[Fetch]

Duck hunt or blow a call ??? I was just a pot hole jumper & pass shooter for most of my early days of waterfowling. Also shot alot of ducks SOB hunting in fields. But it was a older retired Minn. guy who comes every year to SOB hunt with us, that got me blowing a call & took me on my 1st few boat hunts. & they were awesome - like a shooting gallery - one of the 1st times I ever really shot ducks, coming at me with landing gear down & in your face.(I had trouble not shooting at everything that came close - they looked like good shots to me) I have been hooked ever since. My lab (now deceased) was a natural for boat hunting - it got so all I had to do was watch her. She was like radar & if I missed she could shame me - & talk about a big water entry (so cool) I sure miss her. Hunting with a great dog is so special. I'm pretty sure one of the biggest reasons I still had the desire to shoot birds, was to watch her & before (her Mom) both do their thing.

I don't know how many duck calls I have now ??? (a bunch) Plus now I'm trying to target different species of ducks from a boat.

 

[BigDaddy]

Fetch,

My dad taught me how to duck hunt and blow a call. I'm a native of southern MN, and the duck hunting was awesome down there when I was a kid. Since that time, many of the sloughs have been drained, and the duck hunting has gone downhill.

Anyway, I moved to ND a couple of years ago from Indiana, and I had forgotten how much I enjoy duck hunting. I was surprised at how none of my co-workers blew a duck call, and none of them had ever hunted out of a boat. This is standard equipment back in MN, but my co-workers have always just threw out a few dekes in a pothole and hunkered down in the grass. In my opinion, there are few things funner than sitting out in a boat in a cattail slough, and calling them in. It is a special rush to turn a flock around and have them come in with wings set.

I don't know where some of this reluctance o use calls, boats, coffin blinds, and the like by some ND folks comes from. Many people of told me that you don't need them. I've heard some folks say, "Those are for those Minnesota and Wisconsin hunters!" That might be, but a good duck call in the right hands sure increases your odds.

 

[Fetch]

I wrote this a couple weeks ago on another site (talkin about duckboats)& why folks think your nuts - if you do.---

I think ducks often avoid shores - cause we used to have so many predators up here. I like islands & like to hide in a boat, in the reeds.

Oh they think your nutz up here to, if you use a boat. (It is mostly the Minn & Wisc boys that do.) It is manily cause, there are so many potholes & smaller shallow waters, that you don't need a boat, to get ducks. But where you can use a boat. You hardly ever run into hassles, or other people or competition. When your around people as much as I am - it is Heaven to get away.

--- Now I know for a fact this is not the case in Minn. or Wisc. (another reason to limit NR's) There getting to be too many boat hunters in ND already (for me) :grin:

 

[Dr. Bob]

Fetch,

I'll still drag my 14 foot john boat around on the top of my truck for a year or two but I doubt I'll use it :grin:.

I finally started hunting Mallards in the fields last season and I think I will concentrate my efforts more in that area in the future (Had a Blast :grin: :grin: :grin: ).

I'll still drag the john boat along just in case I might need it. But I know I will always bring my big water boat as long as NR license restrictions do not restrict me from hunting the divers on DL!!! That would be a bummer :sad:.

As far as who taught me how to hunt ducks I think it was me :smile:. I had a hunting shack with a few other guys and they dabbled enough in ducks to get me started.....or I should say ADDICTED!! Once hooked I thought of little else for many years to come. I am way more into it than any of the guys I first hunted with. It's a rather fine illness indeed :beer:

Dr. Bob

 

[bioman]

Great topic. I learned to duck hunt from my father, who learned from his grandfather. My dad taught me how to blow a duck call. He felt that no matter how good you thought you were with the call, the ducks will always tell you that you need improvement. My dad grew up in Heron Lake, Minnesota during the glory days of the waterfowling in Minnesota, before all of the agribusiness decimated the entire area (purely shameful :sad: and a topic for another day). I have a picture of my dad holding two, very rare albino mallards that he shot when he was 16 years old. The albino mallards were so rare, he was shown pictured with the two mallards on the front page of the Minn. Tribune.

My dad started taking me with him when I was five years old. If it was too cold or the weather was too nasty, my dad would leave me behind. According to my mother, I would cry and scream and throw the biggest tantrums. So after a couple of these stints, my dad always took me along :grin:.

I grew up in N. Minnesota on a lake, so we would take the duck boat and go back into the "bog" to hunt ducks. What a mystical place. I remember when I was about six years old and hunting in the bog for the first time. A group of four Canada geese flew into our duck decoys. My dad picked out the lead goose and dropped it. He was so excited that we immediately picked up our spread and rushed to the local tavern, so my dad could go and show off the goose. There weren't many geese in N. Minnesota in the early 70's, so it was a big deal to shoot geese. What different times.

Anyway, duck hunting out of a boat is a thrill, especially in bad weather. Nothing beats diver hunting in driving rain and white caps. But now days I prefer to field hunt. Less work and you get to enjoy the beauty of a large flock of mallards working a field. Plus, if you can't blow a duck call, then you won't be shooting much.

 

[nodakoutdoors.com]

I was born and raised hunting pits and field decoy spreads. I shot my first canada goose(lessor), snow goose, and blue goose all up by Bottineau. We used to never think much about ducks since we always limited out on them in our snow goose spreads.

I learned how to blow a snow goose call from my dad, ducks and canadas I learned on my own. Canadas were so rare in E. ND years back that my father had never shot one. I took him out for his first canada 3 years ago, and we've shot plenty since. Kind of a weird twist to do a role reversal with your father, but enjoyable for sure.

Nowadays, I like to take whatever opportunity arises. I did every type of bird hunting possible last fall, and my truck is usually packed with decoys for each. I finally got my first duck boat experience in last year. We had been eyeing this particular island by the plant for almost a decade, and finally got out there in late November. Unreal. More mallards, divers, canadas and snows than you would want to clean in a day. And only a couple miles from home...

I was raised as spoiled as a waterfowler could get. A posted sign only meant you would be spending a half hour BSing about someone we both knew. I hope my kid has the same opportunities that I had growing up.

 

[GooseBuster3]

My Dad was the one that got me started in this great sport. I was 8 years old and freezing my butt off lying in a frozen cornfeild waiting for the pile of mallards to come back to the field we scouted the night before. ( I thought it was the worst thing in the world, lying in a cornfield in the dark, freezing) well that all changed when the first flock of 150 birds buzzed the dekes and my dad and uncle shot 5 birds. From then on waterfowl hunting has been the main focus in my life. And I will still take a field over a slough any day. And another on of my good hunting buddies, DECOYER he is the one that got me hooked on hunting snow geese. I would just like to say a BIG THANKS to him. There is no better place to be then a SASK pea field, with the roost exploding with the screem of snow geese, while talking to your best hunting buddy!

 

[duckman37]

A couple of friends introduced me to it but picked all the tricks and tips mostly myself,just hunting the last 18yrs.Then...........well the ducks do a pretty good job teaching you,thats for sure.I bought a duck calling cassette and learnt the basics,then developed my own techniques to suit my area.Was in a few calling contests and learned quite abit there.
Honestly I learned alot out of magazines and from older hunters than I,but as I got more
into it i figured they were doing so much wrong that I really had to find different ways of doing things,of course I had alot of frustrating days learning this way,but now it is all worth it.
Take care
Rob.