Drum roll — or feeding chuckle — please. This past season’s mallard master was … . Some of you might recall that we published a July 2017 blog that listed the top five harvest states for mallards, using U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service data from the 2015-’16 season. Well, we’re...
In the ninth and final installment of this video calling series , Chad Belding, host of The Fowl Life , explains and demonstrates the refuge call and illustrates how to mix everything together. Turn the volume up. Play it again and again. You won't hear better duck calling unless the...
In some duck and goose hunting situations, calling doesn’t matter. For example, few diver hunters carry a call, as divers tend to be less vocal than most puddle-duck species. And when birds have been pressured heavily, they sometimes learn to avoid even our most plaintive renditions of a lonely Susie...
Date: Oct. 18 Location: Flyway-wide, emphasis on western Washington Major Weather Trends Here’s what lead Washington waterfowl biologist Kyle Spragens said just before the Evergreen State’s kickoff Oct. 15. “With healthy waterfowl populations, mild temperatures and some early rainfall, it should be a strong opener.” Well, as Meatloaf said in...
Date: Oct. 18 Location: New England, New York, mid-Atlantic and the Southeast Major Weather Trends Déjà vu all over again? Yep. Waterfowl hunters up and down the Atlantic Flyway were again greeted by hurricane and tropical storm warnings in October. In 2017, parts of the flyway were hammered by storms,...
In 2017, we published a brief guide to the top six canvasback harvest states . In hindsight, that probably held little value, as everyone knew Texas and California would top the list. Further, Lovett stretched the list to six so he could include his home state of Wisconsin. This year,...
October has set the wheels in motion, and ducks and geese across the country are beginning their annual migrations. Our friends at Delta Waterfowl have the scoop on bird numbers and location in all four flyways. Now, get out there and take advantage. Click here for more Realtree waterfowl hunting...
In the eighth installment of this nine-video series, Chad Belding, host of The Fowl Life , brings all his previous lessons home and tells you how to combine everything — single cuts, double cuts, greeters and quacks — to sound like a mass of ducks on the water. You'll want...
Some of life’s most valuable lessons are learned through experience. Hunting is no different. Just ask any waterfowl hunter with a few years under his belt. On second thought, don’t bother. We did that for you. Here’s what four veteran hunters have learned from spending much of their lives in...
Date: Oct. 11 Location: Flyway-wide, trending toward the Dakotas Overview Reports from waterfowl biologists and hunters in the sloughs indicate no major duck migration is occurring yet in the United States. However, hunters in the northern portions of the Central Flyway, where we will focus most of this report, are...
Date: Oct. 11 Location: Flyway-wide, trending toward the northern states Major Weather Trends Water ruled September teal and goose seasons , as late-summer rains inundated much of the northern portion of the flyway, swelling rivers, filling marshes and flooding unharvested crop fields. And as fall arrived, several strong cold fronts...
Realtree recently partnered with DayBreak Outdoors , an innovative, up-and-coming outdoor media production group out of southeastern Missouri. We thought you’d like to get to know these waterfowl -crazed hunters and become familiar with their vivid short films, which you can watch on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and other media outlets...
Here, in episode No. 7 of this nine-part series , Chad Belding, host of The Fowl Life , injects even more realism into his calling presentation by mixing single- and double-cut feeding chuckles (separators). You'll want to play the demonstration sequence again and again, because it's pure hen mallard ...
OK, despite the hokey title of this blog, let’s admit that the list of ducks you don’t want to pursue is likely brief. Ducks, after all, are the No. 1 component required for a successful duck hunt (duh). Finding them — even tough ducks — puts you halfway to victory...
