Duck season is coming, what new gear and tactics will you bring to the blind?

With the MN waterfowl season starting and the new regs finally released, now is the time to begin preparing for the season. What new gear or tactics will everyone be bringing to the blind this year?

After scouting spots and pinpointing where I will be hunting this fall, I have changed the way I rig some of my decoys. 75% of my hunting is done in 3′ or less of water. I have rigged all 5 dozen of my mallards and 2 dozen teal with 48″ Texas rigs. Once late season starts and the divers start coming down, my deeper traditional rigs will be pulled out. My geese are still traditionally rigged with J-hook weights.

Over the last few years I have made the transition of hunting in a boat blind to a chair directly in the cattails with the boat parked down shore a ways. I have noticed I flair less birds and my decoy percentage has risen dramatically. Yes, sitting in knee deep water on a chair is significantly less comfortable, but I’m out hunting to succeed, not be comfortable. Still thinking about making some sort of marsh table to hold my blind bag while sitting in the cattails. Holding ammo, gloves and other gear in my wader and jacket pockets gets to be too much at times.

Let’s hear some new ideas and tactics some of you will be trying this year.

I did just get 60 new gunny sacks from a buddy for decoy bags. Some of ours are getting pretty ratty after many years.

I have always wanted to try some Texas rigs on some of our puddler decoys. I might just take the plunge this year with that.

Other than that it’s just going to be getting everything ready and fixing up a few permanent blinds we have. The docks don’t do well with the winter ice

404 ERROR wrote:

Still thinking about making some sort of marsh table to hold my blind bag while sitting in the cattails. Holding ammo, gloves and other gear in my wader and jacket pockets gets to be too much at times.

I have been duck hunting zero times, but would something like this work? I have one, and it rolls up to about the size of one of those folding camp chairs and stuff into a nylon bag. They’re pretty lightweight, too. It would be fairly easy to slop some camo paint on it.

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Getting my pup back from training mid Sept just in time for duck opener. She’ll be 9 mos old. Gone for 3 months, getting anxious to see her again.

sticker wrote:

I have always wanted to try some Texas rigs on some of our puddler decoys. I might just take the plunge this year with that.

If you pour your own lead, they are very inexpensive to make with coastlock snaps, 400lb mono and aluminum crimps. Otherwise I would just buy some 400lb mono setups on ebay. They can be found as cheap as $20/dozen with 4oz weights.

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

I have been duck hunting zero times, but would something like this work?

I could see that working. Do you have a brand you use? I was hoping for something 12″ x 12″, just small enough to hold my bag.

Alps Mountaineering

They do make other sizes.

404 ERROR wrote:

Still thinking about making some sort of marsh table to hold my blind bag while sitting in the cattails. Holding ammo, gloves and other gear in my wader and jacket pockets gets to be too much at times.

That’s what muskrat piles are for! I know, they aren’t always in the right spots sometimes.

First thing I need to do is find a new blind been running a mixture of blinds the last couple years between Scheels and Cabelas brands really liked my Cabelas blind but I think its finally going into semi-retirement this year.

Need to pick up some new Honker floaters and Duck floaters as some buddies some of mine last year on their trip to South Dakota.

Whats everybodys thoughts on running a variety of decoys instead of running mainly mallards. Last year I ran a dozen mallards them a mixture of pintails, blackducks, teal, wigeons, and wood ducks( in the early season).

Good luck to all remember dove opener is less than a month away now.!

ducky.

From the moment I hit submit on this post, there are 27 days, 15 hours, 6 minutes and 15 seconds to Dove opener. (yes, I countdown every year)

Here’s what my spreads tend to look like.

Early season:
1-2 Dozen Teal
1-2 Dozen Mallards
3-6 Geese

Mid Season:
2-4 Dozen Mallards
2 Dozen Misc. puddle ducks and maybe some divers (pending location)
6+ Geese

Late Season:
3-4 Dozen Mallards
Every single diver I can muster up in misc. types, usually 4-5 dozen
6+ Geese

A brand new 28″ A5 all shimmed out to fit me like a glove.

Merican eagle I choose to hunt from the cattails as well. What I found helps me with shells and what not in the marsh is a walking stick. I took an old 4 foot mojo decoy stake (T shaped at the top) and wedged a 5 foot 1/2 inch thick piece of conduit piping into the bottom. Makes like a 7 foot walking stick. I don’t walk around in the marsh with out my walking stick. Scared to fill the waders. When I set up to hunt I push that stick as far as I can into the muck. I hang my bag with shells/coffee/water, etc on it as well as my gun on a sling. I also hang my ducks from it so they don’t have to sit in the mud. I highly recommend the walking stick. I camo taped my stick to hide it better.

I just called a meeting with our hunting crew so we can evaluate what we need for dekes. It’s cheaper if we slip the buying up.

My goal this year is to not go over my waders. Probably won’t reach my goal though.
DT

Jeff mattingly wrote:

What I found helps me with shells and what not in the marsh is a walking stick. I took an old 4 foot mojo decoy stake (T shaped at the top) and wedged a 5 foot 1/2 inch thick piece of conduit piping into the bottom. Makes like a 7 foot walking stick.

That’s a pretty dang good idea. I’ll look into welding up an aluminum version. Thanks!

I ended up picking up a new blind and another dozen full body geese at Scheel waterfowl expo.
Anybody tried Mojo Flicka Flock or whatever they are? Seem like a neat concept video show they sure do add some motion to the decoy spread.

Ducky

Not to hijack the thread but what do you guys think is the best waders or best for the money? Things have changed a lot since I have bought a pair.

