First Year Rookie

[Nershi]

Some good info here so far. Like others have said the #1 thing is scouting. If you aren't where birds are you aren't going to get much action. It sounds obvious but most do not do it enough. In most areas of the state you will need a boat to scout. Most places you can drive right up to and check out will not be very productive.

The next thing I would add is hunt with people who are experienced as much as possible. Hunting with someone for one morning or weekend who has been doing it for years will give you more info than you could learn in a whole season on your own.....assuming they are ambitious hunters who know what they're doing. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

The last thing I would recommend to a new duck hunter is a duck call. If you are where the ducks want to be you do not need to call at all. You can kill plenty of ducks without a call. If you aren't really good at calling and reading the ducks you are going to hurt yourself more than you are going to help. You do need to know how to call geese but I would buy a duck call after you have all the other more important gear (waders, decoys, boats, motors etc).

1. Scouting & Location
2. Concealment
3. Spread (including motion)
4. Calling

[dwendt]

Thank you Nershi for brining up motion, how do you guys do it? Mostly jerk cords? If so how do you guys rig that up, I haven't seen one yet


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[greatwhitehunter3!]

Mojos and wind activated spinners. Mojos cannot be used on WMAs however. I have never used a jerk string before but typically never hunt water on dead calm days anyway.

If/when you get into field hunting, if you want to target ducks all we ever do is use our goose decoys and mojos; works great!

[Nershi]

Jerk strings on water. Most ducks have smartened up to mojo's over water but they can still be effective at times. The only time I run mojo's these days is field hunting. Geese hate em but they work wonders for ducks over fields.

[dwendt]

Jerk strings on water. Most ducks have smartened up to mojo's over water but they can still be effective at times. The only time I run mojo's these days is field hunting. Geese hate em but they work wonders for ducks over fields.

How do you run a jerk string off your decoy(s)? If it doesn't make sense to explain it on here I'll just look it up


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[SpoonieSensation]

I use a Rig Em Right Jerk rig and it works great! Clips to the front of the keel on the decoy and I can run up to 4 floaters at a time. Makes those glass water days a whole lot different!

[Muskrat Hunter]

Agreed rig em right is the only way to go on the jerk string...you can make your own but for the money its the best way to go in my opinon

[dwendt]

Sweet I'll have to find a setup for next year


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[Quack]

In most areas of the state you will need a boat to scout. Most places you can drive right up to and check out will not be very productive.

The last thing I would recommend to a new duck hunter is a duck call. If you are where the ducks want to be you do not need to call at all. You can kill plenty of ducks without a call.

Excellent advice above. and I'd add...

That's the thing with scouting . . . takes a lot more time & effort than most people put in.


On jerk strings . . . I basically just started playing with them this year . . . do you guys think the ducks can notice the string moving vegetation (rushes, rice, cattails) ? Most of the spots I used em in were spots I wouldn't get get out of the boat into the muck, so it was a beech rigging it out and sinking the cord, etc

[Nershi]

. . . do you guys think the ducks can notice the string moving vegetation (rushes, rice, cattails) ? Most of the spots I used em in were spots I wouldn't get get out of the boat into the muck, so it was a beech rigging it out and sinking the cord, etc

In my experience they will not flare from cattails, rice etc moving from the cord as long as its a little windy. Calm days I think it can hurt you because there is no movement in the weeds but obviously those are the days when u need a jerk the most. I think the birds will flare from seeing your hand pulling the string more than the weeds moving.

I have had best results putting two decoys on the string in heavy vegetation areas like wild rice. Three or four decoys can limit the movement of the coys. Jerk strings can be deadly on geese too.