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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.
A petition to ban all hunting in Oregon is getting close to making this year’s ballot. Proponents of the PEACE Act (an acronym for “People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions Act”) are reporting they have amassed about 100,000 of the 117,173 signatures needed for the petition to make the November ballot.
Looking for some ways to spice up your game cooking this offseason? Look no further than the list below, curated by the hunters and (amateur) game chefs of American Hunter.
The new Remington Final Strut loads are two 3-inch, 12-gauge, 2-ounce loads in No. 6 or 7 shot, and two 3-inch, 20-gauge, 1-1/4-ounce loads in No. 6 or 7 shot. These four turkey loads promise to deliver great retained energy at long distance due to their heavy payloads of 12 g/cc tungsten pellets.
The Bergara B-14 Squared Cima CF design and weight split the difference between traditional hunting rifles and ultralight rigs. It does use carbon fiber, but it doesn’t try to be ultralight at the expense of skeletonizing or titanium.