Three Great Traffic Spots to Try This Duck Season

Aggressive calling can grab the attention of passing ducks, especially if you’re in a high-traffic area between a roost and food. Photo by Bill Konway.

Some days, duck hunting’s coveted X falls into your lap, whether you see a wad of mallards parachute into a timber hole or watch hungry geese congregate in a cut field.

Many other days, you chase the X for hours, sometimes falling short. Maybe you can’t get permission for a hot feed or have difficulty accessing a prime pothole. With Plan A out the window, you’re often reduced to running traffic — that is, setting up off the destination area and trying to lure passing birds to your setup.

That can be tough duty, but it can also produce some of the season’s most memorable hunts. Don’t just set up blindly and hope things work out, though. Hedge your bets by trying proven traffic spots such as these.

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TRAFFIC STOPS

Sometimes, micro-scale traffic hunts can produce big results. Identify small sloughs, creeks, ponds or backwaters between a big roost and a hot feed, and set up there. You probably won’t find many ducks on those little waters, but you might have loads of birds flying overhead. A crafty setup can convince them to drop down for a look.

Set a relatively large spread. The actual number of decoys will depend on the size of the water you’re hunting, but three- to six-dozen probably isn’t too many. Place some full-body geese and mallards along the shoreline to imitate loafing birds, and run several spinners to grab the attention of passing ducks. Aggressive calling often wins the day in such situations. If you’re hunting with a group, make one person the lead caller, and have other hunters complement his calling, perhaps uttering single quacks or feeding chuckles as the leader hail-calls birds or works them on the corners.

THE NEXT FIELD

In ag country, migrating puddle ducks often fill refuges and feed at morning and evening in harvested fields. When you cannot get landowner permission on one of those feeds, prospects might seem poor. But don’t give up. Try to obtain permission to hunt a field somewhat near the refuge and, ideally, along a flight line. Obviously, a field bordering and downwind of the hot feed is probably the best bet. But any field along a route ducks and geese fly over going from roost to food and back can work. Just don’t set up too close to the refuge, as shotgun volleys might spook nearby birds.

As with most traffic situations, set out as many decoys as possible. Goose decoys work fine for combo hunts or even just ducks, but mix in some mallards if you like. Set your best-looking full-body blocks downwind, and use socks, silhouettes and shells to fill holes and hide your blinds upwind. Set several spinners in or near your kill holes, but use a remote control to turn them off when geese are working. Start out calling aggressively to get the attention of passing birds, but adjust your tactics depending on how ducks and geese react.

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BIG RIVER RENDEZVOUS

This situation might produce the most enjoyable traffic hunts, especially during cold weather late in the season. Find a sandbar, shoreline or other shallow area on a large river, and set up a faux hotspot for ducks and geese traversing the channel. Load the shoreline, sand or ice rim with full-body loafing or sleeping geese, and then add more geese, mallards and maybe even divers in the open water. As with field hunts, run several spinners, but turn them off when geese approach.

Ideally, position your boat perpendicular to your spread, so approaching birds aren’t looking at your hide as they cup in. And don’t quit early. During extreme conditions, when rivers offer the only open water around, action can sometimes be best during midday.

NO X HEX

Hunting these traffic spots won’t guarantee action, but they can keep you in the game when you’re not precisely where birds want to be. And if you play things right, you might fill some straps and wonder why you worried about the X at all.