Looking for resources on how to get into duck hunting. I grew up a bird hunter and just have not been able to find the right opportunites to start ducking into. Little background, currently live in Houston but spend most of my weekends in Sargent. Again grew up dove hunting so im comfortable with bird hunting but am just at a loss as to how to get started with Ducks. I have easy access to the San Bernard wildlife refuge so would like to take advantage of that. Considering doing a guided hunt to jump start but would like to become self sufficient after that. I have a good pair of waders and a kayak if that helps. Looking for any thought or recomendations on best way to learn. thanks!

I was in your shoes just a few years ago. Grew up dove hunting but never ducks, then fortunately got into duck hunting at work on a few trips with customers. The easiest way to learn it and get better is just to simply go with people who've been doing it a long time. A guided hunt would be a good option, getting on a lease around houston where you could meet people doing it would also be a good idea if you can afford it.

As for general, applies to everywhere advice that I've learned both on texags and out in the field:

1) ducks are way smarter than dove. Dont move, keep quiet, try not to have the sun reflect off your face. This isnt dove hunting where you can yell at your buddies and wear a t-shirt with jeans and be good to go.

2) Calling, less is more, and dont even do it if you dont know what you are doing. You are far more likely to scare/flare birds off if you just start going to town on a call and dont do it right. Practice a lot, watch youtube videos or actual people using calls, then practice some more.

3) Decoys, find what works for your area, it will likely require some trial and error. Some people swear by mojos with the spinning wings, other wont hunt a blind if youre using one because they think it will scare every bird away. Reality is somewhere in the middle. So figure that out, and how many regular floating decoys you need. More is not always better, most hunters probably dont need more than a couple dozen, if that.

4) Scouting, if you have the choice of several locations (on a lease with multiple spots, several farm tanks/creeks, whatever) put the time in and see where the birds want to be. You can have the best setup in the world but if the ducks dont want to be there, they wont be there. Simple as that.

Im sure theres a lot more that Im missing so hopefully a few guys who have been doing it longer than I've been born will stop by, I know there's some on here.

My best advice is try not to over complicate it your first few times out. My first time hunting solo I just went with a dozen decoys and my shotgun. I found a little point where I thought birds would fly over and hunkered down in the cattails. I see guys who try to hike in with 50lbs of decoys, a half dozen calls, portable blind, and a mis-behaving lab who is as green as the hunter and they have a heck of a time getting it all together. Keep things light and simple and then start tweaking or adding things as you get more experience.

Going with a guide is a good experience, but don't think that you need to imitate everything they did or buy all of the equipment they used right off the bat. Go at your own pace and have fun!

I've had some good hunts at San Bernanrd. They used to have a area that could reserve a blind and walk into and hunt. Not sure if they still do that.

Not sure how the storm impacted the refuge also.

Get you a couple dozen decoys and hunt some points. You just have to start and learn as you go. You don't really need to call down there. Do you have a boat?

I agree with everything Tommy said. KISS.

Sounds like you'll be hunting mostly public land. I cut my teeth hunting Anahuac and in college mostly hunted the WMAs around Sommerville. My best piece of advice to you is less is more. Public lands will get a lot of pressure, a lot of big spreads, a lot of wannabe duck commanders and a lot of sky blasters. So do almost the exact opposite of that. Go small spreads with minimal to no calling. Know what kinds of ducks will be in that area and learn what noises those ducks make.

Calling - Never hunted SBNWR but if I had to guess based on location you're probably going to see a lot of teal and wigeon early on with more redheads, pintail, spoonie and the occasional grey duck or other puddle duck later in the season. With that list of ducks it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to be hail calling with a mallard call now does it? If I were you, I'd start with a 5 in 1 whistle. Learn to make a teal, wigeon and pintail whistle and if you're really talented you can make a gadwall drake grunt with it. I honestly see no reason to ever pick up an actual duck call if that's where you're mostly hunting and spooky ducks seem to respond better to whistles anyways.

