Most ducks that ever landed in your decoys

A

anthony m coons sr

Well-known member
Many years ago my brother Ron and I hunted this near by lake. It was just off the river not far from our house. On one side of the Lake there were million dollar houses. On the other side nothing but wooded coves. We had hunted this spot many times. Shot tons of birds off of it. It was a duck hunters dream. There wasn't a puddle duck we didn't get a shot at one time or another.
But this one snowy cold winter day. In the middle of the afternoon. It happened! we were in a cove that wasn't wider then fifty yards and about hundred yards long. A flock of about twenty teal came in. This was late December, We were already close to the limit, The teal came in so fast ! as teal do, we didn't shot. I couldn't under stand why teal were even here. They were huddled so close on the water we couldn't take a chance. All of a sudden I looked over our backs and a flock of about fifty mallards dropped in right next to the teal. This was great ! but the best was yet to come. My brother and I both put down our guns. My yellow lab was shaking like crazy. Birds were still coming. It stated snowing harder the wind was blowing about foury mph into that little cover. I never seen some of these puddle ducks on the near by river. The sky was blacken by large flocks of blacks,wigeon,shovelers, blue,green wing teal,pintails, even a wood duck, gadwalls,even ,divers,canvasbacks by the bucket load, buffleheads and some that I could not even ID. There where hundreds or even more. That little cove was packed to the max with ducks from everywhere. It was the greatest duck sighting that I had ever witnessed,
Just like everything else man put his hands on he screws it up. There are now million dollar house on this side of the lake . No hunting , no Ducks. Just rich peoples summer homes. What a waste.
I'll never forget that little cove ,or how it rained ducks that day. I never shot at one of them, it was such a wonderful site. Thanks ! let me know your story
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Hunted many of farms in my youth and early adult life in Western Kentucky and along the Ohio River stretching from the Mississippi to just north of Livingston county on the river were large sums of ducks had blackened the sky coming into the decoys in upwards of 3 to 500 birds at a time over the years. In a few cases 500 may be an understatement. The largest group of ducks I have ever had land in the decoys was in Texas in 2015 on a 1100 acre lease I was on outside of Lissie, Tx. I would estimate around 2000 pintails hit our spread with 4 of us hunting around 10 a.m. in the morning. We never called a single time. The wind was blowing about 20 mph out of the northwest and a storm front was rolling in that day. We had already shot our limits of Pintails that morning right after shooting hours. We agreed that we would not have shot into the group anyway. I have no video of that hunt and it may sound far fetched but believe me it was an awesome sight and sound. Imagine 500 people with gym whistles, blowing them at an erratic rate while an F16 trying to land in front of you with the engine sounding. It was truly amazing. A gentleman hunting with us had been on that lease for over 25 years. He said that if he never hunted another duck in his life that one moment made his whole life of duck hunting well worth it.

Now Geese, I do have some historical video on that which occurred about 8 years ago.

The largest group of geese not including snow geese which also happed down in Texas was a group of cacklers in Manitoba come into our spread. There were probably 5000+ birds in total in the air at the time stretching as far as you could see just downwind of our spread. The video does not do it justice because it shows mainly the immediate birds from about 10 yards to 200 yards in front and not the other birds in a tornado in the air above them as well. The guide let several groups land of about 100 birds land and then pick-up and another land before we finally shot into a group of about 200 birds. No camera goose down shots on the first group because when we all came up to shoot there were so many birds around everybody was shooting in all directions. We all felt like kids on that first volley. The video below is of that hunt. The first 5 minutes of the video was the group of 5 guys I was hunting with over 4 days. About the first 4:50 minutes of the video was of the first day only. The last 10 seconds were the last day we hunted of the very first group of greater Canada geese we were targeting. I recommend turning the video up to about 100% on YouTube and your computer as loud as you can stand it because that is about how loud the birds were that day. I can remember it like it was yesterday that the guy immediately to my left, Brian and I were laughing our heads off and talking the whole time. The guide was about 10 yards behind us and you could not here us over the geese being so loud. We had geese land between our blinds and at our feet. It was amazing. I felt like a kid on Christmas night.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu9XbwEI3HQ

