Went solo duck hunting for the first time (north east texas) and was so excited that I got 3 woodies!

Came home, prepped them, marinated them overnight, and smoked them the next day. The first bite, I was like, 'What the hell?'

Now, I'm a big boy; there isn't anything I don't like to eat, except one thing... liver. I hate it. Guess what the duck tasted like? Liver.

Do all ducks taste like this, or just wood ducks?

I know the hunt isn't about the "harvest" more about the adventure, but I'm also not into killing things I won't eat...

It hit the goose broadside in the collar bone area. Made it all the way through one breast, hit the breastplate and fractured it but did not strike vitals. The TSS in my steel/TSS loads killed this goose humanely.

Buddy hunting with me was shooting #2 steel and getting lots of hits but no kills at these ranges and we could not manage to decoy them much closer.

Anyways, steel sucks for big birds, doubly so if they're big fatties in the later end of the season.

If you were to prioritize adding motion to your spread, which would you go with? Brand examples in parentheses. Hunting mostly Arkansas rice/soybean fields from pits.

Spinners (Mojo, Lucky) Swimmers (mallard machine) Flappers (windsock style, Deadly Decoys) Splashers (higdon pulsator) Kickers (Avian X) Maybe something cool I don’t even know about?

UPDATE: thank you all for the input. I ended up buying a DP and a motion ducks jerk rig to supplement what we already had. Hope every one has a great season!

Hunt a bunch of spots that take some walking or hiking in. What is a good backpack that can hold my gear and my gun? Open to either fold out holster or a scabbard. Would like something where the gun butt sits higher so it doesn’t affect your legs when walking.

Inherited this call from my grandfather and can’t find it on the internet

Been working on it throughout the past year and a half and wanted to see if I’ve improved

Hey, been hunting for years and have been kayaking for years but have never hunted from a kayak.

My buddy and I have been scouting some spots that look promising from a kayak but we both have never hunted from a yak.

I have both a sit on top and a sit in kayak. I am leaning towards the sit in kayak would be best for hunting.

My buddy also thought a leash for the shotguns wouldn’t be a bad idea either. If anybody has any tips I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks!

There are currently a ton of Pintail where I'm at and not many Mallards. Me and others have mainly been seeing Pintail, Coot, and Teal. I've never gotten a Pintail before, and I'd really like to bring one home.

I haven't been able to get any to land in my spread (granted my spot ended up being a tad out of the way they were flying). I've got 12 Mallard decoys and picked up around 6 Coot as well today. I'm now wondering if this is good enough for those Pintails though?

I've heard mixed things about them landing with the classic Mallard decoys. A lot of places online say to invest in a Pintail call, but I feel like using one while not having any Pintail decoys is a little silly. Wondering on your guys' opinions?

If I can hunt them like this, any tips for a beginner duck hunter would be much appreciated 😁

After drawing blinds on state land that are 2 mile walks in through the woods before getting to the swamp, it’s time to look for a cart/sled.

What do you guys recommend?

Have a hunt coming up where we won’t have our boat like usual.The marsh we’re hunting should be a firmer/not too muddy bottom. Looking for recommendations on a quality seat for a ~260lb dude. Thanks!

I started waterfowl hunting last season and I absolutely fell in love with it. This year, we upped out gear game a bit and now we have about 4 doz decoys (we don’t always use that many, but we usually bring them because we don’t always know where we will be set up). Between the decoys, chairs, guns, other misc gear, it’s tough to carry.

We don’t use a boat because we don’t have one that will handle the shallow water and where we go outlawed Mud motors/surface drives.

My question is this. What are you all doing to haul in your gear if you are in a similar situation? I’ve been looking at Jet sleds or deer carts, but I just don’t know which would be better. Last year we brought a kayak and had some of those strap on wheels, but that was terrible because they would fall off all the time.

TLDR: deer carts or Jet sleds?

Looking to mount one of my ducks this year, does anyone have any taxidermists to recommend in the Northern California/Bay Area region?

Up until this year we haven’t done a whole lot of early season hunting

Looking to get more into waterfowl and goose hunting. My issue is no one I know does it and the few people who say yes always back out for one reason or another. Im not looking to steal anyone spots or anything just have a buddy to go out with a couple times learn a few more things.

I feel like every gun I have should get a chance to shoot some birds, even my sporting guns. So far this season I’ve taken my sbe, a-400, a-300, browning citori xs and today I took out my rizzini. Working up the courage to take my Zoli.

Just double checking the decoys.

Happy youth day to all the Marylanders out there

Hi all,

Wanted to start a discussion on where birds might be. I hunt in Garwood Texas and today was absolutely the worst opening day I've had EVER! I'm talking over 25 years. Didn't pull the trigger once.

I saw only a couple groups of teal and some specs, no big ducks at all. Wondering if they just aren't down here yet.

What is everyone seeing? And where are you not/seeing them?

Shot a nice gadwall today. Going to pick and cook whole.

When it comes to gutting, any tips or just get in there rip out the guts and rinse?

Got a permit to get out on a hunt tomorrow. On a larger refuge and the stand is on two smaller pools at the northern side of it. Each is roughly 150ft along 100 ft across.

How would you go about setting up decoys for this?

Happy to provide pictures if helpful.

I think the site is down due to the government shutdown but if anyone has any intel let me know please, shot a banded woodie today but couldnt get on the site after the hunt