Throughout the world there are different duck populations and different water bird populations, and just as these will vary, so will your luck as a duck hunter. Duck hunting gear is constantly improving, however, making it simpler and straighter forward for you to go hunting and come back successful. The improvements in duck hunting gear are easily encompassing all areas of duck hunting that are going to concern you, including but not limited to clothing, blinds, ammunition, methods for dog training, decoys and all other hunting gear that you may require.

Many hunters are of the believe that modern duck hunting ammunition and shells are far advanced in comparison to the lead shot that was used several years ago. There are many serious improvements that have been made, including for example higher velocity loads which are capable of providing greater distance for shooting as well as a non toxic shot, which means that consuming the bird will be more palatable in the end. With these improvements in equipment, hunters are capable of bagging their prey from even further away than before

Camouflage wear for hunting has also certainly improved the success of duck hunting. The garments that are worn today are extremely lightweight and also happen to be waterproof, and so they allow for great comfort and they also allow the hunter to remain dry for a longer period of time. Duck hunting jackets have been tailored to be wind proof, and this keeps the hunter warmer for longer, and they are also lightweight meaning that freedom of movement is capable of being provided.

Duck boats are also now much more advanced in nature. Today’s duck boats are much more specialized today than they were a few years ago. Duck boats are a necessary part of the duck hunting gear that is necessary for navigating streams, rivers, swamps, sloughs and lakes for prey. The manufacturers making these watercraft are responding to the importance of boats among hunters of water fowl like ducks.

Another improvement has been made in the way of duck blinds both on land and in boats as well as they have undergone a variety of design changes. Now they offer superior construction, greater designs and better materials as well. When it comes to having all of the right gear, these brand new duck blinds tend to be portable, easy to install, compact, light weight, affordable and also quite capable of hiding hunters. Boat blinds are made from rugged nylon and the frames are study, easy to set up, easy to attach and also just as easy to take down as well. The same is true for land blinds, which are just as easy to set up, and attach and take down, for easy hunting and great results.

There are plenty of new innovations in duck hunting that are making the sport more enjoyable and more successful than ever.

Photo Credits: Lord Str8stroke

Originally posted 2009-07-30 05:52:58. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

If you seem to think that duck hunting simply amounts to hiding until birds fly by, there are several duck hunting tips that can help you understand the sport better and help you do better when you’re out on a hunt. There’s much more to hunting ducks than simply hiding and waiting for them to fly overhead or land on the water.

If you’re serious about duck hunting, then record your progress. People who set goals and write their goals and their progress toward them down do much better than people who don’t. And because duck hunting is something that involves a lot of observation and paying attention to trends and surroundings, keeping a sort of diary of your duck hunts can help you see patterns and get the most out of your time in a boat or a blind. Being able to look back through your diary at what happened when you didn’t get any ducks and what happened when you did can make all the difference in how successful you are duck hunting in the long term.

This is a good tip to follow whether you hunt ducks or any other game animals or fowl. Keeping a written record of the weather conditions, how you felt, what time you went, and the kinds of decoys or calls you used is a way of recording vital information to discover what works and what doesn’t.

Another important duck hunting tip is to use the right decoys. A decoy isn’t just a wooden shape like a duck with a little paint on it. While some may seem to have good luck with just those types of decoys, better ones offer a better chance at attracting ducks. In fact, if you find a few brands you like you can mix and match them to get different colors and shapes as well as sizes in your decoy spread. The more natural it looks, the better off you’ll be. If you have large and small decoys it will look like there are adults and amateur ducks together and that will give the decoy spread a very ordinary appearance.

Also, rather than just setting decoys and walking away to hide, add some movement. A cord hooked to the decoys that you can pull on makes it appear as if they’re moving around on the water and will make the decoy spread look even more natural to ducks. Some decoys can be purchased that have magnets inside or other devices that will keep them moving a little bit on their own. But if you can move them at will, it will look more natural and you’ll have a better chance of attracting ducks.

Finally, don’t think that one specific tip will make or break your duck hunting. You can have the best decoys and a lousy call and not attract a single duck. Or you can have a great duck call but decoys that keep the birds from landing. Your blind or boat might draw too much attention, or it just may not be your day. Still, following these tips increases your chances of bagging your limit of ducks.

Photo Credits: peteSwede

Originally posted 2010-03-28 03:12:52. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Pheasant hunting lodges are the perfect place for the person who loves to hunt pheasant. This can take pheasant hunting from monotonous and almost a competition sport with other hunters who go to the same area, to something much more enjoyable. Take some time to find pheasant hunting lodges near you or in an area where you plan to vacation and you’ll begin to enjoy it again.

Hunting lodges are like the base camp for skiers at a ski resort. After the day’s hunt, the hunters gather in the main room with a fireplace and home-cooked meals and lots of stories about the day’s adventures. Some hunting lodges are very basic and backwoods for the sportsman who likes to rough it. They provide a place to gather and often offer guides for guided hunting. Other hunting lodges are more luxurious.

