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Hunting Location/Decoys

2K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  aquafowlr 
#1 ·
Ok, this was inspired by the previous "Decoy Spread" post. Hopefully, I'm giving enough info.

1) Water depth in the small tank is about 8' in the middle and it gets deep, quick. I don't have a dog so hunting this area would be pretty tough. Water depth in the large tank is about 4' - 5'. I tried two different locations last year, but the birds just weren't present. (This year I think things will be a little different with all the rain.)

2) The small tank is surrounded on the south side by medium to larger growth deciduous trees and a berm to hold the water. The north "shore" is open except for one large oak and some bushes. There are lillies in the water, and tall grass around the edges.

3) The large tank has substantial lilly growth and is bordered on the south "shore" by tall prairie grass. (Incidentally- the perfect brush up for lay out blinds.) The north side is covered by sparse trees and yaupan. This is the pond I hunted last year and had limited success for teal. The regular season was a bust though. Saw very few ducks and then, usually before shooting time.

Here's the issue: the small tank, (where I'm pretty much stuck hunting due to lack of a dog) is only about 30 - 40 yards wide at the widest point. Most of the time, when I happened to see any birds, they were smack dab in the middle near where I annotated the spot I hunted last year. The short width makes it tough to get a decent spread and still leave them room to land without crossing over one another.

Should I:

A) Abandon the large tank and try to make do hunting the small tank without a dog?

B) Try pass shooting the large tank?

C) Just keep on the way I have?


Also, keeping in mind that the large tank is oriented roughly east-west axis, what spread of which species would work best. (Lease is in the vicinity of Columbus butting up to I-10 on the south side of the highway.)

I really appreciate any advice. I don't get to go nearly as often as I would like to, and as a result, would like to maximize my efforts. Thanks in advance.
 

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#2 ·
Just by looking at the overhead, I would concentrate on the old oxbow lake (second picture) as they usally have more shallow water which is typically better for duck groceries/habitat. You need to get a dog as its gonna be tough for you to retrieve birds unless you have a little pirouge or kayak.
 
#5 ·
i would also stay on the long oxbow tank. Watch it, see where the birds are landing, and that is where you want to hunt. set up where the birds wanna be. North wind sit on north side, south wind hunt on south side.

Not to say that you should give up on the other tank. you just need to keep an eye on them, and hunt them when birds are using them. Most of the time on small tanks like these, birds find them, and keep coming back. If you can peek at them without spooking the birds, you should just keep an eye on them and if you see good birds on them, hunt it the next morning. Also, becasue most of the birds are the same everyday, they can get shot out very fast. On the tanks we hunt like this, we will hunt them, then give it at least a week for birds to start finding it and coming back, then hunt it again.
 
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