I have always lived by the saying "If you're early, you're on time, if you're on time, you're late...if you're late, you're left". Passed this on to all the new people I've introduced to waterfowl hunting...or hunting in general.
I'll throw this tip out there. Eventually you're in a tight blind like mine where climbing out to pee is a pita. Tip: when you're about to toss that wide mouth plastic container that your iced tea or chocolate milk came in SAVE THAT. Why? Ever try pissing in a water bottle with a half inch diameter lid? Yeah. Toilet paper is in the bag too. Gross but when you gotta go and its raining hard and you're in a lake you piss in a bottle then dump it. Makes life way easier in the blind.
This year will be my 54th season. Some old WWII vets took me for the first time when I was 10, and of course, I was hooked for life. Trying to do the same for kids ever since.
Excellent tips! I haven’t missed a video! I’ve been hunting ducks for 36 years and am still learning something every year. One tip I’d like to share is too take a good quality folding hand saw along with you. They are excellent at cutting and gathering brush for your blind. Another I’d like to share is when needing to open up water in say in a flooded corn field, take along some hedge shears. They will open up a nice hole for your decoys in a hurry. And finally, pin oak tree branches make excellent blind material because the leaves stay on the branches all season long. These tips have helped me greatly!
Hunting ducks going on 43 years. First duck shot in 1976 (took a hiatus during college and early parenting years). Agree about 870s! Loved the fast-paced points!
Awesome tips. Been hunting 44 years. Learned most of the things you mentioned by trial & error. Its many little things that add up to a successful hunt. Thanks for the videos. Keep em coming.
I've been solo duck hunting for about 8 years. Only got ducks two of those 8 years. Up in Northern Canada, its a tough go if your not related to a farmer. Lots of fields but they are all spoken for year after year. I'm left with hunting ponds in the bush where getting a canoe in is a journey all on its own and almost impossible. To make things worse the water is too deep to wade in. I'm not giving up. Video's like yours are what keeps me going out there day after day, hoping for that perfect shot. Just subbed. Love the video format. Super informative. Thank you.
I’m 18 and have been hunting in Wisconsin since I was 3 with my dad. Sadly I have to miss opening weekend this year.. I couldn’t be more bummed out. A video or 2 would this weekend would help me pass the time!!
I'm 30 and just started this year. I'm having the most fun I've had since I was 21. Just trying to learn as much I can from all different types of hunters. l can't wait to get out again, and again and again.
Joel, great video, I have only been playing the waterfowl game for about 8 years now. I could totally relate to many of your points.... thanks for sharing as I am learning a little more with every hunt and every video! Happy hunting.
Woooo pigs 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 moved to Maryland years back just started duck hunting late this season it's nice to have help from someone I can understand. It's an amazing time . Thank you for everything
LOL, another great video! been doing this for a few years now, every year like you, I force myself to learn something new. As a cancer survivor, I enjoy this "second chance" as much as I can.
Only 4 years I started with only a canoe 9 old decoys 1 call and a Remington 870, fast forward to now I just bought 3 dozen new dekes let alone electronic ones I have roughly 10 duck calls bought a duck boat and putting a blind on it this season, bought waders, bout a stoger m3500, and buying my first Sitka jacket before this season. All I’ve gotta say is it’s an addiction and I’ve only been in the game 4 years
been hunting for 14 years now and still learn something every year, but by far the most important thing for myself is getting to my spot earlier than everybody else. Public land hunting can be tough but as long as you get there earlier than everybody else youll do fine! Ive been setup and ready to go by 4am sometimes!
Yeah, it used to be that way in Arkansas public areas too, however now they limit when you can enter the management area. Even if you get to your favorite spot first, people will challenge you and set up too close, etc... Just curious, what state are you hunting?
Never been duck hunting. We have been looking for a place to go duck hunting for a few years now. Dont really know alot of people around here who duck hunt. Thanks for the tips and everything on this channel. Love the channel!!!
Nice video dude! I’ve just started duck hunting this year and I think a great tip would be to team up with someone who has lots of experience. There’s something to be said about sitting back and listening to the things that others have learned from past failures; and successes. Also, keeping your feet warm is absolutely critical to make the hunt enjoyable. Anyway, thanks for the video! Cheers.
