This will be based on personal preference and what’s on sale while you’re looking. Both 20 gauge and 12 gauge shotguns are effective for ducks, and the most popular styles are either pump or semi-auto.
Steel shot. Ducks and other waterfowl are usually required to be hunted with steel shot instead of lead. When I’m hunting, my first two shots are 2 3/4 inch shells and my last shot is a 3 inch for the farther shots.
Some way to retrieve ducks. This can be a lot of different things. If you have a canoe, old boat, waders, or even a hunting dog that will retrieve, any of them will work. When you’re hunting ducks over water, rarely will they get shot and land right next to you to grab them, so you’ll need some way to get them out of the water. The easiest of the options listed will be waders, but those can be lacking if the water gets too deep too quickly.
Extra things that are nice to have if you can get them:
Duck calls. A duck call is great to help you get the ducks’ attention as they’re flying and make them want to come to check out your setup. You don’t have to go crazy with these, last season my go-to call was from this company (https://www.legendcalls.com/) and it’s on their website for $30 right now.
Basic decoys. If you go online you can see videos of people with dozens and dozens of decoys setup. That is an extra, and not needed. If you want to get started with some decoys, get half a dozen mallard decoys, that will be more than enough to start.
Waterproof shell bag. These are super nice to have to keep all your shells out of the water and organized in one place. They aren’t crazy expensive and are worth the investment.
Moving decoy. There are companies out there (like Mojo) that make decoys with spinning wings. These decoys sit on a post in the water and look as if they’re landing in the water. They are a great attention grabber for ducks and aren’t super expensive, especially if you wait for a good sale on them.
How do you get their attention?
When you’re sitting in the duck blind and you’re seeing ducks but they’re ignoring you it can get incredibly frustrating. We’ve already talked about a few ways to get their attention, but the best one in my opinion is by using a duck call. There are three main sounds that I use to get their attention.
Chatter calling. This is a shorter repetitive sound. I blow into my call using a “tick-uh” sound over and over. This makes a chattering noise that mimics the ducks.
Normal quack. This is a standard quacking sound that ducks make. To do this one, I blow into my call for about 2 seconds and then quickly raise the pitch and shorten my breath. Practice this for a bit and you’ll eventually get it figured out.
Comeback. This call is the loudest and most attention-grabbing one in my experience. I use this when ducks are ignoring me, or circling around but headed away. I take a deep breath and blow into the call for about two seconds with a lot of air, pause for half a second, and repeat until I make that call 6 times.
Using a mix of these three as you're calling will make you sound more like an actual duck to the ones flying around you and will give you a better shot at calling them in.
What do you need to pay attention to with limits?
Duck hunting is a bit unique in that there are so many different species you can end up shooting. This is both awesome and a challenge. The various types of ducks and also the gender of ducks have different limits in different states. Whichever state you’re hunting in will have regulations, make sure to look them up and study them so you don’t unintentionally go over your limit. If you’re just starting out duck hunting, it’s also a good idea to study the different kinds of ducks in the area you’re going to hunt. You’ll need to be able to identify them while they’re flying to decide if you should shoot them or not based on your limits. If you’re ever not sure, it’s safer to not shoot and wait for the next chance you get, better than going over your limit.
What weather should you look out for?
Weather plays a huge role in duck hunting. Unfortunately, the weather that you and I would want to spend time outside isn’t always the best for ducks. In general, sunny days with no clouds are not good duck days. If they’re flying they’ll be up high and won’t want to land in your spread. On the flip side, good days for duck hunting are usually rainy, overcast, foggy, and generally gross. This keeps the ducks moving lower over the water and landing in the water.
Well, there you have it, hopefully, this article helps get you started in duck hunting so you can go out and get some for yourself. It really is an awesome outdoor activity and it’s worth trying if you’ve ever been interested in it. If you have any questions always feel free to reach out on social media!
-Calvin
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