As the sun makes its first appearance in the eastern sky and fog rises off the pond you feel the warmth inside your insulated coveralls and the chill that lightly bites your face, and you know that you’re duck hunting.

A”duckaholic” is defined as a person who has a compulsive need to hunt ducks or pursue winged waterfowl in the Midwest (or any place where these birds live). The addiction includes, but is not limited to, mallards, pintails, widgeons, gadwalls, teal, red heads, canvas backs, golden eye’s, shovelers and wood ducks. 

Jeff Floyd and his hunting buddy catch things right and pull to shore with their limits of ducks with mallards making the bulk of the take.

The cure for “duckaholism” is to sit in a duck blind, remain concealed for at least six hours during the early morning chill and shoot any gauge shotgun while blowing strange noises on a duck call. The length of temporary therapy is usually the time it takes to shoot one box of shotgun shells or to collect a waterfowl limit. Repeat this two to three times per week during the fall and winter months while condition allow. By late winter or early spring the “duckaholic” should see some relief from his condition, and the symptoms should subside, but they may reoccur in September or October of the following year. This is also true for “gooseaholic” disorder.

Biologists across the Midwest are quacking about the wet Canadian Prairies where the duck migration begins.  Conditions north of the border were extremely wet last spring and summer on the prairie. Various species of geese have also had tremendous reproductive seasons on the Canadian prairie.  The gosling survival rate is much higher when the Canadian prairies are filled with water.

 Early season hunting usually targets local ducks, and it continues until winter winds appear around your blind. These harsh winds push the ducks and force them to migrate south in large flocks. Without the seasonal wind and weather changes, ducks would just trickle through the area on their way to their winter homes.

  For an example, Indiana, has an estimated 17,466 resident duck hunters who harvested approximately 118,500 ducks in Indiana last season. The top five duck species in Indiana and harvest numbers include: mallard (72,400); wood duck (16,500); gadwall (6,900); green winged teal (5,200); and blue-winged teal (3,900). An estimated 14,581 Hoosier goose hunters harvested approximately 67,700 Canadian geese.

A hunter must possess one of the following to hunt:  a hunting license, a youth consolidated hunting license, a disabled American veteran hunting license or a lifetime hunting license in addition to a state waterfowl stamp and a HIP registration number. Hunters who are 16 years old, or older, must have a signed federal duck stamp when hunting ducks and geese. Resident landowners, or lessees, hunting on farmland they own or lease are exempt from the state license requirement except that they must have a federal duck stamp and HIP registration.

Preseason scouting makes all of the difference in hunter success while duck hunting. Ponds, lakes and other waterways are easy to check with binoculars. Watch these areas in the mornings and evenings when the ducks are most active. Find where they roost and feed and you’ll be set to enjoy a good duck hunting season. During the early season, many of the ducks roost and feed in the same place so many of their flights will be to fly to get some exercise…and because they can.

Later in the season, you’ll see the smaller ducks move south and the hardier mallards stay in the area the longest because the mallard’s larger body mass allows him to endure colder weather. They also change their feeding pattern and search for high energy corn to fuel them during the cold weather.  Once “ice up” occurs, northern Midwest ducks are forced to move south where the water is still open.

Check your hunting gear before the season starts…it should be a priority to make sure that your equipment is clean, dry and in working order, particularly your waders. Check your shotgun for a 3 shot plug; get a copy your state’s duck hunting regulations and review any new changes made to the regulations for the coming season.

Call a hunting buddy and make plans to hunt together and go to a local shooting range for a little trap or sporting clay shooting before the season starts. Then, when opening day arrives, plan to leave the house early in the morning and have a day of duck hunting that you’ll never forget.

Remember, any morning that you wake up and can go duck hunting is a good morning!

                                                                                          By       Dave Price