5 Ways To Improve Late Season Duck Hunting Success

5 Ways To Improve Late Season Duck Hunting Success

By Nick Johnson

1. Scout Smart
Scouting is imperative in any waterfowl hunting scenario. Its rare to shoot of limit of ducks without scouting for birds in specific areas, especially during late season. You want to try your best to be where the birds want to be and more often than not, late season will have them stacked up in key areas.

Late season birds are notoriously weary and will rarely decoy into an area that they don’t want to be in. Find the birds, flush them quietly or set up when they are absent, waiting for them to return and enjoy some of the best shooting all year. Focus your efforts on areas of water that you know remain open during the last days of season. This could be anything from big rivers to small streams and even warm water discharges from factories.

2. Use Sleepers
When hunting during the late season, you want to stack every odd you can get a hold of in your favor to ensure success during the hunt. Imitating realism with your decoy spread is one of these variables. As stated before, food, water, cover and safety are a ducks number one concern this time of year. Also factor in that they are preparing for a bi-directional journey and they are looking to conserve energy at all expenses.

Whether feeding in fields or loafing on ice or water, waterfowl rest. The often rest in fields to melt snow beneath their bodies, exposing food resources. They also rest in fields after feeding before flying back to their roosting areas. When they are loafing on water, ducks will rest to conserve heat and energy. Imitating this with sleeping and resting decoys is a great tool to look as natural as possible and give approaching birds added confidence.

3. Less Is More When Calling
When calling and working a flock of late season ducks, the need for a full regime of calling is almost never necessary. If you are where the ducks want to be, there is almost no need to call at all in many situations, however calling is part of the fun of duck hunting and doing so during a late season hunt only means refining what you already know and doing so in a subtle manner.

Moderation is the way to go when working a late season flock of ducks. Your focus should be to keep their attention with as little calling as possible. Call on the corners and when a flock is facing away from you, not when they are centered up and coming in. Late season birds will often circle and circle before they commit. They will pick you out quickly if you are calling when they can clearly see your location. Utilize soft quack cadences and natural sounds sparingly and allow the birds to work on their own instead of trying to force the action.

4. Overboard On Camouflage
Going overboard on effective natural concealment will only help your success. You want to give approaching and working birds zero chance of spotting you if possible. Not only do you want to ensure that you are concealed from all sides, but also from overhead. Utilize natural materials at all cost and try to make effective concealment as important as successful scouting.

5. Time Change
Mallards and geese late into the season often feed later into the day versus right at daybreak and before dusk earlier in the year. Ducks in this case may only venture to feed once a day and that time is highly variable. Use your scouting recognizance to pinpoint their feeding time and plan for the hunt accordingly. This may be anywhere from 8 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon or later. Late season hunts can be nice in this aspect because the routine of waking up well before dawn isn’t always a priority. If you are not hunting where they feed, the best option is to wait for the birds to leave, sneak in quietly and set up and wait for them to return from feeding with full bellies.