Decoys and Calling If you set your decoys along a flyway where you normally pass shoot, wood ducks will likely ignore your spread while en route to a preferred feeding or roosting area. But if you’re waiting for woodies at their final destination, they might fall right into your decoy spread like a flock of mallards.
What time of day are wood ducks most active?
Jump-Shoot Midday
Wood ducks are among the most susceptible species to jump-shooting, particularly at midday as they loaf along forested creeks. Quietly walk or canoe the creek, readying yourself at every bend for unseen birds.
Why does everyone use mallard decoys?
Decoy Species
In most puddle duck spreads, mallards are the predominant species. In nature, these ducks are universal, and other species routinely intermingle with them. Thus, mallard decoys will also draw pintails, teal, gadwalls, widgeons, and other puddle ducks.
Do wood ducks and mallards get along?
The Wood Duck stuck out from the larger Mallards, but seemed comfortable within the flock. The Mallards, likewise, seemed to have no problem with the Wood Duck. Wood Ducks and Mallards sometime cross breed and have hybrid Mallard X Wood Duck offspring.
Do wood ducks land in decoys?
If you set your decoys along a flyway where you normally pass shoot, wood ducks will likely ignore your spread while en route to a preferred feeding or roosting area. But if you’re waiting for woodies at their final destination, they might fall right into your decoy spread like a flock of mallards.
How many decoys do you need for wood ducks?
If you’re where they want to feed, loaf or travel, they’ll probably plop down into a spread of two decoys just as readily as they’d commit to a 100-block rig. For water hunts, I throw out six to 12 wood duck decoys to attract the attention of birds and perhaps slow them down for a split second.
What should you not do while duck hunting?
Following is their list of the most common foul-ups made by waterfowlers.
- Inadequate Concealment. We’ve all heard it before, but being well hidden remains one of the waterfowl hunter’s most important considerations.
- Insufficient Scouting.
- Improper Decoy Placement.
- Unnatural Calling.
- Mistiming the Shot.
How many mallard decoys do I need?
If you are going to hunt ducks in a serious manner, you’ll usually need at least two dozen decoys to start out. And more is better, since for waterfowl there is safety in numbers. Unless you throw your decoys in a boat and haul them around that way, you’ll need a good decoy bag or two for carrying them.
Where do wood ducks go during the day?
Woodies like to roost on ponds, and in corners of wetlands large and small, usually where there is some cover. They leave at first light to spend the day in ponds, wet cornfields, and creeks, but pinning down their exact spot is rarely easy.
What direction should a wood duck house face?
Helpful Tips. Mount the box so that it leans forward slightly to shed rain. Boxes can be installed on posts or poles in the water, at least 3 feet above the high water mark, facing south or west. If installing on land, choose a site within 100 feet from the water with no branches around the entrance hole.
Will teal come into mallard decoys?
Mallard decoys work fine for teal. So, too, will a mix of mallards, wigeon, gadwall and shovelers. Again, the little ducks really don’t seem to care. Bigger decoys — that is, mallards — are just that: big.
What time of day do wood ducks fly?
Major morning flight activity in September and October took place before sunrise, and major evening flight activity in October occurred after sunset. Martin (1957) found similar habits in Wood Ducks in Indiana.
Do wood ducks like mojos?
What does work, experienced hunters agree, are spinning-wing decoys like Mojo’s Screamin’ Woody. Love them or hate them, spinners, where allowed, are deadly on wood ducks, grabbing their attention at a distance and helping focus them visually on the small spread of decoys.
What shot to use for wood ducks?
Wood Duck Guns and Loads
In reality, most shots at wood ducks are at close range if you’re set up right. A 12- or 20-gauge loaded with steel 4 shot and an improved cylinder or light-modified choke is all the gun you need. Test your gun at 20 and 25 yards to be sure your pattern is wide enough at close range.
How do you attract wood ducks?
3 Ways to Attract More Ducks to Your Pond
- Increase water clarity. Clear water encourages aquatic plants, aquatic snails and several aquatic insects, which are primary foods of migratory ducks.
- Reduce disturbance. Human activity near a pond can scare away ducks, causing them to relocate elsewhere.
- Add duck food plants.
Do wood ducks dive after being shot?
Re: Do ducks really drown themselves? After they get shot they’ll sometimes dive in and try to get some cover over them so an eagle can’t scoop them out of the water, eagles can reach in quite a ways so they dive and burrow themselves in the weeds, but with pellets or broken wings they can’t get back out.
Does camo really matter for duck hunting?
Camouflage clothing is essential for waterfowl hunting unless you’ve got a good blind that keeps you entirely hidden. Wear clothes and waders that match the vegetation or ground cover where you hunt.
What camo pattern is best for duck hunting?
Top Camouflage Patterns of 2021
- Top Camouflage Patterns of 2021. Mossy Oak Bottomland. Mossy Oak Shadow Grass Habitat. Realtree MAX-5.
- Realtree Timber. Sitka Waterfowl Marsh. Sitka Waterfowl Timber.
- Natural Gear Natural. Drake Old School Camo.
Can you leave duck decoys out overnight?
Registered. It does not hurt to leave out. If having good success in one location then leave out.
Do teal land with mallards?
Mallards will swim among pintails, and flocks of teal will settle in with big ducks, but there are times when they seem to favor their own kind.
What is the best duck decoy spread?
Here are five downsized decoy spreads that just might help you put more birds in the bag this season with a lot less work.
- Shallow-Water Dabblers. VETERAN WATERFOWLER.
- Green-Timber Greenheads. VETERAN WATERFOWLER.
- Prairie Pothole Puddle Ducks. VETERAN WATERFOWLER.
- Backwater Mallards.
- Cold Combo for Late-Season Geese.
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