Thanks

Steve Hix wrote:

Not to hijack the thread but what do you guys think is the best waders or best for the money? Things have changed a lot since I have bought a pair.

Thanks

I bought a pair of the Cabelas light weigh wader pants about 4 years ago and they are dynamite. I don’t like the restriction of full waders and I rarely hunt in water deeper than my waist. These are the perfect combination of both hip boots and waders. Your lap stays dry when picking up decoys, your butt stays dry sitting on a wet seat, they are light weigh for the early season and you can add long underwear under them for later in the year.

As much as I could not stand Gouger Mountain, I have never had waders last longer. Their house brand 3.5mm and 5mm were great. My 5’s are on their 3th season and the 3.5MM are on their 9th. The 3.5’s are just starting to leak in the crotch area. I”m hunting at least twice a week in them from opener to ice-up. I have heard some horror stories of the Cabelas brand waders and them leaking easy. Columbia is who used to make the Gander Mountain waders. I would trust Lacrosse and Itasca for a new pair, if you have the scratch.

John Christesnen wrote:

Anybody tried Mojo Flicka Flock or whatever they are?

I have not tried one, but I don’t really get into motion decoys other than two standard Mojo’s for late season. IMO, nothing beats a good manual jerk rig setup. Plus you can use it all season in MN. I had tried one of Mojo’s wiggler decoys and they did not produce near the amount of ripples I was hoping for and the battery life killed my wallet!

On the texas rigs, Lifetime decoy company makes them out of rubber coated steel cable as to not tangle as bad. I am investing in some of these as I always seem to tangle my texas rigs.

Aaron Kalberer wrote:

On the texas rigs, Lifetime decoy company makes them out of rubber coated steel cable as to not tangle as bad. I am investing in some of these as I always seem to tangle my texas rigs.

I got a 12pk for Christmas one year, they’re decent rigs.

Tip for storing and using Texas rigs.

1) Use a bottom loading decoy bag from Hardcore or Doc’s. Clip a dozen together, flip the bag upside down, run the clip and lines through the hole in the bottom of the bag, drape bag over decoys, flip bag and clip lines to handle. No tangle, no mess.

2) Use a 2″ PVC pipe for storing and carrying rigs.

Cut a 2″ PVC pipe 5″ shorter than your rigs. Tie a small clip to a piece of nylon rope, long enough to drop down the tube and clip decoys to. wrangle up your dozen rigs, drop your clip and rope down the tube and clip the decoys to the rope. Pull the rigs through the tube and hook them to a carabiner and then to the end of the pipe so they stay put. Throw the pipe over your shoulder like a bindle. The rig lines do not tangle and it allows you to easily store them with no mess. If you cannot visualize it, I will try to take a picture once I pull my duck boat out of storage.

I have a new Browning A5 Camo going to the bottoms with me. I had this same model about 5 years ago and foolishly traded it away looking for a softer shooter. I didn’t shoot the others nearly as well as I did the A5, so I traded back for another one. I’ll just tone down my ammo a little.

Picked up my new A5 at Field n Stream. They had wood stock A5’s in their clearance section. Kept watching them and they had a sale 10% off the clearance price, 15% cash back if you applied for a card and I got the manager to knock another 10% off for one that had a slight ding in the stock. After it was all said and done from stacking the discounts and rebate, I got it for just under $700.

A wood stock A5, we’re talking family heirloom right there.

Hate to give up a tactic here guys but you have helped me so much in the past answering all of my different questions…
“Brown ducks only” for early season!
As we all know, for earlier in the season the birds aren’t fully colored out yet so if you throw a bunch of fully colored out dekes into your spread, it doesn’t look realistic. go with early season dekes that they sell now or go with Hens only for a few weeks till the migration starts and better colored out birds start to move down. Has been a very noticeable difference for us for a number of years now. In fishing they say “Match the hatch”. In waterfowl hunting i say “Match the color”
JMHO.
Good luck

bullcans wrote:

Hate to give up a tactic here guys but you have helped me so much in the past answering all of my different questions…
“Brown ducks only” for early season!
As we all know, for earlier in the season the birds aren’t fully colored out yet so if you throw a bunch of fully colored out dekes into your spread, it doesn’t look realistic. go with early season dekes that they sell now or go with Hens only for a few weeks till the migration starts and better colored out birds start to move down. Has been a very noticeable difference for us for a number of years now. In fishing they say “Match the hatch”. In waterfowl hunting i say “Match the color”
JMHO.
Good luck

I have been doing that for years, except for wood ducks, I am still convinced location is the biggest factor and hide second.

Cabela’s has some pretty good sales right now on certain waterfowl items. Yesterday I picked up remotes for my Mojos finally. It was an extra $3 to buy two multi decoy kits versus one kit and an extra receiver. Now I have a spare remote.

Looking at a Patternmaster for the new A5. What has been your experience with aftermarket chokes ? Worth it ?

Justin riegel wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>bullcans wrote:</div>
Hate to give up a tactic here guys but you have helped me so much in the past answering all of my different questions…
“Brown ducks only” for early season!
As we all know, for earlier in the season the birds aren’t fully colored out yet so if you throw a bunch of fully colored out dekes into your spread, it doesn’t look realistic. go with early season dekes that they sell now or go with Hens only for a few weeks till the migration starts and better colored out birds start to move down. Has been a very noticeable difference for us for a number of years now. In fishing they say “Match the hatch”. In waterfowl hunting i say “Match the color”
JMHO.
Good luck

I have been doing that for years, except for wood ducks, I am still convinced location is the biggest factor and hide second.

Same for me. Woodies have great color early on. I just keep a dozen older beat up decoys for early season.
DT