Duck hunting experts, lend me your expertise

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courtgreene

courtgreene

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I'm in nc, and I love duck hunting (but I'm not a great wing shooter), and started getting into it about two years ago. Then I moved. The place I left spoiled me as it held tons of wood ducks but I've not seen a duck since we moved here. If it matters we only moved two hours away.
No ponds I can access seem to hold or attract them, and people I ask say "if you're ever going to find one it will be on the river." I was ready to just sit it out until we move again because I don't have and can't afford a boat, and there's no public hunting access on said river. Then last week I found out some family owns a small ammount of land that barely touches the river, so I may be back in business!
Here's the question: do I approach this like I do a new deer spot? If I'm supposed to be looking for evidence of ducks then I have no clue what that would be. Is there some other thing like food or habitat I should try to find? I'm totally clueless because before we moved I relied on the friend that got me hooked, and he didn't move. Pics of the place if it matters.
 

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Some general tips:

. use a good call
. use good motion decoys if available
. use a good blind
. if hunting during a freeze, hunt in the afternoon when the weather is warmer
 
River hunting is no different from anything else in waterfowl. Being on the "X" is more important than anything. If you have a boat I would float your river and see where they like to be.
 
Been town, that's what I'm trying to understand. Other than seeing them is there a way to figure out where they like to be? For instance, with deer one can go look for likely spots without ever actually seeing a deer. I can see food sources, cover, funnels, or evidence that a deer has been there and know if I want to try that spot. Is there any such thing for ducks? If so what do I look for when scouting the river out of season? Hopefully that better defines the type of info I need.
 
loyalist dave, yes I have. Not much of a DU scene here. I honestly can't find a duck hunter, other than some who have only done so elsewhere. The one guy I met that actually shot a duck locally wondered why it swam right up to him, then found out he shot the self-domesticated duck that a farmer fed every day.
 
Hunting rivers I generally float a few miles of it until I find some backwaters with still water that holds the food and resting spots duck and geese like.
 
Feathers on shore in slow flowing rivers is a good indicator.

Any flooded areas with smart weed are almost a guarantee.
 
Beentown is right.
However, there are lots of places on most rivers that should hold ducks where they never show up. Where rivers widen out and side creeks enter are usually good spots. Lots of weeds that top out plus duckweed, duck potato, and smartweed are good. Backwaters with water oaks and overcup oaks are very good for mallards and wood ducks.

Good luck.
 
Thing about a wood duck is it likes to be able to walk up out of the water into a stand of oaks to feed. They also like to rest on a log above water level. Find all that stuff together and you find where they're likely to collect on in the day.
 
Wood ducks

Get yourself a canoe and float the creek stealthily and you can usually sneak up on wood ducks. Make a note of where you encounter them and go sit and watch from there one morning. They tend to like oak trees that drop their acorns in shallow enough water so that they can pick them off the bottom. In my experience with wood ducks it's usually an early morning event pass shooting them. Once the sun comes up then jump in the canoe and float the creek.
 
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