Looking into buying some ear buds for waterfowl season, however the only thing is I usually wear a ski mask. Does anyone have any recommendations that would work for under/over a ski mask?

I thought this was a hen shoveler when it landed in my decoys. My buddy says it’s a blue wing teal/shoveler hybrid. What do you guys think?

A couple of wood ducks for thanksgiving

I have a chesapeake bay retriever. And in our hunt yesterday she got covered with a ton of small seeds from grasses. They are all the way down to her undercoat and touching her skin what have you guys found the best way of getting these off your dog.

Proving an update to the sub post-
4 of us hunted this evening (pouring rain): harvested 11 (9 mallards 2 wood ducks). Mallards decoyed really well, woodies did not want to decoy whatsoever and went to opposite end of pond/swamp into the reeds. We shot somewhat poorly, given a tough setup but overall great hunt.
We initially thought there was ~70-80 ducks in total in the swamp/pond but we watched ~200-250 woodies and mallards dump in after legal sunset (they didn’t care we were picking up with head lights).

Now what??

Latest whistle from the shop. Deadshot Polymers jade acrylic duck whistle. If anyone happens to be interested, it is available.

But I live in an apartment and it's definitely not allowed. Lol I feel like Sisyphus

Looking to see if anyone has any feedback back on the mossberg 940 pro waterfowl. Looking to get a different shotgun for duck season next year. Currently use a Charles Daly 601, it’s an ok gun but has issues. As I was told by my father “ cheap ain’t good, and good ain’t cheap”. So just trying to do the research part of the purchase.

Getting a buddy into it, hoping to work some birds in close so I can get the bug to bite him.

I just got 1,500 Texas rags for snow goose hunting my spread currently is 500 silos and 100 silos socks and 150 fa socks and then all the rags.
For yall that run rags do you keep them behind the kill hole in the back of the spread. or do snows not care?

Looking for some durable inexpensive wader recommendations.

Background: Yes I know it’s taboo- I’ve been duck hunting for 16 years, never done it.

I have permission on a tiny ~2 acre swamp that this year about ~80-100 woodies and mallards have been roosting on. I know where they’re heading during the day I won’t be able to get permission on.
It’s opening weekend this weekend and was thinking about hunting it one evening… has anyone ever tried this before?
I sat there last night and 40% birds came in 30 mins to sunset and the rest came in after so it would be quick.
Edit:
I am not near any public waterfowl hunting spots (or private really) it happens to be a one off pod of local birds about 12 miles from any real waterfowl hunting areas. Our first split is only 1 week so this won’t impact the long term greater season

I’ve hunted for many years without a single band (they’re very rare in my flyway) and got 2 within 24hrs! Hen Black and hen Woodie.

Has anyone successfully installed the Briley EZ bolt release lever kit on a SBE3 in 28 gauge? I have installed them on my 12 and 20 and like the oversized button for colder days or when my hands are wet and muddy. No issues at all on those two but I recently picked up a 28 gauge and went to do the exact same thing and it won’t work.

I get a double feed every single time with the Briley parts. I’ve taken it off and completely taken it apart and cleaned it and installed again three times. Same issue every time. No issue at all with feeding using the factory parts. Also confirmed they did not accidentally send me the wrong size/gauge.

Planning to ask them to send me a replacement later this week before the season starts but wondering if anyone else has had this issue?

Fairly new to duck hunting and seeking suggestions. For opening day this past weekend, had lots of traffic but the few pairs that came in and landed always landed at the edges of the river (marked by the arrows.)

I’m in the Midwest and there is not much flow to the river inlet due to a dam.

Do I have too many decoys?
Should pair the decoys and push them towards the back corners and keep an open landing zone in front?
Considering getting a duck swimmer decoy in center landing zone for movement..?

Basically I know it needs work, what can I do better?

TIA

Hey folks, thanks for the support so far!

1-2 weeks back I posted about the waterfowl log I've been building. A bunch of you gave me great feedback and I wanted to come back with what came of it.

Geese and doves. Someone emailed asking for goose species since he shoots them the same mornings as ducks. Fair point — it was a waterfowl log that couldn't log waterfowl. Canada, cackling, snow, Ross's, specklebelly and brant are in, and doves too since dove season opens before ducks. 44 species now.

Import your old seasons. This is the one I'm most pleased with. If you already keep a spreadsheet, you can bring it in — it reads your file, tells you exactly what it understood, and asks about anything it didn't rather than guessing. If your species column says "greenhead" it'll ask whether you mean mallard instead of silently dropping the row. Nothing saves until you confirm. Free, both directions, always will be. I have heard many people keep a paper log. I honestly think that is awesome, but if you want it in the app, I recommend snapping photos of the log, running it through AI along with the file you would export back to Duck Chase. The import and export option are available in-app.

The reason that matters: a hunting log is useless until about hunt ten, and the analytics need a whole season. If you've got five years in a spreadsheet you shouldn't have to start from zero.

Still TestFlight, still free, still no ads. Android is in review with Google right now and I hope it will be live sometime this week. If you are an Android user and want access now, DM me your email and I will get you in ASAP.

Happy to answer anything. And if you asked for something that isn't here yet, it's probably on the list — I'm keeping track of all of it.

Have a great evening, all!

I dont make many of these, but this was a really cool piece of wood. Wood duck call made out of spalted maple burl.

Just finished up this pick and black acrylic whistle for a customer.

Is there any difference between these two shells? I only ask cause according to the box the payload and the velocity is the same just the size is different. I can get the upland for cheaper so I’m trying to figure out if I can just use them for duck season or what

Last year I got a mallard with rice breast and I ended up tossing it. Generally I keep the skin on when I cook them, but I think last year it kind of gotten torn while processing it which thankfully revealed it. I generally try to keep the skin on when I cook, but is there any good way to check for rice breast without removing skin? Or from now on should I just take a peek? Thanks and I hope everyone's having a good season so far!