Impounded freshwater marshes remain stressed. Many rice fields look more like cow pastures with farmers pumping whatever water they can find.

Even isolated marsh ponds and potholes without adequate flow wither under a blistering sun. Numerous ponds, natural lakes or impounded reservoirs expose several more feet of bank than normal. Even if hunters find enough water to float a decoy, they might not find enough water to run their boats to the blinds.

The drought also affected typically brackish coastal marshes. High saline concentrations turned normally fresh or intermediate marshes into grassy versions of Great Salt Lake.

Anglers found strange critters tugging on their lines this summer, including tripletails in Lake Salvador and speckled trout in the cypress and lily-lined Tickfaw and Amite rivers.

In the Calcasieu and Sabine rivers near Lake Charles, bass anglers sometimes tangled with a jack crevalle or a spadefish 40 miles from the Gulf of Mexico.

Too much salt water could affect ducks. Many species avoid extremely salty water. Divers can snatch food in salty environments, but dabblers find little food in concentrated brine. Extremely saline conditions along the coast might force dabblers to stop farther north.

Louisiana’s abundant river systems may offer an alternative to water-starved waterfowlers. Although many rivers across the Sportsman’s Paradise run lower than normal after months of precipitation paucity, most still contain adequate volumes of life-giving fresh water.

Mallards, teal, pintails and other dabblers may land in rivers and backwaters instead of salty marshes or dry fields. With plenty food, cover and sweet water, rivers offer everything a duck needs.

The Sportsman’s Paradise overflows with rivers. In fact, rivers created Louisiana, literally from the beach up. The Mississippi River, with its raging offspring the Atchafalaya and its mercurial tributaries like the Red, siphoned off topsoil from three-fourths of a nation and deposited it along the Gulf Coast. Over centuries, Louisiana slowly rose from the sea. We call it the “Bayou State,” but could easily call it the “River State” because “bayou,” or “bayuk,” just means “small river” in Choctaw.

From the now-tamed Red to the mighty Mississippi, from the rich Ouachita to the picturesque Sabine to the effervescent Pearl, a river runs through just about every parish. Numerous smaller streams also crisscross the state.

Most rivers and their tributaries form outstanding waterfowl habitat. Many state wildlife management areas border rivers or encompass rivers flowing through them. The Pearl River, Red River, Three Rivers, Sabine Island, Attakapas Island, Boeuf, Little River, Loggy Bayou, Sicily Island and other WMAs provide excellent waterfowling.

Federal areas that provide river habitat include Atchafalaya, Upper Ouachita, Bogue Chitto, Tensas and Big Branch Marsh national wildlife refuges.

On management areas or federal refuges, check specific regulations affecting duck hunting.

“The Tensas River is probably one of the best-kept duck secrets in Louisiana,” said David McEacharn, a duck guide from Southern Wings Plantation in Delhi, La. “There are people who do come, but there are some flooded flats that are excellent duck holes that never see a duck hunter. Whenever you can get away from the crowd and get in an area that ducks are in, you’ll be more successful.”

Even in places without nearby state or federal public hunting property, Louisiana sportsmen can still bag river ducks almost anywhere in the state.

Many people cannot afford expensive marsh or rice field leases or guided hunts. People in North Louisiana must drive many miles to find a good marsh.

From the mighty Mississippi to tiny bayous, streams offer excellent public hunting close to home. This year, with birds finding little fresh water elsewhere, rivers may offer the best public hunting.

As navigable streams, river bottoms belong to the state. Private owners may post riparian land, but channels remain public, although they might flow through a populated area or where other laws prevent hunting.

In Northwest and Central Louisiana, the Red River used to cut a shallow, crimson swath from Shreveport to Marksville. Now, a series of five water control structures created oxbows that attract ducks to a parched land.

In northeastern Louisiana, the Ouachita River and many upland streams offer limited boat access but good duck habitat. Hunters in small boats can maneuver in these streams and find virtually untapped shooting opportunities.

Sloughs off the Atchafalaya River also create an enormous duck haven between Lafayette and Baton Rouge and from Simmesport to Morgan City. Several natural lakes offer more duck habitat, especially in the southern half of the Atchafalaya Basin.

The lower Sabine and Calcasieu rivers offer hunting in southwestern Louisiana along their cypress-lined banks. The Calcasieu and its tributaries flow through about 200 miles of pines and swamps in Calcasieu, Beauregard, Allen, Jeff Davis and Vernon parishes.

