“A lot of hunters get in boats, run through the bottoms, and scare ducks up, but I don’t like to do this,” Widner continues. “Instead, I prefer to wade into an area, sit on a log, and just listen. When everything’s quiet, you can hear hens quacking a long way through the woods. Then you can move closer to where the calling is coming from and pinpoint where you want to hunt the next day. You need to set up where the ducks want to be, not close by. If they’re using a certain area in the afternoon, chances are good they’ll be back there the next morning.”
Stay on Fresh Birds
Ed May of Banks, Oregon, is a retired police commander who has hunted ducks for almost 50 years. He usually shoots from a floating or stilt blind in shallow water on leased property. But when heavy rains and resultant floods come, he turns to freelancing.
“We get a lot of rainfall here, but the really big rains come about every third year, turning our little potholes into very large lakes,” May says. “I’m talking about miles and miles of sheetwater over harvested cornfields and brush lots. Everything you’re used to hunting is now under several feet of water. When this happens, ducks scatter out, and you have to go find them.”
May scouts from both his vehicle and boat. He favors downwind sides of these sheetwater lakes, because prevailing winds blow seeds, insects, and other foods into the shoreline. “I’ll start looking about midmorning to see where ducks are feeding. When I find a concentration of birds—at least 75 to 100—I’ll come back and set up the next morning.”
His typical setup will be in the edge of a line of willows and hawthorn trees. “Mallards and wood ducks especially like to hang around this brushy cover,” he explains. “And the vegetation also gives me some concealment to stand behind or to break up my boat-blind. I’ll hide in the trees and set my decoys just outside the cover. I don’t put out more than 18 decoys. The ducks usually come as singles, pairs, or small flocks, and a large spread isn’t needed to get them to work.”
Occasionally a prevailing westerly wind will push new ducks into May’s area from the coast. Usually, though, he’s hunting local birds that have been scattered by the flood. He says it takes only a little pressure to cause them to abandon a feeding or resting place.
“This means my partners and I are constantly scouting,” May says. “We’ll shoot a spot in the morning and then scout for a new place for the next day. We always try to stay on fresh birds. This takes a lot of work, but when everything comes together, this high-water condition can provide some of the best shooting of the entire season.”