# Need help on hunting ducks in fields!



## tchunter (Apr 1, 2013)

Hey Guys,

I'm from Western MN, our group is having some problems getting the ducks to land out in front of us. We have tried putting 6-7 mojos out right by the blinds and off to the side and also put 15-20 full body geese out along with our mallard decoys in a U shape with the wind at our back. All of the ducks are landing behind our blinds so we never get a shot, they usually make one swing past us out front then always land 10 yards behind us. I'm not sure what we are doing wrong and just looking for some help on what we could do differently so they would want to land out front where we have a shot. Let me know what you guys think or do when out field hunting ducks in the corn.

Thanks


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## JethroBodine (Jan 5, 2013)

You just got to feel out the situation. I always try to think like a duck and set my spread up accordingly but sometimes that just doesnt work out so you have to adjust your spread and blinds depending on how the birds are working on that particular day. if they are landing behind you keep your spread the way it is and move those blinds back and grab a few geese for around your blinds and then see what they do if they dont land where you want them and you notice a pattern change up your layout again till you find out what they want to see and commit where you want them to. The main thing is dont be lazy if the first 4 or so flocks dont do what you want get out of your blinds and move some dekes! :thumb:


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## ZSteckler12 (Jun 26, 2013)

Try setting up the mojos a little farther up in your spread. Like towards the top of the U. And what he said ^^^^^


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## templey_41 (Jul 19, 2008)

i would get 3 more mojos. 10 is a good number. thats usually what we run all season long. with that much motion they will want to land before geting knocked out by the mojos.


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## tchunter (Apr 1, 2013)

Awesome sounds good thanks guys!


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## the professor (Oct 13, 2006)

if the ducks want to be upwind of the decoys, set your blinds 20 yards up wind of the decoys.


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## Ron Gilmore (Jan 7, 2003)

Cutting down the number of spinners might help as well. We have split the decoys leaving the entire center open as a landing zone and close it off 30-40 yards up with a few Canada decoys. This trick has worked when we where having issues getting the birds in larger groups to commit. Small groups love this as well

Canada Decoys in this area 40 yards down wind

Decoys in this area )Landing zone ( Decoys in this area


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

For me about 90% of the time they seem to want to come in crosswind. They also seem to be more inclined to land in front of the feeding hoard than behind or outside of it and walk in like Canadas do. Ducks are very agressive feeders.


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## sdkylesd (Feb 23, 2012)

Ron Gilmore said:


> Cutting down the number of spinners might help as well. We have split the decoys leaving the entire center open as a landing zone and close it off 30-40 yards up with a few Canada decoys. This trick has worked when we where having issues getting the birds in larger groups to commit. Small groups love this as well
> 
> Canada Decoys in this area 40 yards down wind
> 
> Decoys in this area )Landing zone ( Decoys in this area


where do you usually put spinners and blinds in this spread?


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## Ron Gilmore (Jan 7, 2003)

We start with them about mid way and along the inner edge then move them as needed depending on how the birds react. Some days the birds want to land almost right on top of the spinner other days away from them. The comment about the cross wind is accurate as well they will come in and cut and drop into the wind at the last second. Being able to change up your position of your blind gives you the ablity to adapt to what the birds are doing. Simple as it might seem, many of us get locked into our setup of our ground blind and forget that they can be moved as well.


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## tbossart1356 (Oct 4, 2013)

It has been my experience that when the birds are over flying you and you have your spinners right on top of you, they are lookig behind you to land as the dont wish to come in on top of the other "landing" ducks. First thing I would do is move yoru spinners out further to the top of the U...which has been said. Then I would increase the duck decoys in front of your blinds. Place the gesse in tight behind your blinds and then moving out away from you to the back...in other words encourage the landing ducks to come in shorter up in the U, by crowding the space they have to go long on you. The other way to try and fix what was happening would be to move yoru blinds out behind you and leave everything else the same. Try and place them right in the landing zone those ducks were trying to get into vs out front of you. Really, being flexible and changin it up is what ya need to do when the brids are not on the same page as you...whcih happens A LOT. We try and move the easiest thing to move first in any attempt to alter what the brids are doing...so spinners are easiest to move...so try that first. Then decoys, and lastly blinds. There are many variations of the clasic "U"...we like using an X shape when the ducks start getting difficult as we can change the direction ou blinds face qucikly into where they are landing...as we start with us in the middle of the X. I really like crosswinding ducks that are skiddish and wont comit as they are not looking at the blind when they are inbound. Thats my two cents


