Well, here he is, the Lone Ranger. My very first duck!



Had a pretty good day. Saw so many birds it was unreal. Ended up shooting two but only made it home with one. I also got a very large beaver at about 30 yards. He was the reason I only came home with one bird. He got my other but paid the ultimate price for his theft.

I should have had an excellent day, but, being a noob, think my setup sucked. I only have land access to the south and part of the west shore line. The wind was not in my face, but it wasn't a cross wind either. I just need to learn more about how to set up based on the place I have to hunt and I will be fine.

Me and my son threw the dekes out at 6:45. At 7:10 AM (LST was 7:20) we had about 20 gadwalls and BWt 10 yards in front of us. By the time LST got around, there were 5 ducks in front of us. I flushed them and shot once and got this bird.

After that, birds kept coming in but were way too far for shooting. I just can't get them closer. I was not calling as i do not know how and understand if you can't it's best not to.

Also, my dekes were in very calm water, I need to figure out how to make em move around some so they don't look like dekes.

Anyways, it was me and my sons first ever duck hunt and first duck. So it was still a good day.

Congrats man, at least you were able to go out there have some fun and spend time with your son. You are hooked now, I had to work.

Congrats.

Yeah some movement would probably help you. Rig you up a jerk string. You had a good time though! It's not always about the numbers. I only got one this morning also, but I had a blast just being out there.

Ya, I hear ya. I just wanted my son to get one. We had some type of small duck get within about 10 yards and he wanted to shoot it soooooooooooooooooo bad. I just didn't know what it was and if it was some kind of protected bird or not so i made him pass. He was dissapointed for sure.

As for the jerk string, all of my dekes are not tied together. Will just one moving work?

Congrats on that nice gaddie, you will learn more every time you go out. Congrats again.

Yeah you don't really need them all tied to a jerk string. Just one or a couple will help. I usually have about three tied to mine.

The wind should be coming from over your back so the ducks have to land directly into you.
A jerk string of about 3 or 4 dekes will be better than just one. Look up some info on the net for some suggestions. I used a large weight attached to a bungy cord then some decoy line. The decoys are attached to the line with about 2 ft. in between them.
Glad to see you getting your son out there and not taking a shot at something that you don't know what it is.

How old is your son? Congrats on your first duck.

He is 10. He had a blast!

Sweet, what great timing for you and him both to get into duck hunting!!

Great job!