Totally agree with the way you prepare birds! If you don’t like goose put your favorite seasoning on it and throw it on the grill. Cook it hot and fast and leave it bloody. Tastes like a decent sirloin
Love the video! Learned a thing or two...but I will say if you are folding birds near salt water or even sea ducks, they do need a little work to make them table ready! Cooking temps don't change, but they do need some "brine" and fat needs to be removed. It also helps to have a recipe that is very "flavorful"! I do agree with the fact that puddle ducks who have only eaten corn or whatever do not need any special handling.
Another tip for goose. Seer meat on a grill high heat 2 min a side let rest. You can do the below same day or refrigerate for next. Then thinly sliced meat, a few pieces at a time in hot skillet to seer w butter literally just a few seconds. Cool serve as appitzer w cheese. It's like Kobe beef.
Great thoughts & suggestions, much appreciated, for new and old duck hunters. I have been hunting ducks for 40 years now, still cuss steel shot. Agree that tungsten & bismuth are worth the extra money. I would highly recommend all duck hunters to pattern their guns with different shells, it will surprise you how different each shell will pattern out of your duck gun. It will give you a lot more confidence when you pull the trigger!!! Keep up the awesome suggestions & work you put into duck hunting, Thanks
That's good advice. I've killed ducks when nobody else was killing them by doing super dumb tactics like setting up in a boat lane. Oh I got laughed at but only because I was sneaky and hid my ducks so everyone but the GW thought I was getting skunked. I'd been watching them land over in the boat lane so I moved. To put a name on the place .. It was the brushy slough at bayou meto
Joel I love all these tips good job I do have one tip when I shoot my birds there are a hundred and twenty degrees I age my birds in a refrigerator on their backs for two to three days and yes marinating anything wild ruins it eat it like a steak rare to medium rare great job and yeah I'd like to hear more I've put in about 17 years of hunting all of it on public land and I do have a dog chocolate lab thanks again from the Great Northwest public Duck Blind
60 waterfowl season. 7 fantastic Labradors. All black females. Missed two seasons while in Vietnamese Nam I agree with all your tips. I almost always hunt solo or with a family member so a few of your tips don’t apply. Love your vids. No bullshit. Just good stuff.
All of those were excellent tips, but the last one was the best. There are so many hunters, that I know, who dont actually enjoy eating duck because they overcook it. Medium rare!
awesome video, maybe some more on things such as the jacket and or how you set your jerk rig and make your texas rigs, rather then a shot gun blast of knowledge. love your videos. 17 years here. Some things to add are TP and gun oil for those cold sluggish days
Always extend an invite to solo hunters at the ramp. Some of the best friends I have came from not wanting to compete against another solo hunter on a random weekday
Our family has been duck hunting for 3 years. I hunted a little when I was a teenager. I am now 59. I didn’t take my son hunting a lot. Shame on me. He now has an 11 year old son. My daughter married a duck hunter and that got us started 3 years ago. I leased a field over by Tucker the first two years, but the guy I leased from lost the fields last year. So I bought a boat and we hunted public last year. One word......intense. I am pleased to have been able to provide the chance for my son and grandson to become duck hunters though. We already have stories to tell from our first year hunting public. Those stories seem to always involve losing things (cell phones, outboard keys, etc). We are all ready for the season to come around again though!!
Been chasing the ducks & geese 37 years. I highly recommend you leave the skin and duck fat on the birds when cooking. You can remove before eating or serving if you like. Amazing how the flavor pops. I learned the trick hunting with a friend from Lousianna. Now, I always leave the skin on, even when breasting. Wish someone had told me 25 years ago.
Also just bought my high and dry waders and the jacket to go with them just had a new born at Xmas been hunting all season out of my old waders with a blown out crotch not being able to go in water above the thigh has been a challenge
Good ok 870 wingmaster bought it at K Mart late sixty’s or early seventies. Old reliable. I have other waterfowl guns but shoot the 870 often. I think I replaced the slide arms once. Other than that just shoot it clean it and shoot some more.
Hey a video I’d love to see would be a duck gun video. I’d love to see a good first pump and a good first semi auto. I also love to see Remington 870 VS. mossberg 500.
