This is only my second year of duck hunting. From before I even hunted the first time, it was stressed to me how important good cover and camouflage is.

This comes from only one source, but I see no reason to doubt or question it. Just how important is it? What I'm by myself, everything that's not a shade of marsh - I cover or put out of site. I don't let bright things and odd colors stay visible. I don't wear sunglasses and keep all my skin covered. When watching the birds, I try to keep my head down. Is any of this too much or not necessary?

My best friend who has hunted much longer than me, seems to not care about this stuff. Leaves all his bags open, pop tart wrappers out, bright color and towels laying out on the boat. Before I start bitching about it....do I really have merit?

Yep, hide everything. No sense in doing all the work only to get busted and go home with no birds.

With as many people that hunt now, hiding is critical.


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Growing up, I killed a lot of birds out of a yellow bass boat with one of the old timers out at caddo. He had sheets of burlap draped around cane poles that he would put up on the sides, but nothing covering the yellow interior in the middle of the boat. Sitting in the middle of the lake with no cover near by, nothing.

Nowadays it seems no matter how well we cover up, we still manage to flare a few birds.

Hide everything. Every time we set up our boat blind, after the decoys are set, we motor off to pull moss, cut willows branches and pick up Water Hyacinth to throw onto our already fairly well camo'd boat blind. We have a stash of moss already but supplement it occasionally. We also have about 6 pieces of 3 x 3 strips of cypress bark we place randomly on the blind and deck. We always wear face netting. When duck are working we cover ourselves with camo netting which is covered with moss and sticks.

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Depends on your hunting area. If your out in the wide ass open, sure you need to be hid. But hunting big green timber on a sunny day you can just about get away with anything.


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I would say it really depends on how much pressure your area receives and the species you are shooting as well as weather conditions. There are many different variables as to why a bird will come in or not.

I hardly ever wear a face mask and definitely not wearing face paint, and don't think I've ever worn gloves. Just be still and don't look up.

Weather conditions have a big play in it to. On a bright windless day, hide absolutely as best as you can. Nasty nasty weather its not that important. Last year I had probably the most miserable hunt of my life. Had a 30mph north wind blowing with a drizzld and there was no water anywhere in the marsh so we found a deep cove and tied the boat up to a post and just sat in the boat hopeing to pass shoot a few divers over a dozen decoys and ended up killing 5 limits of pintail...if the weather is bad and they want out of it they'll get out of it..

And then there's different species you gotta work with. Pintail and gadwall are usually the most pickey I've encountered in my neck of the woods. They want it to be just right. On the other hand I seem to never kill Spoonies, teal, or divers unless I'm out walking around in the decoys or standing up takeing a piss.

I think the best bay hunt I've ever had was on a sand bar in the middle of the bay, threw out 10 dozen decoys and 4 of us just sat there on stool in the decoys really still and had 24 birds taking a ride home with us.

Just consistently camo the best you can no matter the conditions.....risk nothing.

I'm with you on the "risk nothing." Thanks for the opinions and advice.

Another questions...what about a dog? I've never hunted with a dog, but I'm paying for a started pup tonight and additional training. Its main goal is to be a good family dog, and hunting just an awesome added benefit.

Its a yellow lab. I'll build and train him to his own blind, but anyone ever noticed a disadvantage to a yellow dog?

I make it a point to have my blind brushed up and keep it up after a few hunts. I have never used gloves or face masks and i'm like Quack N Stack i'm not painting my face. I wear sunglasses with green lenses and have never seen a diffrence in the birds from when i have them on or when I don't wear them. The biggest thing is not to pie face the ducks when they are flying on top of the blind just stay as still as possible and don't make any sudden movements because the ducks will see that movment. It helps to be really conceled but I have also shot limit of ducks sitting on the edge of the marsh with nothing around me.

Good concealment is of the utmost importance. Just don't smile when the birds are working.

I don't get too hung up on what brand camo like mossy oak etc just close enough does. I find movement is the biggest flare for birds. Shot plenty of ducks with no gloved hands, painted face and blued guns hell my dog is brown and white and likes sleeping on the roof of the blind and I have a silver boat.
But if your hunting in an open blind or like waving your hands around like an auctioneer camo up a bit more

It's important. Just do your best to be concealed but it's just as important to be still. With experience you will be able to tell if they're seeing you. Also during the downtime and nothing is flying watch the crows if they're in your area. They'll bust you as fast or quicker than a duck. I use them as a gauge when I hunt my layout. When they fly the river and come over low and don't veer off to the side I know I'm good to go.

^X2 they don't usually seem to notice the dog. I hunt my yellow off the hunt deck of my boat and they don't spot him. Hell it seems like when he's in the decoys the birds work better almost like they see the motion in the spread and cup up!

On bright sunny days use the shadows. I killed these today in a brown t-shirt, sunglasses, and no face mask just leaned up next to a tree with the sun at my back. I hate cloudy days.

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^damn homie . excellent strap.

Owendickeson: show some restraint when divulging your duck hunting success. We're suffering over here.

Dogs never seem to be of concern. Have witnessed more than a few times one walking around in the decoys, and ducks come right in. Have to wait until they got up and got some real altitude to shoot cause that idiot dog didn't much care for staying where she was told.

Congrats on the newborn OD!

El Nino. Fact.

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I hunt with a face mask, camo longsleeve, jeans and flip flops. Doesn't get very cool in south Florida. Hopefully we still get this front for the weekend. But my blind on my boat is set up pretty good. It conceals a lot

You can do fine with regular brown or subdued clothing. If you wear glasses have a hat with a brim that shades your glasses. Most importantly BE STILL. After the Ike storm I killed several limits by hiding on the side of an empty red fuel tank that had washed up to our pond in the storm

Movement and irregular shapes/ colors are the biggest factors I believe.
When you are hiding try your best to look like you're not even there. Don't look like a "big clump of brush out there" or "a grass island" in the timber.
Birds pick up on things that look out of place. X2 on what med says about the crows and herons. They fly the same area every day and know what's supposed to be there.

There will also be days it doesn't make a fuck what you do the birds are gunna fall into the decoys


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Not having read through the entire posts:

Think about this:

The ducks have been shot at relentlessly from Northern Canada down to you guys. They've seen about every type of decoy and camouflage on their way down.
Want to risk not getting any by not camming up properly? We spend a lot of money on boats, motors, gear, etc.... why skim.on the camouflage?

Jmo...

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Most of my hunting is done out of a boat, But I do frequent a few spots on land, The major role in this is movement, if you can't sit still I don't care what kind of camo you have on it is not gonna matter, All I wear is solid colors, Dark brown, tan, and green.