Late day Hunting

[easyrider25]

Any specific strategies when going out late afternoons for ducks?  We will be going out over water, but is it business as usual out there or are there some different techniques you use when hunting at this time?

[TylerS]

Be patient, and try to go on an overcast day. I've found that afternoon hunts on bluebird skies mean the ducks typically come right after shooting hours. If you can get out there on a cloudy day, however, it gets dark a bit earlier and the birds moon accordingly. 

No matter what, it seems the best action is right at sunset. I've sat for three hours under bridles skies before shooting a limit in the 15-minutes of golden hour. It happens!

[O.T.C.]

Well put Tyler, the geese are barely leaving town with any shooting light left if sunny, cloudy you have a much better chance. Woodies have been so tardy lately in the corn can't even hunt the PM if sunny and the AM with them isn't much better, they're in the goose decoys b4 legal light and it takes them about 15 seconds to put 10,000 kernels in their necks and they're off again. Still quite a few wood ducks in the river here north of Anoka 40 minutes for reference. I'm foggy on how a PM water duck hunt would go, the last 40 minutes seems to be your chance(s). 

[benbosh]

This season I've been getting out after work and get maybe roughly an hour of hunting in and have been doing it just business as usual. Seems like 15 minutes after setting up I get the first shots in and the other ducks on the lake get scared up and start flying around and once they are ready to land its usually steady shooting for a while then you get the last minute ducks coming in before dark. And of course the flocks that try to land in the decoys as you are picking up. Never fails

[Neighbor_guy]

I hope to get out later in the day today. Not expecting much, but I'm going to try. 

The geese didn't come in until 11:00pm last night. They are feeding very late and coming back to water even later. 

If your hunting food you should be good in the afternoon. 

[brittman]

Tyler hit it on the head in W MN and the Dakotas ... calm and sunny afternoons are met with little or not duck movement except mallard feeds and they tend to hold out in the fields until after sundown.

Afternoons can be hit or miss ... but the show from sunset to dusk/dark is often worth the price of admission.

 

Drizzle and mist with some wind (aka today) would have been downright phenomenal if you set up were the ducks are.

My best mallard hunts (quickest all drake limits) have been PM hunts with drizzle, fog, or snow.