Regards,
Kristan
 
Kristan

That is a hunt of a life time. Proud of you and your friend for not shooting into the flock. Pintails are so pretty wish I could of been there. As far as the geese go. I wouldn't know how to act. Snow geese I have seen thousands come down at one time. But never seen Canada geese or any others beside snows come down in the thousands, hundreds yes. It must of been a blast. a LIFE TIME MEMORY. Thanks for sharing
 
My best memory of a large number of ducks coming to the decoys is from early in my duck hunting. I was a student and hunted a local lake. I didn't have money for a boat so had a little yellow raft that someone gave me. I had one Carry lite goose decoy and 5 flambeau mallard decoys. This mid 70's and the decoys were again given to me and were several years old and quite worn. I was hunting the lake for the first time and had no idea where to hunt. So I paddled around the first point by the boat ramp and into a bay to another cove. The wooded bank was pretty steep and I just laid back on the bank and covered up with a piece of burlap. I was mediocre at best with a duck call and had low expectations. I must have been there 2 hours and was half asleep when I heard the whistling of wings over head. Had to be a flock of about 500 migrators. I quickly called (if you could call it that) and they disappeared. Then in about a minute here they came over from behind me again. Called and they disappeared. It happened a third time and then they seemed to have been gone. As I contemplating why a large flock of ducks would come into 6 homely decoys. Just as reality was setting in and all hope was lost, they came over the trees, turned into the wind and came right toward me. There were three out in front that came into the decoys. The others were going to come, but my impatience set in and I took the first three. Killed two with first shot then the third with the second. To this day I will never forget that sensation and still ponder why in the world they came to me when there was a group hunting the prime spot with about 100 decoys. At the ramp 5 guys came in their 20 foot duck boat and I in my little yellow raft. They had seen what happened and we were all laughing. They were kind enough to invite me to go with them and I did hunt the next weekend with them. We had the same large groups of migrating ducks and limited for 6 guys.
 
rfberan

The little raft that could, You should write a book about that raft. Money, decoys, boats doesn't matter Ducks will land where they want to land. Nothing can control that. Great story thanks for sharing
 
The book should be "Duck Hunting Idiot". I was so desperate and crazy about duck hunting that on a subsequent hunt, I took that raft through the ice following another boat out. They were well aware and kindly pointed out how stupid I was for trying it. Yes I understand why duck hunters can loose good judgement, and why incidents occur. I did learn my lesson and question my own actions on that day. I believe after that lesson and realization, I've adopted much safer practices.
 
Amen Brother, funny how when you get older you fear danger. But when your a young buck you'll do almost anything. I'm know where near the nut that I once was. [;)]
 
I had about 800 bluebills come in as one flock. They landed all around the point I was set up on. A solid raft of birds up to within about five yards of my boat. I already had one of my two bird limit in the boat. There was no way to pick a single out safely. They hung around for about ten minutes and picked up and left as suddenly as they showed up. Never picked up the gun. Something I will never forget!
 
Gene

That's a ton of bluebills, I would of done the same thing and just sat there and watch the show. Thanks so much for sharing your story. God made the duck, And the duck made us who we are. thanks
 
I don't really know.

I've had some amazing days in flooded timber, though...and the odd part is that it isn't usually one big flock.

For me, the largest groups I've had started out with maybe 20 mallards that circled. Guys leaned against tall oak trees, water about to the tops of the boots, decoys bobbing in the ripples from someone "kicking water". A good flock starts making the circle, the lead caller and the lead hen talking back and forth, but the flock just won't quite commit. Then the next thing you know, another 20 are joining in, falling from 50 or 60 yards up to start swinging with the first bunch.

