Diver Tactics Q&A Thread

[HugoBox]

Don't for divers. Prolly cause the water can be much deeper and hard to firmly plant a stake. I guess the floating style would work. I'm a fan of waving a flag if anything.

[Roosterslayer05]

Last time I went out diver hunting I put out 4 ringer dekes on a jerk rig and threw 3 super mag bluebills in the landing zone with a pair of canadas. I decoyed every flock I saw. Shot my limit. Divers are easier to decoy than puddlers in my opinion. Decoy spread doesent have to be complicated either.

[HugoBox]

Last time I went out diver hunting I put out 4 ringer dekes on a jerk rig and threw 3 super mag bluebills in the landing zone with a pair of canadas. I decoyed every flock I saw. Shot my limit. Divers are easier to decoy than puddlers in my opinion. Decoy spread doesent have to be complicated either.

I think you make a good point on keeping it simple. On small water it doesn't take many decoys. On bigger water though I'm a stupid bigger is better guy at times so 6-8 dozen decoys may fall out of the boat from time to time. Great if the birds are around, a real pain if they're not and the temp is below freezing.

[Roosterslayer05]

Yea I was hunting small water. Im all about keeping it simple while my hunting buddy is "bigger is better". Both work at times. I just thought it was funny that guys were saying not too use canada decoys and I usually do. The divers come into them fine in my experience's. I had one of my best mallard hunts over 4 super mag bluebills. Never know whats going to work. If I hunted big water more often I would prob use more decoys.

[HugoBox]

Rooster-

It's amazing what a jerk string can do huh? First used one about five years ago and it's a life saver on clam days.

I can't believe all the waited hints over the years when the hocks looked like stumps on windless days!!

[Gordie]

In Nodak this year the birds were really decoy shy from being shot at during the first part of the season so I must of changed up my spead about 4-5 times and the 5th time I didnt even get back into the boat and my son is telling me to get down, dont move, here they come, turn around and shoot dad... so I knew I got it right.

I was hunting big water out there and niot pot holes.

I went from running two lines stagerd to a vee spread to a long line J stlye then finally a long line with a break in the middle and three red head decoy in a line 20 ft off the side of the Blue Bill line and had a bout 7-8 mally next to the catails of the front of the boat.

I will be setting up a jerk line for my next run..

cannt wait until the goldeneys hit leech

[mixxedbagg]

Yesterday I was on a marshy lake with a big open area in the middle. I started out hunting in the vegetation but I noticed that there was a large mixed raft of divers in the middle. So, I got up the nerve to try and get closer to hunt them. As I got closer I was confronted with my main problem...how do I hide? How do you guys do it?

I am hunting out of a smaller jonboat. I don't have a blind on the boat because I don't have a dog, so I have to use the boat to retrieve the ducks. (Is there a good blind setup for a small jonboat that doesn't make retrieving the ducks more difficult?) The only cover around the main part of the lake was little patches of bullrush...not very good cover. I threw out a string of the dozen bluebill dekes I had--5 deke line, a gap, 7 deke line. Then I got my boat (low profile) into the rushes, rolled a strip of camo burlap over it, and sat in the bottom of the boat with a low profile and a face net on. I had some goldeneyes approach the spread on a couple of occasions, but I think they could see me a little too far out. Ideas...that don't happen to include buying a dog and a totally different boat? Thanks! I'm learning a lot here.

[HugoBox]

Clearly cover is good but divers aren't like mallards. Usually if they aren't working right it's a decoy issue (see Elwoods post above). If you are not moving around a bunch they'll come right in even if you're standing up. Obviously it's no ideal to be ou in the open but my point is to focus on wind and blocks. I'd really suggest hitching a ride with someone who's been at it a bunch of years. For those of us who grew up hunting we take for granted all we learned through osmosis. You're asking all the right questions and it seems like you're already doing pretty darn good - heading out wiu an old guy (like me) can help shorten your learning curve. Not sure how close you are to the north metro but you'd be welcome to jump in with me sometime.

[mixxedbagg]

Thanks HugoBox. I appreciate the offer....north metro is a little far though. I'm in Itasca County.

I didn't realize that divers were less skittish about cover. Thanks for that tidbit.

[RumRiverRat]

Hugo we should get out and compare notes!

[email protected]

[BoxMN]

HugoBox is full of it we only got a little buffie this morning for the 5 dozen dekes we had out, hahaha! But we should have had a few more... my barrel is bent, and so was MPesters... but those that came in came in nice.

