v Creek and Ditch Setups for Ducks

By Tom Carpenter

Sit back for a moment, shut your eyes, and movie the most classic slice of duck hunting water your heed'due south eye can produce.

What practise yous see through the first shooting calorie-free of a new twenty-four hours?

Perhaps information technology'south a quiet and secluded pool in a lost corner of a sprawling marsh. Perhaps information technology's a timber-lined riverbottom oxbow, far off of the radar of other hunters. Flooded timber itself could be your go-to dream spot, equally could a field of flooded rice, corn or soybeans. Out on the wide-open prairie, a cattail-rimmed slough surely gets many nods.

But I'm willing to bet a box of high-speed steel No. 4 shot that pint-sized streams, little creeks, ordinary drainage ditches and similar ribbons of small-scale h2o didn't brand many hunters' visions.

That's just fine by me and other puddle duck hunters with an affinity for small water who are looking to:

  • Find ducks when the force per unit area is actually on in the archetype spots where everybody else is hunting hard.
  • Hunt ducks in places where traditional waterfowl water only doesn't exist, and streams, creeks and/or ditches may exist the just habitat around.
  • Leverage the opportunity of migrating birds coming through an area non otherwise known for its duck hunting.

Quiet H2o
When the shooting begins, pool ducks learn fast. They but don't keep trying to get dorsum on the at present-unfriendly water that used to be so tranquillity and safety. Ditches and creeks — fifty-fifty when miles away from hard-hunted spots — offering seclusion and safety to ducks.

Tip: Don't give up on "escape" creeks and ditches too early in the day. These spots really come up in to their own after shooting light is well established and ducks have had a chance to retreat. Plus, birds will frequently movement and reposition until mid-morning.

Only Water
For many duck hunters, archetype water simply doesn't exist, particularly if you lot're looking for a quick morning or evening hunt close to dwelling house. Where I grew up in southwestern Wisconsin, this was the case: The Mississippi River backwaters were a 60-mile bulldoze, the Wisconsin River was 40. Creeks and ditches were the name of the waterfowl game in the hilly dairy farm country near dwelling.

Tip: Lookout multiple probable spots before duck season so you don't have to hunt the same hole two mornings in a row. For case, I maintain a small "milk run" of woods duck creeks feeding into the Minnesota River near dwelling.

Migration Stopover
No matter where you live, migrating ducks tin pop in for a few sleepovers and feeding sessions at whatever time of fall. If you run across birds coming through, visit local minor waterways and hunt at either end of legal shooting hours.

Tip: Put together a team of reliable duck-watchers (rural mail carriers, milk truck or grain truck drivers, farmer friends and other landowners come to listen) who will let you lot know when ducks are flying. You can as well spotter water close to abode.

Cast of Characters
Ditches and creeks are the realm of pool ducks. Diving ducks are rare in these situations, although the occasional band-necked duck might show up. But mostly y'all'll be dealing with wood ducks, teal (bluewings seem to like pocket-size water more than greenwings) and mallards. Gadwalls are another candidate. Small waters tin concenter pintails too, when hunting pressure on bigger water threatens their elegant feathers.

The Setups
CREEK BEND
Creek bends give you the power to picket a couple stretches of h2o. Place yourself on the exterior of the curve then you can run into down both those stretches. Drop small pods of 3 to iv decoys each down either stretch, leaving a landing hole in front of you at the bend.

STREAM STRAIGHTAWAY
Some streams and ditches, for that matter, don't have much bend or variation to them. Place a loose pod of six to viii decoys. Position yourself downwind, where you can shoot incoming ducks putting down the landing gear as they approach and endeavour to drop in brusque of the dekes.

EDDY or Pool
Points, bends, curves and other variations on slightly larger streams can create a pool or boil with calm or "backwash" water that invites ducks to residue out of the current. Place a minor pod of four to five decoys right in the eddy, and put a couple attractor blocks out on the stream for more visibility. Position yourself on the outside of the curve if possible, where you lot tin can run across into the eddy, every bit well as upward and down both stretches of stream.

HIGHWATER SPILLOVER
When fall rains gush, streams and ditches overflow. Ducks — especially woodies — love the resulting habitat. Set upwardly on an overflow pond using eight to 10 forest duck decoys. Place 3 to four of them close to edges or right on the bank, and toss the other blocks randomly, leaving a landing hole in the heart.

DITCH INTERSECTION
In a large wetland or lowland ingather complex, at that place's usually more than than one ditch. Observe the intersection of a couple waterways, and you've found more h2o to attract ducks. Place a brace or trio of decoys downwardly each branch, and stake a spinning-wings decoy right on the intersection. Hide where you can see the opening and as many of the legs of water every bit possible.