A hunter can go to one of these pheasant hunting lodges, go on guided hunts during the day and enjoy things like spa treatments and room service at night. The type of hunting lodge you choose will depend on your taste and whether you want to be pampered or whether you want to feel like an outdoorsman who’s roughing it in the wild. The pheasant hunting lodges all do offer one thing in common and that’s acres of land on which to hunt pheasant where every hunter in the area won’t be at one time.

The land is set up in a way that attracts pheasant. It has their favorite habitats and hiding places. And as a bonus to hunters, pheasant are the only birds that they’ll find. Often grouse, partridges and other small birds will find these places suitable as their homes as well. Because it’s practically a protected area out of hunting season, it often has an abundance of different types of birds for the hunter to enjoy hunting once the season opens.

And just like a fine hotel that allows pets, pheasant hunting lodges welcome your hunting dogs. While there may be a few lodges that don’t allow you to bring your own dog, they usually have hunting dogs that have been trained and are friendly that you can use while you’re there. The vast majority, however, understand that you have your four-legged companion trained to go on hunts with you and they allow you to bring your dog.

If you just really want to hunt pheasant than look for pheasant hunting lodges that are pretty exclusive to that species. There may be other bird species living there as well, but the focus is pheasant hunting. There are a variety of lodges that offer pheasant hunting but also offer partridge, dove, quail and other bird hunting. Choose the one that appeals to you the most.

You’ll also want to choose between pheasant hunting lodges that offer guided hunts or those that are self-guided. Guided hunts are ideal for someone inexperienced in pheasant hunting who needs a little bit of help where self-guided hunts are better for the hunter who likes solitude and is familiar with pheasant hunting.

Photo Credits: Renee V

Originally posted 2010-03-27 09:07:45. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Dove hunting is actually a really exciting sport. You can gather together a couple of hunters in a single field that happens to be an active ground for feeding and you are likely to have a really eventful hunt with lots of good results. In some states, you should recognize that it is illegal for you to go hunting for mourning doves and so it is important for you to find out what the local laws are before you go out shooting at any animals.

There are a number of counties and states that actually only allow for hunting of mourning doves or other varieties doves during specific hours of the day, such as during the afternoon hours for example. Planning a trip for hunting during such a time period is not difficult by any means but it does require some work and some planning.

The best way that you are going to be able to ensure that you have a successful hunt is to go to a popular source of food and water. Sometimes they are closely placed together and sometimes they are not. You should be watching fields in your local area in search of activity from doves. They tend to feed during the morning hours and then during the middle to the late afternoon is when they generally go to roost. You should be looking for flocks that are gathering on power lines over fields or in the fields themselves. Fields that have just recently been harvested also generally make for a good source for doves. Doves tend to flock to fields such as these if the hunting has been restricted in the area. In the days that are leading up to the hunt you are going to want to check to make sure that there is actually activity there.

Once a field that is busy has actually been identified, you are going to want to make contact with the owner of the land to make sure that you have permission to be there before you start hunting there. Once you have secured the necessary permissions, you should call other hunters who can get in on the action with you. A hunter may certainly hunt alone if he or she chooses, but the chance of shooting birds will increase when there are more hunters firing at them. A field with a number of hunters in it is going to scatter the birds, meaning that everyone is going to get a shot and a chance at nabbing a mourning dove.

In areas where hunting in the morning is permitted, the doves will begin to fly in just before the sunrise. Make sure that you are in position by this point and you should already be ready to shoot in order to get the best possible results.

Photo Credits: dracobotanicus

Originally posted 2009-11-24 03:36:34. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Duck hunting leases and leases for virtually any type of hunting are legal documents that need to be examined before you sign them. Never sign a lease that you don’t fully understand. You could be bound by things that you didn’t even know were in it if you’re not careful about what you sign. Duck hunting leases are supposed to be a win-win situation for both the landowner and the hunter. But if you don’t fully examine the lease you might find yourself being responsible for things that aren’t your fault or that couldn’t have been prevented.

Be sure there are a number of things clearly written in the duck hunting leases that you look at. The property owner’s full name and any group or business name associated with the land should be clearly written on the lease. Duck hunting leases should also have clear dates when you’re allowed to use the land running through the last date when you’re allowed to use it. The exact cost of leasing the land needs to be stipulated in the lease.

Also look for a part of duck hunting leases that says exactly what your responsibility is for things like property damage. It should be clearly delineated what is considered damage that you have to pay for war repair and what is natural wear and tear of the area.

Look at such things like how much you can be responsible for and how much the landowner can be responsible for if something happens to you. Because duck hunting leases are legal and binding contracts, they will usually be held up in court so you don’t want to sign something assuming the parts you don’t like might never be needed or called into play.

