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2021-2022 Duck Thread

Good little two man shoot this morning. Absolutely no excuse to have not had 10 birds on the strap at least. We did drop an 8th bird but one greenhead sailed about 200 yards heart shot and landed in some thick grass. Looked for near an hour with no luck. 28 gauge still killin em. 123_1(1).jpeg
 
Took my daughter on her first duck hunt Christmas eve. Ended up on a pond that had a few more birds than I had seen when scouting earlier in the week. Girl had a blast!

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Sneak boat hunt today. Scratched out 4 but should have limited. Botched the shot on a flock of bluebills.

Shot a pretty rare bird for NE Oklahoma too
Screenshot_20211230-120124_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20211230-120121_Gallery.jpgHen Old Squaw/Longtail.
 
Finally got out on my 2nd duck of the year. Don't make it out as much as I did in my 20's but still enjoy it when I do. Had a nice last day to the season here in Pennsylvania. Goose limit for my area is down to one bird so the days of setting up 200 full bodies is long gone. But if we can find them mixed in with ducks on some open water its game on. Also, we don't get much of a mixed back except for the black ducks. Yesterday we only saw one black and missed it but we did connect on two Gadwall and a nice Pintail which is not easy to come by here in Pennsylvania. 2.png11.jpg
 
Been a good few weeks, lots of ducks in the area and they're moving around a lot whenever the water freezes and thaws during the week. Had a good goose shoot in 35mph winds and sideways snow. Didn't take any pictures.

Several good pond hu to including an insane solo hunt with my 410. Second hunt this season I've shot a pure green head limit.

Hunted an ice hole yesterday with a few friends, 10 dozen goose silos and 4 dozen duck decoys sucked birds in like like black hole. Finished one flock of teal that had to have had 40 birds in it. Killed the bull sprig pintail and a beautiful drake spoonie. Screenshot_20220123-193703_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20220123-193658_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20220123-193649_Gallery.jpg
 
Gonna get into duck/goose hunting next year. I have a few questions

anyone use cheap decoys? Like I’m looking at the avainx 200$ish a dozen for mallards. Flambeau makes a dozen same birds for 60$. I could buy 3 dozen cheap ones for the price if the avain x. Any input would be awesome!
 
Bowtie I see you are from Ohio. I bought new and I have bought used off of Craigslist. “Quality” Used decoys kill just as many birds if you can find used ones and save some money. I don’t know if Ohio allowed motion decoys but PA recently allowed it and I pull in twice as many birds with two motion deeks and a couple floaters over a big flock of non moving deeks. I used to live in the central flyway and have a couple hundred deeks. Since I moved back to PA I use 6 floaters (12 if I have a boat) and two motion and it works great. If you have a hard time finding some I can probably come up with a few I would sell.
 
I run a mix of tangle free, dakota, avian, and G&H that I have acquired over the years. I don't think it makes much of a difference aside from choosing a decoy that has quality paint. (So far Avian X and G&H has the longest lasting paint of decoys I've owned)

Jerk rig or a couple pulsators can make a huge difference on those no wind mornings. I like to put a half dozen coot decoys in their own little group and hook 1 or 2 on the jerk rig.
 
Bowtie747 said:
Gonna get into duck/goose hunting next year. I have a few questions

anyone use cheap decoys? Like I’m looking at the avainx 200$ish a dozen for mallards. Flambeau makes a dozen same birds for 60$. I could buy 3 dozen cheap ones for the price if the avain x. Any input would be awesome!
Click to expand...
I have GHG hot buys and flambeau storm fronts. I have a few redhead brand that I bought for $2.50 each at the bass pro outlet. I’ve never paid more than $35-$40/ dozen for decoys. Occasionally I’ll touch up the paint on the off season but not very often. I’ll spray faded decoys with clear spray paint to freshen them up. I typically run six or seven dozen on big water. I always tell folks to spend their money on warm clothes and their time scouting. Start out slow and pace yourself when it comes to gear. I buy lots of stuff from FB marketplace from guys who dumped thousands into waterfowl gear and decided they didn’t like it.
 
Lol, looks like the decoys I bought several years ago have gone up quite a bit.
 
George Williams cork teal. He makes them to hunt over....we won't talk about $.
 

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That head looks goofy. Maybe not a big deal while they are cupping in???


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Aeds151 said:
That head looks goofy. Maybe not a big deal while they are cupping in???


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Click to expand...


Lol...its a skimmer. I ordered my head positions purposely. These are blue ribbon working decoys....they ride the water and look like they're supposed to. A flock of upright, alert heads on your spread is a no-no.
 
I like to put a hen with a mojo quiver magnet off to the side, a floating drake mojo behind her and a couple of long lines of all drakes trailing back towards the open water.
 
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