Duck Hunters of AH

[mensa180]

I have never been duck hunting, but would like to.  Any tips on how to get into it?

Good on you for eating what you shoot by the way, I wouldn't do it if I didn't plan to.

[ODBAL]

Looks like a good hunt Banshee.  What kind of hunting do you guys do in TN?  Do you hunt flooded woods or marshes?  We have a decent hunt here in Utah, we are in the Pacific flyway.   Mostly Mallards here but also have Widgeon, Gadwaul, and Teal can be plentiful.  Ton's of shovelers (we call them Spoonbills) but we try not to shoot them.  I haven't been out this year, and probably won't make it out.  Kind of lost that loving feeling for it to be honest.  Of course if I could shoot that many birds in an hour I may reconsider!

[superpug1]

Mensa, get some good waders, 20 gauge (12 if they stay higher in your area, or you want a more versatile weapon), warm hunting clothes, if your hunting around a lake you'll need a boat or a trained retrieving dog. Scout around the local lakes/wetlands. Areas with alot of underwater vegetation are good, also submerged forests. Then just go out on the coldest, crappiest mornings at around 0500 and be set up before dawn.

[Banshee7]

lol, howd the head get torn? Was the dog alittle to enthusiastic?

No...my Baretta AL391 was a little "enthusiastic"

Looks like a good hunt Banshee.  What kind of hunting do you guys do in TN?  Do you hunt flooded woods or marshes? 
We have flooded timber and old river slews.  But what we mainly do is flood open fields.  The field that that hunt took place on was a large bean field with about 50 acres of standing corn.

We have a decent hunt here in Utah, we are in the Pacific flyway.   Mostly Mallards here but also have Widgeon, Gadwaul, and Teal can be plentiful.  Ton's of shovelers (we call them Spoonbills) but we try not to shoot them.  We call Shovelers everything from "spoonbills, bubble lips, doo doo ducks" (last one is because they can ALWAYS be found at sewer ponds

[zuii]

This entire post is making me hungry.

[Banshee7]

duck meat 

[Anaxogoras]

Duck is yummy.

Most of you probably already know about: http://www.ducksunlimited.com/  Just think, hunters and environmentalists on the same side.  What's going to happen next?

[rogwar]

Duck is yummy.

Most of you probably already know about: http://www.ducksunlimited.com/  Just think, hunters and environmentalists on the same side.  What's going to happen next?

Turkey hunters in cooperation with the National Wild Turkey Federation have really helped to bring populations back.

[eagl]

Thinkin evil thoughts here...  Wouldn't it be fun to play a little DNS redirection trick on PETA, and send some of their visitors to this thread?

Not that I'd actually DO such a thing, but it would be fun and there are plenty of vulnerable DNS caches out there just begging to be fooled with.

It's a good thing I am employed otherwise I'd probably end up in jail for pranking the intarweb.

[Banshee7]

errr...screwed up...gotta rewrite

[sunfan1121]

keep these pics away from moot 

[bj229r]

We almost do all of the above.  We don't sell them, though.  but duck makes some great food, even makes great jerky.  We give them to friends because...they like them too    And yes, along with extra deer meat, we give them to the local charity food drive.

Yup, only had duck a few times, and it beats the HELL outta ckicken

[Heretic]

Leg bands on waterfowl are used for tracking the migration patterns.  If a duck or goose has both legs banded it is usually a money band on one leg.  I've seen $10 to $100 money bands.
Neck collars are also used in conjunction with leg bands as well. Mostly geese are neck collared.  There are also cases where radio tansmitters are placed on waterfowl to track migration patterns and habits.

[Rich46yo]

I love waterfowling. Been waterfowl hunting since I was a kid.

I have so many decoys, calls, camo, shotguns, blinds, and gadgets for waterfowl I could open my own sports store. Thats how you can tell a true waterfowler. They will freaking buy anything. I even got the remote controlled field mallard on the stake that rotates its wings when I press the button. In fact I have three of them. I have so many duck and goose decoys I had to build a bigger garage just to house them.

I remember many, many years ago sitting in some Godforsaken goose pit, on some Godforsaken day, when all the geese had oxygen masks on. This was back in the days of Lead. We saw a bunch a guys in another pit waving a bunch of big paddles at the geese over-head. And guess what? It worked! That was the first time I ever saw flagging used for waterfowling. I remember when we almost lost the sport and all the hunters pulled together, under Ducks unlimited, and started buying up a bunch of potholes, controlling predators, and pressuring our Legislators to enact habitat preserving legislation. This was like back in the '70s and '80s.

And guess what? Another wildlife success story was written by American and Canadian sportsmen and woman. And now we are enjoying year after year of fine waterfowling. I'm lucky in that I live in and around a goose mecca. Duck hunting in general is very dependent on good rainfall and water levels during hatching season. That and controlling predators. Some years are better then others but in general nothing beats a day in the blind with buddies and family. I remember some cold fronts where the sky was just black with waterfowl. I used to take vacation every fall and many years I would spend watching the seasons and migration unfold before my eyes.

And they were all special. Kill or no kill they were all special.

[FX1]

First time to go duck hunting at the ranch. Every year me and my brother try and get set up for duck hunting but it never happens. This year we had some time after deer season and made a blind on one of the larger tanks. I couldn't believe the number of ducks that couldn't resist the mojo decoy and our half ash attempts at calling. We limited out in 18 minutes.