High Winds and Duck Hunting....

Mark Vanderhoof

Mark Vanderhoof

Active member
hey guys, we are experiencing some really good winds right now with gusts up to 50mph and it got me thinking.... i always want wind when im hunting ducks on open water but i think sometimes there can be too much wind. this past january we were hunting one area for a couple days doing good on divers. then one day we got a bunch of wind, like sustained 40 gusting even higher. i figured it would be good hunting. we're hunting the lee side of the lake where it was still rough but manageable, the other side of the lake would have been a death sentence. on this day the ducks virtually did not fly. we didnt see hardly anything. have you guys experienced this kind of scenario? if so, what do you differently during high wind periods? best, mark
 
hey guys, we are experiencing some really good winds right now with gusts up to 50mph and it got me thinking.... i always want wind when im hunting ducks on open water but i think sometimes there can be too much wind. this past january we were hunting one area for a couple days doing good on divers. then one day we got a bunch of wind, like sustained 40 gusting even higher. i figured it would be good hunting. we're hunting the lee side of the lake where it was still rough but manageable, the other side of the lake would have been a death sentence. on this day the ducks virtually did not fly. we didnt see hardly anything. have you guys experienced this kind of scenario? if so, what do you differently during high wind periods? best, mark
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Mark, my experiance is pretty much the same as yours on big water, winds over 30 knots hinder more than help and birds fly significantly less or not at all above that. The classic the more wind the better goes for protected water that the birds flock to to escape the wind. Last fall I was out on the cape during a big blow and we had insane numbers numbers of birds in a semi-protected bay - it seemed like every scoter in CCB was in this harbor to get away from the wind and waves.

On a particular lake that you are familiar with, I have always had good puddler shooting when very, very windy at daybreak if you can get decoys to stay in the water on the windward shore.
 
I've had some incredible shooting both for Puddlers and Divers in big winds. Northwest is the best on the bay, because it blows the water out. I've never seen too much wind for Black Ducks. Divers on the other hand you need a lea where they want to live. Remember Sea Ducks and Divers are birds of open water they are oblivious to the weather. I've taken rides to the Lighthouse in big storms just to watch the Scoters and Eiders and they're out there like they were swimming in a sauna. I do not know what happens on inland lakes but around here its the tide that gets them moving. For Sea Ducks the best gunning is on the nicest days.
 
More and more each year it seems like the ducks here will not move for any wind unless there is some weather along with it. Sunny windy days, we have a lot of those here, will leave the ducks in the same rafts out in the middle of the lakes.
I do think the ones who fly do decoy better on windy days but a lot just seem not to fly.

Tim
 
Best day I ever had on open water was very cold brrrr, (spray freezing on the gunnells) and wind howling at better than 30 knots out of the Northwest. We were in the lee of a big island on the Pamlico Sound. We shot a limit of divers and puddlers and a limit of Sea Ducks in less than an hour. Wind picked up a little next day and zippo no ducks at all.

We blamed it on the wind being too high but who knows. They were probably up in creek mouths that day staying as much out of the wind as they could.

It's always a crap shoot and ideal conditions don't always bring ideal hunting.

When you figure them out please let me know,
Harry
 
Some of my best days have been when we have a screaming (15-25 mph) north wind and clear cold skys after a front passes. It blows out the water from the bay and leaves few places for the birds to rest & feed.

I have gotten to the dock on days when it was like this orworse and it was impossible to launch the boat as well as unsafe to do so. I know if I could have gotten safely to my spots, I would have killed ducks. Normally on days like that, I go home and wait until the tide turns & starts to come in about lunch time and then go out to hunt the after noon. its a lot safer going out in that kind of wind in full daylight. I set up as shallow as possible and catch the ducks as them come into feed on freshly flooded eelgrass beds.Most days I have done this, I was set up by 1:30 and shot a limit by 3:30.
Here is the result of one of those days back in '04-05 season, we were covered up with cans, redheads and greaters that year.
View attachment 3-2-1DiverLimit_Reduced.jpg
 
Hey Mark, Where are you on the fingerlakes? A frend of mine has a lake house on Cayuga Lake. I've thought
of hunting up that way but never done it. I'm judging a hunt test at Baldwinsville in Sept and hope to get together with a guy about a late season hunt for some old squaws.(my wife met him at a dog show)
I've seen lots of birds up there in Dec. John
 
Hey Mark, Where are you on the fingerlakes? A frend of mine has a lake house on Cayuga Lake. I've thought
of hunting up that way but never done it. I'm judging a hunt test at Baldwinsville in Sept and hope to get together with a guy about a late season hunt for some old squaws.(my wife met him at a dog show)
I've seen lots of birds up there in Dec. John
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hey john, im on cayuga lake. in union springs. small world huh..... best, mark
 
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