EP266 How To Finish A Wounded Duck? The Uncomfortable Reality

No matter how well we shoot and how good our ammo, there will still be wounded and crippled ducks that need humanely and quickly put down. This is not a fun subject, but it is something all duck hunters need to be aware of. On this episode I talk about various scenarios of wounded ducks and give three different techniques to quickly dispatch them with minimal suffering.

Shotgun patterns are imperfect and are not capable of instantly killing a duck every time, even at reasonable ranges. Compound this with the fact that hunters are not perfect shots, and you will unfortunately have to deal with wounded ducks on a semi regular basis. This can be minimized with practice, more experience judging distance, and high-quality ammunition. But it will still happen from time to time. So, you must be equipped and prepared to deal with it under field conditions.

Wounded ducks may have varying degrees of mobility. They may be able to swim at full speed, above or below water, they may be able to walk or even run on land. They may be able to partially fly, they may even be stunned and able to full fly once they shake it off. To dispatch a wounded duck, you may very well have to catch it first. This is easiest if you have a hunting dog. If not, you will want to be very mobile and able to give chase readily. 

One of the biggest lessons I have learned when hunting without a dog is to never take my eyes off a downed bird until I have it in hand. Always recover and deal with downed birds immediately. Never wait. You do not know if a bird is dead or not until you recover it. I have had birds belly up on the water that looked as dead as dead can be and 5 minutes later wake up and try to escape. Get your birds and confirm they are dead.

Do not hesitate to take a follow-up shot if a bird falls to the water but is still mobile. Every second will put the duck further away from you and further from ideal range. The longer you wait, the lower the chances will be of you recovering the bird. This often leads to the bird suffering worse and much longer. We need to avoid this as much as possible. 

One you have a crippled bird in hand, there are numerous methods for dispatching the duck. In summary they include:

  1. Swatting Loads
  2. Cervical Dislocation.
  3. A Pithing Tool

Listen to this podcast episode to hear the specifics about those techniques and methods to find the one that works best for you.

Here is the visual guide for how to humanely dispatch a downed duck that I mentioned in the episode as well. These are some of the most important skills a waterfowl hunter can take into the field, because treating game with respect and preventing suffering is of the upmost importance.

Always work to judge distance well, to take ethical shots, to pattern test your shotgun, ammo, and choke tube combo, and do not push your limits. The fewer ducks that are crippled the better. but when a bird is wounded you must deal with it quickly. I wish I would have been able to listen to this podcast episode before I started waterfowl hunting. I ran into this issue firsthand and did not know the ideal ways to deal with it, that was not fun. Hopefully you will be better prepared than I was. 

 

EP265 Are Expensive Duck Hunting Decoys Better?

Duck decoys range from $40 to $400 a dozen, and beyond. Are the fancy duck decoys better? If so, by how much? On this episode I talk about the differences between cheap and expensive duck hunting decoys to help you understand how to weigh the pros and cons of each to make informed decisions. 

Keep in mind, for generations hunters carved crude decoys from wood, used painted milk jugs, and improvised their own decoys out of whatever rudimentary materials that could find or create that would float for awhile. And these decoys worked reasonably well. Even the cheapest decoys on the market today are drastically better than what most hunters used throughout waterfowl hunting history. We are a little bit spoiled today with the caliber of simple and low-cost options available. So, are expensive decoys really that much better?

There are three main areas that expensive decoys give you advantages over cheaper decoys. They are detail, durability, and technology.

  1. Detail refers to both the paint job and the life like diversity of different duck positions. Cheaper decoys often all look identical while more expensive ones have a variety of posses that make them appear more lifelike.
  2. Durability is a factor of two different areas. One is making the decoys sink resistant and the other is the durability of the paint and finish. Only one of these is a legitimate point to consider when it comes to cheap vs. expensive decoys.
  3. Technology is a bit more complex. Because ducks can see certain colors and spectrums that people cannot, some decoys are designed to be more visible to ducks in low light but people cannot see those differences with our eyes. Expensive decoys sometimes come setup with this technology.

The big question is how much difference can expensive decoys make in these areas to be worth their price tag? Are $400 decoys really 10x better than $40 decoys? The simple answer is no, of course not. The more you pay, the less you get. It is a system of diminishing returns. However, if you pay more, you do get more. You just do not get a lot more. So the hunter able to pay large sums of money for the best decoys does get better decoys but they are only a little bit better. 

So, is it worth it? Only you can decide that. You need to listen to this entire podcast episode to get all of the information you need to judge the pros and cons of expensive decoys and decide which decoys are best for you to use.

EP264 What Are The Best Conditions For Buck Movement?

