Make the Most of Late-Season Ducks with Decoy Refresh

Five dozen mallard, wigeon, and pintail decoys were scattered in the middle of the pond, giving the spread a natural look. Wanting to spice things up, I added a dozen cinnamon teal decoys to the mix. They were set in the corner of the small pond, where teal would normally gather and feed late in the season. 

I’ve shot just five cinnamons in 49 years of waterfowl hunting in this area, but on this sunny afternoon on the final day of the season, the eight Final Approach Cinnamon Teal Floater drakes popped, offering a different look, and wary ducks didn’t hesitate to bomb in. My two buddies and I left with a three-man limit for a solid end to the season.

We never saw a cinnamon teal that day, nor did we expect to. But what the unique look did offer was something we hadn’t used that season. And I can just about promise no other hunters in the area were spicing up their decoy spreads with cinnamon.

When looking to gain an advantage in the final weeks of duck season, consider these tips to help achieve full straps.

BREAK OUT NEW DEKES

In addition to adding different species of duck decoys to a spread, changing out the brand of decoys can be all it takes to fool wary birds. By mid-January, many ducks are in courtship mode, displaying in flight and on the water. This means drakes are in breeding plumage. Get them banking into the decoys on a sunny day, and their new feathers shine. The feet of drake mallards and Northern shovelers are the brightest of orange, visible from considerable distances.

Not all brands of decoys are painted the same. Mixing in various brands will offer a different look, something that catches the eye of northern birds. Remember, ducks live well into their teens, and many visit the same place at the same time, year after year. Their eyesight is far superior to ours, so any little change in a decoy spread can lead to a big advantage when it comes to getting the attention of educated birds.

Adding new decoys, fresh from the box, is also a good late-season move. New decoys are clean and their colors stand out. The presence of new pintail and shoveler decoys in a late-season spread is hard to beat, as their white markings pop, especially on sunny days. On cloudy days, they accentuate the contrast of a spread. New decoys might only be used a few days a season, when fooling pressured ducks becomes difficult.

ELEVATE SILHOUETTE DECOYS

I use a lot of silhouette decoys in my late-season spreads. The move that’s made the biggest difference in fooling ducks is elevating the position of these flat decoys, and by that, I mean getting them off the ground. A little at-home prep is all it takes.

Drive a 10-inch circle-top landscape fabric stake through each silhouette decoy, then use a small hammer to pound them into fallen trees that descend into the water, or into floating logs. The goal is to make them more visible in the low light of early morning, as well as in midday shadows. In stormy conditions, these elevated decoys are highly visible when floating decoys can barely be seen. On foggy mornings, drake mallard and pintail silhouettes truly pop. I like Big Al’s silhouettes because they retain their color season after season, and their photo-finish is precise and lifelike. They simply fool ducks.

PERFORM BLIND MAINTENANCE

Two seasons ago, a new hunter asked if I’d check out his spread because he was having trouble getting ducks to decoy. I could spot the problem from half a mile away. Winter storms had hammered his blind. It looked like a box plopped into the marsh. Sharp edges, corners, and tops were exposed. Birds flared as soon as they saw it. I helped him brush it in, and he shot ducks the rest of the season.

When it comes to blind concealment, don’t get lazy. Ducks are wiser than ever in the final weeks of the season. Break up unnaturally sharp edges of the blind, making sure no vertical or horizontal lines can be seen. Brush-in the top of the blind so there are no black holes. When ducks fly directly over the blind, avoid moving, pulling jerk cords, or looking up. Don’t call when ducks are directly overhead as they can pinpoint sounds, especially on calm days.

CONCENTRATE ON SITUATIONAL CALLING

Late in the season, I hear an excess of loud, seemingly desperate calling by hunters. Rather than over-blowing calls, think about what it is you’re trying to say. Feeding chuckles simulate a calm flock of ducks and are ideal for bringing in leery birds. A single mallard hen quack or a drake whistle are also calm, effective calls for getting ducks to finish in the decoys.

Species-specific calls are worth emphasizing late in the season. Wigeon and pintail whistles, along with shrill teal peeps, are great for attracting their own species. Mixing in these whistles with a mallard quack, or a spread-out series of lazy quacks, is a solid combination to fool clever ducks.

If aggressive calling isn’t doing the trick, try natural, relaxed sounds. If that doesn’t work, don’t force things. While birds may not initially respond, if they fly around and encounter other hunters who are calling too intensely, they might come back to the more relaxed words you’re speaking. Varying tones and sequences can also fool late ducks.

A range of factors can impact not only your calling sequences, but also your volume, and what you might be trying to say. Wind speed and direction, habitat, terrain, and pressure from fellow hunters can all impact how you decide to call. The number of stagnant ducks in an area versus newly arriving birds from the North, can also affect your calling approach. Calling can be very situational in the late season, so pay close attention to how ducks are responding—or not responding—and adjust accordingly.

CONTINUE SCOUTING

Where I live in western Oregon, the later in the season it gets, the more food and water become available for ducks. This means they have access to more feeding and roosting locations. Feeding and roosting sites vary based on water fluctuation, storms, and wind intensity. Late-season hunting pressure will also force ducks to move around.

Knowing where ducks are, and understanding why they are there, can greatly increase hunting opportunities. The best way to achieve this is through scouting. Following a morning hunt, hit the pavement and search for ducks. While some birds may be in the air, most will likely be on a roost pond for the day or feeding somewhere.

Once located, observe ducks to see what they’re doing. If they’re sleeping, preening, or resting atop floating logs, you’re looking at roosting birds. Daytime roosts are usually only used for a few hours, then ducks relocate to feeding areas. If you don’t want to blow up the roost, watch the ducks to see which direction they go. If you can find where they’re going, you might be able to hunt the feeding location. If not, you might need to set up between the roosting and feeding sites and traffic birds in.

If ducks are found in a feeding situation, don’t wait too long to hunt it. This time of year, fresh green grass is grazed on by multiple species. Get 10,000 ducks munching on the tops of fresh sprouting grass, and it might not take them long to devour it. In many places I hunt, wigeon and pintails graze a spot down in a day and a half to two days. That doesn’t leave much time to hunt it. Then again, if I miss it, I know the grass will be tall enough to attract ducks about 10 days later. Monitoring the rate of grass growth and the abundance of ducks will allow you to get multiple hunts from one spot in the late season, but the timing must be precise.

Wind and high water also knock dry seeds from standing stocks and send land-based seeds, afloat. The result can be a large amount of seeds floating on the water’s surface. In high winds, seeds will be carried to the leeward side of the water, and that’s where ducks will congregate. Tracking storms, water levels, and wind speed and direction will give you the advantage when it comes to predicting where ducks will feed. Once ducks start hitting food sources, hunt it, because they can quickly deplete it.

Using cellular tail cameras to scout for ducks is an efficient way to cover ground and learn where ducks are and when. We can’t be everywhere at once, so cellular trail cameras expand what we can see.

I run Moultrie cellular trail cameras and set them all on high-definition video mode. Set trail cameras on the longest capture time available, usually 15 to 20 seconds. This assures capturing the sounds of ducks that are not in frame. Often, a flock of ducks speeds in front of a camera. While the video captures a second of them passing by, it’s the several seconds of sound that are captured in the background that can truly reveal how many ducks are using an area.

With the fourth quarter of duck season here, we must hunt smart. It’s not easy to fool wise ducks, so the more prepared you are and the more options you have available, the more hunting opportunities you’ll have and the more productive each hunt will be.

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