Hunting the Duck Factory

During the spring and summer months, the numerous wetlands and extensive grasslands of the Prairie Pothole Region serve as vital cogs in a duck production machine that churns out birds destined for points across North America and beyond. If you shoot a mallard in a rice field in Arkansas, a redhead on Lake Erie, or a northern pintail along the Gulf Coast, there’s a good chance that bird was raised somewhere in pothole country. In fact, in years of good wetland conditions, more than half the continent’s ducks breed here.

Spanning portions of five US states and three Canadian provinces, the Prairie Pothole Region also offers a wealth of hunting opportunities for ducks and geese, both over water and on an array of harvested croplands. Following is a look at how waterfowl utilize the region’s diverse wetlands and food resources throughout the hunting season, and how understanding these behaviors might help you plan a successful waterfowling trip to the Duck Factory this fall.

The First Shift

Early September is a time of transition on the northern prairies as the verdant summer landscape gradually takes on the golden hues of autumn. With the nesting and brood-rearing seasons in the rearview mirror, it’s also a time of transition for waterfowl that settled on the prairies back in the spring.

“Changes in behavior are most evident in early migrating species, perhaps most notably among blue-winged teal, as they are one of the first species to head south and one of the first ducks that hunters can target before the start of the regular duck season in northern states,” says Dr. Scott Stephens, DU’s senior director of Boreal and prairie conservation strategy. “Even in August and most certainly by early September, you’ll start to see bluewings congregating in larger numbers on areas of shallow water that provide the food resources they need to build fat reserves for migration.”

Soon other waterfowl species begin staging for migration on the prairies as day length diminishes and the first major cold fronts sweep down from the north. Eventually birds settle into a pattern of daily movement from roosting wetlands to feeding and loafing areas. The progress of the fall harvest can have a significant impact on waterfowl distribution, Stephens adds, as locally produced mallards, pintails, and Canada geese are quick to take advantage of waste grain that becomes available as soon as fields are harvested.

While field hunting on the prairies is second to none in September and early October, hunters who prefer to set up over water will also find plenty of opportunities. “Particularly in the Dakotas, you’re going to find an abundance of public ground that contains the smaller, shallower wetlands used by dabbling ducks early in the season, which is a good thing in terms of accessibility,” Stephens explains. “And early season is also the time when you are going to see a lot of different ducks over the course of a hunt over water. It is not uncommon to end up with four or five different species in the bag.”

Occasionally, hunters can enjoy the best of both worlds when fall rains flood expanses of grain fields. Waterfowl will come from great distances to explore new water and food resources on the landscape. “A hunting partner of mine in Manitoba called me once and said that he had found a large number of mallards going into a canola field, which is not typical behavior. When we hauled our gear in, we found a shallow seasonal wetland that had grown a healthy stand of wild millet over the summer, and because of a good rain the area was flooded in four to six inches of water. Where there hadn’t been a single duck before, now we had a mob of mallards that were feeding like crazy. We put our layout blinds on the edge of the millet, threw out some decoys, and couldn’t keep the greenheads out,” Stephens says. “That’s just one example of why it is so much fun to live in this part of the world. You have a front-row seat to waterfowl breeding activities during spring and summer, and then you get to watch them shift gears and prepare for migration in the fall. It’s not everywhere that you get to see ducks use the entire landscape.”

Midseason Management

If there is a tough time to hunt waterfowl on the prairies, it can occur during the middle of the season when local birds have gotten wise to hunters and when heavy flights of migrants have yet to arrive from the north. In addition, ducks and geese often abandon the same patterns of movement that made for predictable hunts early in the season, often in response to hunting pressure.

“By the third week of the season, you’re mainly dealing with the same local birds that have been around since opening day, and they are starting to get things figured out a bit,” says veteran South Dakota hunter and guide Ben Fujan. “Until you get some weather to mix things up and bring in some new birds, the going gets a little tougher. Success at this point in the season hinges largely on how well you manage the pressure you’re putting on birds.”

At these times, hunters should avoid disturbing waterfowl on resting and roosting wetlands, which can be vital to keeping birds in the area. “I will often pass up the chance to hunt right on the X if it’s near a roost,” Fujan says. “Instead, I prefer to set up in a field nearby, where I can set a good spread of highly visible decoys and run traffic as birds bounce back and forth between different bodies of water.”

Another key to success during the midseason lull is flexibility, in terms of tactics and gear. In short, it pays to be prepared, but that doesn’t mean you need a trailer full of gear. “In most situations, you can get by with two dozen duck floaters, four dozen duck silhouettes, four dozen goose silhouettes, a couple motion decoys, and a few layout blinds or an A-frame,” Fujan says. “The key is to have the gear that will allow you to go where the birds want to be. Along those lines, an ATV or UTV is worth its weight in gold for getting gear and hunters in and out of the field, especially when it’s wet. Of course, scouting is paramount, and binoculars or a window-mounted spotting scope are must-haves for locating birds on vast prairie landscapes.”

Eventually new ducks and geese begin arriving on the prairies from the north, and the playing field evens out again. “With every little cold front, you start to see new birds arriving. First come the divers on the larger wetlands, and then you’ll notice wigeon and green-winged teal mixed in with new mallards in the fields. More whitefronts begin to pile in, followed by smaller Canadas, snow geese, and swans,” Fujan says. “The birds start congregating in bigger numbers and moving to bigger water bodies, the drakes start to get more color, and there’s just an excitement in the air. Until that first big cold snap, you’re living large.”

Closing Time

Late-season hunting opportunities on the prairies center on concentrations of hardy ducks and geese that remain on the available open water. In the closing weeks of the season, most of the smaller potholes have frozen over, leaving only larger wetlands, lakes, and rivers where ducks and geese can roost and loaf. In these conditions, waterfowl concentrations can build to staggering numbers as long as surrounding grain fields remain free of deep snow.

“I love the late season,” says Ben Webster, head guide and co-owner of Prairie Limits Outfitters in Saskatchewan. “You’re dealing with big numbers of Canada geese, snow geese, maybe some specklebellies, and huge flocks of mallards. You’re always keeping an eye on the forecast, knowing that the door could close at any time, but until it does, the hunting can just be extraordinary.”

Webster keeps a flexible mind-set in terms of his hunting tactics late in the season, modifying his decoy spreads and calling based on what works best. “One of the things that we do when birds get wise is change the types of blinds that we use and where we place them in the field,” Webster says. “We may switch things up and use layouts instead of an A-frame, or vice-versa, and toward the end of the season we use the edges of a field to hide the blinds and stay concealed. This could be the edge of a cattail slough, a rock pile, a grassy fence line—anything that will help break up the outline of the blinds and help us stay hidden.”

Webster says that a major upside of late-season hunting in his area is that many local hunters switch to pursuing big game when those seasons open, reducing hunting pressure on waterfowl. In addition, as the weather gets colder and snow cover accumulates on harvested grain fields, the elements begin to work increasingly in hunters’ favor. Limited available open water and bitter-cold temperatures force the birds to feed more frequently and for longer periods of time to build fat reserves for the migration south.

“Waterfowl are in full-on migration mode at this point. There is an urgency every day to get out and feed, and that makes the birds so much more susceptible to decoys and calling,” Webster says. “There is an energy out there that just continues to build until that final big cold front roars down, the north wind blows, and they move out.”

At that point, waterfowlers on the prairies tip their hats to the birds and begin the long wait over the winter for breeding pairs of ducks and geese to return in the spring, settle on the recently thawed wetlands, and renew the cycle of life in the Duck Factory.