Sea Duck's? Were To Start?

[Nicholas Hickey]

Hey im a younger one at this and was wondering were should i start i know that normal duck hunting requires decoys and a blind in some instances but could be done simply by knowing a good duck hangout and stalking it and others. Is this true for sea ducks because in my area (Burin Pensula, Grand Le Pierre/ Terrenceville area) there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of ducks we may see a couple of good company's of ducks a year (10-30 + ducks in each). I don't know if its the same everywhere else but i would like to get as much information on this as possible. As well as what type of shells i should us (i can shoot up to 3.5 inch shells magnums included, and all the way down to target 2.75's so length doesn't matter). Any and all help and advice on this is very appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Nick.

[Corey Stacey]

Well Nickolas the first thing you will need is either a good dog or a boat.  When it comes to ammo I use the best possible usually 3.5 inch black cloud or something similar.  Sea ducks particularly eiders are very difficult to kill.  Another thing you will find with sea ducks is that hunting success is greatly  weather dependent and as well tides play a big role.  Getting an understanding of this with time will help greatly. Depending on location certain winds will produce few birds.  For me NOrtherly winds are a waste of time for hunting for the most part.  But in some other location northerly winds may be excellent.  You will have to figure that out on your own.  With regards to numbers of birds that depends greatly on your location.  I alos live on the Burinn Peninsula in the Fortune/ GRand BAnk area and I do see a fair number of birds on good mornings usually hundreds or even thousands.  I expect that terrenceville is probably too far in the bay for sea ducks especially eiders they tend to like rough shallow coastlines for feeding.  I would expect that you may have some good merganser numbers as they like to stick to the bays and calmer waters.  Hope this helps

 

Good luck

 

Corey

[Nicholas Hickey]

Thanks and on the numbers part of the it ive seen quite a few ducks on certin days but i havent been out hunting them before and i wouldint know and in your location would be the best place for ducks, there and point may. Well see this year when the season opens and i get a chance to call and place some decoys. I do have a boat so it will be alot easyer than land hunting as i can pick the spots for ducks better.

[Corey Stacey]

If you have a boat and get the right weather you should be able to pic up a few birds.   I am from Point May and I do a lot of my hunting from shoreline in that area.

 

 

[kenneth Griffiths]

Well nicholas Corey about summed it up. Black cloud in 3.5 #4 are the best shell to use, that is what i use and they drop the ducks mad. Where ever there are sholes there are sea ducks. If you don't have a boat, they will be harder to hunt. Like corey i have seen up o 6-700 in flocks and all around the sholes feeding. Decoys do help alot but you have to set them in the dark and be ready for them when they come to feed. Hope this helps.

 

 

Kenneth

[Nicholas Hickey]

Thanks for the reply and were do you hunt what part of newfoundland (not asking for any secrete hiding holes haha) but general area and would a large amount of decoys be needed to impress these birds? or would a simple few strings of 5-10 birds ,totaling mabey 20 decoys. and i live in pretty much as far up into the burin pensula as you can get Terrenceville  which is as corey said is a long way into the bay to catch many migrating birds just niping the coast of the boot there as they go along to feed.

[kenneth Griffiths]

Yes just a few is good. You don't want to put out to many as there are not alot of ducks in your area. It would seem out of place to put out alot of decoys. I am from ship harbour placentia bay and the ducks are plenty. The later in the season it gets the more the ducks there are.

 

Good luck with this season's hunt..

 

Kenneth