Diver set-up

[duckslammer]

I usually hunt puddle ducks and I don't really hunt divers much but i'm heading out to south dakota again this weekend and i'm wondering what you guys think is the best way to put divers in a spread of mostly mallards. Off to the side, in the middle....etc. Any input would be appreciated!

[BoxMN]

I'd put them off to the side, seperated, and maybe have the divers tighter together with maybe one or two not as tight (if talking about a dozen). I am guessing you are talking about a smaller spread. If you are talking 3-4-5 dozen, then things are different

[duckslammer]

we're planning on running 2 dozen bluebills and about 3-4 dozen mallards....if that helps

[BoxMN]

I'd keep them seperated for sure. If it is bluebills, and not ringbill, that you will be shooting, then I would put about 17 or 18 into your main bunch, then run the lead from the downwind side of the bunch going out either with the wind, or slightly towards where you think they will be coming from, and it will lead them to the bunch. The lead can be fairly far apart, even 10' or so between the birds.

FWIW, we usually have put the divers farther downwind and the puddler upwind, in the big picture. Ideally if you have wind at your back, it won't matter and you can just set them apart. I personally like as big a seperatiopn as shooting allows, but I know some people clump them together closer.

Good luck, hope this colder weather will bring them to you!

[outdoor ran]

Its not rocket science . I have found over the years on big water that the divers don't care if your puddlers and diver dekes are mixed. Give them a cluster and a tail and your good. I've tried it all the Y,W,T,U you name it. I do like to put a lilltle flock of dekes off to the side and make them look like there swimming for the raft. I like to use buffles, cans , or goldeneye dekes for that. JMO good luck

[BoxMN]

OutdoorRan, do you get puddlers come into your diver dekes much? I think that is why we have usually seperated them, as we rarely get the puddlers to come anywhere near diver dekes, but if we seperate them we have better luck. I also agree on the small group seperated from the main - we started this when shooting redheads years ago. They would land right between the main group and the small group (6-8) so we could place our shooting zone perfect.

You are right, it ain't rocket science but it is fun playing with them. We have seen many, many times where changing just 3 or 4 decoys placement has been the ticket to dekes coming in with gear down, or just giving us flybys - that was back when there were tons more around (late 80s early 90s), and you had the chance to have essentially unlimited flocks coming in to play with.

Its fun that for sure

[commander019]

I hunt divers over 5 doz mallard floaters and kill my limit with no issues. I guess it depends on whats using the lake. We see just as many mallards as divers on this particular lake so we set up for mallards and the divers come right in. They are roosting together.

[wooduck26]

Quote:

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FWIW, we usually have put the divers farther downwind and the puddler upwind,

[Dean Schellinger]

Divers are not as smart as mallards and therefore will decoy into about anything from what I have seen in most cases. In comparison, if I put out a small set-up with a pod of mallards and a small line of divers out further onto the lake, many times puddle ducks can see the white from the diver dekes better and therefore bomb into my diver line.

[Sartell Angler]

I concur with Flowage Tamer here. On a related note it is comical hunting with guys who came of age hunting ducks in the 70s and 80s because they (at least some of them) are under the impression that mallards will suck right into a spread like bluebills or redheads when guys are standing in poorly crafted blinds in plain sight of birds circling overhead...which as we all know is certainly not the case.

[ole matty]

boxm can i have your email address. i have a question or 2 for u thanks

matty

[HugoBox]

Hi Matty -

I'm BoxMN's bro and he's off killing bambi this weekend but we pretty much do everything 50/50 so feel free to contact either of us - he is [email protected] and I am [email protected]

Take care - erik

[BoxMN]

FYI - I think HugoBox brought Matty out the other day and they shot a couple geese. The divers didn't cooperate, but the geese sort of did.

After shooting bambi's dad, we duck hunted sunday and got a couple redheads, ringbill, buffleheads, two sawbills, and had a perfect flock of cans come in, but the dogs were out in the dekes so we passed on the cans. Not perfect hunting, but it was fun. We had plenty of missing too! All over can and ringbill dekes, about 18 of them.

Good luck all to the end of the duckin season

[HugoBox]

Its a good thing Matty can shoot. He doubled up nice on the geese. I sort of helped finish one but he did the heavy lifting. Overall we were dissappointed in duck numbers though. Its still weird seeing nothing but goldeneyes when we haven't really seen big numbers of divers in the metro area yet. I'm hoping they're still coming as I'm stuck in a hotel room in Orlando for work, anxious to get back to some duckin'.

[ole matty]

i m actually suprised i can shoot! haha i m disappointed in ui for not takin third shot so we wld had 3! we shld get out before seasons over and again thanks for takin me along! ah any ducks in orlando!????

[mpester]

Matty - I am married to HugoBox's cousin and I hunt with him quite a bit. Expect him to pass on a lot of shots. We had two redheads come into the decoys and land. I pulled the trigger right before the birds landed but missed taking off the safety. By the time I got the safety off, I water swatted the bird (I was very embarrassed for doing that but I did it because I missed the safety and they landed so quickly). HugoBox did not shot at all! Then he goes and says he was not sure the bird was not a loon (I was sure). We sure do pass on a lot of shots when we hunt together. I think I will start calling the shots more. Just giving HugoBox a hard time.

[ole matty]

Ohh well I m same sometime. If duck r like more than 25 yards away I wld wait till its closer sometime it work sometime it doesn't work.. If I was callin shots we probbaly wld had take first 2 that went over us before shtiload of geese take off behind us n flew over us so I thanks him for that. Hope huntin had been doin good for u as I m in iowa huntin some phez n try to lookin for spots for ducks but didn't find any.