Duck hunting with bow

[CaliCreole]

Any one ever do any waterfowl hunting with their bow? how do you retrieve your arrows? or do you just arrows that you dont care to lose? any tips on this I will appreciate, I plan on trying to take a few with my recurve before the season ends.

[oxnam]

In my opinion, it is dangerous and irresponsible to shoot broadhead tipped arrows, without a reasonable chance of recovering them (I know you weren't saying that was your plan).  

My favorite option is to hunt small ditches or creeks that are adjacent to open fields and pastures so that I can freely shoot flu flus and easily recover my arrows.  The other benefit of hunting the small water is that, if setup correctly, you can have birds landing in your lap.  Hunting open fields can be very productive, but it is harder to get birds into your perfect shot opportunity zone.

On rivers and lakes I have run a modified fish arrow setup up.  Depending on the setup, freezing temps can create a dangerous situation.  String setups really shorten the range, but there is the added advantage that your arrow will never be found in a goose at the park.

Broadheads are must, and thus dogs are out of the question.  I drilled a backpedaling wood duck low on the breast at ten yards.  I wasn't using a broadhead and the bird managed to get away.  I watched it maintain it's low elevation for a few hundred yards hoping it would tumble, but eventually lost site of it.  Wood ducks are relatively small and can still take a hit.  Save some heart ache and use broadheads.

One other tip is to write down or know exactly how many arrows you entered a field with.  Make sure you leave with every single one.  You can not afford to have a farmer find a stray arrow with his tractor tire, even if you can afford the tire, if you know what I mean.

[gringol]

I'd imagine shot placement is pretty important as well.  I've seen ducks drilled with a 12 gauge fly a quarter mile before dropping dead.  I've also stuffed "dead" ducks into my pack only to have them resurrect an hour later.  Pound for pound I'd say a duck is a lot tougher than a wild hog.  I've never tried it with a bow, for me it's tough enough with a gun.

[CaliCreole]

Originally posted by oxnam:

My favorite option is to hunt small ditches or creeks that are adjacent to open fields and pastures so that I can freely shoot flu flus and easily recover my arrows.

Thanks! I can think of several areas that meat this criteria. How do you set up do you put in any decoys like roboducks or call at all or is it just a sit and wait, for them to feed and then find water?

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Find the small creeks and Puddles and stalk them.

[oxnam]

Originally posted by CaliCreole:
 

Originally posted by oxnam:

My favorite option is to hunt small ditches or creeks that are adjacent to open fields and pastures so that I can freely shoot flu flus and easily recover my arrows.

Thanks! I can think of several areas that meat this criteria. How do you set up do you put in any decoys like roboducks or call at all or is it just a sit and wait, for them to feed and then find water? [/b]

Calling and decoys are important but not nearly as important as finding the "X".  The "X" is where the birds are alreading going naturally.  Finding this can require a lot of scouting.  If you are walking the creek bottom and jump 200 ducks, that is a good indication of a place to setup.  

With the areas that you are considering hunting, find out exactly where the birds are resting and which area holds the most birds and focus your attention there.  

In the small water,  a few decoys can go a long way.  Keep in mind that you are trying to mimick  the birds natural behavior.  If the ducks are usually congregate in small groups, I sure wouldn't put out 2 dozen.  When putting out your decoys, having them placed in a little bit of current or in eddies can add a lot of natural movement to your spread.  Pick where you think and want the birds to land and leave a landing zone.  

Ducks tend and prefer to land into the wind and you will want to position yourself accordingly.  You will need to conceal yourself very well but balance that with having good visibility and range of motion for effective shooting.  The can be difficult task.

If you are inexperienced, calling will likely be more detrimental than helpful.  But with some training and practice, just the right amount of calling can be invaluable.

Ducks can be fickle and unpredictable, so if you are seeing birds and they are ignoring you, change something.  Now I am not talking about birds that are 150 yards up and heading somewhere. But if you have birds that are looking for a place to land (flying low, maybe looking side to side a lot, etc), change your spread setup, change your location, change something.

If you have birds that cup their wings and start dropping in but make an abrupt change of course to leave, they flare, you are probably not hidden well enough or making excessive movements.
 
And after all that have fun! For big game hunting, we wait for perfect opportunities.  Bird hunting allows us to take any good opportunity we want.  Sometimes we feel inclined to wait for the perfect shot but I guarantee you will kill more birds if you will shoot every time you have a good or great opportunity.

[LimBender]

Wow oxnam.

