# Young New Duck Hunter Looking For Advice



## Outdoorsman1201 (Dec 21, 2018)

My name is Camden and i'm 13. I have been fishing for my whole life and have always wanted to go duck hunting. I just don't know what to get or where to go. I live in Forsyth county. Any advice would help.


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## across the river (Dec 21, 2018)

Sixty something people have viewed this thread and no one wants to help the young man out.  Camden, Georgia isn't a great state to duck hunt in, but you can kill some birds if you work at it.  Don't think you need to go buy a bunch of stuff to duck hunt.  To start, I would say all you need is a plugged shotgun and some steel shot.  You say you fish a lot, so I am assuming you have some ponds to fish.   If these are family ponds or ponds you would have access to hunt then just go check them to see if they have any ducks or geese  on them.   If they do you can usually go back the next morning and they will often come back.  I killed a pile of ducks as a kid doing just that.    If you have access to some land with a decent sized creek or a beaver pond on it, you can typically do the same thing there.   I killed a pile of ducks as a kid with no decoys or duck calls.  At your age just take advantage of the options you have and have fun with it.  It is something you just sort of have to learn as you go along, but don't think you need all the stuff you see on TV to start duck hunting, because you don't.   If you serious about it though, you should also start learning what the difference ducks look like and the regulations that apply to them. The wood duck will be the one you will typically see them most in Georgia, but there are different limits for different species.   Don't get discouraged if it takes you a while to kill a duck.   It isn't as easy as they make it look on TV.  I hope this helps.  If you have any more questions, shoot me a PM and I will try to help you as much as I can.


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## Outdoorsman1201 (Dec 21, 2018)

Thanks across the river, me and my dad are going to arrowhead wma tommorow morning to see if there are any ducks. We have also found a small beaver pond at McGraw ford which we are planning to go to another time during my Christmas break. We found it when we were squirrel hunting and I saw a bunch of wood ducks fly off of it. At least I think they were wood ducks. We are going to try different places the next two weeks and we might even go to lake Guntersville because one of my moms co workers said it was good and also my wood working teacher said that I should try arrowhead wma or lake guntersville.


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## chrisn1818 (Dec 21, 2018)

Wish you were closer and I would give you a half dozen decoys. That’s about as many as you need in my limited experience. You don’t want to post on here if you find a honey hole. There are plenty of “Duck Hunters” who are not above setting up on your spot if you reveal too much info. As sad as that is ?. It is a lot of fun when it all comes together!!! Good luck. Feel free to pm if you have any questions. I don’t duck hunt GA much now so I will freely share the few spots I know of. Do you have a job boat or kayak?


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## Outdoorsman1201 (Dec 21, 2018)

I have a pelican bass raider which is a 10 foot plastic mini pontoon boat. It has a trolling motor on it.


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## Outdoorsman1201 (Dec 22, 2018)

chrisn1818 said:


> Wish you were closer and I would give you a half dozen decoys. That’s about as many as you need in my limited experience. You don’t want to post on here if you find a honey hole. There are plenty of “Duck Hunters” who are not above setting up on your spot if you reveal too much info. As sad as that is ?. It is a lot of fun when it all comes together!!! Good luck. Feel free to pm if you have any questions. I don’t duck hunt GA much now so I will freely share the few spots I know of. Do you have a job boat or kayak?


I also have a camo kayak, we went to arrowhead and we saw nothing except for other hunters, then we went to Rocky Mountain PFA and I paddled around but all I saw was crows. I am starting to believe that what everyone says about Georgia duck hunting is true. Do know any public places where I might be able to shoot my first duck.


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## Mexican Squealer (Dec 22, 2018)

Study google earth to find beaver ponds on public land.


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## across the river (Dec 22, 2018)

Mexican Squealer said:


> Study google earth to find beaver ponds on public land.



Even a decent sized creek will hold wood ducks.   If you can find a spot in the creek where it pools up a little bit or a place with a lot of acorns falling in it, then you can likely kill a wood duck.  It isn't a s easy as just showing up to the local WMA pond or public lake and pulling the trigger as they fly over, so if you are expecting that then you are likely going to be highly disappointed.  Also, if you do happen to find a bird or two to kill, don't come on this forum or anywhere else on the internet and tell people where you killed it.   You have to keep that stuff quite or it will end up like what you saw this morning, with no ducks and a lot of other people.


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## Outdoorsman1201 (Dec 22, 2018)

Ok thanks, I’ll look on google maps, do you know if you can duck hunt on Chattahoochee National Forest. I am not expecting much from the killing part I just think it’s fun to go and try to find some ponds where there might be a duck.


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## Outdoorsman1201 (Dec 22, 2018)

Also do y’all know if you can float down a river in a kayak and shoot ducks when you see them or do you have to be  stationary. I am thinking about going on the Etowah River because I have seen some ducks there when I go fishing.


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## MudDucker (Dec 26, 2018)

Outdoorsman1201 said:


> Also do y’all know if you can float down a river in a kayak and shoot ducks when you see them or do you have to be  stationary. I am thinking about going on the Etowah River because I have seen some ducks there when I go fishing.



As long as you are not under power or if you were under power, you stop being moved by the power, you can shoot from a moving boat.  You can not legally run and gun, which means to run up on them with a motor and suddenly stop the motor to shot.  Floating with a kayak without a motor is fine.


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## Outdoorsman1201 (Dec 26, 2018)

If anyone would want two people to tag along on a hunt I would greatly appreciate it. It would be two people because my dad would have to go but he would not hunt.


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## Sweet talker (Dec 27, 2018)

If you ever want to make the trip to Monroe county I can show you a really good youth spot to shoot. Your dad wouldn't be able to shoot but he can be with you.


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## Outdoorsman1201 (Dec 27, 2018)

Sweet talker said:


> If you ever want to make the trip to Monroe county I can show you a really good youth spot to shoot. Your dad wouldn't be able to shoot but he can be with you.


What do you mean by show (would you take us or just tell us where to go). I have a kayak, and a small two person plastic pontoon boat, a semi automatic shotgun, #2 steel shot and I got half a dozen decoys for Christmas. Monroe county Georgia is two hours away and my dad is willing to drive down there.


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## Sweet talker (Dec 28, 2018)

I can send you a picture, I hunted these two spots that are designated for youth and they always were really good for me.


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## Sumter (Dec 28, 2018)

Good advice posted above. 

Pro Tip: Buying East Coast Waterfowl, Sitka, Banded, Drake, Avian X, Dakota Decoys, RNT calls, etc. etc. will not help you kill ducks. Time outside in the outdoors will.

See if you can get a set of binoculars to observe places from a distance so you can find ducks without walking right up on them.


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## chase870 (Dec 28, 2018)

Pay attention in Biology Class, learn everything you can about what your hunting. What type of ducks will you find in the areas you hunt. If you have Wood Duck habitat learn every thing you can about Wood Ducks since that's most likely what you will find in that habitat, next see what other type of ducks use the same habitat. By understanding what your Ducks will be looking for will allow you to find the X. The X is where the birds want to be, and that's where you want to be.
Welcome to the World of Waterfowling


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## Hammockben1 (Jan 2, 2019)

To be honest and everyone can say this or probably has said it already but the best way to learn is to actually do it buy knowing the laws and limits and read up on it a good bit it will stick to you pretty good and study Google maps I've been hunting for ducks now for about 5 to 6 years and even though I found many good spots to sit and found spots not to go to anymore cause there isn't just any ducks which is why it's called #duckhunting but I still scroll Google earth a lot good luck bud hope the best for you


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