How to Have a Successful Off-Season

The final day of duck season is bittersweet. We’re glad the grind is over, and we can catch up on sleep. But if there was another day, week or month of the season, we’d gladly embrace it.

Just because the season is over doesn’t mean you have to stop looking for ducks. Now all we do is hunt without a gun.

Last January our area was hit by a devastating ice storm and flooding. It damaged a canal system forcing it to be drained indefinitely. I’d hunted sloughs off that canal since the 1970s. With no water, I had to find where the wood ducks and mallards went. Through scouting and running trail cameras in February, March and into April, I found two new areas the ducks were using. As a result of those post-season scouting efforts, I had some excellent early season hunts.

Throughout much of the country last season we experienced unusually warm conditions and late arriving ducks from up North. Birds didn’t arrive in some areas until after the season.

In the final days of the season last year, a big push of shovelers and green-winged teal showed up. By continuing to watch their numbers and learn where they were congregating even after the season, it set the stage for some good hunts the following season when birds arrived earlier and in the same places.

Wigeon were late arriving in big numbers as well. In fact, the majority didn’t show up until two weeks after the season. By then, temperatures were warm, and rye grass was flourishing. Crustaceans were also prevalent in shallow water ponds. Through scouting and running trail cameras, I was able to record where birds were and what they were feeding on. I was able to track when they fed in areas as water levels changed. This was good intel to have for the following season.

If you want to improve your calling skills, the post-season is a great time to do it. Get out and listen to ducks. This is by far the best way to learn how to effectively blow a call. By now, courtship flights and water displays are in full swing. Watch and listen to the sounds both drakes and hens are making, then ask yourself why they’re making them. Recording these sounds and spending time mimicking them will greatly improve your abilities with a call. Setting trail cameras on video mode will also capture vocalizations. Don’t get caught up in feeling like you have to be a competition caller to kill ducks. Many of the sounds ducks make are minimal compared to how humans sound-off with a call in their hands. The basics always seem to work the best for a reason.

Two seasons ago I switched to cellular trail cameras for waterfowl scouting. The value carried over into the off-season. When ducks showed up in big numbers, I’d often be out scouting the next day to verify bird numbers and what they were feeding on.

I do a lot of waterfowl photography, and post-season trail cameras reveal what birds are in an area, as well as how many. If you’re serious about taking your knowledge of waterfowl to another level, photography can help. It’s far easier killing birds with a shotgun than photographing them. But more importantly, when you’re not trying to shoot birds, what you learn from letting them work a decoy spread is eye-opening. When you let birds work into photography position, you’ll be amazed at how many times they might circle and how long it may take them to reach the perfect distance. Equate that to hunting and you’ll discover that long shots on first passes might be premature.

In one small pond surrounded by brush where I target wood ducks and mallards, wigeon occasionally move in. After the season last year, a handful of wigeon showed up on trail camera. I went to photograph them one afternoon and I found a bronze gem on the far side of the pond. The American-Eurasian hybrid drake was sticking with mallards. I set out two more trail cameras, patterned its mid-day shoreline feeding, and was able to set up and photograph it two different times.

As spring approaches, look for birds on their northerly migration. Ducks and some geese aren’t in a big hurry to reach their northern nesting grounds which may still be covered in snow and ice. They’ll take their time, stopping to rest and feed in certain areas, sometimes for weeks. Take the time to learn where these birds are roosting and feeding, and it will lead to some good hunting the following season.

For you hunters who get after early season Canada geese, March, April and May are prime months to learn about those birds’ nesting success. Last season I set trail cameras on five honker nests. One nest was destroyed by a coyote before the eggs hatched. Three others saw the goslings being killed by coyotes within a day of hatching, and another saw the goslings being devoured by a bald eagle. Of the 26 honker nests I monitored in that 500-acre wetlands, 23 were lost to predators of the ground and sky. I hunted the area once the following September and didn’t fire a shot.

Right after the season closes is when I take time to pour over notes. This leads to an accurate assessment while the information is still fresh in my mind. By keeping track of every hunt, from the shells shot, to the number of birds killed and crippled, wind direction and more, you’ll be able to see what loads performed best under what conditions. On those windy days maybe bismuth or tungsten outperformed steel loads. Perhaps stacked loads outshot single-size loads. Maybe some brands outperformed others. By knowing what loads perform best in your gun under certain conditions and in specific situations, you’ll know what to turn to next year. Make a list of what you need to replenish and be ready to buy those shells when they go on sale before next season.

Though hunting season is over, the learning shouldn’t stop. Keep searching, tinkering, thinking, and making adjustments to gear and next season’s hunting plans, and soon your playbook will fill with valuable information resulting in more efficient hunts with a boost in consistent success rates. 

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