[Mallyard]

Allrightie Kansas waterfowlers... I've got a question. How may of you hunt farm ponds? If so do you guys use any kind of duck biologic in them to attract ducks, or how do you attract ducks to a pond. I've get permison to hunt 3 ponds, 2 of them are med sized and one his large. The 2 med. sized ones are about 1/2 mile at the most from this other farm pond that is loaded with ducks, like 400 of em. We don't have permission to hunt it but was wondering if we could lure some of those ducks to one of the ponds that we can hunt. Thanks,
Mallyard

 

[Mallyard]

BUMP any one can help.....

Mallyard

 

[ks_waterfowler]

We don't do anything to attarct them to the ponds we can hunt. When hunting pressure gets high, or the marshes lock up and the pond is still open, they'll just flock in there.

We were goose hunting on a pond we had permission on, and about 5,000 ducks flew to a small pond (3/4 of an acre) a half mile away. I haven't seen anything like it. It looked like Claypool with the ducks on the land and everywhere else. Luckily my best friend's uncle owned the pond. We went back the next morning, and the first duck to come in was banded. We took limits of ducks and geese off that pond for two days. Another hunt it was like a tornado coming into our decoys (limits for 5 in thirty min.)

They seem to just go to the same ponds every year too. We are fixin to dig pit blinds on one of our better ponds.

 

[DuckPlayer]

A few tricks I've done to attract ducks to ponds: #1. If your going to be hunting a certain pond for a couple of years seeding some aquatic plants won't hurt, won,t do any good right before season and would probably be considered baiting which is illegal here in Nebraska.
#2 Find a old electric trolling motor or two and cut the shafts down shorter, drive a fencepost into the bottom so it is sturdy and mount the motor on it so it aims slightly upward from about a foot underwater. run wires (insulated) underwater to shore near your blind seal all wire connections with a sealant like caulk or something put a couple aligator clips on the ends and use a couple car batterys to run them during the first couple weeks of real cold when all other ponds a frezzing over and part of your pond will stay open the ducks will come to your pond like a metal filing to a magnet as long as you can keep the water open. P.S. I was lucky enough to have a power source close by so i rigged up a power converter and timer to my setup so it only runs for about an 1/2 hr out of every hr.

 

[duckplucker]

I dont do anything to the ponds i hunt. I just kinda scout em from time to time and keep a look out for them to start coming in. Like everyone else is saying, keep the water open and the ducks will come. (geese too for that matter)

 

[yellowlab]

one of the main thing you need to look out for when hunting pounds is if the birds are staying at the pounds at night then make sure you dek these pounds in the morring and don;t surprise them to much if you have to get them off the pound ...(if you can resisted... don't jump them...i can't resisted very offten special if there is a limit of geese on the water... i jsut can't help but think what if one of those has "the bling" and i am jsut going to let them up)...
jsut try to stay away from them at night... let the birds come and think they are safe at night!!

 

[KS_PuddleJumper]

As a self proclaimed pond specialist - - I can only agree with what has already been said. I wish I could better understand, biologically, whay ducks come back, in droves, to the same mud holes year after year. I hunt some ponds that are clearly feeding areas, and some that are nothign more than a loafing area. But they come, year after year, and if you have the ability to hunt a given pond regularly, you'll learn a lot by keeping a journal, and studying the conditions that make each pond more favorable than another. But you know what? It STILL comes back to scouting. The underlaying thread to ALL posts!

I LOVE ponds, and that comprises 75% of my hunting most years. I have many that I just jump 'em on, and a handful of larger ponds that I hunt over dekes on, a couple permanent blinds. I would love to talk more with someone "biologically" savvy on how I might improve some of these ponds. Boy, if I could get 'em feeding, loafing, AND roosting, all on the same pond... I'd be in trouble! Any biologists out there!?

 

[KS_PuddleJumper]

couple more things -
DuckPlayer mentioned the trolling motor idea - I have SLAIN ducks using a similar setup. If you don't have a power source, use a battery. We had the ability to carry a car battery to the blind, and were able to run this thing all day. We broke ice, clamp the trolling motor to a 2x6 driven deep into the mud. We had a goose shell, with styrofoam "fitted" to the trolling motor and wired onto it, hiding the motor and post, at a bit of a funny angle, but nothing that seemed to scare any ducks. The motor, at it's angle, kicked water up OVER the ice, slowly opening a larger hole in the ice, AND more importantly, creating the perception of open water as the water rolled over the top of the ice. It was like magic...

Second, Yellowlab hit it - if you hunt the same ponds often, be SURE, like any place, that you give 'em time to rest. We try not to hunt the same ponds all week long. Maybe hit'em on a weekend, then hit the public marshes during the week, maybe hit the same pond on a Wed/Thurs... a nice rotation keeps the feathers feeling safe. I also realize that not everyone has the luxory of multiple opportunities to rotate around on, but my point is - give them a rest. I found it to be worth it. You CAN shoot off permanently if you try!