| Here is a common question that comes from duck | | | | Perhaps even more important, though, is to match |
| hunters both new and old. Whether you have just | | | | what you are seeing out and about scouting. If you are |
| taken up the sport or whether you are a grizzled | | | | driving around scouting the area and notice a bunch of |
| veteran that has been through many wars out on the | | | | small family type groups and pairs and singles, placing |
| marsh (or for that matter, anywhere in between!) this | | | | a huge spread of ducks on a favorite point is likely to |
| age old question has persisted in the psyche of | | | | stick out like a sore thumb. To that same end, if you |
| waterfowl hunters everywhere. The truth is we will | | | | are seeing ducks rafting together feeding on a lake |
| never know to some extent, but there are some | | | | and very few singles or small groups, placing a small |
| guidelines that definitely help sort out what is the | | | | spread of 3 pairs of ducks is likely to get you a day of |
| direction of goodness. | | | | watching flock after flock look for some large bird |
| Take not of the area you are duck hunting | | | | concentrations no where near your duck blind. |
| To begin with the first thing that should be considered | | | | Match your decoy spread to the time of the duck |
| is the type of area that you plan on hunting. If we are | | | | season |
| talking about a backwater slough that is only 35 yards | | | | By the same token, early in the year the ducks are |
| across there is going to be no reason to load the area | | | | less wary about what should and should not be |
| chock full of 8 dozen decoys. In this scenario a smaller | | | | happening to your decoy spread. At this point of the |
| spread consisting of as few as 6 decoys could work | | | | year a large spread can be very beneficial to get you |
| great. On the other hand, if you are planning on hunting | | | | noticed by passing waterfowl and afford them a good |
| a large lake, river or coastal waters placing only 6 | | | | reason to take a closer look. Later in the season, |
| decoys will likely be a way to ensure you get little | | | | however, these same birds have likely seen the same |
| shooting. In these cases a large spread that can | | | | large decoy spread time and again and won't readily |
| command attention from passing ducks is the ticket. | | | | decoy to such a location. Here fine tuning your spread |
| This is one of the main reasons that the gang lines | | | | to mimic reality can really pay off. Don't be afraid to go |
| were created such that people wouldn't have to hand | | | | small in terms of your spread for big results. |
| place so many decoys one by one. On a large lake | | | | As can be seen there are many way to skin a cat (or |
| putting out 8 to 10 dozen decoys could be jus the thing | | | | I guess in this case trick a duck into landing in your |
| to get the birds up and in your face for high quality | | | | decoy spread!). Using the above ideas you can make |
| shots. | | | | your spread more appealing to the ducks that frequent |
| Match the way the ducks are relating to each other in | | | | your hunting areas and allow for more birds to reach |
| nature | | | | the frying pan this fall. |