Decoy setup ponds

What is the decoy setup? Android Click Here. About The Author. Joel Bowers. Facebook-f Youtube Instagram. All rights reserved. Finding where to hunt is one thing, but deciding when is something else. Manlove says that in the Mississippi Delta, many small-water areas produce the best results on clear days when there's a north wind blowing at five to 10 miles per hour. He adds that it's easy to overhunt these small bodies of water. For that reason, you need to hunt these honey holes sparingly.

If you manage pressure, these areas can remain productive for several weeks. Staying hidden from the prying eyes of late-season ducks is a key to success on small waters. Fortunately, many of these areas provide an abundance of natural cover. Few decoys are needed in the close confines of sloughs, timber holes, and small ponds. Depending on the size of the hole, you can get away with setting out just six to 12 decoys.

For added realism, Manlove recommends using only your best-looking decoys. Old-school jerk strings are still very effective on small water. I also use a few Higdon Pulsator decoys to make my small spread look like an active group of ducks. Manlove suggests leaving powerful magnum loads at home and going with lighter cartridges when hunting these small waters. He shoots 3-inch Hevi-Metal loads of size 6 shot.

These lighter, faster duck loads provide plenty of knockdown power on close-range birds. You'll also want to use a more open choke, such as improved-cylinder, for the best pellet coverage at short distances. Small-water hunting also gives you the perfect opportunity to take a light-kicking gauge to the marsh. As for calling, Manlove recommends toning it down on the wintering grounds.

Hunting mostly public land , Staten and his hunting partners typically carry two to three dozen decoys with them. Avery pro-staffer Rusty Hallock hunts waterfowl on Chesapeake Bay, where gunning canvasbacks and bluebills over decoys rigged on longlines is a rich tradition. He says that while gang-rigging decoys is the only practical way to set a big spread in open water, such spreads often look unnatural from the air. These big decoys are not only incredibly visible from a distance, but they also help attract dabbling ducks, which often feed with swans.

Big geese don't drop right into your spread. Instead, they want a long runway. If they don't have a clear path, they'll try to land wide and swim in. This gives geese a longer glide path to the decoys. The hunters set out at least Canada goose floaters, leaving a to yard-wide landing zone in the middle of the spread. When this spread works the way it's supposed to, the geese decoy right in the center of the spread. Plus, it's also a deadly setup for ducks. Dan Crick has been hunting gadwalls and other dabbling ducks on Kentucky Lake for more than 40 years.

Droves of ducks flock to the lake to feed on milfoil and other submerged aquatic plants. The vegetation also attracts plenty of coots, which often congregate with ducks while feeding and loafing. I set the coots right against the bank, just as you'd see them feeding naturally. I put a couple of gadwalls right in there with them, and a couple more off to the side. The spread imitates what the ducks in this area are used to seeing, and often they will drop right into the decoys without circling.

Avery pro-staffer Steve DeMaster has hunted snow geese since he was a teenager. Though he grew up using more than a thousand Texas rags to decoy these wary birds, he now sets a much smaller spread of realistic full-body decoys.

The secret is taking care of them so they look real, and knowing how to set them. Again, you almost always want to have the wind at your back. Having the wind coming from the side can be beneficial. It can help bring the ducks across your field of view and from 3 directions besides your own. Place your teal decoys closer to your blind, to help shorten your shooting range and to help make the area around your blind seem like a safe place. Next, place your Mallards in a kind of spread out circle.

Make sure you leave a big enough landing zone in the middle, in order to deter ducks from landing on the outside of the circle and further away from your blind. Marsh ponds can be shallow or deep, so make sure you adjust your anchor lines accordingly. Open water areas, like brackish bays and large lakes can be tricky. There is usually a lot of open water to work with. Two of the most common ducks in this habitat are Mallards and Blue Winged-teal, depending on where you are hunting.

Winds and currents here can be strong and tides can rise, so make sure you have plenty of anchor line out and tied to your decoys. If not, you may not be able to retrieve them. This runway entices ducks to funnel deeper into your pattern and closer to your blind, as opposed to landing out of shooting range. This spread also allows the hunter to place decoys more easily into two long lines extending from the blind, allowing for easy retrieval as well.

You will most likely need a boat in this deeper water scenario, in order to get your decoys far enough out where they need to be placed. Remember to keep your Teal decoys closer to the blind in order to draw those ducks closer to your shooting range. Stream habitats require various types of spread techniques. If ducks want to feed or just paddle, they are most likely not going to do this in the current. These slow or zero current areas are where you will want to concentrate your decoys.

Ducks will react to a well thought out and placed decoy spread just as much as they will a giant decoy spread. A duck hunter should not have to purchase or haul around hundreds of decoys to shoot their limit. They should instead know how to use the right decoy spread techniques.