Excellent. "Wind at your back is not a good idea" I assume you said this because the birds are looking directly at the hunters landing into the wind....with a cross-wind the birds are not looking directly at the hunters when landing into the wind.
46 years wear inexpensive cloth upland chaps over wader legs have not had to patch a pair since starting this practice and hardly notice that I have them on 7TH year on a pair of frog toggs
You "think" you're carrying all the regs. Actually them little booklets are "hunting regs for dummies". Plus the gw's lie about shit like what "in the field" means or what a "camp" is. The federal regs don't exactly match up with state and ARKANSAS is the worst. I've hunted in many states. If you're on an arkansas wma they can strip search you naked without any cause. You're on state property and you gave up some rights to be there. I have the booklet of regs from 1975. My first season. It's very small. One piece of paper folded that when folded fits in your wallet. Today it's a 78-page book with ads..
I shot my first duck in 1974, so 45 years. Don't spend your money on cool looking waterfowl gizmo's. Only spend your money on the absolute smallest amount of gear you can carry and still be effective, and buy quality. Spend the money you saved on more and better shells, and gas for scouting.
I have always lived by the saying "If you're early, you're on time, if you're on time, you're late...if you're late, you're left". Passed this on to all the new people I've introduced to waterfowl hunting...or hunting in general.
100% spot on. Even applies to fishing too, gotta get to the river early
Well said!
You forgot the most important thing TP or babywipes. I prefer baby wipes 👍🏻
Yeah, I didn't want to make this video too long, which is why I left off a hundred more things... but you're right, I prefer baby wipes too!
Enjoying the videos. I’m from MS. You done much hunting down this way?
The freshness that baby wipes provide is unmatched !
That goes in with the blind bag
I'll throw this tip out there.
Eventually you're in a tight blind like mine where climbing out to pee is a pita. Tip: when you're about to toss that wide mouth plastic container that your iced tea or chocolate milk came in SAVE THAT. Why? Ever try pissing in a water bottle with a half inch diameter lid? Yeah. Toilet paper is in the bag too. Gross but when you gotta go and its raining hard and you're in a lake you piss in a bottle then dump it. Makes life way easier in the blind.
Thanks! Been doing this for 46 years. Never gets old. Leaving tomorrow for the North Dakota opener. 🦆🦆🦆
Taking my dad who is 83.
Hope yall have a great hunt!
Cool. My first duck hunt was in 1975. I was 14 and soooo green.
Funny...I'm still 14 inside and it drives my hunting buddies batty
This year will be my 54th season. Some old WWII vets took me for the first time when I was 10, and of course, I was hooked for life. Trying to do the same for kids ever since.
Excellent tips! I haven’t missed a video! I’ve been hunting ducks for 36 years and am still learning something every year. One tip I’d like to share is too take a good quality folding hand saw along with you. They are excellent at cutting and gathering brush for your blind. Another I’d like to share is when needing to open up water in say in a flooded corn field, take along some hedge shears. They will open up a nice hole for your decoys in a hurry. And finally, pin oak tree branches make excellent blind material because the leaves stay on the branches all season long. These tips have helped me greatly!
Great tips, thanks for sharing!
Hunting ducks going on 43 years. First duck shot in 1976 (took a hiatus during college and early parenting years). Agree about 870s! Loved the fast-paced points!
16yrs of hunt and just bought my first semi and i love it haha !!!
What’d you get?
Awesome tips. Been hunting 44 years. Learned most of the things you mentioned by trial & error. Its many little things that add up to a successful hunt. Thanks for the videos. Keep em coming.
I've duck hunted off and on for the past 20 years. I learn something new every year.
Second year chasing ducks! It's by far my favorite kind of hunting.
I've been solo duck hunting for about 8 years. Only got ducks two of those 8 years. Up in Northern Canada, its a tough go if your not related to a farmer. Lots of fields but they are all spoken for year after year. I'm left with hunting ponds in the bush where getting a canoe in is a journey all on its own and almost impossible. To make things worse the water is too deep to wade in. I'm not giving up. Video's like yours are what keeps me going out there day after day, hoping for that perfect shot. Just subbed. Love the video format. Super informative. Thank you.
