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I am a complete newbie to duck hunting. I�ve hunted deer, turkey, dove, squirrel. I�ve hunted and fished all my adult life. My sons hunt with me. We just never hunted ducks. A couple of years ago, my son (now 12) said he wanted to go duck hunting. I�ve been working towards that goal since. Here�s an inventory of what I have to throw at this project:

Boat: 16 ft tri-hull bowrider with a 85 HP outboard. It�s light blue, but I figure I can hide it pretty well with a scissors blind.

Decoys: 1dozen brand new flambeau mallards with a blue heron confidence decoy. I got those in a trade a couple of years ago.

Guns: 2X Mossberg 500 3� 12 GA Pump with choke tubes. Rem 1100 12 GA 2 �� w. modified and full barrels. Rem 1100 20 GA w. modified and full barrels.

Clothing: Any sort of late-season warm camo required, I probably have already.

Dog: none that will retrieve.

Location: I live on the north side of Cincinnati, but we have a family farm in SW Bracken County. From there I am less than a half hour from: The Licking River, The Ohio River (closest approach is Fosters), and Kincaid Lake. From home, I can easily reach places like Grand Lake St. Marys, East Fork Lake and the Ohio.

Here are a bunch of questions:

1) Where do I go for good duck hunting?
2) What else do I need? Do you see any big deficiencies?
3) What sort of ammo do you recommend? Traditional steel or the new non-tox formulations?
4) What sort of calls do we need? How do we learn how to call?
5) When is a good time to hunt?
6) I realize the weather plays a large part in this. What is good duck hunting weather?

Shaman, Here are a few thoughts that may help.

1. Since I don't live in your area, I can't help you on the "where?".
2.Lose the confidence decoy. Pick up another couple dozen Flambeau "promotional" mallard decoys. If you really want to get serious, buy one or more motion decoys such as the Mojo Mallard.
3.You use the 12GA. 1100 with the Mod. barrel; your son shoots the 20GA. 1100.
4. Use Bismuth, Kent tungsten- matrix, or Hevi-Shot. Use 2.75" shells in both the 12 & 20. #5 shot in Bismuth and tungsten-matrix; #6 in Hevi-Shot. The use of steel shot is not to be considered.
5.My favorite calls are made by Duck Commander. I highly recommend them. I learned to call by sitting on the edge of the bayou and listening to semi-domesticated mallards call and also by hunting with an older, experienced hunter when I has your son's age. Then I started hunting alone in my teens so I could do all the calling; trial and error. There are zillions of duck hunting videos available to rent or check out from the library. This should give you an idea of how to get started.
6. Hunt every day the season is open. Be in the blind, ready to shoot, 10 minutes before legal shooting time.
7. As far as weather, the general rule of thumb is: Hunt flooded woods on bluebird days; hunt the fields and lakes when it's cloudy. It is my opinion that the best duck weather is when it is cold and clear right after a front has come through regardless of where you hunt.
Hope this gives you some ideas. Best of luck, RS

Thanks for the help.

RipSnort
Been guiding duck hunters for a lot of years and have seen guys shoot unbelieveable numbers of shells and birds over that time. I always hated steel shot, assumed it was a gimmick to protect ducks by preventing hunters from killing them.

A couple of years ago a fellow came over from Hawaii for a sea duck hunt and blew away every notion I ever had about shooting ducks with a shotgun. I was providing the shells and asked for preferences... federal 2 3/4", 2s.

No problem, I figure fewer birds to deal with... without going into details which would make me the king of internet Duck Diddling Liars by popular vote, I'll just say that he hit more birds, higher birds, faster birds, tougher birds, every kind of bird and flat killed them!!!

Sea ducks die hard and these birds seemed the exception. The gun was a BPS12 with a longish barrel and a modified tube, which he left as a tip on his departure. I have since taken to the same load and have found it to kill better than anything I have ever used.

I had a group a couple of years back shooting Hevi-shot by the case and they proved that the gun must be pointed at the bird in order to kill it and they only proved that about twice every box of shells...

When birds are coming in very close I shoot the junk steel that accumulates by the case and I save the federal 2s for tougher scratch shooting... I have not been as impressed by the bismuth and Hevi-shot as I thought I would be.

Literally, the Hevi-shot guys (5 of them) shot 6 cases of shells in 4 days for a total of less than 100 birds. The Hawaiian beat their total ducks and then some, but took just about a case to do it... did I mention sea ducks are tough?
art

Sitka, When you say the gun has to be pointed correctly, you have said it all. RS

I missed one thing: the Federal #2, are they Federal steel or the Federal no-tox?

Let me add that before I started using the better non-toxic loads, I, of course, used steel. After much experimenting, I ended up using #2 steel. Truly though, there is no comparison in "killability" between steel and the heavier non-toxic shot. This is especially true on late season, end of the flyway, fully feathered big ducks. This is where the much greater penetrating power of Bismuth, tungsten-matrix, and Hevi-shot shows its worth. RS

What do you prefer for snow geese?

Premium 3 1/2" #2 is what I use in the spring season.