best shot size for waterfowl Archives

By: Justin Hunold

Make sure your decoys are visible but you are well hidden

A lot of days when we venture into the marsh we find ourselves in competition. We aren’t just going head to head with Mother Nature and Father Time but also other hunters. And although some of us might be contest winning callers or crack shots there is one aspect of duck hunting that makes a difference time and time again…Decoys. You can call well but normally ducks won’t light into a hole unless you are on the X and shooting doesn’t matter unless they come in. More times than not though decoys are the money maker in the equation that is duck hunting. Here are five of the best duck decoy tips and tactics for hunting wary waterfowl.

Keep it Clean- Keep Your Decoys in Working Order

When you look at ducks on the water, on the shore or just out in nature what is one tithing they do a lot? Ducks preen, they clean themselves. Waterfowl by nature of both temperament, and anatomy tend to prefer to be clean.

So, it stands to reason that muddy, scuffed, and just overall scroungy looking decoys aren’t optimum. Sometimes the ducks will not care, other times they will flare the second they see a mudded mallard drake. You can’t know on which day and which ducks will react in which way.

I would venture to say that the realism of the decoy paint, shape and detail matter way less than them being clean and in overall the correct color patterns. I’m not saying a flocked head isn’t better but I think a clean, bargain bin decoy with bright, basic, paint will draw birds just fine in most cases when they are well taken care of and not all crapped up.

This is not to say that high end decoys with immaculate paint schemes aren’t worth the money, because they can make a difference. Just make sure if you’re going to spend the extra to get the extra draw. Natural looking decoys are meant to look natural and in nature most ducks prefer to be clean.

Keep it Moving- Adding Motion To your Decoy Spread

We have covered the idea of motion in the spread in previous blogs, but the principle of movement in the decoys can’t be overstated. When we watch ducks being ducks and duck things what we see is a lot of movement in a natural flock. We need to be thinking about this is our decoy spreads too.

Spinning wings are normally step number one in folks’ thoughts of adding motion to the spread, and a lot of times they are a great bet. Keep em clean, keep em charged, use your remote, and make sure to lean towards using them on the outer edges of the spread rather than in the pocket or X you want the birds to touch down in. If there is overhead cover available to mask the spinners, even better. Remember ducks see spinners from opening day to day 60, use some tact and reserve when employing them.

Swimming or Feeding decoys are a great addition as well, but again I like these more towards the middle of a group of decoys and more to the outer edge of the overall spread. I want the birds to see the movement but I want them to have an open landing zone. At an airport the runway is always cleared for landings but the taxiways and terminals are always buzzing with aeronautical activity. The same thought applies to decoy spreads.

A place where I will apply movement near the X is with a jerk rig. There are lots of ways to skin the cat with building a jerk rig, and all of them can work. Those differences are depth and water dependent. But if I could only have one source of movement it would be a jerk rig. And I don’t hesitate for the dekes on that rig to be close to the landing zone.

Two more caveats on motion in the decoys. First, don’t tie off all your decoys from the front tie point. When you have a consistent wind all the decoys will end up facing the same direction. There are two holes for a reason. Secondly, a jerk rig or remote on a motion decoy is a great way to get a new hunter, or bad caller involved in the hunt in a real tangible and important way. That motion can probably lead to as many ducks as your calling. The same motion will definitely lead to more ducks than bad calling or an inexperienced hunter watching the sky because they don’t have anything else to focus on.

Spread ‘em – Space Your Decoys Out More

This is a great example of naturally spread out ducks .

If there is one thing running long lines taught me it’s that spreading the decoys out can make the raft of ducks look much larger than the number of decoys would make you believe it could be. This is true in puddlers too. I generally carry somewhere in the ballpark of a dozen to a dozen and a half duck decoys on a lot of my hunting trips.

Shy away from using the typical U shape with your 3 dozen decoys and replace it with a split spread with a few more spread out dekes. The ducks have seen the U and the J, they will work, but the ducks can’t spell and if they can, who knows if they speak english. I have taken to placing two separate pods or groups of ducks with a landing zone in the middle. A few decoys in each group will be very close to each other but the others will be spread out to look like a much more numerous group of birds. This setup has become my goto. I write for a living but I am not using phonetic symbols to dictate my decoy set up.

With that more spread out for fewer decoy ideas at play, I normally run a pile of Mallards and then a couple Black Ducks or Shoveler decoys to add some contrast and visibility to my spread. I like to group those ducks a bit closer together and in the middle of the group of mallards.

