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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.
Every generation has a story starting with, “I remember the good old days.” Elk hunters have a similar dialogue and although elk numbers are at some of their highest in modern history, public-land hunting still represents a sea of challenges. With decades of elk hunting in my rearview and an ongoing education, a few lessons I’ve learned from elk hunting may aid you in your public-land elk pursuits.
The required number of valid signatures to put a “Right to Hunt and Fish Amendment” on Colorado’s Nov. 3 ballot was reached on Sept. 4. If approved by voters—according to Ballotpedia’s summary—it would add the “…right to hunt, fish, and take fish and wildlife through traditional methods” to the state constitution.
On this week's #SundayGunday, we are taking a look at the new-for-2026 design of the CZ 600+ ST3 American, the ST3 being the long- and magnum-action model. Built by the legendary Czech company for the American market, this is a rifle adapted perfectly to hunting on this continent.
Getting federal and state agencies out of the way of the citizens who wish to use suppressors to make their guns more polite to their ears and to their neighbors’ is an ongoing, complex and multifaceted effort. There is, however, progress being made thanks to the Trump administration.
First, the Browning Automatic Rifle addressed in this article is not the renowned 1918 BAR of military fame. I’ve actually seen an American Rifleman editor hunt hogs with a reproduction 1918 BAR. While it was a spectacle to behold, it’s probably not the optimal choice for the deer woods, but hey, who am I to judge? The Browning BAR we’re talking about in this article is the iconic hunting rifle.