Set ups: After you have found a place to hunt or located some ducks the next thing to concentrate on is your set up. I have always liked to use portable blinds. By using portable blinds you can determine the best location for a permanent blind for later in the season and the following year. Portable blinds can be made several ways, just remember to blend in with your surroundings. When hunting lakes, pit blinds camouflaged with native grasses are often all that is needed. I will always have a roll of chicken wire in the truck when water fowl hunting. The wire can be set up and covered with vegetation from the area you are hunting to look natural. Also if you want to hunt from the boat you can use the wire to build a blind in the boat with the same materials natural to the area you will be hunting. When hunting rivers I like to set up on a bend in the river where I can see down river. Ground blinds or a good boat blind is sufficient for this type of set up. Remember it is important when setting up a blind in most cases that you keep the wind to your back or somewhere behind the blind. Since ducks decoy into the wind, this will allow approaching ducks to be easily seen. If homemade isn’t for you, there are several companies that offer portable blinds and they can be purchase at your local hunting supply store.

Decoys: There are many different decoys and brands on the market today and most any brand will work Decoys are an important part of any water fowling trip. My favorite decoys are made by Flambeau®. Flambeau® makes a duck decoy for any situation. And the size of their decoys is realistic. When hunting ducks in Florida I don’t like to use more than a dozen at one time. Your set up will be a little different from one area to the next. On lakes my set up will be made up of mainly ring necks, although I have learned over the years that a few coots added to my spread will make it more realistic. I like to set up a half dozen decoys close and bunched up then scatter the rest with in a 25 yards area. When hunting timber or creeks I like to keep them scattered, always leaving a few paired up. Decoys can work against you also. Ducks local to the area may notice your set up is new to that particular body of water and become spooked, keeping them out of distance for a shot. If you notice this happening reduce the amount of decoys you have out.

Gearing up: After you have nailed down the decoy and blind situations, there are few more important items still on the list. A good shotgun is always a must. I prefer the Remington, Mo.1187 12ga. 3’ MAGNUM. Last year I started using Remington Hevi-Shot® Nitro Magnum Ammunition in #4 shot. The 12-gauge 3", 1-1/8-ounce load of # 4 shot has a velocity of over a blistering 1,575 feet per second making it one of the fastest shots on the market today.

The next thing on the list would be camouflage. Good camouflage is important when duck hunting and the folks from Mossy Oak® have come up with a camouflage pattern for any situation. Here in Florida with all the saw grass cattails and marsh my pattern of choice has been the Mossy Oak® Shadow Grass™. Pattern. The key elements in Shadow Grass are the dark shadows found in the outdoors, shadows more than anything are constant. These shadows run at different angles to add contrast and break-up the pattern. Second is the realistic detail in each blade of grass found on the pattern. Another thing that you would not want to leave off the list is a good pair of rubber boots. Rubber boots are a must when duck hunting. If you decide to do some flooded timber hunting you might want to purchase a good pair of waders. Last on the list but to me the most important item would be a good duck call. There are many calls on the market now days and most all of them are great calls. The easiest call that I have found for the beginner or the novas are the Primos® brand of duck calls. Primos® have the best selection of duck calls on the market and have proved it time and time again to be the best in the field. The #820 Original Wench Double Reed Mallard is the #1 selling duck call anywhere. It won't stick! The One-of-a-kind "ridges and ditches" on the sounding board keep the call from sticking and give the call its raspy highs and lows. The tuning hole in stopper allows you to vary the pitch. Covered, the pitch is lower; uncovered, the pitch is higher. The Double reed is perfect for mainstream waterfowlers and the graphite sounding board, internal parts, and stopper are molded from graphite, the ideal sound conducer. The barrel is molded from super-hard glass-filled polycarbonate. Perfect for close in or open water calling. Primos® has also come out with a new line of acrylics that I am sure will catch the eye and ears of any duck hunter or collector. These calls can be checked out at www.primos.com.

No matter where this duck season find you be prepared and as always hunt hard and be safe.