Take Your Time- Place Your Decoys

Listen, we all run on very little sleep during the season. I understand that a lot of times you’re hitting snooze and letting the set up happen however it may. I beg of you, give yourself a few extra minutes to place your spread out rather than toss it our in haste.

This is a tip I’ve seen work in action a lot. When everyone else is tossing their blocks out early and getting them soaked so by the time shooting light rolls around they are shining with ice, I have killed ducks over decoys that I painstakingly hand placed so as not to splash them. This gives them a more natural, less plastic and frozen look.

Decoys not having ice on them doesn’t always matter. I have seen it matter in very high pressure situations. I’d love to tell you those times it was my calling that made a difference, but in my opinion I’m a slightly better than average caller but my attention to detail in set up tends to be better than slightly better than average.

This tip is a lot like keeping your decoys clean. There are times when real ducks are covered in snow and ice, but that’s when it’s snowing and the November gails are blowing, not when they were in clear skies on a frosty morning. So, take a second and gently place your decoys in the water. You may be surprised how much difference this can make.

I See You Hiding- Hide Your Boat

Use your craft to get you near the spot, then ditch it and hide it well.

This tip comes from watching people not shoot ducks that should be landing in their decoy spread, hide your boat. We all generally do a great job of hiding ourselves, our dogs, and our other gear but for some reason folks seem to act like their boat is Wonder Woman’s invisible jet and ducks will never notice it. You’re not Linda Carter or Gal Gadot, hide your boat.

A lot of the time folks will choose to hunt from the boat, a little patch of aluminum heaven, dry ish and comfortable ish, but I choose to stash my vessel somewhere else close by. I learned this trick from our mutual friend TJ and I stick with it no matter if it’s a boat, kayak or canoe. I don’t hunt from the boat, I take time and effort to hide it.

Picture you’re a duck cupped and coming into a nice group of your friends. As you drop down and begin to focus on the whole you see a green mass where there isn’t normally one. Or you’re circling over and as you make a pass you see a boat on the opposite side of the point from the decoys you were about to land in. They shouldn’t be there! It’s not safe! There’s hunters!

I personally like to use a stool or seat and build a nice stick blind, or use a layout or just tuck myself in the natural cover over the timber or vegetation. When I do this I have stashed my watercraft within easy walking distance but it’s covered with grasses, burlap, camo mesh and sticks. It might not be there everyday but I make it look as normally natural as possible to the overhead birds.

I believe more birds get saved by boats that look like boats than maybe anything else. Take a second and hide that thing. I promise your friend doesn’t need to hear your story that badly. If you’re alone, what the hell else do you have to do? It’s your job to do stuff right!

Closing Time

This isn’t to say you can’t kill ducks with a dirty, no motion, tightly packed, J shaped, soaked looking decoy spread from the comfort of your boat. You truly can. But why risk it? Isn’t part of the fun of waterfowl hunting the details, the constant adjustments, and doing your best to fool those flying survival machines? We hope these tips and tactics give you something to think about and maybe bring you a little extra success when the ducks are pressured and don’t want a typical spread.

By: Justin Hunold

Empty hulls signifying a successful venture onto the back water. A 12 gauge 3″ #2 will handle this sort of work marvelously.

Let’s start by saying there is no one size fits all situations in waterfowl hunting. A lot of “Gospel Truths” to some folks maybe hocus pocus to others.

“I only need half a dozen Mallard Decoys and a Jerk rig.” – Not on the coasts of North and South Carolina.

“ Canada’s are dumb over water.”- Not if you shot em up where they roost over the same water.

“ You gotta have spinners out to add visibility.” – Not if you’re way down South and those birds have been shot at over Spinners for a few thousand miles.

I’m going to stick my neck out here and give you a truth that I and a few of my friends cling to, if a hunter shows up with a 12 gauge loaded with 3” #2’s in anywhere from 1 ⅛ to 1 ½ Oz of steel shot they can handle just about any waterfowl situation they might get thrown into. We are focusing on steel shot and not other non toxics like Bismuth or Tungsten. This will be a matter of KISS or Keep it Simple Stupid. Because let’s face it we all get out smarted by birds so the stupid part applies and keeping it simple makes you a more efficient killer.

When Not To Use #2

Let’s look at some reasons you might not want to be shooting #2. If there is one argument against #2 in all situations, everything is a nail if all you have is a hammer argument…kinda. Shot size and choke constriction work together and can be very situational. So, it stands to reason that although a #2 might be great at a lot, it’s not optimum for some applications.

