# wood ducks in goose decoys



## Draker16 (Nov 23, 2004)

I have shot 3 wood ducks in my canadian decoys in the last 2 years. I have never seen a wood duck feeding in a field so I was wondering if anyone else has shot random wood ducks in a field decoys spreads.


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

i certainly wouldnt call them random. those wood ducks love to get in a good corn field if they can. not their first choice on food, but when the acorns run out a nice corn field will do the trick any day. i have had woodies drop into my goose spread quite a few times. actually set up my wood duck water dekes in the field too, worked like a charm, no different than finding a good mallard tornado. all i had to do was walk a few hundred yards from my house, set a few dekes and 20 minutes later walk home with a pair of pretty drakes dangling from my hand. then again, i do live in wood duck country, its not unusual to see more wood ducks than anything else on any given morning around here.


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## Draker16 (Nov 23, 2004)

thanks diver i didnt know if this was common or not where i hunt we hardly ever see any wood ducks except those couple of times they came into the decoys.


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## Draker16 (Nov 23, 2004)

so wood ducks eat acorns? do they swallow them hole?


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

I have shot wood ducks on opener in a cut grain field....not unusual at all!!


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## duckbuster808 (Apr 27, 2004)

Yes wood ducks swallow the acorns whole. next time you shoot one feel the throat and if there is a huge lump push it up towards thr throat and chances are an acorn will pop out. they can sometimes get 2-3 acorns in there throat at a time. Pretty cool if you ask me.


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## Draker16 (Nov 23, 2004)

wow thats crazy that they can swallow acorns whole.


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## take EM' close (Oct 21, 2004)

around here they will eat the little seeds on a Russian Olive tree. I have pushed one out of a hens throat once....it was the only wood duck I've killed! Still waiting to get me a drake! :lol:


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

take em', just head my way if you wanna whack a drake woodie. they are a pretty easy bird to get in, they dont decoy to well, but if your where they already want to be you could be standing out in the open doing jumping jacks and they'll still drop into the decoys. very pretty and good eatin too.


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## jbaincfl (Feb 5, 2003)

It is the best getting into the woodies toward the end of october in the corn fields. The woodies that stay around that late in the year are huge here in Minnesota. Around our parts, you can find feeds of 500-1000 woodies pretty easily.

I have had them buzz the tower in our September goose spreads as well (we were set up in barley stubble).


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## duck991 (Feb 17, 2005)

yeah right the next time you see 500-1000 woodies in a feild in minnesota send me a pic, other wise stop drinking and telling stories. :beer:


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## Draker16 (Nov 23, 2004)

duck991 said:


> yeah right the next time you see 500-1000 woodies in a feild in minnesota send me a pic, other wise stop drinking and telling stories. :beer:


Yeah that seems pretty crazy, but if it were true it would be funny to see people setting up 200 wood duck decoys in a field. I bet full body wood duck decoys would work, and maybe add in some sillohuettes.


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## Grounder (Jun 23, 2004)

Talk about crazy there was a flooded bean field down here in southern mn that had at least 500 to 1000 woodies in it this fall I couldn't believe the amount of woodies there was and they were all woodies so every evning I would grab my gear sitt on this fence line and wait for them to feed cause the field was posted and eveybody knows how mn iswhen it comes to permision and for a week and a half I limmited out on woodies every night untill the frost hit (all drakes) there were so many you could pick and choose wait for your shot after I shot my ducks the ducks would be flying tree top high over you when you would walk back to the truck.so the woodies hit up the fields down here.


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

i wouldnt call him crazy, i havnt seen a flight of 500, but i have of at least half of that. it wouldnt suprise me one bit to see 500.


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## jbaincfl (Feb 5, 2003)

I wouldn't be calling anyone a lier. :eyeroll:

Why would I make something like that up. We have beaver ponds all over and they get thick in the corn once the fields are picked. I live right in the middle of wood duck country.

We rarely shoot anything but woodducks and a few teal.


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## jbaincfl (Feb 5, 2003)

Sorry: Not lier, but crazy.

When we hunt thim in the fields we just throw out 6-8 BigFoot Goose Decoys. They will swoop in for a look.


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## Draker16 (Nov 23, 2004)

That sounds crazy, jk that sounds like it would be alot of fun, I believe you about the 500 wood ducks i was just joking around.


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## recker (Oct 12, 2003)

I am looking into a duck hunt to canada next year and i am having a hard time getting info since there are not too many of these chatrooms for duck hunting. I am looking into going to The Pas and hunting the root-reader marsh complex. I was wondering if anyone has ever hunted this area and could give me some info on it as i have located a few lodges but i would also like to hear from people who have hunted the area. My email is [email protected]

Thanks for any help


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## Zeboy (Aug 21, 2003)

I'm from Michigan, and like the post from MN, wood ducks are the primary duck in this area. I have had 200+ come into cut corn fields while I was goose hunting - i've seen it more before our duck season opens (figures). It isn't often, but I have seen it.

A couple interesting things about it - They usually arrive very early, the start of shooting hours or slightly before. They arrive in large groups 30 - 40. Once they hit the ground they are literally running through the field picking up corn - not like mallards. I would describe it like ants invading a picnic. I've had them run right into my goose decoys before.

They feed like mad for 5 or 10 minutes and then they take off in smaller groups (5-10) heading in every direction. The whole thing is done well before sunrise. It is "very cool" to see.

Regarding their feeding on acorns - that is what they primarily feed on around here. Years ago we used to sometimes hunt an evening roost. When you would pick those wood ducks up by the neck it felt like you were holding a marble bag. It was amazing how many acorns they would cram in there.


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

In the early season we get swarmed by them all the time. We'll have flocks of several hundred coming in and landing. Apparently they like barley too.  We usually get a couple the first week out of the field spread and then they're gone.


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## german wirehair #1 (Aug 23, 2004)

If the weather doesn't get bad up ya'lls way Woodies is pretty much all we have to shoot down here in South carolina. And man do we have a butt load. But we do have them all year round. The drakes are a very pretty bird and they eat great.


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## SwampHunter (Feb 3, 2004)

Yep, Wood Ducks will use fields around here alot.


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