I have a hard enough time hitting them in what I would call the "traditional" manner.  Can't imagine ever hitting a buzzing teal!  Saw Tred Barta miss a bunch of sandhill cranes on one of his episodes.  

A goose when it is good and close and realizes its busted is big and slow moving, so if you are a dang good shot, I'd think that would be cool.

[lpcjon2]

I remember as a kid seeing the news as they followed a Mallard that had an arrow sticking half way out of him.that memory deters me from ever being able to shoot ducks with my bow. It was like a witch hunt on bow hunters from the media and the PETA crew.

[oxnam]

Originally posted by lpcjon2:
I remember as a kid seeing the news as they followed a Mallard that had an arrow sticking half way out of him.that memory deters me from ever being able to shoot ducks with my bow. It was like a witch hunt on bow hunters from the media and the PETA crew.

Which is why I feel a lot more comforatable hunting, especially around populated areas, with the string setup.  I have seen a lot of geese flying off after some heavy doses of steel shot.  They are tough birds and if someone wants to pursue them, they must plan accordingly.

[kasey]

I want to see the arrow setup with the bowfishing reel

[reddogge]

Originally posted by lpcjon2:
I remember as a kid seeing the news as they followed a Mallard that had an arrow sticking half way out of him.that memory deters me from ever being able to shoot ducks with my bow. It was like a witch hunt on bow hunters from the media and the PETA crew.

This is a concern. I've seen the same stuff where geese and swans had arrows in them, usually in a lake where people picniced. Most probably were from irresponsible kids or braindead adults shooting field points at them for a lark.

From my 3-D shooting experiences all the arrows I've seen float so recovery shouldn't be a problem. But use broadheads, and no dogs please.

[twitchstick]

I do a little hunting of ducks and geese. I have a bunch of flu flu's set up on some "cheaper shafts" that I don't mind loosing. I do set up most of my shooting so I can retrieve my arrows if I can. Most arrows will float if they land in water you just need  a way to go get them. I have a few streams I like to set up decoys on that make for an easy arrow retrieve. Jump shooting can be good to if you can get close enough because of the strait away shoot. I use old broadheads(geese for sure)but prefere a field piont with an adder piont behind it for ducks. I keep my shoots close and pratice a bunch. I don't let my dog retrive any bird I use a broadhead on. Shoots can be few and far between if your waiting for quality shoots. I went out 3 times this year only took one bird and didn't even get a shot off the last 2 trips out. Here's a pic of a Widgeon I was lucky enough to get.  

[Biggie Hoffman]

We made a TV show back in the 70's with a fella named Archie Phillips in La. I bet I lost 100 arrows that day!
We killed four on the wing out of a zillion shots. They never aired the show 8-(

[Howatt69]

I too remember an arorow in a duck that had a field point stuck on the end...which is likely why the duck was still flying so well...ive hunted and shot ducks/geese and pheasants...tru enough they are tough birds...I use older zwickeys and a small washer behind the head at times and three fletch flu flus...they dont go far with a sharp head...only thing is safety with a sharp head in the air and it helps to have a well trained dog too to recall off a broadhead bird....

[jshort]

I love to chase duck with my bow learning something new evertime i go been hunting out of my canoe .Setting up saturday morning on a island hoping to get them when they come in to feed using fluflu zickey heads.

[bowhuntingrn]

I duck hunted the "traditional" way for years and never even considered trying them with a bow, but since I've laid down the training wheels I've been looking for some new target options. This sounds like a blast, may have to invest in some flu flus and give this a serious look. You talk of the string option, any suggestions on how to set that up? Obviously being able to drill a small hole in the shaft would be great, but I would be afraid of what this would do to the structural integrity of the arrow, possibly resulting in a total or partial dry fire. Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated.

[OS]

I love hunting them in layout blinds in cut corn or wheat fields! and I usually hunt them with broadheads.
 
 
 

[Gentry]

We have a warm water ditch here that when every thing else is froze over holds hundreds to thousands of ducks it has ten foot banks and is only 20 feet wide. really easy to get right up on them and when they lift you are 10 feet higher then them. makes some real fun shooting. reading this and thinking about that ditch makes me want to go walk it maybe this weekend.........

[oxnam]

Originally posted by Gentry:
We have a warm water ditch here that when every thing else is froze over holds hundreds to thousands of ducks it has ten foot banks and is only 20 feet wide. really easy to get right up on them and when they lift you are 10 feet higher then them. makes some real fun shooting. reading this and thinking about that ditch makes me want to go walk it maybe this weekend.........

Reading your post makes me want to make a trip to Montana