Paddlin’ fowl

Kayaks offer one of the most rewarding ways to hunt waterfowl. (Photo by Phillip Gentry)

The month of November typically heralds what most waterfowl hunters like to call “duck season” in the Carolinas.

In reality, we have waterfowling opportunities in September, October, November, December, January, and even a few days in February. Perhaps it’s because the Thanksgiving holidays fall in November, and the first decidedly winter chill in the air often falls during the month that duck hunting comes to mind.

Waterfowling has its longstanding traditions, and these traditions still produce good numbers of birds for hunters. On the other hand, waterfowling has been upgraded with a number of modern innovations that also score good numbers of birds.

Somewhere in the middle of the old and the new is a small one-man boat and a paddle. Hunters have hunted from kayaks for much longer than the gasoline-combustion engine has been in existence, but modern-day plastic boats somehow fall through the cracks when the topic of conversation is waterfowling. Nearly every oily, water-resistant bird that commands a season in the Carolinas can be effectively hunted from a kayak.

Early Teal

The fact that early teal season falls during the month of September often separates hunting strategies from the later puddle duck seasons. The reason is that September is a prime month for tropical storms which can lead to flooding conditions literally overnight.

The benefit to using a kayak for hunting early season teal lies in navigating areas that were formerly lowland undergrowth or even planted bottomland but is now 3 feet underwater. If you can quickly locate areas that teal find favorable, getting out and even hunting from a kayak is often your best option.

Marsh hens, rails

Hunting moorhens, rails and other coastal migratory marsh birds is a longtime tradition in the Carolinas. Historically, these birds were best hunted from a small wooden pirogue with a shooter in the front and a poler/paddler in the rear.

Modern kayaks have replaced all but a very few of these old boats, allowing the kayaker to both paddle the craft and shoot when the birds flare. A solid tip when hunting marsh hens is to go on the high full and new moon tides during the season. High, rising water effectively eliminates the areas the birds have to hide in, so whatever is left, particularly small, hammock islands, will hold the majority of the birds.

Sea Ducks

Hunting eiders and scoters, collectively known as sea ducks, along the coast is another old pastime that has seen renewed participation in recent years. Hunting laws state that sea duck hunting may only take place outside a one-mile distance from the nearest dry land.

Drawing sea ducks to a particular offshore location is a matter of hiding among a large decoy spread and using a low-profile craft to remain less visible to the birds. It’s frequently a game of who-sees-who first when hunting sea ducks. The birds fly low to the water and the hunter, hunkered down in a small kayak, is also low to the water, meaning neither one can see the other until they are right on top of each other. Reaction time is imperative, and a well laid out kayak, with ample space to move quickly, can greatly assist in this endeavor.

Puddle Ducks

If the “official” duck season starts in November, then the “official” ducks are puddle ducks – mallards, pintails, teal, etc. To hunt puddle ducks in the Carolinas often means competing with high dollar camouflaged power boats with attached blinds. These boats have large gas tanks and a lot of range.

The best way to compete with these hunters is not to compete at all. Hunting large waterways equates to potentially seeing a large number of ducks. By the time you divide that larger number of ducks by the larger number of hunters trying to kill them, the numbers become small.

The answer is to hunt smaller numbers in smaller places. Smaller places are where kayaks excel. Swamps, oxbows, ponds, and motor-restricted areas are often overlooked. Some waterfowl hunters may choose to walk in or even wade into these areas, but invariably come to a point where a creek or ditch is as far as they can go on foot.

Strategies

You can break puddle duck hunting down into two basic strategies – still hunting and stalk hunting. Still hunting is the more traditional, one position set-up with decoys, calling to flying birds and trying to coerce them into coming to you.

Stalk hunting is another favorite, although less utilized duck hunting tactic. The idea is to slip up on birds that have congregated on the water somewhere and get within gun range before they spot you and fly off. Stalk hunting on foot is both noisy and short ranged. Paddling a kayak along the edge of a swamp, down a slow-moving river, or even sneaking along the points of a large reservoir is a great way to get within shooting range of waterfowl.

Floating or stalking is sometimes done at the end of a morning sit, after waiting for ducks since well before the light of day. Planning a float hunt on a stretch of river is often better when starting around mid-morning and floating through the late afternoon.

The paddler must make travel arrangements since the ending point can be some distance by road from the starting point, but for the rest of the trip, the paddler sets the pace and can cover the main river, plus paddle into the first few hundred yards of intersecting creeks, which are known loafing areas for migrating waterfowl. Ideally, it’s best to camo the boat and maybe even strap a few tree branches on the front to look more like a piece of floating debris as you approach.

Diver Ducks

Hunting diver ducks on inland, freshwater impoundments is similar to hunting sea ducks in the ocean. Diver ducks dive for fish and snails on the bottom and often avoid the edges of a body of water, much preferring to traverse open water.

The same, large decoy spread/small hidden boat tactic used for sea ducks is common for diving ducks. Advance scouting of an area can often be done from higher vantage points around a lake or reservoir with a pair of binoculars to see where the divers are congregating the most.

Canada geese

It seems that Canada geese have taken over the top spot for the most highly populated waterfowl species in the Carolinas. They can be found on every major, and most minor reservoirs, large rivers, ponds, golf courses, neighborhood drainage areas and most any large grassy area as well as cut fields and agricultural areas. The majority of these birds are resident birds, meaning they live here year-round, although hunted under migratory rules.

Ground hunting Canadas, borrowing tactics used in the upper northwest areas is becoming popular – no kayak needed. Because we have both early and late seasons, as well as the “regular” duck season when geese are legal to hunt, we have more opportunity to hunt geese than any other waterfowl species in either state.

Because geese see people on public impoundments year-round, they develop a hesitancy toward people and boats, but not the all-out fear that other waterfowl exhibit. An often-overlooked way of crossing paths with groups of Canada geese is to simply go paddle. This tactic shares much of the same strategy as stalk hunting, but bear in mind, the t-shirt wearing casual paddler won’t spook geese the same way a fully camoed, sneaky acting hunter will.

Casually paddle around until you find that group of Canadas loafing along a stretch of undeveloped lakeshore. They’ll never know you mean to do them harm until it’s too late.

About Phillip Gentry 834 Articles
Phillip Gentry of Waterloo, S.C., is an avid outdoorsman and said if it swims, flies, hops or crawls, he's usually not too far behind.

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