Don’t be surprised if duck hunting leases are different from season to season even with the same land. A landowner may make amendments to their contracts at any time by realizing that certain things should probably be in there to protect them. Always check the contract even if you’ve leased with that particular landowner many times before. You might find some surprising changes that make you question whether or not you want to put your name on that contract.

If the terms of the duck hunting leases are unclear to you, ask the landowner for clarification. Or if you’re very concerned, have your own lawyer look over the lease and explain it to you. Remember that the lease is designed to protect the landowner first and foremost so any language used in the lease is simple legalese and is not intended to imply or accuse hunters of any type of damaging or reckless activity.

The most important thing is to not put your name on something that you’re in doubt about. You may have known the landowner for years, and you feel comfortable signing the contract even if there are our parts that you find questionable. Rethink that to protect yourself, and ask for a change to the lease terms or simply look somewhere else for duck hunting leases.

Photo Credits: Francis Bourgouin

Originally posted 2010-03-26 09:57:18. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Are you thinking about going out hunting with a pellet gun? There are a few important guidelines that you are going to need to follow if you want to make sure that you are being both humane and effective out there. Some of the things that you need to consider include choosing the proper gun, the proper scope and the proper ammo, and you must also make sure to use the correct practices when you go pellet gun hunting. The first consideration that you are going to want to make is what type of game you should be hunting and should not be hunting. Here is a quick guide to pellet gun hunting using an air gun.

First and foremost, you should understand that you should only be seeking out small game when you are going pellet gun hunting. Even the more powerful air guns are not capable of imparting enough destructive force that clean kills can be guaranteed when you are hunting larger prey. You should be sticking to creatures like field mice, rats and squirrels, and should never try to kill anything larger than an average sized raccoon when you go hunting using a pellet gun. Having the proper caliber of gun and ammunition is vitally important when it comes to hunting with a pellet gun.

In general, when it comes to hunting small game using a pellet gun the most preferable type of guns and ammo is a .22 caliber. A common misconception among hunters is that smaller calibers such as .20 and .177 produce a higher pellet velocity and as a result are better for hunting, but this is not necessarily true. The internal damage force is more important than the penetration force, meaning that you want ammo that is going to disperse more force after the impact than before, meaning that a heavier and thicker gauge like the .22 caliber is the right way to go when it comes to pellet gun hunting for small game. The smaller calibers are capable of risking passing through the animal without actually causing enough damage to kill it, which is inhumane.

If your game is going to be up in a tree or further out than 15 yards away, then using a scope is a smart idea for your pellet gun. Most pellet rifles come with scope mounts that you can fit a wide variety of different scopes onto. Once you know what the tendencies are for your particular gun, you can find a scope that will help you hit the game exactly where you intend for the pellet to strike.

Pellet gun hunting is capable of being really fun and enjoyable, and it is a great way for younger shooters to learn how to hunt successfully. As long as you are careful about the considerations mentioned above, you can find this method of hunting to be truly rewarding in many different ways.

Photo Credits: andydr

Originally posted 2009-07-20 05:31:30. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Hunting quail and pheasants has been a truly favorable sport for a great many years now. The entire scenario surrounding quail and pheasant hunting has really changed throughout the United States over many years. Because of infrastructural development, the face of hunting for quail and pheasants has definitely changed. But what has changed is that now hunters do not have to go out chasing after their prey. Instead, they can take advantage of recreational hunting in order to enjoy the sport without all of the work involved.

Game lovers that enjoy a good hunt are constantly turning to quail and pheasant hunting because it means that there are plenty of prospects and they can easily catch a few birds before the day is through. Although catching larger animals often offers much greater rewards, many people turn to the hunting of quail and pheasants because they can shoot and kill a dozen birds and have plenty of game to bring home afterward. Quail and pheasants may be smaller, but claiming to have hunted 12 quail just sounds better than bringing home a single deer.

Both quail and pheasants have claimed many states as their homes and habitats, meaning that many states in the nation offer good hunting for these game birds. People that are interested in hunting quail and pheasants can search online or contact local regulators for hunting licenses to find out what areas offer quail and pheasants. These birds prefer vegetated fields where there is long grass for them to hide and nest in. They prefer areas where there is plenty of undergrowth so that they have adequate coverage, but this does not mean that they cannot be found and enjoyed in the wild. Before the sun comes up, quail and pheasants tend to fly out from the grass in order to find pieces of material that they can add to their nests and this happens to be the prime time for hunting them since they are out in the open and rather vulnerable.

The normal shooting time for quail and pheasants begins at around 9 o’clock in the morning, which is when the birds begin to become busy in terms of feeding activity. The male birds of the species tend to be more colorful in comparison to the females. The females tend to be smaller in general and their features tend to be lighter and plainer.