Everybody in the group wants it to happen, and still the ducks won't come. Whispers about where the ducks are on the downwind, because swinging at the treetops makes them disappear and reappear...and then as the lead caller starts talking to that same hen, someone whispers, "oh, Jesus...right over us" in that voice that everyone who hunts knows. Every hunter tries his best to hug an oak as tightly as he can and not look...he wants to see for himself. The swing birds have started drawing more and more...ducks on the downwind swing, ducks falling from 100 yards or 200 yards, feet and wings straight down to get into the mix, other groups trying to catch up to the "Tail End Charlie" of the lead group...If you're on public ground, you're praying nobody decides to shoot just to mess you up or is just close enough on the downwind to try a shot at the treetops....and once the birds lock in, the calling from every other group within a mile means nothing. If you're a spectator in the next hole, it's infuriating...you know what's coming, and no amount of calling will turn them; the best you can do is put the call down and watch...that sort of behavior isn't quite as common as it used to be, unfortunately.

I wish I knew what the exact signal was, but it just builds and builds and builds, and at some point, 300-500 mallards or more try to land through the same opening in the trees. The wings are a roar; the tornado turns into a downpour of wingbeats, quacks, feet, and splashes as birds hit the water. I've seen enough land at one time that after the shooting was over, birds were still getting up out of the timber, with people trying to reload and shoot if the dogs weren't already out picking up.

I've had enough snow geese over a pit blind, circling and swinging and dipping and picking back up that you couldn't hear each other talk. Everyone just making the "oh my god do you believe this" face...

And it wasn't "landing in the decoys", but one of the greatest flights of ducks I've ever seen was one morning in northeast Arkansas rice field. Set a timer for 7-8 minutes, and imagine seeing a sky filled with lines of ducks flying overhead constantly, stretching from over your head to the horizon to the north and east, flying south, and most of them piling in to a reservoir on an adjoining property for that full amount of time. It's a lot longer than you think. A line of 20 or 30 passes over, and another ragged line of 30, 40 or 50 is right behind them, and 15 more behind them, and on, and on. How many? I have no idea, and I've never seen ducks like that since. Snow geese maybe, but never ducks.
 
Back in January 1998, at the end of my first season hunting Mobile Bay, I had a flock of well over 200 bluebills come roaring over my head, do a big figure 8 and then land about 75 yards from my blind. About half of them went to sleep, the rest loafed and preened. What a sight to see.
About 15 minutes later, a single bluebill came cruising over my spread, I dropped him. When I did the whole flock blasted off in one big swoosh and flew down the bay. Turned out the single I killed is the only banded bird I've ever taken in my 21 years of duck hunting, and it was over 10 years old!
 
RL and I hunting in boats side-by-side had a LOT of redheads zoom in to land around us one day. A 100+? Do you recall a number Rick. Like Carl noted, half went into sleeper pose. Sometimes one just holds off shooting to take it all in.

I will say after seeing them quickly go into the sleeper position, I knew right then all my redheads added to my spread in the future would be sleepers!!!

Steve
 
I would guesstimate them closer to 200...three layers of birds working over us or landing. They would get up and fly out from the two big pods when the rain let up a bit. All I can verify is that life was exciting enough that neither of us recognized the banded bird you shot. I swear it was all due to the birds that came in and landed next to the sleeper longline, which swam into the line and tucked their heads at 15-20 yards out. All of this happened so quickly that neither of us fired a shot.
 
Rick

What a great story, It most of been like duck hunters heaven. When the world stops to the beat of hundreds or even thousand of wings beating. I think just about all of us on here have had that one day in our life time. When heavens gates opened up and let's us see Gods work. Thanks so much for sharing your story.
 
Carl

Here today gone tomorrow that's how duck hunting is. Its funny when a flock wants in, No decoys or calls will change their mines. You got to see something that very few humans that aren't hunters ever see. Thanks for posting .
 
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