When I started duck hunting in the early 1970s, I only knew how to make the traditional mallard quack in three variations — four at best. My dad always carried a call in the upper breast pocket of his old canvas hunting coat, and he’d play it now and then...
Editor's note: This blog originally appeared March 24, 2016, on Realtree.com. A hunting buddy of mine takes the George Carlin approach when categorizing other waterfowlers on public marshes. They’re idiots or maniacs. There might be some truth in that, but I prefer a broader view. In fact, I’ve identified seven...
Date: Oct. 15 Location: entire Atlantic Flyway Damned if you do, damned if you don’t? 2018’s theme was water, water everywhere. Endless rain raised reservoirs, blew out rivers and turned dry ground into duck habitat from Maine south to parts of Georgia. The birds were scattered, and finding them was...
Early-season duck and goose hunting has been good across the northern range of the flyways. And with major cold fronts on the way, action should get even better. Here's what the experts at Delta Waterfowl had to say. Click here for more Realtree waterfowl hunting content. And check us out...
Date: Oct. 10 Location: northern portions of the flyway Major Weather Trends Early-fall cold fronts have kick-started waterfowl migrations in the upper Mississippi Flyway, but precipitation still dominates the headlines. Record rainfall in many areas has inundated the landscape, flooding fields and creating numerous temporary wetlands. And the situation won’t...
On days with wind and overcast skies, almost any decoy spread can lure in waterfowl . But for slower sits with flat water and bright skies, you need motion to attract birds. The idea of making decoys move isn’t new, and it doesn’t have to be complicated. Heck, guys still...
Football writers often poke fun at themselves by penning self-deprecating stories comparing their pre-season prognostications to a team’s actual results. The main takeaway is that uncountable variables make it almost impossible to accurately predict how the season might go. Duck hunters do this, too. You might get a feeling for...
Date: Oct. 8 Location: northern portions of the flyway Overview Excellent habitat conditions and strong numbers of ducks and geese have set the stage for a successful season across northern portions of the Central Flyway. It won’t be easy, however, as potholes in the Dakota have been inundated with water,...
A Delta Waterfowl initiative featuring an aggressive suite of programs aims to boost the number of waterfowl hunters in North America. HunteR3 derives its name from Delta’s position as “The Duck Hunter’s Organization” and the wildlife-agency term R3, which stands for retention, recruitment and reactivation. “Baby Boomers are aging out...
Hunters would see more ducks funneling down the flyways if we had fewer predators in nesting areas. Or at least that’s what Frank Rohwer thinks. Out of every 100 duck eggs laid in prime nesting areas, 75 to 90 of them never hatch. Most are eaten by predators, said Rohwer,...
An acrylic painting of two black-bellied whistling ducks by Eufala, Alabama, artist Eddie LeRoy recently won the 2019 Federal Duck Stamp Contest. The painting will adorn the 2020-’21 Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp, which will go on sale in late June 2020. “These artists are extremely talented, and...
Sometimes, when the weather is right, birds are fresh and the sun blazes at your back , you can enjoy great shoots with only sparse cover. But on most days, you must become invisible to paranoid waterfowl. Duck and goose hunters obsess about concealment because the old cliché is true:...