RRR where do you usually go? I shot more divers in NoDak this year in one weekend than all of last year in MN. I hope this deer opener will change that for me though, we head out by Fergus Falls, and duck hunt the deer opener, and deer hunt the second weekend.

BTW - the old guys who we learned from always siad no need to get out there too early, to wait until "decoying time" about sunrise, and today would have been a great example of that. Nothing until the sun came over the horizan.

BTW - HugoBox is my bro, so please mods don't think I am harrassing him

[Notcho]

Yup when i'm out for divers it's usually about 1hr or so after legal shooting time, no need to get up early. And the best camo is sitting still!!! Over the years I found it makes no difference if you have full camo or not as long as you stay put and don"t move. Some of my ND hunting buddies still hunt divers in Carharts and snowmobile jackets!

[HugoBox]

Yup when i'm out for divers it's usually about 1hr or so after legal shooting time, no need to get up early. And the best camo is sitting still!!! Over the years I found it makes no difference if you have full camo or not as long as you stay put and don"t move. Some of my ND hunting buddies still hunt divers in Carharts and snowmobile jackets!

That's funny. We use to hunt with an old timer who wore a red coverall. Sit still and they're happy t come in.

[mixxedbagg]

I'm going out tomorrow to try for some of the divers in that big raft in Itasca County. It's supposed to be windy (WNW) and I only have a dozen diver dekes. I plan on setting up with the wind at my back and pushing the boat into some bulrushes. No blind yet--just burlap over a jonboat and sitting really still. If it doesn't go well, I'll cut my losses and hit a small lake near my home. Either way, I'll be on the water, so I win.

[the man]

I'm getting in to hunting divers and a have a few questions for you guys. In your long lines do you have an anchor on each end of the mainline or just one? How long is your mainline on each long line? How should I go about scouting to find a lake to shoot some divers once they come through?

[Gordie]

first welcome to the sport

I use an anchor on one end of my main line but have run one on each end of it if the situatiuon calls for it. Mostly I run one anchor and then the wind will straighten the line/lines out for me.

The lenght of the line depends on how many decoys you'll be running. I have main lines that are 75ft thur 150ft. I typically space my decoys about an arms lenght to 7 ft betwwen each decoy.

scouting for places to hunt them hmmm when you find them find out if you can hunt em . Look now for places to hunt next season

[the man]

Thanks for the answers. But I know how to scout for puddlers but it seems like divers that come through my area are only around for a short amount of time so what would you look for in a lake for divers?

Thanks

[RumRiverRat]

To the top.

Because the Diver are starting to trickle in!

Killed the first Redheads and Cans of the year this weekend!

[mpester]

Funny reading a thread and seeing your own name mentioned. I was wondering why one of the Boxes was saying my barrel was bent and that we had five or six dozen decoys out. Last weekend with Cbox in ND, we only put out five decoys maximum at a time. Then I realized I was reading a post from last year and remembered that day. Yes, my barrel was bent that day but we did not have any other chances to straighten it out.

[RumRiverRat]

Surprise from this mornings hunt.

A Bull Can worthy of putting on the wall.

[Mr.Outdoors]

Well I hope to get out Sunday and set out the diver dekes and see whats around down here... Only have 12 BB and 6 Cans but make due with what I have for now. I need to add to my diver shot list besides my buffie and hen goldeneye..

[HugoBox]

RRR- Nice Bull for sure.

Just curious. For those of you who run long lines, what lengths and how much spacing do you leave. I recently put out 2 strings - 1 was about 200 feet long with about 2 dozen equally spaced and the other was about half in both length and number of dekes. I filled in with a few dozen individual blocks. All divers. Fooled a few bills and could have shot a bunch of sawbills buy I still haven't found a way to make them taste good so we let them buzz through a bunch of times.

We also dropped about 3 dozen goose floaters way off to the side and as usual they just proved to be more work picking up. I just gotta learn to pick my poison instead of the "do-all" spread. 10 dozen sure look good but that many dekes will fill even two boats up quick!!

[Gissert]

My long line is 200 feet, and I run 21-24 dekes depending on the water depth. Sometimes the anchor is in 25 FOW.

I sure like those RIg Em Right droplines!

[RumRiverRat]

My lines are 100 to 120 foot long with a dozen decoys.

I space the decoys farther apart on the end of the line the furthest from the boat and then they get closer as they get closer to the boat.

I use 12 Oversized decoys per line, if I used Lifesized I would probably use 18 to 24 per line.

Using the slot bag method I can put a long line out in 5 minutes or less.

Let go kill some Diver HugoBox.

My go to lake has become stale!

[HugoBox]

RRR

PM sent. I have a dew more vacation days to use this fall.

Erik