Thanks Michel! I'm glad you're not giving up. Stay positive, keep trying new things, and network with other duck hunters in your area.
My 1st duck hunt was 50 years ago. I've been hooked ever since.
I’m 18 and have been hunting in Wisconsin since I was 3 with my dad. Sadly I have to miss opening weekend this year.. I couldn’t be more bummed out. A video or 2 would this weekend would help me pass the time!!
Sorry you're missing the opener. Hopefully you'll be able to make up for it later in the season with some great hunts!
I'm 30 and just started this year. I'm having the most fun I've had since I was 21. Just trying to learn as much I can from all different types of hunters. l can't wait to get out again, and again and again.
Joel, great video, I have only been playing the waterfowl game for about 8 years now. I could totally relate to many of your points.... thanks for sharing as I am learning a little more with every hunt and every video!
Happy hunting.
Thanks for the comment... I'm glad you're liking our content. Hope you have a great season!
Woooo pigs 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 moved to Maryland years back just started duck hunting late this season it's nice to have help from someone I can understand. It's an amazing time . Thank you for everything
LOL, another great video! been doing this for a few years now, every year like you, I force myself to learn something new. As a cancer survivor, I enjoy this "second chance" as much as I can.
25+ years. Love the content. Keep it up!!👊🏼👊🏼
BLASTER 333 thanks!
Off and on hunting for more than 30 years, sometimes gets frustrating, never gets old
Started in 2018 (4.5) with my brother. We haven't duck hunted since, but I deeply drive my passion further season after season.
Only 4 years I started with only a canoe 9 old decoys 1 call and a Remington 870, fast forward to now I just bought 3 dozen new dekes let alone electronic ones I have roughly 10 duck calls bought a duck boat and putting a blind on it this season, bought waders, bout a stoger m3500, and buying my first Sitka jacket before this season. All I’ve gotta say is it’s an addiction and I’ve only been in the game 4 years
been hunting for 14 years now and still learn something every year, but by far the most important thing for myself is getting to my spot earlier than everybody else. Public land hunting can be tough but as long as you get there earlier than everybody else youll do fine! Ive been setup and ready to go by 4am sometimes!
Yeah, it used to be that way in Arkansas public areas too, however now they limit when you can enter the management area. Even if you get to your favorite spot first, people will challenge you and set up too close, etc... Just curious, what state are you hunting?
Never been duck hunting. We have been looking for a place to go duck hunting for a few years now. Dont really know alot of people around here who duck hunt. Thanks for the tips and everything on this channel. Love the channel!!!
Maybe 21 or 22 or years. Love every minute of it!
Great tips. I've been bird hunting for five years now. The last two is when I really started to learn alot about the sport. Keep the camera rolling.
I picked up a couple tips here. Thanks Joel!
Nice video dude! I’ve just started duck hunting this year and I think a great tip would be to team up with someone who has lots of experience. There’s something to be said about sitting back and listening to the things that others have learned from past failures; and successes. Also, keeping your feet warm is absolutely critical to make the hunt enjoyable. Anyway, thanks for the video! Cheers.
21 years! Hoping it will be good this year. Good luck to everyone!
Thanks for watching! What are some things you can add to our list? Post em in the comments!
This will be my 43rd season! Lots of good ideas! Good luck this season
Thanks... good luck to you as well!
I just got started last season and got hooked.
47 years and learning every hunt your videos are a great tool to new and grumpy old s$#tbag shooters like me thanks mate.
LOL Thanks 👍
Love the video! The more experience I get duck hunting the more I appreciate your knowledge and skillset. Thanks for the info
Thanks! Glad it was helpful.
Great tips! Good luck this coming season 👊🦆
AlaskaOutdoorsTV thanks! Good luck to u too.
Been doing it 25 years thanks for the video
Totally agree with the way you prepare birds! If you don’t like goose put your favorite seasoning on it and throw it on the grill. Cook it hot and fast and leave it bloody. Tastes like a decent sirloin
Love the video! Learned a thing or two...but I will say if you are folding birds near salt water or even sea ducks, they do need a little work to make them table ready! Cooking temps don't change, but they do need some "brine" and fat needs to be removed. It also helps to have a recipe that is very "flavorful"!
I do agree with the fact that puddle ducks who have only eaten corn or whatever do not need any special handling.