The Sabine River forms the border between Louisiana and Texas south of Toledo Bend. Backwaters in each attract ducks seeking refuge from the hunting pressure in the marshes to the south.

Pearl River WMA near Slidell offers outstanding river duck gunning. Pearl River splits into East and West Pearls, creating Honey Island Swamp.

These rivers further subdivide into West Middle, Middle and East Middle rivers and myriad bayous, sloughs and creeks. Pearl River WMA contains about 35,000 acres generally south of Interstate 59.

The land transitions from hardwood bottomland to cypress and tupelo gum swamp to freshwater and brackish marshes.

Most waterfowlers visit the 10,000 acres of marshes at the southern end of Pearl River WMA. They certainly kill ducks, but if they ignore the wooded rivers and backwaters upstream, they might miss excellent opportunities.

River hunters also typically find few people competing for available space. Ducks depart the marshes under heavy gun pressure and seek refuge in the swamps.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, I lived in Slidell. We launched a 14-foot aluminum flatboat and ventured upriver to our favorite slough for fast shooting. Often, we didn’t even bother with decoys, but took passing shots at wood ducks.

We tied the boat against the bank and draped brush or cypress branches over the gunwales to break up the outline. We threw old ponchos or other camouflaged cloth over bright spots, such as the white outboard motor. Light ponchos spread easily and dry quickly.

Wood ducks, plus a few mallards and teal, whistled up this slough just as dawn lightened the eastern horizon. Trees obstructed our view except for a small shooting hole in front of the “blind.” On dark mornings, we frequently heard ducks long before we saw them. We typically saw each other at about the same time. If we didn’t react quickly enough, ducks disappeared into the vast Honey Island Swamp.

Most of the time, shooting ended after 15 minutes. In that brief period, though, we sometimes emptied a box ammunition. Occasionally, we returned home an hour after we left.

“River hunting provides very fast shooting,” said Carl Manuel, a guide for Bo Gator Hunting Club near Welsh. For years, Manuel hunted on the Calcasieu River north of Lake Charles.

“On rivers, we killed mostly mallards, wood ducks and teal. I’ve seen flights of 20 to 30 wood ducks coming over one after another for 30 minutes. Mallards come to the rivers to roost. They go to the rice fields to feed at night and return to the rivers to roost in the mornings.”

Woodies typically fly at first light. They follow rivers from their roosting areas to feeding areas in the morning, and fly in the opposite direction in late afternoon, usually after legal shooting hours.

Under a good wood duck flight route, river hunters can expect to burn quite a few shells in a short time as whistling pairs, singles and small flocks zigzag between trees like oversized woodcock.

“Wood ducks have a distinctive flight pattern,” said Robert Helm, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries waterfowl study leader. “They like to roost in very dense wetlands. Button brush is a very common component of their roosting habitat. They also like to roost in beaver ponds with lots of dead timber, thick underbrush and difficult access. Many hunters take advantage of that and shoot them between the roosts and feeding locations.”

Most people think rivers only attract wood ducks and a few mallards. However, rivers attract any duck species that visits Louisiana.

Many ducks use the great rivers, such as the Red or Mississippi, for navigation corridors like motorists using highways. They follow rivers on their continental flights because rivers offer them food and sanctuary along the route. Like woodies, they also use streams for local navigation.

“I’ve never killed more mallards in my life than I have on a river,” Manuel said. “Mallards love fresh water and timber. I’ve even killed pintails, gadwalls, wigeons and scaup on rivers. It’s amazing how many green-winged teal come to a river on a rainy day. The nastiest, coldest days are the best for hunting on rivers.”

To find places where wood ducks, mallards and other birds fly, learn their habitats through scouting. On most rivers, hundreds of channels, canals, bayous, oxbows, sloughs and backwaters create a maze of ever-changing habitat. Ducks may land anywhere with water. Any place that offers nearby food sources and abundant cover for roosting may provide excellent duck shooting.

River ducks appear and disappear quickly. As capricious as the rivers they follow, ducks may vacate an area within hours. They might prefer one slough today and another tomorrow. Hunters must remain flexible and go to where ducks land.

In general, mallards prefer more open water or flooded timber. They land in ponds and sloughs.

