Taking the time, burning the fuel, and putting in the effort to scout for birds can make this waterfowl season one for the books. (Photo credit: Matt Carey.)
October 24, 2024
By Hayden Martin
Scouting for birds is a day-in, day-out process that requires hours to succeed throughout the season. Learning where the food sources are, tracking the weather patterns, and burning fuel in your truck while you are looking for birds are some things that will separate a decent season from one of your best. WILDFOWL was able to gain some insight from two well-known hunting guides, Alec Brown from Tennessee and Matt Judy from Washington. Both hunters scout hard to keep up with the birds and figure out how they will set up for success.
On the X and Local Birds Alec Brown has spent his whole life hunting in the Southeast. Over the past few years, he started hunting in the Midwest and up through Canada. Throughout the scouting that he’s done before hunts, he’s noticed a stark contrast between local birds and migrators following the flyway. “Something I never noticed about Tennessee before I started traveling out of state to hunt is it is a different type of scouting environment. The main thing here is that you already know where your birds are located. Occasionally, you might find a new spot because you turned onto a road you have never been down before, but it is still the same circumstances: The birds are sitting at this park or on this farmer’s pond that they utilize every year.”
Good scouting lets you know when and where to set up in a field. (Photo credit: Alec Brown.) This past year, when Brown was in North Dakota, in a town that he had never set foot in before and he did not know where the birds were located—where they were roosting or where they loafed—he dropped the trailer at the hotel parking lot and started driving until he saw something flying, then chased the birds until they led him to the feed. This is one tactic you can use, especially if you are starting out and you want to find where the birds are in the area. Following flying birds is a proven trick, but it helps to have a passenger in the vehicle to keep eyes on them so you can keep your eyes on the road.
For Matt Judy, scouting in the Pacific Northwest is different from most places, “We are lucky here because nobody attempts to hunt a piece of property that someone already has permission on. When scouting food sources, I first take a look at where the birds are feeding in the field—up on an edge, right in the middle, near sheet water—most of the time, that is going to be where the birds come back the next morning. Here in Washington, we hunt short grass fields and birds like to feed directly in the middle by midseason due to Xs being blown and getting edge-shy, so we end up setting out the tall socks to make our own hide. Fields are extremely small, roughly fifty acres a field in comparison to the 2,000-acre fields in the Midwest and Canada, so the birds get smart early in the season. Most of the time if you are not able to get on the X, you can set up in the field right next door and pull the birds over, which is when you get into running traffic.”
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Weather Patterns With day-to-day local birds in the South, the weather does not make as noticeable of a difference as it should, theoretically. However, when it comes to the migratory birds following the flyways, weather plays a huge role. As the weather shifts and you have cold fronts pushing birds south, the weather plays a critical role in how you should scout. This is the time when you need to know where the big local water sources are located. One example of this is when there is one body of water that both local birds and migratory birds from miles off go to when the freezing conditions start to hit—finding out which body of water the birds are drawn to will be key to having a successful season, especially when that one cold front pushes the birds down.
Reading the weather can be a crucial factor in whether or not your scouting will pay off. (Photo credit: Alec Brown.) Weather patterns play a much more vital role when it comes to scouting for birds in the Pacific Northwest. If there is a clear, sunny weather forecast moving in, the birds won’t fly much, a large contrast to the cloudy, windy, rainy weather forecasts. Under these conditions, ducks will get up off the water and feed all day. When the weather conditions are nasty, you can go out at any point in the day to scout for birds. Another tactic is to pay attention to the temperature. If it is in the 40s, the birds likely will stay stagnant. However, if it drops below freezing, the birds will be out trying to feed as much as they can before everything ices over.
When Judy finds a feed in a field from a distance, he will drive down every single road to view it from all angles, which helps determine where the birds are located in the field. There is a big difference between when he is in a new area versus when he is at home. “If I am in a place that I have not been, I will circle feeds that I find multiple times. When I am at home, I will see birds in a field and move onto the next one because I have spent time and energy over the years learning the area, studying the birds and their behavior, and following the weather patterns.”
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Bird Behavior In Washington and other states in the Pacific Flyway, there are large snow goose and cackling goose populations that fly down to winter. These birds move in early during the middle of September whereas ducks fly through every day during early season and sit on the flats out in the ocean instead of feeding out in the fields. However, there will be a big shift during the middle of the season where all the ducks will get off the ocean and fly inland. Another similar behavior that Judy has noticed is that when scouting the early season feeds, birds will hammer down on silage cornfields and grain fields. However, when midseason hits, the birds in the area have a hard switch over to grass fields. Noticing these feeding patterns helps you know where to look and how to set up during certain times of the year.
A good scout can oftentimes include heading into the water to figure out where the ducks are hiding out. (Photo credit: Matt Carey.) Tennessee sits right in between the Atlantic and Mississippi flyways, so most of the birds in the area tend to be local birds that move around the county. Brown has noticed that molt migrators will peel off from both flyways during the season and make their way into the Tennessee waterways. These birds are between one to three years of age and do not have all their mature feathers. They start to mix in with local populations and sometimes end up wintering throughout the season.
Getting Permission Seeking permission from landowners is the biggest step when it comes to hunting birds that have made their way onto private land. It can often be challenging, but Brown takes these challenges into account, sharing, “On days where I know I am going to be scouting, I dress like I am going to church on a Sunday morning. This gives people who I am asking permission to hunt their property a better perspective on the type of person that will potentially be on their property. First impressions go a long way - if you show up with a clean truck and dressed presentable, they know that you will leave their property presentable, which you should already be doing in the first place. When you get permission from a farmer or landowner, you have to remember that these folk talk amongst themselves. They aren’t secluded to their own property. If you go out and ruin someone’s property, sooner or later, everyone will know about it, and you will have ruined opportunities for the next guy.”
Whether you are hunting in the Pacific Northwest, Midwest and Canada, or the Southeast, take advantage of the opportunities available to get ahead of the birds you are looking for and enjoy your season!