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## tchunter (Apr 1, 2013)

Thanks Guys sounds like a lot of great information. We tried a different set up Saturday night and it seemed to work much better then what we have been doing. We set up around 60 full body goose decoys along with 4 dozen duck decoys. We made a large U that was fairly wide. We didn't set up any decoys behind us and started to spread roughly 3-5 yards in front of our blinds. We set out 9 mojos about 20 yards in front of us along with some out to each side of the U like you guys had mentioned. It seemed to work much better, the wind was directly behind us at about 10-15mph but the ducks seems to work from our left to right or right to left. Rarely did they come directly into the wind which I thought was weird. We shot our limit of mallards that night after we made some changes to our setup. Thanks for all of the great information and tips, I'm sure we will see some better results out in the field now! Thanks for the help guys and good luck in the field as well!


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## FLOYD (Oct 3, 2003)

people seriously put out 9 or 10 spinners?


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## Ron Gilmore (Jan 7, 2003)

I can say the same for putting out 300 Canada decoys etc... my thought has always been do what you are comfortable with. Need vs want is all it is about. I have two normally never run more than 4 if hunting with others but that is me. Others only run one or some none.


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## madule (Apr 23, 2008)

Wow you guys are no help at all. Get the goose decoys out of the spread or put a small 6 to 10 goose decoys off to one side 10 yards outside the duck spread. 10 mojos??? you must be rep for them or something. 5 is a good number. varied in heights to some close to the ground some 3 ft above ground. make sure the landing zone is big enough to the size of flocks coming into the spread.


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## Ron Gilmore (Jan 7, 2003)

I guess I was not clear with my post, but that was what I was implying with putting the Canada decoys down wind as a blocker. Otherwise our spread is duck decoys.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

Never used a mojo in my life........................never needed to....................


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## fieldgeneral (Feb 12, 2013)

dakotashooter2 said:


> Never used a mojo in my life........................never needed to....................


Are you serious on that one? Back in my early years when we only were running 1 mojo because of the budget, we would have a battery die and be stuck with nothing, but the birds would still come in, not quite as well, but they would still come because we would be smack dab on the X.


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## tchunter (Apr 1, 2013)

I'm not going to say that mojos are the answer but I do believe they give the birds something to come to and creates some motion when they are a long ways away. We have always had goodluck with using multiple mojos in the spread. It takes the ducks eyes off of the blinds and makes them look out into the spread for a place to land rather then seeing every little movement while your in the layout blinds.


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## templey_41 (Jul 19, 2008)

If they are landing behind you, move your blinds back. KISS


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

fieldgeneral said:


> dakotashooter2 said:
> 
> 
> > Never used a mojo in my life........................never needed to....................
> ...


That's what I am saying. If you are in the right place you shouldn't need them. And I'll admit even then the ducks don't always come pouring in but I've always managed to pull enough to be successfull. That said, I am fortunate enough to live in a state with pretty good duck numbers and sometimes it may still take 1/2 a day or more to get a limit.

i'm not condeming guys that use them I just seem to be able to manage without them so I don't mess with them.


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## pigeon123 (Sep 25, 2012)

I would probably go hunting and figure it out. You have a spinner and if you can't figure it out from there you should not be allowed to shoot a gun around humans. LOL It takes 0 skill to kill mallards with a spinner. The best is when guys blow on there calls. IALTO


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## tbossart1356 (Oct 4, 2013)

Spinner dont work like they first did. In fact, in some repsects they are perhaps a bit more problematic.


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## tchunter (Apr 1, 2013)

They seem to work very good for us when were hunting ducks but cause a problem when the geese start to fly


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