# wood ducks



## gingerhunter (Jan 5, 2012)

just a quick question.. when isthebest time to go after wood ducks? and also what should my spread consist of when hunting wood ducks?


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

Well when I lived in Minnesota I had my best days hunting woodducks in chopped corn feilds and freshly combined corn fields. The best decoy was a robo duck. The shooting lasted for maybe 15 minutes at the most. It worked best in the mornings, nights it was usually too close to shooting hours.

All of my crappy video tapping of the duck hunting was in a chopped corn field shooting wooducks. (sorry for the poor video quality.)

When I hunted them on the water in flooded trees, we had to be right where they wanted to be. So exactly were they where the night before. We usually used 6 to 18 decoys. No calling, just let them come. Being mobile was they key. Being able to pick up the spread and move the decoys 75 yards.

When I moved back to North Dakota when I have shoot wooducks was in barley or wheat fields and sometimes in chopped corn fields. When I was dragging I saw alot of woodducks by the river. Mainly in the oxbows.

My decoys constisted of a robo duck and all woodduck decoys. I ran GHG woodducks. I think for these ducks its best to have the most realistic decoys you can afford.

On a side note, many people think that wooduck migrate first, but I have constistanly shot them until mid November in central Minnesota and in North Dakota I saw them this year the second weekend of deer season while I was out putting fertilizer down near a river.


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## gingerhunter (Jan 5, 2012)

thanks for al of the tips! me and my buddies hunt a lot of ducks up in northern North Dakota and we were going to try and find a spot on the river to hunt them. but now im thinking we should hunt them in fields like you stated above.


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## wing seeker (Feb 26, 2012)

We hunt them in the most secluded spot in the woods here in Alabama. The timber is thick
and they come in head high. Best shooting is right at shooting hours in the morning. Like they
mentioned it doesnt last long but boy is it fun. These ducks want to find their resting or lazy
spot during the day and basically stay there all day. We love to shoot HeviShot and HeviMetal
3's and 4's in the timber.


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## BodyCount (Jun 11, 2010)

Some of the best decoying woodies I have seen have been on the opener for early canadas, the first weekend in Sept. in MN. Of course we couldn't shoot any. Like earlier noted they started coming in about 10 minutes before shooting hours and ended about 15 minutes later. Big groups of woodies coming in to 5 yards and setting down. Really fun to watch.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

wing seeker said:


> We hunt them in the most secluded spot in the woods here in Alabama. The timber is thick
> and they come in head high. Best shooting is right at shooting hours in the morning. Like they
> mentioned it doesnt last long but boy is it fun. These ducks want to find their resting or lazy
> spot during the day and basically stay there all day. We love to shoot HeviShot and HeviMetal
> 3's and 4's in the timber.


Isn't that over kill for a duck? Using Hevi Metal and Hevi Shot?


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## Nuff Daddy (Mar 13, 2012)

I target them for the first few weeks of the season. I hunt small beaver ponds and water holes. The best shooting is the last half hour before shooting hours end. I dont decoy them. Just do some scouting and find the places they are using and wait for em. They are very difficult to decoy but ive heard that robo ducks work real good. i belive mojo came out with a mojo wood duck for the 2012/2013 season. might have to give it a try.


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## the professor (Oct 13, 2006)

Where I grew up in MN, flooded over grown gravel pits, cottonwood lined drainage ditches, and the 2 nearby rivers provided a ton of easy woodie shooting. I still get after them up there a few times each fall. Pass shooting along rivers can be a great way to hunt them, but like others have posted, they can get pretty tight in a chopped cornfield as well.


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## duckp (Mar 13, 2008)

Fields and rivers as mentioned but if you can find small potholes in Acorn woods-hang on at dawn and dusk.


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