Thread: Who's getting ready for the duck shooting season?

Originally Posted by MB

Skipping it this year I think. Good luck to all.

How come? Hokianga a bit too far this year?

Last season was a lot of hard work for not much reward. I'm privileged to have access to the land that I shoot on, but the ponds aren't great. Plus there's the distance. However, the most important reason is that I've discovered a small population of pigs at the same stop. Family would rather eat pork than duck.

Checked out the old spot this morning, on the way eight ducks lifted off a wee bit of water then landed on a wee pond up further which is good news as once I have shot the river I then stalk all the stock ponds so although nothing on the river the ponds look promising.

Originally Posted by MB

Last season was a lot of hard work for not much reward. I'm privileged to have access to the land that I shoot on, but the ponds aren't great. Plus there's the distance. However, the most important reason is that I've discovered a small population of pigs at the same stop. Family would rather eat pork than duck.

I was the same as you last year I gave it a miss in favour of going hunting deer for the weekend however the freezer is looking good for deer this year so decided to knock over a few ducks.

the hungry wee suckers ate thier way through 2 of the 3 x 20 litre buckets of grain we had fed out yesterday!!!!!! put out a feeder bucket which should hopefully keep them entertained if we fill it up each weekend. managed two rainbows and a brown trolling with the Mrs after doing the feeder thing....bluebird day.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

the hungry wee suckers ate thier way through 2 of the 3 x 20 litre buckets of grain we had fed out yesterday!!!!!! put out a feeder bucket which should hopefully keep them entertained if we fill it up each weekend. managed two rainbows and a brown trolling with the Mrs after doing the feeder thing....bluebird day.

they can get thru it alright .
at one stage we were feeding 120kilos of peas at a time.
but it wasn't effective.
last year we had the most action ever by stayin away doin nothing but a tag and tidy up.
good luck to all.

the years we have fed we get a night shoot...only get half dozen birds at most but really enjoy it ...the years we havent fed we see stuff all. big public water.

Yep, pegged up and ready to go.......I'm bringing my kayak this year to go between 2 different spots on the Waikato river........

Feeding out makes a huge different's for my pond. The neighbour feeds out by the sack load when he runs out they start coming to my pond but his pond/lake shoots %100 better.
I use a automatic feeder and its amazing half hour before it goes off ducks start pouring in and swim straight over to the feeder waiting for it to go off. I set it to feed out morning and night. about a week after opening set it for nights only

Yeah looks like they switch on to the feed pretty quick, tagged up saturday and there wasn't a duck in sight, for the first time fed out about 1/3 of a sack of duck feed from farmlands cos i don't know where to get it cheaper, came back sunday pretty much same time to do a few reno's with my boys and there was 50+ mallards and parries all on the feed, and they kept trying to come back in bits and pieces while i was having a tidy up and my two young fellas ( 4+6) were spraying a bit more feed around..........was enough to get you a little excited even if it turns out i'm only fattening them up for someone else

Have been a bit lazy this year, haven't been to my spot yet. There isn't much to do to be honest, still getting a feel for it as its a new spot so, will likely just set a cam net up again but from a new position. I'm good for decoys and ammunition though.

Got the mai mai sorted at my spot and 1/2 scrubbed.

Got tomorrow afternoon off so going to pick up a 700kg load of Barley from CHB, some for my flatmate but will have 200kg spare if anyone wants some in Napier.

I'm not feeding this year just too lazy. Probably won'y get any on my main spot but just hope the stock ponds are full

My ten cents for what its worth - Dumping bulk lots of feed into a pond is hit or miss at best . Experience has taught me an electronic feeder is the way to go . Slip on in after dark and top it up if need be . Mine holds roughly 80-90kg of duck tucker. Put it on 2 or 3 morning feeds 5-10 sec intervals. This keeps the ducks coming in bringing new mates and creates competition for the food. As opposed to dumping in bulk where when the foods gone they just bugger off elsewhere. I like getting mine into a routine. No afternoon or night feeding as the crafty ones know they can just drop in after dark in the cover of safety and eat away .

Originally Posted by Nathan F

My ten cents for what its worth - Dumping bulk lots of feed into a pond is hit or miss at best . Experience has taught me an electronic feeder is the way to go . Slip on in after dark and top it up if need be . Mine holds roughly 80-90kg of duck tucker. Put it on 2 or 3 morning feeds 5-10 sec intervals. This keeps the ducks coming in bringing new mates and creates competition for the food. As opposed to dumping in bulk where when the foods gone they just bugger off elsewhere. I like getting mine into a routine. No afternoon or night feeding as the crafty ones know they can just drop in after dark in the cover of safety and eat away .

That sounds pretty clever, I bet it works well