Thank you for your knowledge and great tips!!!
Another tip for goose. Seer meat on a grill high heat 2 min a side let rest. You can do the below same day or refrigerate for next. Then thinly sliced meat, a few pieces at a time in hot skillet to seer w butter literally just a few seconds. Cool serve as appitzer w cheese. It's like Kobe beef.
Good Stuff Joel, great way to get your head in the right spot for the upcoming season!
Thanks brother!
Great thoughts & suggestions, much appreciated, for new and old duck hunters. I have been hunting ducks for 40 years now, still cuss steel shot. Agree that tungsten & bismuth are worth the extra money. I would highly recommend all duck hunters to pattern their guns with different shells, it will surprise you how different each shell will pattern out of your duck gun. It will give you a lot more confidence when you pull the trigger!!! Keep up the awesome suggestions & work you put into duck hunting, Thanks
First season opens in 3 days for me, I appreciate all of the tips I’ve learnt off your channel.
Glad to help! Make it a great season!!
Thanks man! I spent 20 Minutes out and Maxed out today, Great way too get it underway.
AFLK Productions awesome!
I’ve been waterfowl hunting on public ground for over 40 years.
12+ years. Don’t remember exactly when I started but I’m 20 now and don’t remember a time when I didn’t duck hunt.
only 1 was my first year this year and i loved it
Know your flight routes, not your flyway, but the flight routes over your hunting areas.. crucial when it comes to where you set up at
your absolutely right!
That's good advice. I've killed ducks when nobody else was killing them by doing super dumb tactics like setting up in a boat lane. Oh I got laughed at but only because I was sneaky and hid my ducks so everyone but the GW thought I was getting skunked.
I'd been watching them land over in the boat lane so I moved.
To put a name on the place ..
It was the brushy slough at bayou meto
Excellent! This will be my 31st year and I started it off with a pintail not common for us this early in Mn
Great! I love pintails!!
Joel I love all these tips good job I do have one tip when I shoot my birds there are a hundred and twenty degrees I age my birds in a refrigerator on their backs for two to three days and yes marinating anything wild ruins it eat it like a steak rare to medium rare great job and yeah I'd like to hear more I've put in about 17 years of hunting all of it on public land and I do have a dog chocolate lab thanks again from the Great Northwest public Duck Blind
I'm 11 me and my dad started last year and we are hooked
That's fantastic Theo! Thanks for watching our content, and I appreciate your comment!
60 waterfowl season. 7 fantastic Labradors. All black females. Missed two seasons while in Vietnamese Nam
I agree with all your tips.
I almost always hunt solo or with a family member so a few of your tips don’t apply.
Love your vids. No bullshit. Just good stuff.
All of those were excellent tips, but the last one was the best. There are so many hunters, that I know, who dont actually enjoy eating duck because they overcook it. Medium rare!
I sure miss those wonderful days.
One day closer!!
Looking forward to wearing my High N Dry this year!!
Going into my 4th season. The learning curve has been tough but hopefully it will bet better.
I remember those days too. Hang in there, and if possible go with some experienced guys that have a good spot.
Good list. All true. Like to see a video on waded repair.
awesome video, maybe some more on things such as the jacket and or how you set your jerk rig and make your texas rigs, rather then a shot gun blast of knowledge. love your videos. 17 years here. Some things to add are TP and gun oil for those cold sluggish days
Got some of those on my list of future videos, thanks!
Informative, Thanks 💥💥💥
Always extend an invite to solo hunters at the ramp. Some of the best friends I have came from not wanting to compete against another solo hunter on a random weekday
I saw you mentioned that you like to shoot #5 2 3/4 12 gauge in bismuth. How would this change if you were forced to shoot steel?
47 years, never missed an opener
Our family has been duck hunting for 3 years. I hunted a little when I was a teenager. I am now 59. I didn’t take my son hunting a lot. Shame on me. He now has an 11 year old son. My daughter married a duck hunter and that got us started 3 years ago. I leased a field over by Tucker the first two years, but the guy I leased from lost the fields last year. So I bought a boat and we hunted public last year. One word......intense. I am pleased to have been able to provide the chance for my son and grandson to become duck hunters though. We already have stories to tell from our first year hunting public. Those stories seem to always involve losing things (cell phones, outboard keys, etc). We are all ready for the season to come around again though!!
