ducks and geese river hunting

[shooter12]

As the title says, does anyone here had any experience hunting waterfowl ducks and geese on the rivers when fields are covered with a snow?
Season is still on and its a lot of ducks passing through those open fast running waters.

S12

[MooseRiverTrapper]

I’ve always wanted to set up on the gravel bar and wait for them to come back.

[birdbeast]

Before I moved to Alberta, I hunted ducks and geese on the Fraser River. With a small amount of scouting, you can find a good spot to set up. You need a good retriever and to exercise restraint. If the birds are marginal pass on the shot. They need to be close enough the dog can get out and back without getting into trouble.

[skain11]

Several years ago we had the less than bright idea to float the Bow after Nov. 1st in an old dinghy looking for waterfowl. We did see a lot of birds but they also saw us coming. Turns out the boat had leaks above and below the waterline which was not very comfortable. Never tried it again but if I did I would maybe add some branches on the front of the boat for some camouflage and keeping in mind above the high water mark may be private land which you may have to access to retrieve downed birds.

[steyrman]

I grew up hunting on the St.Lawrence river from a late Sept opening to mid Dec, always found the biggest, baddest ducks would show up near season's end. Big Mallards, Blacks, Pins and Canvasbacks, Long Tail's, Scoters and even Eiders would would be seen. We would rig a decent diver set up and then add Mallards and Blacks between them and the boat blind. When it would get really cold you would almost have the river to yourself. I used a Chessie at that time, when he returned from a retrieve the water would freeze on his coat, the only time he ever shivered was when he saw ducks cup their wings and commit to land in the decoys. I would suggest scouting for a sheltered area as ducks do not like to land in fast moving water, a really large decoy setup is not required as you will probably not have too much competition. A dozen each of divers and dabblers would probably do. When all the ponds and lakes are frozen but not the rivers, the ducks seem to follow the rivers looking for a good place to stop and feed, hopefully in front of your blind, good luck.

[Rackmastr]

Have floated the Bow several times in November and Dec when I was younger and slightly foolish. Always shot our limit of geese and ducks.

That being said, a good shoot on a point or little bit of a curve with some decoys can be killer, just need a good spot to retrieve birds.

[Diesel_wiesel]

years ago when I lived north of Peers and south of Whitecourt
I hunted the McLeod river and shining bank creek
I would find a slow moving area or back water that held slow currents
I had a chessie for retrieving the birds,
(that dog taught me more about waterfowl hunting then any human ever did) the water would freeze on her as soon as she came out of the water but not once did she show any signs of being cold,
it was mostly big green head mallards that stayed late ,
usually in that area the geese left by mid October, due to lack of feed in the fields, but those big mallard were tuff birds and stayed until the first real freeze up cold weather hit ,
I kick my but now for not having any of those big green heads in full plumage mounted

[Maxwell87]

I do it often, knowing the river is key. If you don’t have a dog you need to be overconfident in water depth and speed to get your ducks!! Injured ones can be a challenge but doable if you know your in shallow water bank to bank! Most launches are non hunting spots so a raft/boat can help a ton to find a good spot to hunt.