Field Notes
Spinning-wing decoys: On, off or out?
Another flock of grays was lining up on approach to our spread, just as we’d planned.[…]
Ducks
Sportsman TV
Venice triple-threat: Downing ducks, snaring specks and catching cats
Sportsman TV host Greg Hackney and the crew headed down to Venice to participate in an almost 30-year tradition of hunting, fishing and camping at Passe-a-Loutre Wildlife Management Area.[…]
Columns
More ducks is good news? Maybe, but …
No one who really knows me would accuse me of being a die-hard duck hunter. While I’ve spent a lot of time over the years pointing a shotgun at waterfowl (“pointing” being the operative term), what has traditionally gotten my hunting juices flowing has been the thought of climbing into a tree and having a deer — any deer — walk into range.[…]
Ducks
Getting a duck boat ready for hunting season
The father-son due of Hank and Andy Johnston of The Boat Doctor Inc. were the perfect people to interview on getting a duck boat ready to hunt.[…]
Sidebars
How to clean ducks using paraffin wax
Both Pat Bordelon and Mike Branton love to eat ducks. They eat them roasted. They eat them smoked. They eat them in gumbo. They eat them as bacon-wrapped roll-ups.[…]
Recipes
Cooking the kill
Hunting ducks is fun. Cooking them is a lot tougher. Waterfowl are easily the most difficult of all wild game to cook. […]
Sidebars
Game recipe: Bacon-wrapped grilled goose breast
If the thought of bacon and cream cheese together has you salivating, you’ll love this recipe for Bacon-wrapped grilled goose breast.[…]
Recipes
Quackers on the barbie
Ducks and geese have to be the most difficult of all game animals to cook. They have a reputation for being strong and gamey — almost “livery” in taste.[…]
Sidebars
Speedy breasting in the field
Hunters who plan to only use the breasts of their ducks have little need to clean and transport whole birds from the field or camp to their home.[…]
NEW PRODUCTS
Pluck your ducks in minutes with the FowlPlucker
If you like to hunt ducks and geese a lot more than plucking them, check out the time you can save with the FowlPlucker.[…]
Sidebars
Expert boat-blind tips
Popup boat blinds are great tools for duck hunters looking to attract more ducks into shooting range, but there are some tricks that will maximize their hunting success.[…]
Contents
East Bay C&B — Load the boat with ducks and a variety of fish
After the stomping the Saints put on Detroit in the Dome, we were seriously pumped for the match in San Francisco the following week. For the occasion, Doc even installed an even wider screen TV in his Venice houseboat.[…]
Promote
Shut up to call ducks
Ducks don’t talk to each other nearly as much as hunters think, especially during the late season. Just as a roomful of people will migrate away from a loud, obnoxious guy who tries to dominate the conversation, ducks will exhibit the same behavior.
The more you call, the less likely that you’ll attract ducks, especially during January.
Rod Haydel of Haydel Game Calls started going to the duck blind with his dad at the age of 5. Over the last 41 years, he’s hunted webfoots all over the nation, primarily in the marshes around Lake Charles in southern Louisiana.[…]
Waterfowl & Duck Hunting
Cold fronts bring new ducks into South Louisiana for second split opening
Now that the jet stream has finally dipped down far enough to give Louisiana a taste of the arctic chill, the ducks should be migrating in full force. This weekend (Dec. 15-16) is opening weekend for the coastal and eastern waterfowl zones, and any outdoorsman with a shotgun should be in a duck blind to get in on the action.[…]
Contents
Jump Around
I always wondered while fishing during the winter if all those ducks I kept jumping in the river lakes just off the Ouachita River between Monroe and West Monroe would eventually return to that same spot.[…]
Sidebars
Hen dekes bring in more ducks
Although he’s had times when he’s killed nothing but greenheads, D’Arbonne Refuge and Upper Ouachita Refuge duck hunter Chance Havard said he has learned a little decoy trick he believes helps him get more ducks within shooting range.[…]