Opening Day Spread

[french_lake_kid]

What are your ppls normal, duck opening spreads? Spiecies? Numbers?

[bubs]

where we hunt we put out 8-10 hen mallards and maybe a doz hen bills with one or two drakes in the mix. we hunt public water but we have the place to ourselves or one other group.

[Scott M]

A couple dozen mallard decoys, half dozen geese. Pretty simple.

I've heard that its best to use more hens than drakes early season as the drakes are still molting, but on opening day I don't think the ducks are quite that wise yet.

[lanyard]

I drop all the magnum mallards. Will go out with couple dozen total blocks. Use standard drakes to pepper. Usually about a 30/70 mix. Wide scatter with a seperate group of 5 or so off to one side.

[hanson]

Hunting water, this is usually what I'll do.

- Dozen to dozen & a half Bluebills which are lined up reaching out into the lake.

- 8-12 Mallards on the inside of the Bluebills near shore.

(Mallards and bills together for a hook or a J)

- Dozen to dozen & a half Goose floaters to the side.

Ducks do not seam to be afraid of the goose decoys at all, I actually think they help. And we get the bonus of easy to decoy geese as well.

Teal have never had a problem coming into this decoy mix.

[Abrams]

Maybe 17 mallards . . . mostly hens with a few dirty drakes.

[BarTender]

Since the ducks are already starting to migrate, I like to put out a big spread. usually about 6-8 doz mallards and another 2-3 doz geese. Ducks and geese find safty in numbers. the more the better is the motto. If you are on public waters, this will help you bring the birds off other spreads and into yours

[Eric Wettschreck]

I hunt a lot smaller water, especially during the opener. Therefore, I use a LOT smaller spread. Half dozen mallards, half dozen teal, maybe a couple of woodies and I'm set.

[ole matty]

10-15 doz mallard dekes, 5 doz teal, 6 doz goose floaters........the bigger it is the better it is!

jk 2-3 doz mallard with more hen than drake. few woodies n 1 doz goose floaters, mayb add some coots dekes for fun as well and a good callin..

[swedishpimple]

I notice that many of you go heavy on the hen mallards and fewer drakes. Is this beacuse the hen dekes look like the immature mallard drakes??? Do the big shiny green heads scare away other ducks?

[Abrams]

The goal is to be as natural as possible. How many greenheads are around right now? Not many. I was down at the park 3 days ago feeding ducks and I saw only a few greenheads. I try and use only a few dirty greenheads in the spread right now.

[guppie]

6 mallards, 6 woodies and a cyclinder choke tube!

[icecold]

I mostly hunt the river, I only put out 2 floating goose decoys and 12-16 mixed decoys Mallards woodducks and a couple coot decoys works good for me

[BoxMN]

For us it will be about a dozen puddlers, with a few woodies, on the slough, and on the lake just across the pass will probably be 2 dozen diver dekes in a nice group. We will also set out about 30 goose floaters off a point on the lake as that has worked for the past couple years to get some geese to come in after the morning shoot. My buddies farm has a nice variety of options.

Also bringing can dekes for possibly use on Sunday morning, due to reports of lots of cans in the area. Can't wait

[Ely Lake Expert]

My dad and I usually put out 18 mallards, 6 teal, and 6 ringbill decoys.

[Borch]

Well I usually keep it pretty small with about a dozen mallards, 6 divers and 10 geese. But based on my scouting this afternoon I might add a few more mallards. I had one flock with 50 mallards in it working the slough this afternoon. Lots of smaller groups as well.

Kinda surprised me with a group that large this time of year. But I'm fired up with all the birds working the slough.

[Sergeant Slabber]

Lots-o-geese! I have found that ducks will almost always come into a nice spread of geese. I'll throw a few mallards and woodies in there just because, but a big number of geese will pull everything in for you.