C'mon cold weather.......ducks have been flying high and have no interest in what I'm offering them lately. Might sneak out this afternoon for an evening hunt.
Same situation last night. Hundreds of mallards, all flying a mile high. Saw about 100 geese come over the dam at the end of LST. Nothing came within 50 yards. No shots fired.
Anybody getting into some fresh, dumb birds ?
Anybody getting into some fresh, dumb birds ?
We're too far south on the flyway to have fresh "dumb " birds.
With that said, imho, ducks are not as smart as many give them credit for as Okie and I kill more than our share going at it against what the hunting community leads you to believe in regards to:
Dekes: ours are cheap, banged up and old. Not threadbare but not flocked, $75/doz type stuff. Heck we leave them outside under trees sometimes for extended periods of time. Also, many times less is more in a spread. Our spinners are just basic and usually just 1 or 2.
Concealment; we get by w what we can. Sometimes layouts most times a few downed cedars.
Calls: probably call too much. my broken mallard speak is not good but generally can turn a bird back. Others in blind are better but not to a point I'd call it a difference maker.
Shells: did I mention we are cheap.
Spreads: I think we used to analyze it more years ago when we started. Now it seems we build a wall or blob depending on wind. Not a ton of thought here. Generally works, if not we adjust.
As you can read above and look at picks ducks are not that hard to hunt and a guy can do it on a budget. Our success is based more upon having multiple places to hunt, scouting and knowing where they want to land. Whether it's field or pond there is still an X that is where they want to be. Many times we do the same thing under same conditions as a few days before only to have to move our setup a few hundred yards away because that's where the birds want to light. A $1000 worth of flocked head decoys and a $200 duck call won't make a difference if the birds don't want to be there. It might help but isn't guaranteed. Elements such as cloud cover , wind etc also play a huge role In this.
Evening hunts: gave this up years ago except on grain as success is limited on ponds and you are interrupting the roost as well.
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With that said, imho, ducks are not as smart as many give them credit for as Okie and I kill more than our share going at it against what the hunting community leads you to believe in regards to:
Dekes: ours are cheap, banged up and old. Not threadbare but not flocked, $75/doz type stuff. Heck we leave them outside under trees sometimes for extended periods of time. Also, many times less is more in a spread. Our spinners are just basic and usually just 1 or 2.
Concealment; we get by w what we can. Sometimes layouts most times a few downed cedars.
Calls: probably call too much. my broken mallard speak is not good but generally can turn a bird back. Others in blind are better but not to a point I'd call it a difference maker.
Shells: did I mention we are cheap.
Spreads: I think we used to analyze it more years ago when we started. Now it seems we build a wall or blob depending on wind. Not a ton of thought here. Generally works, if not we adjust.
As you can read above and look at picks ducks are not that hard to hunt and a guy can do it on a budget. Our success is based more upon having multiple places to hunt, scouting and knowing where they want to land. Whether it's field or pond there is still an X that is where they want to be. Many times we do the same thing under same conditions as a few days before only to have to move our setup a few hundred yards away because that's where the birds want to light. A $1000 worth of flocked head decoys and a $200 duck call won't make a difference if the birds don't want to be there. It might help but isn't guaranteed. Elements such as cloud cover , wind etc also play a huge role In this.
Evening hunts: gave this up years ago except on grain as success is limited on ponds and you are interrupting the roost as well.
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Anybody hunt ponds in the Stillwater area? Whats it looking like? I plan on heading down Jan 13-15. I know the ponds have froze/thawed a couple of times so far. Sometimes that really does the hunting in. Looks to be warm enough while I am there to have open water, we shall see.
Supposed to be in the teens at night for the next few days, highs in the 20's with little wind. You may have ice this weekend unless the birds keep it open.
Supposed to get back in the 50-60's before I show up, so they will open up again. I'm not coming this weekend. Rather the 13-15th. 10 days out.
drove to stillwater yesterday. took 51 in from 74. took 51 to 77 south to cr 68 and meandered my way back to edmond. i was mainly looking for geese and ducks. almost every pond east of i-35 had ducks on it, while almost every pond west of 35 was a no go for birds
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