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Late in the season and in pressured areas you’re going to have to go in thinking differently. Try and change things up with a different approach to other hunters.<\/p>\nHunting highly pressured ducks is easily one of the biggest challenges waterfowl hunters face. Nobody likes watching birds fly by without giving you a second thought. Or even worse hesitating and quickly getting spooked.Your decoy spread failed the reality test it scared off the leery flock.<\/p>\n
This is especially common late in the season when ducks have seen it all. They start to get a little bit decoy shy avoiding all but the most carefully thought out spread. Adapting to the different variations life throws at you is crucial to catching late season ducks.<\/p>\n
Late in the season and in areas that are heavily pressured you’re going to have to adapt to make it through the season. Make sure you adapt to variations in the birds behavior and modify your set up to suit the changing needs. The following tips should help you hunt decoy shy ducks.<\/p>\n
Late in the season and in pressured areas you’re going to have to go in thinking differently. Try and change things up with a different approach to other hunters.<\/p>\n
A few weeks into the season ducks start pair bonding and adjust their flock size.\u00a0 At this stage hens prefer small flocks so there’s more food to go around.\u00a0 Instead they are just staying with their mates and trying to fatten up for their trip north.<\/p>\n
Having a few decoys scattered with a jake hen pair is going to work a lot better.\u00a0 This is when I know that I need to switch things up and do it a little differently. Rather than going with the standard 8, 10, 12 dozen decoy spreads you’re going to want a single dozen decoys.<\/p>\n
Probably run a single spinner like this Lucky Duck Landing Decoy<\/a> right in the front of your spread to draw attention and a few geese decoys<\/a> to throw in a little contrast.\u00a0 Less is going to be more towards the end of the season.<\/p>\n The first thing that you’re going to need to do is identify whether or not your actually hunting pressured ducks. It might not always be easy to identify whether or not the ducks have had a lot of pressure.<\/p>\n Everybody that hunts geese should have a goose flag in their arsenal.\u00a0 \u00a0 I’ve tried a ton of different flags and prefer the simple black Avery Power Flag<\/a>.\u00a0 Avery’s Flag is cheap simple to use and works really well.<\/p>\n Goose flags aren’t just for geese they’ll really draw in a ton of ducks.\u00a0 Flap the flag when you see ducks at a distance and they’ll see it just like a goose would.\u00a0 Chances are they’ll come to investigate all the commotion.<\/p>\n When ducks start to feel a little stale you’re going to have to hunt as close to whatever concentration of ducks you can find.\u00a0 Most of the time this is going to mean hunting next to a refuge.<\/p>\n What you want to do is try and separate yourself from the other hunters.\u00a0 You’re going to want to hunt with a spread that looks like the surrounding area.\u00a0 Most of the time that’s going to mean bringing out a few extra geese to match the surrounding area.<\/p>\n Once you get start to get the birds attracted to you you’re going to really have to hide.\u00a0 Later on in the year ducks have seen just about everything you can throw at them.\u00a0 So your approach is going to have to change.<\/p>\n Most of the time I’m going to use a layout blind later in the season.(here are a few of my favorite layout blinds<\/a>)\u00a0 I’ve found that they’re much easier to camouflage when ducks are especially blind shy.<\/p>\n I really love my ALPS Outdoorz Zero Gravity Blind<\/a>.\u00a0 Designed to work like a gravity chair it’s one of the most comfortable layout blinds on the market.<\/p>\n That means adding a ton of extra cover to your blind.\u00a0 Try to use bungee cords and twine to add natural foliage to the outside of your blind.\u00a0 Whatever you do don’t forget to add additional cover to the top of your blind. Ducks have a much better vantage point to the top of your blind, so even if it looks great from the ground it could look awful from above.<\/p>\n There’s really no one right approach when calling in pressured ducks.\u00a0 You’re going to just have to play it by ear when trying to draw ducks in.\u00a0 What works great one day probably won’t work the next.<\/p>\n Normally I’ll use a somewhat aggressive calling pattern when luring ducks in from a distance and stop on the approach.\u00a0 There’s a fine line between overworking the call and successfully drawing them in.\u00a0 You’re just going to have to try a few patterns to see what works best.<\/p>\n Watching pressured ducks throughout the years has taught me one thing.\u00a0 Hunters are much quicker with their calls than actual ducks.\u00a0 Late in the season real ducks say very little both in water and in flight.\u00a0 Instead of calling out to every duck that passes by rely on your decoys.<\/p>\n If your decoys aren’t drawing them in try a brief 4-5 not greeting call followed by a few soft quacks.\u00a0 When they’re especially nervous try avoid your call altogether.\u00a0 A few basic beginner duck calls<\/a> is all you should really need.<\/p>\n Nothing beats the comfort of a box blind or well concealed boat, but what good is it if you’re scaring away all the ducks.\u00a0 Later in the season educated ducks start to look for duck blinds unnatural dimensions.\u00a0 At the very least you’re going to want to cover your blind in the surrounding vegetation draped naturally across the ground.<\/p>\nIdentify Pressured Ducks<\/h3>\n
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<\/h4>\nCommon Signs of Pressured Ducks<\/h4>\n
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Use A Goose Flag<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nHunt Next to A Refuge<\/h3>\n
Hide Like a Ninja<\/h3>\n
Adjust Your Calls<\/h3>\n
Know When To Tone Down Your Calls<\/h4>\n
Use Natural Camo<\/h3>\n
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