Spreads - Keep them small especially as the season progresses. Some of my best days on public land my spread would be no more than 8 decoys. Even hunting the bay smaller spreads work for spooky birds but SBNWR doesn't have much of that to my knowledge. Again, match the spread to what you're seeing so I wouldn't go buy a bunch of mallard decoys if I were you. Maybe get some teal, redhead and pintail decoys. Pintail decoys are good bc they're big and noticeable. Placement of decoys is a bit of an art form IMO. There are ways of placing decoys in relation to the wind that will act as road blocks and get birds to land where you want them too however if that looks unnatural it'll make them flare. If you look at ducks puddling around they're just randomly swimming around, there's no formation or pattern to them. So I will usually just randomly throw out my decoys with a hole somewhere for ducks to land. You'll eventually learn to read the ducks' behavior and adjust your spread accordingly. Overall just don't overthink it.

Mojos/ Motion Decoys - I loved mojos when they first came out and still use them a lot. Put one in the opening of your decoys where you want the ducks to land and they'll usually try to land behind it or right on top of it. Again they work well, but be prepared to pull it if birds start to flare. This usually happens around the start of the second split. Everyone seems to have one now a days plus by the time ducks make it to Texas they've learned a thing or two so just be prepared to pull it if a group looks like they want to come in but flare. Don't underestimate the effectiveness of a jerk rig. Doesn't have to be anything fancy and doesn't have to move more than a couple of decoys but that little bit of movement in your spread can make a big difference. I'd make one that rigs up to your kayak anchor.

Camo - Unlike dove hunting you're going to have to actually put some thought into this to match your surroundings. The wetland camo works well to match the chord grass you'll be sitting in around SBNWR. I use face paint, but more bc I think it's funny than anything and I like to paint whiskers on my hungover buddies.

Other- Don't know what kind of shotgun you have but be prepared for that to be one of the first things you clean when you get home. IMO Shooting ducks is easier than shooting dove however you'll have to get used to the angles you generally shoot ducks at. You'd be surprised how many beginner duck hunters I've seen miss the super easy cupped bird moving towards them bc they're just not used to shooting at a target that looks like it's sitting still but is actually coming at them and dropping. Be patient and if a group of ducks is locked in and have the landing gear dropped, make it easy on yourself and wait for the easy layup shot when they're just above the water. This will make your follow up shots much much easier. Fight the instinct to pot shot when you have a group of ducks cup up and drop in there's a lot more space between those ducks than you think. I generally pick a drake in the back of a group for my first shot then work my way forward. The exception to all of this is teal. They're small and speedy and drop in like kamikazes. In the marsh they'll buzz the tower and fly right over the top of your head and drop in before you can even react. Fun and tasty little buggers though. I think No 3 shot is a good all around shot for most ducks. It's slightly large for teal, but it won't mangle them.

There's a lot of good advice in there for a rookie, or even a barely more than rookie (like me). I think the key is to know what you don't know... So don't try to hammer away on a call like a mad-man if you have no idea what you're doing. I always want to call, but know I can't, so I don't.

If you've mostly hunted dove and you're moving to ducks keep in mind that steel patterns tighter than lead. So hunt about one choke more open than what you're used to. If you want a Mod pattern, then shoot teal through an I/C. If you want I/C use a skeet choke.

I generally (#NoJinxPlease) don't have a problem shooting teal because they LOOK fast. So I lead them just fine. I have more trouble with big ducks. They are so big they actually are flying faster than it seems to me so I usually have to whiff on a few before I remember to lead them more.

The best advice I can give you from a fellow know-nothing rookie is the same advice I would give you for any species. Don't try to make the ducks come to you. Figure out where they naturally want to be. Then go there, and set up in such an inconspicuous way as to not disrupt them. Never call to a deer/turkey/duck that is already doing what you want it to do. You can only screw up a good thing. ...now if they decide to leave? Sure, why not? But if they're coming to you? Stay still and stay quiet.

Sean98 said:

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The best advice I can give you from a fellow know-nothing rookie is the same advice I would give you for any species. Don't try to make the ducks come to you. Figure out where they naturally want to be. Then go there, and set up in such an inconspicuous way as to not disrupt them. Never call to a deer/turkey/duck that is already doing what you want it to do. You can only screw up a good thing. ...now if they decide to leave? Sure, why not? But if they're coming to you? Stay still and stay quiet.