The best weather conditions for buck movement vary as the hunting season goes on. Weather, time of day, and time of season all work together to create ideal situations for whitetails to move. On this episode I focus on the weather and seasonal conditions that promote deer movement. 

Too often deer hunters go into the woods and see nothing. Any good hunt starts with good scouting, and indeed that has been the subject of many of my previous deer hunting episodes. But if you have a good spot and still see nothing, that may very well be a factor of being there on poor weather days that inhibit deer movement. Understanding this little piece of information can completely change the way you hunt and how effective you are in the woods. 

There are three main factors that work together to determine ideal times for buck movement. Time of season, weather conditions, and relative temperature. Think about it, deer live outside, and they like to move and feed under certain conditions. If you can learn the basics of each factor, you can put them together to predict the best hunting days with fairly good accuracy.

Time of Season – Deer movement patterns change as the season goes on. This is affected by how deer relate to the mating season, the change in weather, and change in habitat as soft cover dies with frost and things change as winter approaches.

Weather Conditions – Deer are greatly affected by changing weather conditions. They are no less sensitive to the weather than we are. Understanding how weather effects deer behavior will enable you to predict which weather days are the best for deer hunting. 

Relative Temperature – As fall comes and deer begin to grow in thicker fur, they are much more sensitive to high temperatures. When it is hot, they are much less likely to move until the colder times of day. But when colder days comes, the crisp temperatures can be liberating to big bucks, freeing them from overheating to move around more during daylight. 

The big key to picking the best days to hunt deer are putting these three factors together. Understanding the right time of day based on the part of the season you are in, picking days with the ideal changes in relative temperature, and looking for specific micro weather conditions that best contribute to deer movement. 

You can take deer on any day of the hunting season, at any time of day, and during any weather conditions. But your chances increase dramatically if you pick the best days and conditions. And if your time to hunt is limited, this information can help you pick the best possible days for deer movement.

Listen to the full podcast episode to get all of the information!

EP263 How To Navigate Deer Hunting Marketing & Prioritize Your Spending

There is no shortage of companies trying to convince deer hunters that they will take more deer if they buy something. The marketing is so overt and overwhelming that you could easily think you can spend your way to success in the woods. The truth is, there are precious few things you can buy that will make any difference in the number of deer you take. On this podcast episode I help you sort through the tide of marketing so you can make informed purchase decisions.

You can break down most deer hunting gear into three main categories, needs, comforts, and novelties.

There are very few true needs for the whitetail deer hunter. I consider a need to be anything you must have to optimize your chances of success for your hunting setup. If you are hunting in a tree, you need a tree stand. If you are hunting in archery season, you need clothing that provides some level of concealment to get in close, etc. What you do not need is a $500 tree stand or a $1,000 set of super high end camouflage gear. Needs are basic boxes that need checked to hunt a certain way, and it is a short list of boxes. A $100 tree stand fills the role of a need, a $500 tree stand is merely adding comfort, it may be nice but it will not help you take more deer.

Many companies try to market comforts as needs. And it is no wonder why, they want you to feel compelled to buy their stuff. But if you recognize comforts what for they truly are, you will make much better decisions. Comforts do not really help you take more deer, they simply make hunting more comfortable. In some rare cases they can help you take more deer by virtue of enabling you to keep hunting under conditions that would have sent you home otherwise. This is worthy of mention.

Often a full set of Sitka Gear is just going to make the hunt more comfortable and ergonomic, except when extreme cold, wind, or rain would send you home and insulated GORTEX lets you stay a few more hours and get a shot at a nice buck. So in some instances, comforts can make a difference in the field. Most of the time the $2,000 rifle cannot do anything more than the $400 rifle, but it is more ergonomic and fun to shoot. However sometimes the cheap rifle scope fogs up when you need it and the high performance one does not. So, every now and then spending the money matters, but often it just makes hunting a little nicer.

Novelties include just about everything else from things that have some value to thing that are complete gimmicks. On the market there are endless calls, scents, scent blockers, scent killers, scent proof clothing, special knives, special drag ropes, special bait, special laundry detergent, and much more. These are things that sometimes may help, sometimes they do nothing, and sometimes they hurt.  Yes, it can be helpful sometimes to have grunt call, but usually it makes no difference. No, you should not wash your gear in scented detergent, but to spend double on hunting laundry detergent that is the same as the regular stuff minus the added scent is a product of sheer marketing.

No matter the gear in question, always remember the marketing will paint it in the best light possible. You have to realistically evaluate everything with a healthy dose of skepticism. Look at the functional role a piece of gear will play and critically evaluate why you think it might somehow enable you to take more deer.

Listen to this podcast episode to hear much, much more.

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