[drhayes]

Looking for Information and Ideas.
My father and I purchased some property in the Sharon area about an hour southeast of Devil's. Looking to know if anyone has hunted this area around Sharon, Aneta and Finley. We have secured a lot of permission to hunt a lot of land surrounding the area. Have not been to the area since Labor day. We will be coming up for our first week of hunting on 10-5 through 10-11. Wondering on which approach to use first? Pick a pot hole that we scouted a month earlier and observed significant numbers of mallards or at least adjacent to. Or put up shop in a field in which we observed them feeding 1 month earlier. Should we use small spreads or large ones? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
We plan on hunting 10-5 am just because of the pure excitement of getting out and about and scouting 10-5 pm. How do we ensure a memorable hunt? Thanks. :beer:

 

[Field Hunter]

hayes,

The first thing I would do is forget about anything you scouted a month ago. I'm sure there has been substantial pressure there and you'll probably need to scout all over again. I'm not saying they won't be in thhe same area but to set up in a field you scouted 30 days ago might turn out to be a big disapointment for you. I'd scout am and hunt pm.

a question? do you give permission to hunt your land after you have been there for your 2 weeks?

 

[Fetch]

I have deer hunted that area alot. Done some duck & goose hunting around there also .

Good question Field hunter ???

 

[Nick Roehl]

I agree it would be a terrible idea to set up blind in a place you have not recently scouted. Bads hunts happen that way. I always scout the night before I go out, and make damn sure I know the exact slough , and where on that the slough the ducks were landing and feeding in relation to the wind direction. As for spreads you will find out how many decoys to use when you scout the field and/or slough. On opener I set out 24 decoys and that was good enough. This last weeked( a week later) I set up 42 decoys. And by the time the northern flight is here, I set up as many decoys as I can carry(around 200). All I can say is SCOUT,SCOUT,SCOUT and when your done SCOUTING go ahead and SCOUT again, that is the only way to ensure a memorable hunt. I sure hope you don't post your land all season and only hunt it 2 weeks, that is a waste of good opportunity for fellow sportsmen. Especially when your hunting other peoples land also.Anyways good luck, shoot a smilin' mallard for me.