I hunt a 10 acre lake and up until two days ago there has not been a problem with ducks decoying. I know the later the season goes, the more decoy shy the ducks get. I use a dozen mallards and 1 home made jerk cord. My question is, do I need to adjust my spread (numbers more or less?) or how to arrange them? The ducks are still landing on the lake just in the middle or other end of the lake. We had 4 or 5 groups circle, but they just wouldn't commit and lock in. Any advice on this is appreciated.

Set your decoys up where your not going to be hunting.

Have they stopped using the place your settup in general? When you scout the lake where are the birds?

If the water has come up and given them access to new places to feed or maybe put what they were feeding on too far under water.

If they're just rafting up in the middle to loaf you may try beefing up your spread to 4-5 dozen decoys and see how they react.

They are rafting up, but I have walked up on them in my set up area in the afternoons. They were trying to swim into my area just up the opposite side of the lake from my setup.

How covered are you?

How many times a week does that tank get hunted?

Are you always set up in the same spot?

Don't think we've had any fronts push new birds down, so you could be hunting the same birds, which are now educated about your spot.

I am the only hunter. Pretty covered up. Good point, I may move to another location to setup.

Oh, that's interesting. Have you done this before?

That would only work on a pond, I suppose. There would be no point in setting up decoys away from your position in a large lake...

Yep, but only on a small pond. If the birds are weary and landing on the other side we have put decoys on the other side and a few in front of us and it works pretty well.

Ttt

Your just dealing with mid season birds that get their butts shot off when they get close to land. Let them rest for a while then set up in a different spot.

Welcome to duck hunting! No really, all the posts above have good pointers to use when making a decision. I can say that I use most of those tips myself but, I can also tell you that if birds are landing in the middle and not getting up when you shoot at birds, that is tough to compete with and could be I sign of either too much pressure or educated birds. Birds will also land on large lakes in the middle like that just to rest. Do the birds have anything to feed on? Try different things and see what works. With a large spread with plenty of motion, you may be able to draw in some of the strays. Good luck!

Thanks for the great advice. We set up today in a different spot on the lake, put about 8 decoys one end of the lake and 4 decoys and a jerk cord close to us. Ended up with 14. Great Day!!!!