Strategies
Shotgun Safety – Handling a duck gun
Shotgun Safety Handling a duck gun requires simple yet critically important precautions Safely handling a shotgun when duck or goose hunting requires strict adherence to all primary safety rules (such as those [...]
Why Are Ducks THRIVING … as Other Birds DECLINE? Three words: investments by hunters
Why Are Ducks Thriving … as Other Birds Decline? Three words: investments by hunters By Kyle Wintersteen The familiar autumn chill graces your neck as you pitch your decoys, each one striking the [...]
Small Spreads for Snows: It might be time to rethink the “bigger is better” mindset. Use these tips to secure success with a small(er) spread.
Going Small for Snows No trailer (or three) jam packed with snow goose decoys? S’no problem! Here’s how to make a smaller spread work this spring. By M.D. Johnson Eighteen hundred. Two thousand. I’m [...]
Move the ‘X,’ Find Success: “Close enough” only works with horseshoes and … snow geese?
Move the ‘X,’ Find Success “Close enough” only works with horseshoes and … snow geese? By Brad Fenson A flock of 20 snow geese flew past the end of our field. One glance at [...]
Maximizing Duck Production
Maximizing Duck Production Delta Waterfowl conservation programs will increase the number of ducks in every fall flight By Paul Wait An abundance of quality habitat for breeding waterfowl is essential to have [...]
How We Count Ducks
How We Count Ducks Accurate population estimates are critical to hunting regs and making ducks By Bill Miller Each August, North America's waterfowl hunters anxiously count down the days awaiting publication of [...]
Build Your Own Jerk Rig – Why and How
Build Your Own Jerk Rig – Why and How The purpose of a decoy spread is to attract the attention of passing ducks and assure them that everything is as it should be. A [...]
Expand Your Vocabulary
Expand Your Vocabulary Dupe wary ducks by mastering species-specific sounds By Brian Lovett The familiar quacks, chuckles and highballs of hen mallards dominate duck calling, and for good reason. Mallards are the most [...]
Get the Range Right
Get the Range Right By Bill Miller Advances in shotshell technology make it possible for us to effectively and efficiently take ducks and geese at greater ranges than our predecessors ever dreamed. Today’s [...]
7 Keys to Early Season Success
7 Keys to Early Season Success By Bill Miller When the sun comes up on a new duck season, it has been at least eight or nine months since you closed the shell [...]
Know Your Shotgun
Know Your Shotgun In the first installment, we discuss how to safely operate and familiarize yourself with your shotgun.
Shotgun Safety
Shotgun Safety Here’s how to handle your shotgun safely and establish safe zones of fire for each member of your hunting party.
Weather Safety
Weather Safety Cold weather often leads to good duck hunting, but winter storms and sudden weather changes can be hazardous. Here are some precautions to ensure you’re prepared for a [...]
Boating Safety
Boating Safety Duck boats tend to be loaded with a lot of gear and used in fairly challenging conditions. Here’s how to determine the limitations of your boat or canoe and err [...]
Choosing a Duck Call
Choosing a Duck Call This handy guide to the different types of duck calls will help you determine the right one for you.
Duck Calling Fundamentals
Duck Calling Fundamentals Here's everything you need to know to get started calling mallards and other dabbling ducks.
Cleaning Ducks
Cleaning Ducks So, you just shot a couple ducks - now what? From breasting to plucking, here are a variety of ways to prepare your birds for the table. [...]
Let’s Get Cooking
Let’s Get Cooking There's no better way to celebrate a successful hunt than with a delicious duck dinner. Here are some simple cooking methods you're sure to love. [...]
How to Pick Out Early-Season Drakes
How to Pick Out Early-Season Drakes Struggling to identify drab drake mallards coming into your decoys? Here's a few tips to help you out.
The Joys of Coot Shooting
The Joys of Coot Shooting Often ignored by waterfowlers, “mud hens” can turn a dull hunt into one to remember By John N. Felsher “Shoot,” I yelled as birds exploded in [...]
Make Your Own Duck Hunting Honeyhole
Make Your Own Duck Hunting Honeyhole By John N. Felsher A swirling black cloud appeared over the horizon above the seemingly endless grass. Soon, the swarm broke into numerous black specters. [...]
Diver Strategies for Decoy-Challenged Hunters
Diver Strategies for Decoy-Challenged Hunters Can’t put out a massive spread? Here’s advice to help you make the most of a smaller setup. By Brian Lovett Diving ducks and massive decoy rigs [...]
Resourcefulness Can Save the Hunt
Resourcefulness Can Save the Hunt By Joe Shead I’d been watching a flock of ducks through my binoculars for the better part of an hour. They were about 300 yards away, [...]
5 Creek and Ditch Setups for Ducks
5 Creek and Ditch Setups for Ducks By Tom Carpenter Sit back for a moment, close your eyes, and picture the most classic piece of duck hunting water your mind’s eye can produce. [...]
Float Your Way to More Ducks
Float Your Way to More Ducks By Bill Miller It’s one of my favorite personal hunting photos of all time. Unfortunately, it was from the era when 1-hour photomats used that [...]
Snow Geese Over Water
Snow Geese Over Water By Kyle Wintersteen, Managing Editor Given the popularity of employing massive field spreads to pursue snow geese, hunters under 30 years old might be surprised to learn [...]
Find Ducks in the Late Season
Find Ducks in the Late Season By Kyle Wintersteen What’s my favorite time to hunt ducks? It’s not the early season, despite its pleasant temperatures, nor even the mid-season, when the [...]
Hunting Tip: Calling Specklebelly Geese
Hunting Tip: Calling Specklebelly Geese Mario Friendy of Zink Calls shares goose-calling tips with Delta Waterfowl during a successful hunt in Alberta.
5 Wood Duck Hunting Tips
5 Ways to Take More Wood Ducks It seems that the wood duck’s survival strategies include behaving far differently than typical dabblers, thereby eluding hunters who cling to conventional tactics. Woodies [...]
Winning the Early Season
Winning the Early Season The early season is an exciting time. Sorely missed shotguns are back in our hands. Retrievers return to blinds, eager to put their training to use. And teal, wood ducks [...]
How to Find the X
How to Find the X Practically every waterfowler knows that if you find “the X” — a magical place where clouds of ducks and geese appear on a given day — [...]
5 Strategies for Pressured Ducks
5 Strategies for Pressured Ducks Conventional wisdom dictates that late-season ducks are the most challenging to hunt. Nonsense, I say. The toughest time to put mallards on the strap is right now [...]
Gunning for Gadwalls
Gunning for Gadwalls By Kyle Wintersteen, Managing Editor In three decades, gadwalls have gone from rare trophies to duck-strap staples across much of North America. Their populations have more than doubled [...]
8 Tricks to Fool Resident Honkers
8 Tricks to Fool Resident Honkers At one time prematurely declared extinct, the recovery of the giant subspecies of Canada geese ranks right up there with the wild turkey and bald eagle. [...]