A couple of questions-

If its not going to be cold in the morning, is it a waste of time to hunt if it's say 60* outside? Is there a ' cut off ' temp to use as a rule of thumb?

If it looks like I may get rained on, is that a waste of time also? Do ducks feed when it rains?

I haven't had a very productive first year of duck hunting, trying to take advantage of the last two weeks we got left.

Thanks,
Rod

Good to know, thanks Ronnie!

i don't hunt in rain. i am convinced it hurts their eyes. drizzle is fine though. if it is warm and windy go, if there is not much wind don't bother

Never seen them fly much in a hard rain but whwn it stops or let's up they will move. Don't get discouraged Rod. Stay after em. You will learn along the way and when you finally do get in the middle of them its will make it all worth while. The key to killing ducks is scouting. Good luck.

I go in any weather...except lightning. I know one thing for sure, I can't kill them at home.

If its been anything like our season has been you picked a hell of a year to start... Not!

I believe that a duck hatches out knowing more about predicting the weather than an entire bus load of NWS and FAA meteorologists. It depends just as much, if not more, on what sort of weather is coming, rather than the current conditions. It may be relatively warm and still, but somehow ducks know when nasty weather is coming and they will get busy before it arrives.

With regard to rain, it depends on what kind and the duration. I love for the rain to pound their guts out the afternoon and night before, then switch to scattered showers the next day. The ducks will knock your hat off between showers then, so long as there is more rain coming. If it is a narrow band of rain remaining, they will wait it out.

I agree with med. I've never killed a single duck at home or at work. When you give up on predicting them, you just go when you can. Hope you bust em good!

Rod best advice is scout!! No matter what the weather is if you find ducks in a hole they are feeding and will be back in the morning!! Best time to scout is mid morning or lunch time!! If you do find them leave them be try not to disturb them much !! Set up in morning and you will have good hunts!! Remember hunting birds in afternoon hurts a place more than anything!!

Freeze overs and snow cover will drive ducks south to warmer ice free areas.

Makes u think different bout the phrase bird brain hu?

Ha yeah you right!! Thanks for the responses guys, I'm still learning all this stuff.

Rod

i don't care how long you have been hunting. you will learn something new every trip

X100 on don't give up

ALOT of things affect waterfowl hunting. Weather,food, water level also alot of people overlook hunting pressure

If your hunting public don't be afraid to try something outside the box

I went on a rice field hunt last week. The guides that were there been guiding 20 years and the other 40 years. We asked just that question and what there thoughts were. All they had to say was get out there because they have seen it all. Concensus was that when things freeze over in South LA they move out all together. These guys prefer temps of 50-60 degrees. They like South winds because it tends to get birds off the coast. Some rain is good but not easy for humans to hunt in.

ONe of the guys also told the story about the two federal biologists that literally were walking thru their lease with radio equipment. They were looking for one of their pintails they had radio collared. They found the bird dead in the field. THe guides asked them what they had found so far with the study. Findings so far were birds tend to move fast and get up and go with the fronts. Some of their pintails would be in Arkansas one day and down on the LA coast with a strong North wind the next. If winds blew out the South they would ride back up to Arkansas or even further and then come back down tith the next front. The birds did this several times in a 2 month period.

The old timer that had been duck hunting for 40+ years admitted he has some experience, but things seems to change and summarized it with the more he hunts the less he knows.

Get out there and hunt. There will be good days and bad days, and you won't get them everyday. If you do you are one of the lucky ones.

Usually this time of year gets pretty tough as everything is pretty educated.

Some of the best hunts I have ever had were in warm temps, south wind blowing, and a steady drizzle...

Dont know for sure if its true or not but one of my freinds said he was readin bout a study where they put a tracker on a mallard in canada. They said it flew to minnesota sayed there about a day then flew stait to south arkansas in about 18 hours.

Best hunt I had last yr was on a really warm morning with a strong north wind. Cold front was coming in late that afternoon and there were ducks everywhere. It was really cool to see. There were ducks working but then there were big flights way high that was running from the incoming weather.

Our lease has woods and open pasture. Bluebird and windy get in the woods, blue bird, cloudy and calm get in he pasture. Hunting in the bay north wind blowing 15 mph plus is the best but South will work too. Of course I had 3 hunts in a row in the same spot dead calm in the bay that produced 20 birds each hunt. Just made a hunt in the Texas hill country where the birds had not been hunted at all and we whacked em without decoys by throwing rocks in the water to make ripples. They folded in there like dish rags.

I have to admit the TX Hill Country hunt was fun... if we had decoys it would of been a massacre.

This is one of the tools I use often to keep up with the winds. It gives you an idea of what the winds are doing around the country which can give you an idea of where the birds may be heading.
http://www.weather.com/maps/news/foreca ... large.html

i dont know about the duckbirds...but this cold weather doesnt do any justice for my package...gonna have to tie a string on it just to find it!

I like to think of it as the best time to go duck hunting is when you want to be out there the least.. For an example when a cold front is passing through

Bump for some good info

one thing ive figured out is, I am never going figure them lil suckers out.

Ive been trying to figure it out for years. I agree good info here.

My old man, says my grandfather used to duck hunt according to the barometric pressure. Now what number and rising or falling effect is on them, I have no idea.

I just hunt everyday I can, do A LOT of scouting will give you the most shooting opportunities.

This year has been extremely weird with very sorry results for me..

Give me a sunny day to hide better!

you ain't gonna kill em from the bed!!!