va duck hunting

[skimerhorn]

Anyone have any information for a first time duck hunter in va? I've been goose hunting for a few years over fields and love it now thinking about trying my hand at ducks. Is it better over ponds or swamps or rivers? And what kind of decoy setup would you use floaters, feeder, or a mojo this is all new to me. Any tips would help. Thanks.

 

[mdunc8]

Unfortunately I didn't get into waterfowl until after I moved away from Virginia. However, I've got a couple buddies back home who are pretty serious about it. They do really well with the geese on the New River and spend most of their time hunting ducks on small ponds and small lakes. I'd be willing to bet that if you drove around and knocked on some doors you could get permission to hunt a few places. I never had a problem finding somewhere to hunt that part of the state. In fact, I can only remember getting turned away one time. I didn't hunt, but I did sit with a buddy on a small pond outside of Roanoke around the first of the year last winter. He slayed a bunch of mallards. Only had four decoys out and never touched a call.

 

[What Map]

Go find where the ducks go for feed. Often right at dark. Go find where they go to hang out for the day. Use 6-12 decoys to start and a robo duck if you can afford it and it is legal. Get permission to hunt where the ducks are. Go by yourself. And hunt small water until you figure out where and how the ducks are working. You'll learn a lot by being "on your stand" and watching where ducks fly to and from. Go where they are and get 'em.

 

[StrutNut]

You say you hunted geese. Ducks are similar to hunt. They have their roosting areas and feeding areas. If you burn the roost, they dont come back. Similar things with feed. You can run traffic on them for better consistent success. Jut like geese if you are "on the x" you wont need very many decoys or call much. If you are in between roosting and feeding areas or cant get on the best spot but are close, larger spreads will be better. If you are lucky enough to be out there when the migration is on hunt larger water/rivers with larger spreads. Even though many ducks will land in mallard decoys you will generally have better luck with specie specific decoys. It is amazing how much better they work their own over mallard decoys only. If you find a water hole holding puddlers and geese, I would opt for goose decoys over duck decoys as puddle ducks do like to play the decoys well. Lots of videos out there about calling and decoy placement but not a lot about where, when and why to hunt a particular spot. The old days of killing limit after limit in the same spot just isnt a reality anymore. Scouting will be needed to have consistent success.

 

[vaversatile]

Just started this season. It was okay in central Virginia for my first time. I got two mallards and a wood duck. I used some decoys and calls, but really only got them from stalking up to them.