Hunt Waterfowl Better With ATV’s and Side by Sides

You’ve got to scout and get to your waterfowl hunting location. Once there, you have to build blinds and set a realistic decoy spread. Finally, after a few notes on a call, hopefully the ducks and geese arrive.  An ATV or utility side by side can help you do all these things more effectively. And of course you’ve got to keep those four wheels rolling and maintained, not only during hunting season, but in the offseason too.

Location, Location, Location

As a hardcore waterfowler, you spend a lot of time trying to solve challenges that migrating ducks and geese bring your way. That’s part of the fun. Sometimes problems occur when you’re not giving the particular species what it wants. Often this involves not wheeling to the best location possible.

Perhaps all your spots are getting attention from other hunters too. No matter what flyway you hunt, pressure dictates waterfowl movement. Go with the seasonal flow and set small spreads on backcountry rivers, streams and lakes. Be creative. Bust out ice in the predawn hours if necessary. Put some loafing mallard fakes on the sandbar if available. Have woodies mixed in among deadfall beneath oaks. You may not kill a limit this way, but its action when before you had none.

Okay, maybe your spots are no longer seeing action. You’ve burned them out. Decoys don’t matter. The ducks buzz on by, ignoring them. It is time to relocate.

Think wet.

After major weather events, spots that once seemed useless to you as a waterfowler, now become prime. Hit those washed-out fields ASAP. If mallards are likely to use them, go armed with a bunch of decoys—it’s tough to carry them all in there, but that’s where your four-wheeler comes in.

Decoy Spreads

To make life easier, sometimes you can park your trailered rig at a farm where you have hunting permission and wheel to a swamp or stream location on the property with your gear in tow. Would you rather carry sacks of decoys into your spot on your back or strapped on your ATV or Side by Side? No need to answer. Some tips follow here for after you’ve hauled those fakes into your location.

Woodies like areas around water rich with acorns. They are somewhat aloof and often apart from other species. Numerous wood duck dekes may enhance your visual pleasure when you look out on the spread, but a minimalist spread might be more attractive to the ducks. Consider single species pairs or three to five drakes with a single hen mixed in. Don’t push it.

On the other hand, mallards mix well with other puddlers in flooded fields, marshes and rivers. Three dozen greenheads paired with susies and a few Pacific Flyway pintails, Central Flyway gadwalls, wigeons and teal fakes isn’t pushing it depending on the geography. An ATV will get you and your decoys through the puddles. As always ask permission and check regulations for public land access.

Does your single species spread look cold and uninviting? If so, throw some goose fakes in your mallard spread or drop a few wigeon, pintails, black ducks,  even shovelers in there. Those coot fakes somewhere in your basement can add to the overall look.

Calm morning? Loosen the decoy spread up. On windless days, waterfowl aren’t limited to one approach, so birds might come from any direction. This goes for field geese and marsh ducks.

Mixed bag? If you’re hunting an area that has both honkers and quackers and there’s some wind, set up with the breeze quartering over either shoulder. Put the duck dekes on the water or in the field moving out from the blind. Stake goose fakes parallel to your position (or vice versa).

Need help? If you’re using a mixed spread, plunk a spinning wing decoy in the mix where legal.

Fill it up? If you’re hunting a small pothole, try filling it with decoys for a change. Load it, and don’t leave an open spot. Why? Some waterfowlers often don’t fill potholes to open up room for landers. Still, if you fill that spot with dekes, ducks will first commit, and try to land, but will then have to spread out a little to look for open spots. That’s when you take ‘em.

Lighten up. If you’ve scouted seriously, and know where waterfowl are feeding, you can go out with a small spread, say a dozen decoys, and put together a sweet little hunt. This strategy sometimes works if you don’t have much time in the morning. Again, load that gear in the back of your ATV or Side by Side—not as much as you might pile in usually, but cut down a bit—and have at it.

Blind Buliding

Take your blind building and placement seriously well before you set out to hunt. Plan it. Make a sketch. Think like an artist. You’re trying to get this blind to fit into the natural landscape. It’s fun, especially when buddies get involved in the planning.

Seek landowner permission and always check legal state regulations. Make return trips during the preseason to keep you in the game until you’re out there hunting. From hammers to handsaws to natural materials from the nearby habitat, you can haul it all there in the back on your ATV or side by side.

Some guys actually dig out an area for their blind and insert fiberglass pits. Down there in the marsh and mud, they’re looking up, with only their heads exposed—and only at the shot. It’s a good trick. Again, check to see if your state allows this before you load an ATV with shovels and fiberglass. The trick of deception knows no boundaries, law willing.

In some cases, less is more. Avoid making your blind stand out by working on it too much! Instead, find another spot someplace else as a backup. It doesn’t hurt to have many different blind options to keep shooting fresh during the season to come.

Realism is the key. Ever hear of matching the hatch in relationship to fly fishing? Of course you have. It’s the same deal in blind building (sort of). Use natural and manmade camouflage material to do the job. Don’t put birch branches where there are none. One of the coolest blinds I ever gunned out of was on New Hampshire’s Great Bay where a landowner had granted me permission. That hide consisted entirely of rocks. I’ve also hunted mud and stick blinds, and some that looked like lodges with cooking facilities.

Does it look right, this recently built blind? Will it stand the test of wary eyes come opening day? Check it out now from different perspectives. Ride there with a buddy or two on your ATVs, and ask them:“Can you guys find the blind?” View it from a good distance to simulate what ducks or geese would see—helicopters are optional in this scenario.

Most importantly, Scout new places during your blind making efforts and have fun four-wheeling in the process.

Four Wheel Care and Maintenance

Keep that battery charged, and store it in a place with moderate temperatures. Maine waterfowlers and Mississippi duck hunters have different challenges. Respond accordingly.

Protect your ATV and Side by Side from dust and dirt on downtime. A storage cover will keep it dry but also shield it from moisture. Keep it in a storage shed if you can, or a garage—anywhere but out in the elements. You have it out there enough during the season.

Used oil will kill your engine if you let it. Offer the best treatment possible: Change the oil. Get a new filter. Run the engine a little right after to cycle it. Your vehicle will purr its thanks.

Check all larger hardware parts on your machine slowly and surely. Does anything need replaced? Be as methodical as a doctor giving a patient an exam.

Clean moving parts, removing marsh mud, trail dirt, duck feathers, and retriever hair from them. Lubricate after they are cleaned.

Inspect overlooked essentials such as the lights, switches, brake levers and especially the spark plug.

Turn off the fuel valve and drain the fuel tank in the offseason. Don’t forget to run the engine to get the remaining fuel out of the carburetor.

Consider spraying the brakes and suspension with water dispersant, especially in northern areas where highway salt can do some damage over the hunting season as you travel to and from hunting locations and blinds.

Definitely inspect all nuts and bolts, the brake system, drive chain, carburetor idle, and throttle every month during use. Lubricate the drive chain on that schedule too.

Hose down your ATV and side by side after each waterfowl hunt, and dry it off as well.

These steps will make you and your ATV a dangerous hunting threat for many seasons.

HOT LINKS

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Steve Hickoff is Live for Hunting’s Waterfowl Field Editor.