First Time Waterfowl Hunter

[Hookeye]

Sorry about your barrel.
There were warnings about steel shot.
I would not have tried steel in a fixed full choke

 

[Expat]

I used to hunt quite a bit years ago. I used a canoe and would float local streams. The wife would drop me off and pick me up at my exit site, I would usually go bridge to bridge. Sometimes you would see quite a few, sometimes none. Someone else in the canoe would make me nervous. i had a 14 ft narrow Jon for social outings. It was a little steadier. Be sure you can trust someone if you take them in a boat. I had a guy about shoot me. He got overexcited and was tracking the duck without paying attention to where that track was going.

 

[Mgderf]

I used to hunt quite a bit years ago. I used a canoe and would float local streams. The wife would drop me off and pick me up at my exit site, I would usually go bridge to bridge. Sometimes you would see quite a few, sometimes none. Someone else in the canoe would make me nervous. i had a 14 ft narrow Jon for social outings. It was a little steadier. Be sure you can trust someone if you take them in a boat. I had a guy about shoot me. He got overexcited and was tracking the duck without paying attention to where that track was going.

Tried pullin' a Dick Cheney on ya huh?

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Tried pullin' a Dick Cheney on ya huh?

I'm glad I scrolled down to this before I replied!

 

[two70]

I'm wanting to get into waterfowl hunting but have never been. I read recently there's a Veteran's Waterfowl weekend in October. I'm half considering borrowing a canoe and getting some decoys and trying to hunt on Monroe or something. Any recommendations on how to get started?

I would suggest putting in for the waterfowl hunt drawings that should be posted in the next 2-3 months as a starter. These can be good hunts if you're drawn and conditions are good. PS: If drawn, don't wear a hunter orange hat or do jumping jacks outside of your blind every hour or so. I have seen both.

If not drawn, then I'd suggest either spending gas and time to locate birds feeding in picked fields then knock on doors for permission to hunt the field or spend time locating birds near a major river and using your canoe to access a sand bar near where they are feeding to hunt from. Any random field you can get permission to hunt or sand bar you find can work but you'll spend a lot of time waiting for birds if you don't find where they want to be and setup on their routes to and from.

I'd skip the early teal season and focus on geese until you gain some experience as it can be hard to ID teal over other ducks when first starting out. If you're budget is pretty limited, I'd also recommend deciding whether or not you want to focus on hunting over fields or water as this will help make decisions on gear to buy.

 

[TLF]

A good friend and I duck hunt every year. My advise would be ask around and find somebody who already duck hunts and ask to go along. Some good advice listed so far but too much to remember starting out,IMO. I do hunt small spots from a canoe from time to time but starting out in a blind or more stable boat is your best bet. Most people that have hunted with my friend and I (in a large Jon boat) have returned to hunt again. I'm sure somebody on this site would help you out. Good luck