Hunting lakes and rivers

[poison ivy]

I read about you guys hunting lakes and rivers and it's making me want to give it a try. I've only hunted ponds and beaver swamps so I was hoping someone here could give me a little guidance. Do y'all hunt out of a boat with a blind or get out and wade somewhere? What about decoys and calling? Not expecting anyone to give me GPS coordinates or take me with them just wanting a little help. Any info is more than I have now. Thanks to all.

 

[UWGduck]

when hunting lakes either use a boat blind or wade depending on the lake. Some rules are different. Check to see if it is a georgia power lake or corps lake. Just ride the lake and look for ducks and geese. wherever you find a large concentration hunt that area( points or islands are best if on the main water of a lake). or just look for ducky spots in the backs of feeder creeks if you want to shoot woodys.

 

[Big A]

pi this is the first year that I have hunted on a river, normally I hunt in swamps only. I am finding that like UGWduck most people are on the big water in blinds on the bank. They are on islands or little coves. They are putting spreads of about 12 decoys out right in front of them. I am going to go Friday and try an island spot on Oconee with about 24 decoys. I will let you know how I did Friday pm.

 

[poison ivy]

Thanks fellows but one more thing...what species of ducks do you normally kill in these areas other than woodies?

Big A give us that report Friday please.

 

[Granddaddy]

Haven't hunted it in years but I used to hunt the Ocmulgee below Macon with good success by floating downstream & jump shooting. Success came during long cold periods where area ducks had to use the river with fields & ponds frozen. Shot wood ducks, mallards & some gray ducks (gadwall).

 

[Big A]

PI sorry I didn't get back to you soon. I ended up hunting a swamp that Friday. I have been on the big water once since then and only came up with a lot of wing beats. All the ducks came by so early that we could not see them. Going tomorrow morning. Hopefully I will have a report for you then.
Big A

 

[Big A]

Quick report on the open water. The fog has killed the hunting. I am headed out tomorrow, friday, and sunday to big water. I will let anyone know what I see, anybody else having luck on big lakes and rivers?

 

[WOODIE13]

Hotch

Had a real nice solo shoot. Shot the rainbow. A B/W, a G/W, a gaddie, a mallard, a ringneck, a woodie and two geese. Not much shooting going on, but the birds seemed to move pretty good today. Must be the overcast. Motor messed up and it was a long row back, but worth every stroke. They were flying later, an hour after sunrise. Almost all of them heading north. Done on ducks by 9:30. Be back after them Saturday.:tu

Did get checked by some federal wardens. AIO. They warned me about somebody putting corn out in a slough on the AL side. I said thanks for the warning Bad bamians:dv

 

[jay sullivent]

the secret to hunting the big lakes is scouting, scouting, scouting!!!! don't just go out and set up on any point or island you come to like a lot of people do. find the ducks, and hunt where you find them. you'll most likely be shooting divers.

 

[AAADawg]

Sorry to be posting so late to this thread, but I just couldnt resist. I started hunting Ducks in Georgia in the early 80's and back then there werent but about 5 duck hunters north of macon...until deer season ended then there were about 10!!! Seriously Duck Hunting in Georgia back then was realy just plain bad.....I hunted with some of the better known duck hunters in the state (I wont name names because it is embarrassing to admit) Guys who are today earning all or part of their living doing hunting shows and contest calling etc. and promoting duck hunting lodges and services all over the US and if any of us ever killed a limt of birds (with the exception of a two woddy limit or one suzy limit) it was cause for all of us to celebrate!!!! 90% of our hunting them consisted of getting on standby at West Point of Oconee WMA..back then it was no trouble to get on standby because there werent any ducks and even less duck hunters. I done ever remember anyone ever getting sent away...sometimes on Oconeer guys would have to team up at the last minute but we didnt mind. The rest of our hunting was on beaver swamps, mostly on deer leases...we would spend more time and money searching for Beaver Swamps than trappers did when Beaver pelts were $10 each and most peopell earned about $50 bucks a year...between a group of about 20 of us I bet there wasnt a beaver swamp or low spot in North Georgia that we didnt monitor regurlarly for birds. Even the best days shooting on beaver swamps and managed impoundments couldnt hold a candle to hunting big water under thr right conditions. If the weather got down below 25 degrees and stayed there for a few days freezing up the beaver swamps and sloughs the ducks would be forced to congregate on openater...and they did!!! I have seen times when I-20 was shut down due to ice when two groups of us would head to Oconee and hunt the lower part of the lake. We would use a blind we had built on several points and set out as many decoys as we could get...I'm talking 250+ Duck decoys as well as 30 or 40 goose decoys. If the weather was realy lousy and cold and stayed that way for days we would stay as long as we could stand it...as long as 4 days once when we got snowed in and couldnt get out. The weather conditions would be seriously life threatening but it didnt matter...the chance to kill a limit of Drake mallards and maybe even some Black ducjs was to good to pass up. The big water can be great under the right conditions...I eventually quit hunting small water because of deer hunters shooting woddie roosts and destroying the hunting OR Game Wardens and locals doing everything possible to keep you off small swamps. I hunted Oconnee and West Poinr and Eufala and Seminole and even Lanier...and if you could get there when the weather was right and had enough decoys to get small flihgts of birds attention, the duck hunting then on large water was as good as anywehre in the state......