Early Season Teal, Gadwal and Woodies might be very common in your area. In fact a lot of places have a “Teal Season”. This is a place where a #2 can work but shouldn’t be the first choice. These ducks are small, fast and maneuverable. Most hunters will opt for a #3 or #4 in Steel for this sort of hunt. Likely this will get paired up with a bit more open a choke as well.

In areas of extremes either especially big or small birds a #2 sits in the middle of the bell curve. There may be better choices but it will certainly work.

Most of the time when taking on the little ducks we will be expecting them in close with shots over decoys. With this in mind small ducks in close calls for smaller shot with good pattern density. The little guys aren’t as hearty as say a diver and a hunter will be better suited with less holes in their pattern. This isn’t to say a #2 won’t work, it just isn’t the best option.

The other extreme is late season geese. I’ve hunted Canada’s coming off the Finger Lakes that had what seemed like inches of fat on them. When it came to those birds we were starting our shot size choices at BB and going up from there. These are big tough birds that have plenty of cushion for the pushin so to speak. This is a time you’d find a lot of us running full charge 3.5” shells stuffed full of BB or BBB. We killed a lot of birds with those loads, but looking back a 3” #2 probably would have done fine at the distances and circumstances we were putting birds down at.

When to use #2

Firstly, if I was limited to one steel shot size for all waterfowl hunting situations it would be a #2. This shot size is about as big as you can go without hampering ballistic performance, it holds reasonable pattern density, and carries enough kinetic energy for most waterfowl work. So, it’s a great choice for a lot of hunters who might be in crossover seasons with ducks and geese, or situations like I was in last Saturday where I was as likely to get a shot at a Blue Bill or Bufflehead as I was a Mallard or Black Duck.

Big Puddle Ducks are what most waterfowlers chase. Mallards, Blacks, Widgeons, Shovelers, and Pintails will all be reliably taken with a 3” #2. I know a lot of folks like a #3 for this sorta work but let’s face it the ducks don’t know the difference and #2 are easily found at Walmart if need be. Normally, when I head out to some backwater and I am expecting to encounter the likes of any of these birds my Retay will be stoked with 3” 1 ⅛ #2 of some brand or another. I’m confident that I am not leaving anything to chance with that shell selection.

Divers, you might love em, you might hate em but man are they fun. So, here’s a confession, TJ Rademacher and I have been hunting partners for a long time. And have been Long Line hunting partners. We chased Divers when every other person in the piedmont of NC was out looking for Green Heads. We would be out setting twelve dozen decoys, that’s 144 for you mathematicians out there. After all that work we would wait for some ducks with little wings and big feet to come circling in and try to land in our lines. We generally did that with 3” #2’s ready and willing.

We killed a few Diving Ducks back then, and I have no reason to shoot anything other than #2’s at them. They are tough and we were the school of shooting until they stopped moving. Shot size matters in the world of tough ducks built to disappear so, this is where the majority of my thought on the best shot size for duck hunting came from. I never met a puddle duck that was half as tough as a buff even if they were normally twice the size. Number 2’s were my go to.

In most of the places I inhabit there is a September Goose Season for Resident Canadas. When those 30 days roll around you can bet your bottom dollar that my gun has #2’s in it. In one of my previous articles I talked about a hunt where TJ and I crushed some local Canada’s on an island. We were shooting #2’s. In that same article I talk about my stupid head flairing geese , well we killed our 4 man limit that day and we were shooting #2’s. In all my Goose hunting experience I believe that a majority of birds were taken with a #2 and I see no reason to change. For more about that check out this article about shot size for geese.

Stoking a couple Retay’s with your favorite 3″ # 2 steel shot is a near perfect combination.

In the famous words of Austin Powers “Who does number two work for?” The simple answer is everyone. This shotshell combination isn’t the end all be all. It’s not the best for all situations but there are few other options for a shot size that can realistically take on most waterfowl situations. If you’re going out with a guide or experienced friend and they tell you to grab something else for a specific situation, take note, grab a box and pattern it and then run it if it makes sense. But I would advise grabbing a few different boxes of 3” #2’s and patterning them all. See which shoots the best and then buy as many as you think you’ll need for the season and then add some. None of us are as good a shot as we believe ourselves to be and no matter what situation you end up in during the waterfowl season you can’t go wrong with the best shooting 3” #2 you can find. This stuff just works.