ANY Ducks out there .....

[Winch101]

DONT I just start the best threads on here .....

I really just wanted to know if anybody had seen any big herds of

DUCKS in the Calgary region , just sort of a gas saving inquiery ..

I've hunted ducks since I could walk .....all I need to know is the general area we will find where they are feeding .... Racks description of finding the feeding field is right on , never a dull moment ......Mallards have no limit to their range ....I
have seen them go 15 miles or more for a good pea field ..or even better
late season corn .....

I hate shooting them to close to their night water ....Covered alot of road day before yesterday saw acouple of good pothole shoots but really no big
herds ....As usual ...It'll go hard on em,when we catch up....

[Rockymtnx]

Originally Posted by Winch101

DONT I just start the best threads on here .....

I really just wanted to know if anybody had seen any big herds of

DUCKS in the Calgary region , just sort of a gas saving inquiery ..

I've hunted ducks since I could walk .....all I need to know is the general area we will find where they are feeding .... Racks description of finding the feeding field is right on , never a dull moment ......Mallards have no limit to their range ....I
have seen them go 15 miles or more for a good pea field ..or even better
late season corn .....
I hate shooting them to close to their night water ....Covered alot of road day before yesterday saw acouple of good pothole shoots but really no big
herds ....As usual ...It'll go hard on em,when we catch up....

Best of luck on your upcoming duck hunts.
Make sure to post some pics for us!

[drake]

running traffic defined: A term used when hunting ducks in a field or slough between their roost and prefered feeding field. The desired result is to draw passing ducks into a field where they dont necessarly want to be. Getting under a flyway and "running traffic" can work out really good, or really bad.

[Winch101]

One of the problems in the south is that I dont see any really good low grass marshes to hold ducks ...A few trees around , out in the middle of a section ... sort of a shortage of that kind of water ...Drake I had never
heard that terminology either ....make semse though ....W101

[7 REM MAG]

Quote:
Originally Posted by RyanGSP

Rackmaster yes hunting in the morning may be great but you will get much better shooting in the afternoon in a field between the roost and a feeding field with a couple mojo's going. Not alot of big flocks but you will get anything from pairs to a 12 all afternoon and evening long. This will allow you to pick out the drakes.....or the birds you want to kill and bring them into the kill zone. Ty it sometime and tell me which you prefer and which is more fun. I think you will be surprised.

Yes that indeed is a sound strategy. Set up close (but not too close) to a roost with a good decoy spread, ideally between 2 bodies of water that are holding a wad of birds. Ducks (especially Mallards) are 'samplers' by nature and absolutely cannot resist taking a close look at what appears to be a feeding flock. The trick, is to get underneath them in a good traffic area. It's a big plus if its a barley field... Good visibility.

Also, this way your morning is free to hunt and scout for geese. I like to follow them in the morning, check on them in the afternoon, then hunt them the following morning. This way you can shoot geese every second morning, and get your ducks every afternoon.

Lastly, by hunting the traffic you are letting the ducks feed to their hearts content in the same area, and not burning them out, or educating huge flocks by shooting into them in a feeding field.
And, not setting yourself up for a busted hunt if they decide to all feed at dark, at night, or before sunrise in the morning.
__________________

sounds like gsp is suggesting running traffic on ducks and duknut is supporting the suggestion thats just how i understand it though

[ABDUKNUT]

Hunting 'Traffic' has nothing to do with disturbing ducks on their roost, in fact, just the opposite. It's the most efficient way to kill ducks. Highest body count with least disturbance.

As a rule, I DONT hunt ducks in a feeding field. I DO hunt geese in feeding fields, and most morning goose hunts I shoot ZERO ducks. I also hunt geese
in a 'Traffic' field when I can't get on to the feeding field I want, and yes it works too.

Yes, it does take a bit of know-how. Heck, any ****** can put goose decoys on top of goose crap and kill birds. That's precisely what makes running traffic fun.

It might be a science, or an art, or maybe even some sort of witchcraft hokey-pokey, but it's not impossible to do and it's something that is available throughout the season to anybody in Alberta that has a map showing where the bodies of water adjacent to Ag areas are.

Practice makes perfect. Get out and try your luck, and learn something. Your results will only get better, and better, with experience. See what works best in terms of decoys, calling and refine your setup untill it works.

As far as scouting... The Wild Goose Chase? I do almost all of my scouting from atop a 'hill' with binoculars. You'd be surprised how much you are missing without 10x magnification. I can watch almost 360 degrees of the horizon and see the entire picture from the comfort of my truck. Cross-reference what you are seeing and what directions the flights are headed, with a map and then zero in on what direction you will take to find the 'X'. Personally I wouldn't waste valuable time during the first hour of sunrise, driving, and trying to follow a single flight of geese to parts unknown. I want to know where all of them are going, then determine, where most of them are going.

[Rackmastr]

Originally Posted by ABDUKNUT

As far as scouting... The Wild Goose Chase? I do almost all of my scouting from atop a 'hill' with binoculars. You'd be surprised how much you are missing without 10x magnification. I can watch almost 360 degrees of the horizon and see the entire picture from the comfort of my truck. Cross-reference what you are seeing and what directions the flights are headed, with a map and then zero in on what direction you will take to find the 'X'. Personally I wouldn't waste valuable time during the first hour of sunrise, driving, and trying to follow a single flight of geese to parts unknown. I want to know where all of them are going, then determine, where most of them are going.

Agreed...for the most part that works well. However there ARE some areas that I hunt the big migration where birds are going for MILES and miles.....and its flat for miles as well. I always use binos when scouting birds though.

Heck with gas prices as high as they are I just simply dont get out waterfowling the big fields as much and try to limit ANY driving when hunting...hah. But ya....a guy needs to prioritize where he's spending his time in the evening lookin for birds.

[rustynailz]

Sweet band duknut - you get the where/when on it yet?

[ABDUKNUT]

Banded August 2008 in 'Alberta'. Didn't get the complete info yet, but I'm guessing it was banded in that wetland near Hines Creek... Seems to be where all our mallard bands come from.

[Kale_M]

shot a metric crapload tonight! tons of mallards on the pea flield tonight..they seem to like commign to Canada decoys..

[Winch101]

Hey kale , thats great would love to see some pics ....

You can just PM me the location on that field ,

would be great .... W101