Too much rice??? Where to set up?

[TNFL]

I'm fairly new to duck hunting and am having a hard time finding decent information just about what to look for when scouting.  So I thought I would ask for some advice here.

I found a large pond/slough i can hunt (PUBLIC) and it is loaded with rice, the thickest I have ever seen.  So thick it looks like a wheat field, 5 feet tall and tough to see through. 

So how do I go about hunting this spot?  There is about a 5 acre spot of open water in the center, but i am a little concerned about too many hunters in this area, cross fire, lack of cover for ducks, etc. 

I found one small open spot, about 20ft x 20 ft, next to cattails with rice around it.

Or, on the east end it thins out to sparse rice with some lily pads and pockets of water.

I was thinking the third spot looked like more of a "safe haven" for birds to fly to once the shooting starts, but it is also the most difficult to get to.

Any advice about finding the "spot on the spot" is greatly appreciated.

 

[Neighbor_guy]

It's hard to say without being there to look everything over. I will say this, the harder it is to get to, the more likely it is you won't run into any other hunters. 

[leech~~]

Are you going to have a dog with you to retrieve your birds? If not thick rice can be lots of fun trying to find downed birds.

 

Edited September 24, 2015 by leech~~

[TylerS]

Agree 100 percent with leech. That thick of cover means many lost birds unless you're really good at calling the shots over open water. Better have a dog along. 

As far as where to set up, are there ducks actually using the area? If so, watch where they go. That's a good start on where to set up. And if you want to assure a spot, get there early. Like EARLY early. If it's public and opener and the Land of 10,000 regulations, you might even want to spend the night in the cab of your pickup truck. 

[fishuhalik]

Set up right in the rice. Kneel down in your canoe, get some burlap or grass matts over you. Cut some long poles, sink em in the mud & tie the canoe to em for stability. Set your dekes in an open spot & watch the birds come pouring in. 

[Todd Caswell]

Public rice bed on opener, your nuts, even if you get there first someone will still screw you over it's a given..

[TNFL]

Just to follow up:

 

I was not busy at all there... the rice was so thick i think most thought it too difficult.

 

Unfortunately, they were right, lol. it was a lot harder getting to the spot with my jon boat than my kayak.  And, the birds were just not there in the numbers we were seeing in the previous weeks.

 

Lesson learned, about how much effort to put into it.  I wouldn't mind working really hard for a great spot. but that was just way too difficult. 

Still, a great experience though.... can't learn much from the couch.

 

[fishuhalik]

Keep an eye on it. As the pressure on area lakes build, some ducks like to find sanctuary in spots like that.