Near end of season

[Hammockben1]

Ok it's near end of season now as some of yall know I hunt river a lot and just started hunting open water this year haven't had anyone actually show me tricks about duck hunting but I do have a question for my learning experience in this when I am scouting marsh lands lakes places like that what kind of things am i supposed to be looking for while scouting for ducks seeing how on the river i just ride up and sit and shoot never been taught scouting i plan to do that this year

 

[Quackmasterofgeorgia]

Ok it's near end of season now as some of yall know I hunt river a lot and just started hunting open water this year haven't had anyone actually show me tricks about duck hunting but I do have a question for my learning experience in this when I am scouting marsh lands lakes places like that what kind of things am i supposed to be looking for while scouting for ducks seeing how on the river i just ride up and sit and shoot never been taught scouting i plan to do that this year

Don’t bump the birds, get very good binoculars so you can tell the species, without getting close and bumping them up. Look for food sources, you can sometimes find them from looking at google maps. Scouting takes burning gas, a lot of it. Also remember, a raft of birds at a spot at 2 in the afternoon might not necessarily be there early in the morning, but most of the times in my experience divers won’t move much.

 

[Hammockben1]

Now you say food source what would I actually look for

 

[mizzippi jb]

Man I'm not being rude but it's very hard to read (comprehend) posts that have zero punctuation.

 

[Hammockben1]

Man I'm not being rude but it's very hard to read (comprehend) posts that have zero punctuation.

I get it. I just never actually put any punctuation in anything I have posted due to I am being use to testing certain people on a daily basis. I am just wanting to learn how to scout for ducks to give myself a successful duck hunting experience. I have never done any scouting before and would love to start doing that more often seeing how I am starting to hunt different places now that's all

 

[Hammockben1]

Texting not testing

 

[Hammockben1]

Just like when is a good time of the year to start scouting

 

[Duckbuster82]

You can scout year long. Look for areas that look protected, and have food. Look up aquatic plants for ducks and look at pictures. You can find areas that have food. Come season these are good areas to check for birds. But actual scouting all you look for is birds. When scouting try and stay as far away as you can. Just bumping birds one time can make them leave. I Will often times get out my boat and sneak down a bank or through the woods to check a cove or pocket. Once you find birds, watch them see where they want to sit and go back and set up like you saw them.

 

[across the river]

Scouting for ducks is really easy, you just ride around the lake and look for ducks, preferably the afternoon before you plan to hunt to up your odds that there will be there the next morning. Get you a good set of glass as others have said so you can look at them without disturbing them. Once you find some, try to figure out the best way to set up on them when you go hunt, and hunt the spot there are sitting in. If you find a bunch, but there is not any way to set up within 300 yards of them, you are better off hunting a spot with fewer ducks that you can actually set up well on the spot they are sitting in. It really isn't any harder than that. The problem most people make is they don't scout at all and just set up in some random spot hoping a duck flys in.

You aren't scouting for sign like you do for deer, you are looking for ducks. You can ride around all day and find places that look "ducky", but if there are no ducks using it you are wasting you time. If you want to do something in the offseason use google maps or earth to find spots that look like they have potential. he when the season comes, you can go check those spots for ducks. If there aren't any there, move to the next spot. Keep riding until you find some birds, and then hunt them the next morning. If you do find any birds on your scouting trip, leave the shotgun at home and go deer hunting the next morning. It isn't rockets science, it just requires a lot of time riding around to find the few ducks that are here.

 

[Core Lokt]

Just because you don't see ducks in an area on a scout trip doesn't mean there won't be any there days later. Ducks just may not be in the area in big numbers.

Scouting during the hunt is a way too. watch where they are going. You need to find the X and be there. Look for feathers on the water, lots of them. that would be the roost. Not all big lakes are feeing lakes.

 

[Quackmasterofgeorgia]

Lakes in Georgia, will normally have hydrilla as the primary food source for divers.

 

[across the river]

Lakes in Georgia, will normally have hydrilla as the primary food source for divers.

Not after they fill them up with grass carp like they have done at the Hill. Just ask the guys that hunt Santee how that worked out there.

 

[Quackmasterofgeorgia]

Not after they fill them up with grass carp like they have done at the Hill. Just ask the guys that hunt Santee how that worked out there.

I know, that’s why I consider the biologists in this state to be imbeciles.

 

[Duckbuster82]

I know, that’s why I consider the biologists in this state to be imbeciles.

It’s not the biologist.

 

[Quackmasterofgeorgia]

It’s not the biologist.

My bad it’s the technicians going off what is recommended

 

[Duckbuster82]

No, it’s the people who want to use the lakes to ski, boat and live there raise enough cane to get someone to do something. Hunters need to do the same.