Wood Duck Question

I use to duck hunt often but usually on private ponds with the occasional public hunt. Deer hunted hard the past few years leaving little time for duck but with a recent move it just made sense for me to start duck hunting again.
With that being said, I hunted Saturday and Sunday morning and both hunts resulted in wood duck limits.
I didn't wanna over do a the spot so I took two days off tried again this morning and it wasn't anything like the weekend. Had a few ducks fly over and only two came in to land early.
I am hoping it had everything to do with the Wednesday morning being out of the norm and in the morning they will be back.

Hunting in the morning and wanna get some advice. How would you guys hunt this spot? Would you guys us a bunch of decoys or just a few? I've never really targeted wood ducks mainly but that seems to be the only thing around right now.

I see about 4 different spots to set up good angles in that picture depending on the wind/weather. Good looking spot. If it's private, it looks fairly small, so you probably wouldn't need many decoys at all. You need to be real careful about pressure on a spot like that, especially if you aren't seeing many ducks. We have a few small private areas like that and we usually don't hunt them any more than once a week.

Usually on a small spot like that with lots of cover, less is more as far as decoys are concerned.

That's my 2 cents and how I would hunt it.

Your over doing it hunting it two days in a row... a spot like that especially that's just holding wooduck can get shot out pretty quick.. id say once every other week

Now once we get a big push you should get some grey duck in there.. that's got gaddy written all over it. and maybe GWT real late into January..

I hunt a spot similar to that and any more than one hunt a week or 10 days and you really start seeing the affect.. especially if your not getting big Northern pushes

Oh.. very few decoys.. id just set a jerk rig

It is extremely likely that all the woodies you shot Saturday and Sunday were local birds, which is why there weren't any left this morning. I would let the spot rest for at least a week before trying to hunt it again. I agree with Navasot that a little hole like that should only be hunted a couple times a month.

In Texas there are a lot more year round resident woodies than migratory. In some areas, the birds are 100% resident. And a couple days of hard hunting over a small pocket of woodies could wipe out that specific lineage of birds. In other words, you killed them all, ain't no more

I'll shoot an occasional woody, but I get much more satisfaction just watching the birds. They are definately characters, and more than a little peculiar.

Look at a wood duck and tell me God doesn't exist. Not only does God exist, but he has an exceptionally well developed sense of humor.

I'm hoping I haven't killed them all, I see quite a few fly over the house every evening. I'll give the spot a rest and try it again in a week or so.
aeranigs I thought the same thing in my first Alaska trip this year watching brown bear catch sockeye at the Russian River Falls. Not the sense of humor as much as the beauty. Only God.

I've seen a few good holes get shot out the last few years, I'm with the let it rest crowd.

more will take their place for sure and its good if they are coming there in the morning and not roosting there.. always plenty of wooduck to go around they just know when to stay away

Gotta scout it. Watch the birds. Do they sit on it when birds are on it, or keep going? What time are they there? Are the birds noisy while they are on it?This will tell you if they are using it to feed or as a loafing area. On a small hole like that, I would always put my back to the sun to minimize glare and to always have a cross wind. The birds at treetop high can see the entire shore line, so you gotta be in the shadows.

Scouting it is key. No real way for us to let you know how to hunt it without scouting for ourselves. Putting in the work scouting is half the fun.

Good luck.

Scouting a small hole? I mean... if your there and the birds are flying.. shoot.. other than that your just bird watching

That's like having a meeting to schedule a meeting

Well we disagree on this one. If birds are passing over, something different can be done. Some of my fondest hunts required scouting small holes to figure out when to hunt and how to hunt.

Scouted this puddle for two weeks till I found it to be consistent enough to take customers.


This one hunt created a memory that has the same group of hunters returning every year.


Sure, I could have went out and killed one or two every day, but anyone can do that. Having a meeting to schedule a meeting is called over planning. In waterfowl, I'm not sure that is possible, just part of the pursuit.

Buck Creek had a lot of woody back in the day. Shot out isn't the phrase Id use. More like nuked.

About 9,657 people just Googled "hunting buck creek". Well done.

Scouting is more important to me on public stuff or if I'm hunting a new private place I haven't hunted before.

Small private places like the ones pictured above the birds pretty much have to land in range anyway, so at that point it becomes more about concealment, calling, and spread.

Private stuff, I might drive by and glass with binos to see if and what type of birds are there, but other than that, I just expect birds to be there if I've seen them a day or two prior.

If I guided, it might be different though. I have to work unfortunately, which severely limits my ability to scout.

Understand completely if trying to sell a hunt

I wouldn't hunt it again until you have scouted it and see a good number of birds in it.

There aren't any birds in that creek anymore.

That is a good looking hole and I agree with Creek2creek. Scouting is the best way to produce success even if it is a small hole.

Few decoys, very little calling and kick the water.