The Waterfowl Frontier

Chasing Ducks on Big Water Is One of the Most Dangerous Hunts in North America. But if You Respect the Risk and Are Willing to Work Hard, It’s One of the Most Rewarding, Too.

- Will Brantley

WAS SURPRISED to see another hunter had beaten me to the boat ramp. Waves from a hard north wind were lapping against the bank when the graying man walked up to me and asked if I was hunting alone. I’d planned on it, yes. He had the same plan. “Let’s say a prayer, then,” he said.

By the light of a headlamp the stranger asked for our safety on the big lake—a place where, the season before, three young hunters had lost their lives when their boat capsized. With an “Amen,” he unlatched the bow strap to his boat and smiled. “This should be a great morning.”

It was. I shot my limit early, and as I was picking up, I could hear the pops of one gun on a distant island. The stranger got his ducks as well.

Big lakes, rivers, and coastlines—many open to public hunting—provide incredible opportunities for a variety of duck species at this time of year. But the threats of hypothermia and drowning cannot be overstated. If you’re going to be a late-season bigwater hunter, the advice from these pros will make you more successful—and help keep you safe.

A little prayer never hurts, either.

THE BIG RIVERS

Mario Friendy, who works for Zink Calls, hunts the Columbia River in Oregon. “The hunting can be incredible. You have puddle duck days and diver hunting days,” he says. “This river is no joke, though. Mistakes can kill you. But there is nowhere in the world I’d rather hunt. You earn these birds.”

PICK YOUR POISON

Puddle ducks and diving ducks are as different as turkeys and quail in their habits. Still, many hunters attempt to set up for both by adding a few bluebill decoys to a mallard spread or vice versa. The result is a spread that’s not ideal for either.