Hunting for quail and pheasants is a popular sport but it is important to make sure that we do not wipe the entire population out by overhunting quail and pheasants. We want to make sure that we leave enough behind that they can procreate so that generations in the future can hunt for sport and for food as well. Protecting quail and pheasants is a part of hunting responsibility.

Photo Credits: Len Blumin

Originally posted 2009-11-17 03:32:50. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Camping, fishing and hunting are popular outdoor sports. What makes someone want to do any of those instead of just taking a hike through the woods and going home, or taking a stroll through a field to do some bird watching?  Many people prefer the sense of them against nature; living in the wild and fishing and hunting like we used to have to do to survive. Sleeping under the stars and cooking what you caught or killed for dinner is almost a primal need for some people, even though we have comfy beds to sleep in and grocery stores where we can buy meat.

Hunting might be more technological today than ever with laser scopes and precision weapons, thermal underwear and heat packs, but people still want to hunt because of that primal urge that has never seemed to go away-man against nature, struggling to survive. If you want to hunt, but you’re undecided about exactly how to go about it or what you’d like to hunt, here are some basics to help you decide.

Can you tolerate cold weather? A great deal of hunting is done during the winter season.  Even more passive methods of catching game like trapping are often done when the temperatures dip. If you’re deer hunting or trapping, for instance, you might need to be out before dawn in extremely cold weather.  Are you well-suited for this or do you think you would be miserable doing this as a hobby?  At the very least, consider the cost of the equipment you’ll need.  You have to have protective clothing and you must dress in layers, with one of them preferably wool. Warm boots that will keep your feet from getting wet, proper headgear and excellent gloves will all be necessary.

Can you climb a tree and sit perched in one for hours?  Deer hunting will involve you setting up a deer stand in a tree–often not the easiest of tasks, especially if you’ve never done it before.  Do you have someone to help you set up the stand originally?  Do you like the idea of climbing up into the stand in the dark and sitting there for a prolonged period of time?  If that doesn’t appeal, you might choose to hunt something other than deer.

Do you want to go after big game? Some people enjoy the challenge of squirrel hunting.  Squirrels are small, they move quickly and it can be difficult to bag one or the several required for a good meal. But some people dream of taking down the giants like bear, moose and elk. First, consider that just because you want to hunt bear or other large game doesn’t mean you’ll be allowed to.  Often areas where you can hunt have draws and only those who draw the tags are allowed to even try. And consider the cost.  Often its necessary to travel, and you might need a large gauge (and more expensive) gun as well as other specialized equipment.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2009-01-08 15:07:39. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Learning how to make use of hunting decoys can be a very important part of your hunting experience. Regardless if you are new to hunting, or if you are a seasoned veteran of the fields and forests, learning how to use decoys as part of your hunting can advance things to a whole new level, and give you that extra advantage that improves your results. Using decoys is moderately easy. Along with your usual tools for hunting, you will need: decoys, scent-eliminating spray and soap, a Buck archery target, and a windsock.

For deer hunting:

1. You will need to keep your decoy as scent free as you possibly can. Wash it in the scent and odor eliminating soap, followed by a liberal spraying down with scent removing spray before the hunt. Deer are incredibly sensitive to smells, and so your hunting efforts will be for naught if you cannot get a dear anywhere near you due to scent alerting them to your presence.
2. Scout out the place you wish to deploy your decoy to that is 15 to 25 yards away from the blind or stand if bow hunting. If you are using a rifle, you can place the decoy even further away. An ideal place is going to be somewhere close to an edge of a field where the forest begins and the trees and the shrubs begin to thicken.
3. Make sure your decoy is placed where other deer are known to congregate, and so will expect to see another deer there. A deer in a strange place will seem odd, and may only serve to scare potential targets away.
4. Make sure to pose your decoy in a feeding position. This is the most likely, most reliable, and most effective stance you could pose your decoy in.
5. During the rutting season, use a doe decoy if you want the best results. Take a small colored rag in a neutral shade and spray it with what is known as “doe in estrus”, which is a scent that resembles the scent of a doe in heat. Attach it to the decoys tail.
6. You can also use a Buck archery target as a decoy. Try to make sounds like a challenging buck might in order to attract other challenging bucks and does looking for a potential mate alike.

For waterfowl hunting:

1. It needs to be remembered that waterfowl both take off and land facing into the wind. Now keep this information in mind while setting up your decoys, and be sure to set them in front of you while you have your back to the wind.
2. Be sure to leave lots of room for potential targets among your decoys. Too many decoys in the water will actually harm more than it helps.
3. Use feeding or sleeping duck decoys, herons, or even swans in order to create confidence in the target.
4. Be sure to use a unique spread of decoys when setting up. Give the target something different that will attract them.

Photo credits: *Micky

Originally posted 2009-10-15 03:29:46. Republished by Blog Post Promoter