Getting the jump on hard-to-hunt ducks
John Felsher Outdoor columnist

After duck season opens, many sportsmen head to their favorite leases or hunting clubs, but not everyone can afford an expensive lease or a guided trip. In addition, not everyone owns a boat they can use for hunting on public lakes and rivers.

However, just about anyone with a good pair of boots, a shotgun, ammunition and access to a little water may find a place to bag a few birds. Nearly any pond, stream, ditch, creek, bayou or canal may attract a few ducks at times. In extremely dry areas, a tiny bit of water can pull ducks from miles away.

When shooting starts in popular hunting areas, many ducks seek sanctuary from gunning pressure. To escape shooting pressure, many ducks raft up on big lakes, but mallards and wood ducks prefer small waters. They may land in a puddle containing only inches of water. Often, ducks search for small waters to rest later in the morning, so jump shooters don't need to rise at first light to kill birds.

"Wood ducks typically roost in very dense wetlands," said Robert Helm, a waterfowl biologist. "Button brush is a very common component of their roosting habitat. They also like to roost in beaver ponds where there is a lot of dead timber, thick underbrush and difficult access."

With many predators looking for them, especially hawks and other raptors, ducks often hide under overhanging branches or behind logjams. In streams with current, ducks might rest behind obstructions or in small pockets of slack water. When people or predators approach, they often explode in a startling rush of wing beats from even the smallest patches of water.

With no other options for hunting ducks, Daniel, my son, and I explored some ditches in the Holland Bottoms Wildlife Management Area near Cabot. Almost like squirrel hunting, we slowly crept along the shoreline of a ditch holding less than 2 feet of water. Shallow and stumpy, it made floating any boat, even a canoe, extremely difficult.

Repeatedly, we walked a few feet, paused and listened. When hunting a creek or ditch, don't follow the shoreline exactly. Almost like quail, ducks sometimes rather hide than flush. They might allow people they don't consider threatening to approach fairly closely before bursting from cover. Walk behind thick cover a few yards off the waterline, but occasionally sneak up to the shoreline to peak up and down the channel. Look for movement, such as rippling water in normally placid pools. Stay especially alert when rounding bends.

Jump shooters frequently find more ducks by listening or spotting signs than by actually seeing birds. Listen for whistling, splashing, quacking or other sounds. Fresh feathers floating under cover could indicate ducks visiting the area.

A good pair of binoculars helps spot sign or birds at a distance.

Hunters don't usually see birds until they erupt from tight cover. Then, shooters must react quickly, almost like hunting upland birds.

That morning, two wood ducks on afterburners zoomed over us, not presenting a shot. Then, we heard a faint quack far up the ditch.

Rounding a bend, a flock of mallards exploded from the ditch just out of range.

Fortunately, with much of the area dry, the birds had few other places to land except in the ditch.

Daniel and I figured we lost our opportunity, but kept pressing forward. Now and then we spotted floating feathers or heard a distant quack.

Then, as we rounded a bend and looked down a long straight section, we spotted birds.

A flock of 15 or so mallards bunched up in the tiny ditch a few hundred yards upstream.

We formulated a plan.

Daniel would circle around well wide of the ditch and come out of the woods just upstream of the flock while I kept out of sight. After he got into position, I would slowly walk about 20 yards away from the shoreline toward the flock, hoping to jump them.

After they jumped, they might fly toward Daniel.

The plan worked, almost. Daniel came out of the woods a little short and I started my stalk a little early.

Anyway, we both arrived at the place at about the same time, dropping two greenheads from the flock as they erupted from the water.

Later, we flushed them again, downing a wood duck that had mixed with the mallards.

Jumping ducks can offer plenty of fun and excitement. For people without boats or access to other hunting property, it might prove the only way to bag ducks.

(John N. Felsher is the managing editor of Sport Fishing magazine and an award-winning freelance writer, photographer, broadcaster and media consultant.

He's been published in such magazines as Outdoor Life, Field and Stream, Sports Afield, Arkansas Sportsman and many other publications. Contact him through his Web site at www. JohnNFelsher.com.)