Im crazy excited! Just gained access to a some acreage with 6 small pothole tanks. It is my buddy's family land and Part of the access is I set up the blinds etc. pretty sparse cover on the ponds. 1-2 trees, some have tall grass, some have mowed field edges. Only one is bigger than an acre, some are just long creeks that were dammed up. You could shoot from any location on these ponds. They really aren't that big. All have veggies and they hold ducks. New to tank hunting so here are my two questions.

Blinds- in limited natural cover what do you guys set up? Not trying to build a luxury duck bunker...just want it to be comfortable for two guys and help cut the north tx wind without flaring ducks. Wondering if the standard plywood box will stand out too much on a small pond. What is your exp?

Decoys- any benefit to leaving out permanent spreads? The two of us are the only ones hunting the place so could eliminate a lot of hassle. Thought?

Just give me address I'll show you how to set up lol

Sounds like a couple layouts are in order.

Make sure to have the sun at your back on tanks...unless you have the layouts.

Take a few pieces of bamboo that have wire strung between them and you can chop some of that tall grass to fill in for a sit in.

I've done permanent spreads in deeper ponds without any major effect (in my mind at least)...just remember the sun wears anything out that's left in it for too long.

I say invest in a few layout blinds, that would be your best bet in my opinion

I figure out how they hunt before you go building blinds. Just roll with some layouts or hide in brush/trees/whatever along the banks. Once you figure out the best set ups for each hole then you can build some blinds. The problem is though it might take you all season or more to really figure this out.

Never underestimate the value of t-posts, chicken wire/zip ties and burlap... If each pond is less than an acre, then just set up for predominant winds and sunrise. Set up a few tanks for a northern wind and be done.
All in all layouts will be your best bet and I'm guessing you could get out the door with two of those for less than materials/labor for six blinds.

My preference would be a ghillie. Nothing like wearing your own layout blind. Otherwise a layout.

Regarding dekes, it won't matter if you leave them out if you have fresh birds arriving regularly. The caveat is resident birds that survive hunting pressure will quickly associate specific, non-moving static dekes with a threat and avoid them. Moving them around or removing them after each hunt will mitigate that problem.

The comment made about the necessity of having the sun to your back, my preference in early morning before sunrise is always sun in my face as it's much easier to see birds dropping in or working the spread and to minimize the risk of a backlit silhouette or shadow on the water. In cloudy weather, it's not as important, and I'll typically try and get the wind to my back if there's a good breeze blowing.

Being covered head to toe, using face paint, being still and quiet, and the use of effective concealment, and knowing when and when not to call, will negate the risk of spooking birds.

IMHO, calling is WAY over rated. Great for pulling birds, but little else, except perhaps to impress folks at county fairs or on TV shows.

I've seen and heard some absolutely rediculous calling over the last few years by clowns that have all the Cabelas fashion accessories. They've watched a few hunting shows and YouTube videos and all of a sudden they think their Buck Gardner. Calling in comp has little in common with calling real live ducks. If you need practice, do it away from the honey holes. If you're a mediocre caller or don't know which calls are appropriate for the species and/or situation, leave the calls at home.

Last, I'd suggest getting the TAMU aquatic plant handbook and study it. Being able to identify food sources and feeding sign is extremely important. Unfortunately, it's a skill that few hunters possess. I can count on one hand the number of hunters that can accurately identify various species of aquatic vegetation endemic to Texas.

Have you ever seen a duck land in decoys? I guess not. If you have, you would see they swim up to the decoys, realize they are fake, and freaks them out and they swim away or fly off. So not a good idea.

I would pm MOhunter. That guy has forgotton more about duck hunting than most will ever know. He is a real wealth of knowledge

PM Mo for public hunting, PM Jeff for private hunting.

PM malone for for semi public or myself for semi private

East side. Do lay downs 100%

PM Bev for crow hunting, or pigeon hunting, or hunting with long barrels...

PM Guy for LGBT hunting.

PM Guy to rent a boat.

HAAAAA! Apparently Guy doesn't know $hit.

Foosh those are great.

Vid #2: Shows 1 bird among many fake birds, bird is freaked out.

Vid #1 and #3: Many live birds among fake birds, birds poking at each other to see who is real and who is fake. All those birds felt something wrong and probably shorty flew off..

Vid 2 - Bird was comfortable enough to get frisky with the pintail deek.

Vid 1 and 3 - Birds poking the fakes and the lives, preening, stretching...doing all kinds of things. Stayed for quite a while. Would have stayed longer but got tired of watching them and I wanted that drake.



Birds are crazy and will do whatever they choose to do. No two birds are alike.

I have more pics and vids.

All those birds are nervous, JMO.

Leaving deeks out won't scare off birds....it's just hard on decoys and even on private decoys can get stolen. I'd say it's JMO but I've seen it down with good results. I think as far as birds coming in or getting scared off leaving out the decoys is a nonfactor but there are other reasons that are probably more important as to why you should not do it. Now if you want to let yourself catch an extra 15 minutes of sleep in the morning you can always set them out the evening before.

You can leave 'em out.. just don't use your fully-flocked a-teamers. I have a few i leave out on our private ponds.. just in case I'm running late or whatever. I had a bobcat jump out of a nearby tree after my first shots one morning.. might have been coincidence, might have been stalking my 'home ducks' as they've come to be called!

Had 8 Redheads land smack dab tight in the deeks this morning and stay there foooooooooorever. No video but do have pics of 4 dead Redheads.

And Gary the Grebe made himself at home as well. Cozied up to a plastic Widgeon drake.