Title: Scoutin' For Ducks
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Blog Entry: Scoutin' For Ducks Scoutin' is a big part of what we do. Some years we have alot of water & some years we don't... this is Texas so we're very dependant on the water level. All but 1 of our lakes are man made reseviors built by the Army Corps of Engineer's & controlled by some River Authority/Water District & they get to make the rules & they're not to concerned with having enough water in the lake to help a few duck hunters out. The rules for one lake may be different than the rules for another lake so you have to be mindful of that too i.e., special permit, access restrictions, certain days open/close, etc. It's alot of information to digest, but readily availble for someone that is willing to do the neccessary legwork. Once we've got all our ducks in a row the actual "scoutin' " begins... I don't care how many times you've looked at a lake map, google earth, mapquest, internet forums, talked to your buddies, etc. you will never really appreciate a potential "hole" until you've eyeballed it in the 1st person. You will have a better chance at sightin' a bigfoot, chupacabra or ufo by not gettin' out there & it will probably be more believable when you're not stappin' up ducks while on the hunt. We put alot of time goin' to these places & runnin' 'em & then we'll run 'em some more, tryin' to learn as much about an area we can. We are constiantly tryin' to develope a plan so that when the season gets here we already have an idea of where we're goin' to start & where we're likely to finish. Now that's not to say we don't make an adjustment here or there.... "IMPROVISE, ADAPT & OVERCOME" is our motto & we're not playin' pin the tail on the lake map the day before the season opener. And yes we do this even at places we think we know... the one consistant thing we have here is inconsistancy. The are other variables to consider while scoutin' as they'll influence how you hunt an area... Distance: how far do you have to drive to get there & then how long is the boat ride to where you plan to hunt. Backwards Plannin' is the key here... shootin' time is at 0-6 so we need to have the dekes out by 0-5-45, it's a 20 minute boat ride & so on. No since settin' yourself up for failure because your 10 minutes late... my crew will cull you for that. Pressure: Is this a popular huntin' area that there will be the traffic jam at the boat ramp an hour before legal. Is the North Dallas Forty going to be out there in full force, unprepared as usual, lost in the dark & lookin' for that "ducky" place to set-up just before legal. Those guys can be a duck hunters best friend, if you'll let 'em i.e. if they're usin' a dozen spinners then you don't, if they're usin' 20 dozen dekes then you don't, if they're havin' a duck callin' "kazoo" jam session then you don't... the idea here is they will train the ducks to be decoy & call shy quick enough. We're at the end of the Central Flyway so it doesn't take long to for the ducks to get exposed to all that reinforcement trainin' our fellow duck hunters are dishin' out... it's almost a clinic, summer school, continuin' education course & a seminar all rolled into one, as they are their own worse enemy. We've killed alot of ducks by simply just not bein' them over the years. Access: Does the area you're huntin' have special restrictions, i.e. permits, bounderies, etc. There's nuthin' more upsettin' than takin' all the extra steps neccessary to be away from the crowds to have some group just walk up on you totin' all their gear in a mass exodus from a walk-in only parkin' area that is a 100 yards away from your potential "honey hole" that you didn't think about. Let all 'em walk-in guys have it, they too can be another asset in your bag o' tricks if you'll let ' 'em... here again, the idea is not to be them, as they aren't goin' tote all that stuff for very long or very far. Networking: This is somethin' will can benefit everyone in your group... especially if ya'll are tight. The folks we're networked with will let a brutha know if there's new ducks in the area, water is up or down, the crowds have left, etc. In order for this to work you have to be a team player & contribute to the intel pool... you don't have to give specific gps coordinates or anything like that, we don't & the folks we're networked with won't ask that either. Another great source of info is the local Game Warden, they will usually always have some tid-bit of info that no one else will. I talked to a GW once upon a time while scoutin' durin' our split that told me that the weekend after Thanksgiving a certain place is pretty much dead until the season closes... now that's the kind of info that'll put ducks on the strap. One year all the water was low & I stopped in a little country store & there just happened to be a catfisherman (jugliner/trotliner) that knew were a certain county road ran into the lake... he got a 12 pack of that "good beer" & I got another semi-private boat ramp. You just have to be payin' attention while your out there.
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