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This is something I left out, but is a good point. Scouting is possibly one of the most important aspect of all of this, even on public land. Since you're on public land a lot of things are out of your control as to where you can hunt or if someone gets to a spot before you but scouting can get around this. Every hunt you go on successful or not, bring binoculars and watch and note where the birds are going during certain times of day. You may find that late morning/ early afternoon there's a big movement of birds for some reason or another and you may have the whole refuge to yourself at that time to be on the X. There's no rule that says the best hunting is in the morning and that's especially true for coastal marshes.

I used to hunt a little slough off the Yegua creek. It was part of a WMA and if you wanted to hunt that spot in the morning you better have been sure to be out there around 4am at the latest to hold your spot. Well one afternoon I was driving up through Dime Box on the way back to CS and saw a bunch of big ducks moving around. Next day I went out to that slough around 3 in the afternoon and threw out a small spread. There wasn't another soul in sight. Ended up shooting a mix limit of greenheads and wood ducks and if I would've passed on the wood ducks probably could've shot all greenheads. Up to that point, I had never even seen mallards out there, but later learned they flew later in the morning then again in the late afternoon in that area.

Yep. I learned that very same lesson two years ago. Went to check a couple of small coves around 2pm of Christmas Eve and took the dogs and a shotgun for a long walk. As I got close I could hear mallards quacking like crazy. Hundreds of them. I let the dogs run them off and then shot a limit when they came back. A week later I went out and set up an hour before dark, heard a few ducks fly away when I came in to break ice. ...then I shot exactly 1 duck between daybreak and 1pm. Then I shot the rest of my limit in 15 minutes and had ducks landing in my decoys while I was wading in the water picking them up. They had no interest in being in there until the afternoon and then they wanted in BAD.

The OB has come through already with a lot of good advice.

Here's my random piece of advice. Don't post pictures with piles of ducks on social media. I made this mistake once and it cost me a hunting spot. Not to mention how it brings dozens of moochers out of the woodworks.

Print your pictures and look at them on your wall instead.

Shhhh... you're going to keep us from learning about some good honey holes!

Very helpful, thanks guys. Ive always been bad about overthinking things, sounds like this may be more learn by doing.

San Bernard nwr does have a walk in area around Sargent to hunt. I think you have to get on a draw list or something for it.

To hunt the refuge proper by kayak would take some real work. It's probably around a 7 mile paddle down the creek to the decent ponds. Also, they don't open the gates until daylight so it will be pretty impossible to outhustle the boaters to the decent ponds for a daybreak hunt.

If you buy a call leave it at home your first year and let someone you hunt with who knows how do the calling. You will have more luck with a jerk rig than a call. Movement on the water is best IMO. I have used mojos but usually pull them after the first 45 min. By the time the birds get here they have seen it all and are savvy. Wish I lived out your way, I love getting new folks into the water. Get six big ducks and a jerk rig that will get you a long way without breaking the bank and easy to pack.

Not much advice to add.

I learned to practice calling by having a friend that knew how critique me to get my quack then by listening to a cd thousands of times while driving and calling down the road. I can't tell you how many funny looks I've got while practicing at a red light.

Just keep putting yourself out there and before you know it you'll go from a random duck every once in a while to limits regularly. I can't really explain it other than all the sudden you start to put together little things that worked and it becomes one big picture.

I hunted 4-5 times last winter, so I'm getting ready to start my first full season and the only real advice I can add to all of the above is...get your checkbook out.

First I bought a new shotgun, then I had to buy some cold-weather camouflage gear last winter, then this summer I have been buying warm weather camouflage gear getting ready for teal season, then I paid my share of the lease for this year, then I had to go buy a duck boat, then my wife and daughter decided they might want to go with me, so now I'm going to have to buy them guns and gear...but I wouldn't trade it for anything and would do it all over again. Can't wait.

Welcome to a lifelong addiction.