Troy Smutka shares some tips on hunting resident ducks and geese during some of the strongest pressure of the season.

Early-season waterfowl hunting means hunting resident or local birds. Most years, not much of a migration will have started yet, unless you are experiencing abnormally cold weather. Resident birds will be mainly in family groups, especially ducks. Geese group up into multiple-family groups more frequently. These local birds have likely gotten into a pattern the past month or two, with regular feeding and loafing areas and times. Hunting them with any consistent success will require some scouting.

Not all groups of birds are doing the same thing at the same time, and not all harvested alfalfa or wheat fields or ponds or lakes will host ducks and geese. Once the shooting starts and the hunting season is off and running, you will need to continue to scout regularly. Resident birds will become quickly educated once the shooting starts and will adjust their patterns. A harvested field or small pond or large lake alive with ducks or geese on opening day may become void of birds in a day or two if the hunting pressure is too strong.

If you are fortunate enough to have access to private land or water that is serving as a feeding or loafing area to resident waterfowl, and you want to hunt it multiple times, be careful not to overhunt it or the birds will be gone. If you have access to a pond where birds roost on overnight, don’t shoot it up at sunrise on opening day. Wait until the birds leave the roost, often just before or just after sunrise, and then move in and set up your decoys. Often, the birds that left almost all at once at sunrise will return in small family groups spread out over hours. Harvest some birds, and then get out of the pond quickly so birds still returning can loaf undisturbed. If you have permission for an overnight roosting pond, don’t hunt it late in the day leading up to sunset, or you may drive the birds to find another roost.

It’s the same thing with a feeding field of harvested alfalfa or wheat. Harvest some birds as they start arriving in the morning, and then get out of the field and leave them to feed. Don’t hunt the field in the evening if birds are feeding then, or they may look for a new field the next morning. For both ponds and fields, don’t hunt them multiple days in a row or your birds will move on.

For those hunting public water, be prepared to get out to the lake early to get a good spot. The other option, especially after the opening weekend, is to wait and hunt in the middle of the day—late morning to mid afternoon or evening if regulations allow it. This late time will cut down on competing with others for spots and birds. And once birds get blasted at early in the morning, even on a large public lake, they often change their habits and visit these bodies of water to loaf later in the morning, after most hunters have packed up and left. If small roosting ponds around a larger public lake get shot up heavily the first couple days of the season, those birds may shift to the larger public lake and learn to visit later in the morning and to avoid decoys and calls.

Speaking of decoys and calls…Early season, especially opening weekend, has some of the most intense hunting pressure birds experience all season. Resident birds get educated pretty quickly. Since these are local birds, expecting to remain in the area for a while yet if weather permits, they are inclined to hang out in their family groups. They are not as excited to join in with other waterfowl as migrators coming from the north later in the season will be. A close call or two while responding to a duck call and attempting to land with decoys will soon have them shy of both calls and decoys.

Early in the season, I keep my decoy spread small, and after opening day, I don’t do much calling. In central Minnesota, we nest mostly mallards, wood ducks, bluewing teal, and Canada geese. My opening day decoy spread consists or two to six of each of these species to mimic birds loafing in family groups (see diagram). My opening day calling consists of occasional soft mallard quacks, wood duck squeals, teal quacks and peeps, and goose clucks and honks. I use these sparingly to get the attention of waterfowl in the area, but once I see birds, I am usually quiet and let the decoys do the work.

After opening weekend in central Minnesota, I often switch to goose floaters only on large public waters. This spread will usually consist of one or two, 5- to 7-bird families of Canada geese. This spread is different than what resident ducks and geese see most of the time, making it fresh. And while ducks come to trust geese and work goose decoys alone over water, geese quickly learn to distrust duck decoys on water with a few geese off to the side. My calling at this point is one or two hail calls when I see geese in the distance, and then maybe an occasional cluck to keep their interest but not chase them away. We will cluck and honk once in a while when we aren’t seeing birds, just in case they are around but we just can’t see them.

It can be frustrating waiting for migrating to start to get some fresh birds into your area, but that doesn’t mean you should stop hunting and instead sit on the couch, checking the weather forecast. If you have resident ducks and geese in your area, they can be hunted successfully, even after opening weekend. Do your scouting, adjust to the birds’ locations and schedule changes, keep the decoy spreads small, go easy on the calling, and you should do alright.

Even seasoned hunters can learn something new from the articles in the fall issues of MidWest Outdoors, available the first full week of every month at the newsstand or by subscribing on our website.