wood dux

J

Jon Zuccolo

Active member
So the season is done, and I am thinking about adding a few duck boxes to the area I hunt, so I have SOME chance to get a wood duck next season. I know there are a FEW wood ducks in the area, and I think there could probably be more if there were some nest boxes added (I was thinking of adding them to this creek and the flooded areas around it at a rate of about 1 box per 200 yards, and just add them until I get tired of walking. Theres one other spot I was thinking of adding to as well, but it might be too much work to get em both...


Anyone have experience with this? This habitat should be OK right? Any tips on how to keep racoons and squirrels, and possums out? Any other tips?

Jon

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I have boxes on my swamp, I don't think you need to space them that far apart. don't put them so close thet are viewable from box to box , there is the chance of egg dumping. So say every 75 to100 yds. Mount them at least 5 ft off the water the ducklings need to fall to stimulate their GI track. For predator cones I used 12inch roofing flashing,shaped it into a cone around the tree,or post and screwed it in place. I also had woodies pryor to installing boxes . I have 6 boxes ,5 of the 6 produced last year. i moved the box that didn't to a new location. I put cedar shavings in the boxes 8 inches or so. each winter you will should check the boxes ,clean them out and add fresh bedding.I had over 75 woodies come in on the 2 wood duck hunts i had last year. This year I am hoping for the same.

On the causeway to Vermont I did see wood duck boxes mounted back to back with predator shields.
 
John,
Your area certainly looks woodducky, i would be surprised if boxes did not work. I have been buying scrap pipe for .50 a pound to mount the boxes on. i have been told this cuts down on predator problems.
 
Pipe does work well but add the cone . I also have mine installed only in water to cut down on the land based predator's. I service the boxes on the ice .
 
Yeah, I will probably do it with the cone cause I will be hiking it all in and pipe is heavy. I am not sure I can take more than 6 at a time also because they are bigger then I expected. Should be interesting though. I will try to remember to take some pictures along the way... :)

I better get cracking, cause spring seems to be here already!
 
Pipe doesn't stop snakes that's why the cones are key. Just carry a roll of flashing and fabricate on the spot. 6 boxes are pretty heavy and bulky plan on a game cart if you can and an extra set of hands is nice as well. after all someone is gonna want to hunt those woodies with you might as well earn it
 
Made the first 2 boxes, one cedar, one pine. Don't imagine that pine will be a problem as its pretty dry here most of the time, but I will see how these two compare in about a years time (assuming they don't get hit by a tornado)

The next 4 will be cedar because I KNOW it will hold up, and its pretty darn light to carry.

Certainly bigger than I expected... might take more than 2 trips to get 6 nest boxes out.
 
What a great start, Jon. Congratulations on having the desire to do something positive for our duck population and then trying to do it right. Enjoyed those pics. Your area looks very good.
Al
 
That's really cool. I was planning to build some wood duck boxes with my kids. Last year, we made some bird houses based on plans from the PA Game Commission website. I guess I am behind on the wood duck boxes for this year.

We do quite a bit of canoeing as a family through the spring, summer and fall. I tell the wife it is all about family time, but my son and I certainly use it for scouting too. ;)

My plan was to build several boxes and tag them with numerical tags that I have. We would then mark them on our handheld GPS by number and then we could have the kids navigate back to them when we needed to check in and perform maintenance. Kind of like practical geocaching, plus it teaches orienteering skills. After they got a couple with the GPS, I would layout some with just coordinates and teach them to plot a courses on a paper USGS topo map and use their compass to navigate back. I started doing courses with them last year and they really enjoyed it.

Just a fun thing to do with the family.
 
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