Need a new duck hunting spot? Open a map. See those blue lines? They're rivers.
Gallery
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Late-Season Freeze
Find a pocket of open water and you’re in business. Sean Hammock of Big Sean's Outfitting, who hunts and guides the St. Joseph River in northern Indiana, widens the hole until the ice will support 50 to 100 rester and sleeper goose decoys. Ducks will also work the spread.
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Small Rivers and Big Creeks
You can still achieve good visibility with a small spread if you add a little motion. Tim Herald, host of "The Zone TV" on the Sportsman Channel, places his spread at the edge of a riffle and adds two spinning-wing decoys.
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Early- and Mid-Season
Before the freeze, visibility is key. Even if Field Hudnall, Avery pro staffer and founder of Field Proven Calls, is duck hunting, his favorite spread (see sidebar, above) consists of 90 to 120 floating and full-body geese plus a dozen ducks.
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Deep-Water Divers
Captain Bob Wetherald, pro staffer for Benelli and Final Approach, uses two gang-rigged lines of bluebill decoys to form his V-shaped spread. The “V” points toward the current. A sandbar is an ideal location.
Wild turkey has incredible flavor and is highly versatile. Consider using it for a tailgate party, watching your favorite sports team or as the ultimate starter in a hunting camp.
They say that ignorance is bliss, and it is, until that bliss is snatched away by the cold, icy hand of reality. In this case, that hand was wielded by a fellow hunter sitting shotgun in an approaching pickup truck.
The folks over at 4-Play turkey calls, not content to constrain themselves to their excellent line of box calls, have debuted a line of diaphragm calls that are sure to make toms close that las tidbit of distance.