Great list - enjoyed it - maybe do some more 😊
More! And more about goose hunting pleae!
Did a little last year. Hoping to do some duck hunting this year to add some different content for my channel.
Been chasing the ducks & geese 37 years. I highly recommend you leave the skin and duck fat on the birds when cooking. You can remove before eating or serving if you like. Amazing how the flavor pops. I learned the trick hunting with a friend from Lousianna. Now, I always leave the skin on, even when breasting. Wish someone had told me 25 years ago.
I’m 13 and I’m getting ready to start my 2nd season
Thanks for the video. Can we get a recipe for that shot at the end? Looked delicious!
Since 1968! 55 years!
Box of federal #4 shot $3.99 at Holiday gas station!
This will be my 6th year duck hunting
17 years... 1 best dog.... dam time flies by.
I love the boss copper plated bismuth
Also just bought my high and dry waders and the jacket to go with them just had a new born at Xmas been hunting all season out of my old waders with a blown out crotch not being able to go in water above the thigh has been a challenge
Can you elaborate on why you prefer to shoot 2 3/4 over 3” shells
I first duck hunted 55 years ago, but there were a couple of long periods when I got away from duck hunting.
Good ok 870 wingmaster bought it at K Mart late sixty’s or early seventies. Old reliable.
I have other waterfowl guns but shoot the 870 often. I think I replaced the slide arms once. Other than that just shoot it clean it and shoot some more.
37 years old been going since I was 8 live in Maryland and never had to leave the Eastern Shore
I am relatively new 49 years. Still using a Remington 1100 3 inch Mag. Reliability in a Auto lies with who maintains.
I hunted ducks for fifty years and still learning
This will be season 46. For a Rookie you covered it pretty well!
K R Terry haha right on!
Good tips!
A Chesapeake Bay retriever will run circles around a lab and take the extreme temperatures much more!!
Says my dog…..lol
On setup I always try to setup with the sun at my back and stay in the shadows use natural light to be concealed along with your camo
Planning on my first time this year, never done it before
Awesome!
Hey a video I’d love to see would be a duck gun video. I’d love to see a good first pump and a good first semi auto. I also love to see Remington 870 VS. mossberg 500.
Good Suggestion.
I’m sure you have addressed this but...how should I scout public land? I’m completely green and my only hunts have been paid for.
All good been hunting ducks for 38 years also all good points 😎💩🦆
This will be my third season
Only a ginger would pick a yellow dog over a black...lol. Really enjoy the vids brother.
3rd year in NewZealand!
Hunting Arkansas for 20 plus years
Excellent. "Wind at your back is not a good idea" I assume you said this because the birds are looking directly at the hunters landing into the wind....with a cross-wind the birds are not looking directly at the hunters when landing into the wind.
are decoys necessary for duck hunting
46 years wear inexpensive cloth upland chaps over wader legs have not had to patch a pair since starting this practice and hardly notice that I have them on 7TH year on a pair of frog toggs
this will be my 7th season coming up
I carry a break down cleaning rod to clear a fouled barrel. Save the day at times.
7 years in the swamp!
This is my 23rd duck season
I also carry a current regulations for the state I'm hunting in in my blind bag. As well as a roll of electrical tape and zip ties.
Jeff Hoose great ideas!
You "think" you're carrying all the regs. Actually them little booklets are "hunting regs for dummies".
Plus the gw's lie about shit like what "in the field" means or what a "camp" is. The federal regs don't exactly match up with state and ARKANSAS is the worst. I've hunted in many states. If you're on an arkansas wma they can strip search you naked without any cause. You're on state property and you gave up some rights to be there.
I have the booklet of regs from 1975. My first season. It's very small. One piece of paper folded that when folded fits in your wallet. Today it's a 78-page book with ads..
First full season, duck hunted with others a hand full of times over the past three years
I shot my first duck in 1974, so 45 years. Don't spend your money on cool looking waterfowl gizmo's. Only spend your money on the absolute smallest amount of gear you can carry and still be effective, and buy quality. Spend the money you saved on more and better shells, and gas for scouting.