The kamikaze of the duck world, woodies land anywhere they feel like, often in thick cover. They frequent small potholes off main channels, or even crash-land in flooded underbrush.

Divers prefer larger channels with open water.

During those rare Louisiana hard freezes, shallow backwaters, fields or ponds may ice over. Ice restricts ducks to landing on major channels. River currents help prevent freezing. Flowing river pockets in an otherwise icy countryside provide some of the most outstanding shooting anywhere.

“It got down to about 16 degrees a few years ago,” Manuel said. “On that day, there were so many ducks on the river that they were almost landing in the boat with us. Everything was frozen, but the rivers were still flowing. Ducks had no other place to land. The river had current and didn’t freeze. All the backwaters without current froze.”

The drought might duplicate a freeze in effect if not temperature. During flooded conditions, ducks may land almost anywhere. However, low water, like ice, concentrates birds into smaller areas. In some cases, low water may force hunters to throw decoys along major channels where sufficient water remains instead of in backwaters and oxbows.

On major channels, such as the Mississippi, Atchafalaya or Red rivers, islands or sandbars create excellent places to throw decoys. Hunt downstream of islands, sandbars or bends because these geographic features help break current and create slack water. Ducks don’t like to struggle constantly against powerful currents.

On sandbars or islands, hunters may hide among driftwood piles, rocks, fallen trees or other natural cover. Some hunters hide their boats then lean against trees or squat in thick vegetation to break up their outlines.

If sportsmen cannot find natural cover, they may build blinds — if they enjoy access to private shorelines. Most public hunting areas do not permit permanent blinds.

In places where hunters can build permanent structures, many construct box platforms, similar to deer stands, in trees and camouflage them with available indigenous cover.

“We hunted from blinds about 10 to 12 feet off the water,” Manuel said. “During high water, we could pull the boat right up to them. We always built them during high water because it was much easier. We covered our blinds with Spanish moss.”

Points, especially those growing with cattails, bullwhip or other native vegetation, make excellent places to hide. Points allow hunters to take advantage of winds blowing from several directions. Surrounded on three sides by water, hunters can surround themselves with decoys and pick off birds landing into the wind from three directions.

In main channels, hunters may need more decoys to attract ducks from longer distances. Position decoys out of direct current whenever possible. On sandbars, place one or two decoys on a shoreline, burying the keels. Ducks often sit on islands or beaches to rest.

In large rivers, islands break main channels into smaller channels. Usually, one major channel flows around one side and smaller channels flow around other sides. Set up decoys in the channel with the least amount of current.

These islands also create pockets and small bays. Ducks seek these quiet spots along major rivers. Throw a few decoys in these pockets and hide along the shoreline.

“We threw out about 50 to 80 decoys, mostly mallards with about 12 teal,” Manuel said. “We found out that wood ducks like to land in teal decoys. We always left a hole in the middle where birds could land, and we always put our teal decoys close to the boat. We also put some decoys out of range to force ducks to land in the middle. On the rivers, we always used at least 20 feet of string and extra heavy weights. We made sure that the weight touched bottom before we let the decoys go so they wouldn’t float down to the Gulf of Mexico.”

Where islands or points don’t exist or in places where hunters do not enjoy access to shorelines, boat blinds allow sportsmen to hunt anywhere.

Increased mobility could allow hunters to pick a spot, throw out a few decoys and start shooting in minutes. If birds prefer landing elsewhere, boat blinds allow hunters to quickly retrieve the decoys and rapidly move to a better location.

Boat blinds enable sportsmen to adapt to rising or falling water or move with the birds. Hunting in a different location each day, even if only a few feet away, confuses local ducks that might grow accustomed to blind locations.

Army camouflage netting stretched over a rigid aluminum frame provides cover and maintains mobility. The device comes up on both sides and forms a pyramid-like tent. When ducks come within range, drop one side and start shooting at surprised ducks.

Surrounded by trees and thick cover, most blind locations only offer limited visibility. Ducks appear and disappear quickly. Hunters must spot ducks, aim and fire in seconds. Shots over decoys normally occur within 20 yards or less. Therefore, many river hunters use smaller shot and open chokes, although pass shots at woodies might come at extreme range.

Most people can take advantage of river hunting close to home. It could add a few more ducks to the pot this winter.

For information, call McEacharn at (318) 878-9794. For information about hunting with Bo Gator Hunting Club, call Larry Shuff at (337) 217-8757.

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