Choosing Aquatic Food
Dean Flicker

When deciding what aquatic food is best for your wetland, there are several questions you need to answer. What species of ducks do I want to attract? What type of wetland do I have? Are there any fish or minnows present? What is the quality of our water? If I plan on hunting this wetland, how will the aquatic food impact my hunting experience?

Freshwater shrimp, sago, wild celery and wild rice will all be eaten by diver ducks. Puddle ducks like all of the same foods with the exception of wild celery. In the case of wild celery, diver ducks will go down...Click here for more

Creating Nesting Habitat
Dean Flicker

We are all aware that in order to sustain and improve the numbers of waterfowl, there has to be a supply of quality wetlands available. Just as important is having good nesting cover surrounding these wetlands that will give waterfowl a reasonable chance to successfully hatch a clutch of eggs that will then use the available wetlands. In many cases, the cover surrounding these wetlands is marginal at best. If you have a situation like this, there are things you can do to improve it.

Most people think that as long as you have grass around a wetland, you have sufficient nesting cover. Although this is somewhat true, these grasses may hinder ducks...Click here for more

The Dance
Bob Stein
The sparkling reflection of the sun off the water as I pulled into the landing told me one thing. This was not ideal duck weather. In fact, if it were not for the strong northwest wind, this would be as far away from duck weather as you could get.

It didn't deter me though. This hunt was not about the ducks. Three weeks earlier I had made the gut wrenching decision to put my chocolate lab Mocha to rest. At only 5 years old she had been cut down by kidney failure in the prime of her life. It was only a few weeks into the season and my hunting partner...Click here for more