WaterfowlForum.Net

For the last couple of weeks after work I've been scouting around some local areas to see if I can find some new spots. Today I decided to hike back to one of the ponds I hunted last season. As I got closer to the pond I could hear a ducks' "quack, quack, quack". It was about 10-12 quacks with about a second between each one. Now I had my duck call because I will practice as I walk around, so I tucked down in and tried to repeat what she was doing. It wound up being a hen and drake mallard and they came across the pond right at me.
Now you have the story, here's the questions.
1-Does this mean I am starting to make a realistic "quack" or were they just trying to figure out what the hell that terrible noise was?
2- I've always heard multiple quacks was an alarm call. Why would she do this over and over but not fly away and come towards me.
3- this got me thinking, is there anything illegal about going out pre-season, tossing out some decoys, hiding good and trying to get birds to commit? Is this even a good idea? I just thought it would help me to see if my calling was effective or not.
Any help is appreciated.

Spring birds are always easier to call to but I'd say if you didn't flare them out of the hole you're doing okay.

As long as you aren't hunting I don't see why throwing out some decoy would be illegal. I do this when training the dog, another member and myself here would put out a whole spread when doing water days with our dogs.

Sent from my phone.

I asked that question at the DNR office here (it took an act of God to get me to voluntarily walk into that building). Wanted to know if I could take some "hunting" pics when it wasn't season. Can't remember what I needed them for, but somebody wanted some for something. I was planning on taking the hybrid, decoys, dressed in camo, the whole 9 yards, and wanted to make sure I was legal with a shotgun as well. They told me as long as I didn't have any shells, I could do whatever I wanted.

Not sure where you are, but here calling animals out of season is considered harassing wildlife and people can get ticketed. I don't understand it but it is what I was told. I agree with Olly about the spring ducks being easier to call, they are either paired up or loking for a mate and that makes it much easier. Multiple loud and longer than normal quacks strung together in a cadnece, with a distinct pause between quacks, is called a spooked hen. She will do that when scared up to warn other ducks. Just single quacks not too loud in random sequence is called a lonesome hen. That is what the hen does when looking for a mate. If it isn't illegal to throw decoys out and work birds out of season, go for it. Nothing better than real practice.

I'm good here. Harrassing of wildlife must have some element of harm or attempted domestication.

I'm in NJ. I guess I should contact fish and wildlife and make sure its legal. It would be great practice if it were.
If I did this closer to season would the birds still be easier to call to? Are early hunting season birds easier also?

I talked to a game warden about it a few years ago, he told me that interrupting the daily life of wildlife is considered harassing them. I was building a new blind after season, I had no gun but had my calls and was calling at some birds. He didn't give me a ticket but told me I was harassing them and to stop calling at em. I should've probably called WLF to check. It sounds wierd, that would mean that anyone doing anything in the woods is harassing wildlife.

Technically, his definition isn't season-specific, either, which makes me think he didn't quite know what he was talking about. If it applies in April, it should apply in December as well. So if you go out hunting without a shotgun in December, in the middle of season, put out decoys and start calling, is that harassing them too? (Not busting your chops, I just dislike stupid things) So you can blast them with a shotgun after harassing them, but if you stop before pulling the trigger you've harassed them? Sorry, I'm not buying it.

I agree with you, I found it very ignorant. I don't understand as well. I just kept my shut. The last time I gave a game warden a hard time, I got 9 tickets. They were for bullshit like not having a safety whistle, length of spare rope, fire extinguisher, etc in a 16 aluminum boat. I got out of the tickets but I didn't want to have go to court and all of that behind some dickhead being a dickhead.

rozzo842 wrote:I'm in NJ. I guess I should contact fish and wildlife and make sure its legal. It would be great practice if it were.
If I did this closer to season would the birds still be easier to call to? Are early hunting season birds easier also?

Birds before the season should still be easier to call and birds in the beginning of the season should respond better than birds later in the season. Later in the season the ducks will usually be a little more educated and wary of coming to a call.

rebelp74 wrote:I agree with you, I found it very ignorant. I don't understand as well. I just kept my shut. The last time I gave a game warden a hard time, I got 9 tickets. They were for bullshit like not having a safety whistle, length of spare rope, fire extinguisher, etc in a 16 aluminum boat. I got out of the tickets but I didn't want to have go to court and all of that behind some dickhead being a dickhead.

Oh, I agree with you. When I finally do get busted, it's going to be very, very expensive, I suspect.

assateague wrote:

rebelp74 wrote:I agree with you, I found it very ignorant. I don't understand as well. I just kept my shut. The last time I gave a game warden a hard time, I got 9 tickets. They were for bullshit like not having a safety whistle, length of spare rope, fire extinguisher, etc in a 16 aluminum boat. I got out of the tickets but I didn't want to have go to court and all of that behind some dickhead being a dickhead.

Oh, I agree with you. When I finally do get busted, it's going to be very, very expensive, I suspect.

make sure it's all fed violations, then you have the option to pay or go to court. they have set prices for most violations, usualy cheaper to just pay. here most state violations are madatory court appearance. and that can get expensive..............quick. DO NOT CUSS OUT A FEDERAL GW BFORE YOUR COURT APPEARANCE.

When I was 10 or 11 years old me and a buddy use to call ducks all the time. We would ride our bikes to the ditch down the road with 3 or 4 decoys and try to call in breeding mallard pairs. It was lots of fun, I remember having a pair of wood ducks land one day.

What rebel said about the single quacks was spot on. The lonesome hen is very effective. I use 4 quacks spaced out with medium to low volume.

For a little more definition, the alert quack is back to back, no delay quacks (quackquackquackquackquackquack)

The lonesome hen is slower with a slight pause between (quaaack quaaack quaaack quaaack)

At least that's my understanding.

sent from a phancy fone

Thanks guys. This had definite pauses between quacks which makes it a little more confusing. It was a hen and drake pair.

Check this out. Most of the quacking is after the 3 minute mark.


While the hen appears to be content through most of the video, may be a little nervous at times, but mostly content, most of her quacking is in fairly rapid succession.

Yep, what she was doing at about the 30-45 sec mark is exactly what I was seeing. Thanks for the video.

rebelp74 wrote:I talked to a game warden about it a few years ago, he told me that interrupting the daily life of wildlife is considered harassing them. I was building a new blind after season, I had no gun but had my calls and was calling at some birds. He didn't give me a ticket but told me I was harassing them and to stop calling at em. I should've probably called WLF to check. It sounds wierd, that would mean that anyone doing anything in the woods is harassing wildlife.

BUT...if Walmart neds to chop an entire forest down to build a parkng lot is perfectly legal. They kill every effing thing to build 40 acres of parking. Not a problem.
But if practice my duck n goose calls in my back yard I am harrassing park geese and ducks. Does that count? They fly around here all spring, summer, and fall.

rozzo842 wrote:For the last couple of weeks after work I've been scouting around some local areas to see if I can find some new spots. Today I decided to hike back to one of the ponds I hunted last season. As I got closer to the pond I could hear a ducks' "quack, quack, quack". It was about 10-12 quacks with about a second between each one. Now I had my duck call because I will practice as I walk around, so I tucked down in and tried to repeat what she was doing. It wound up being a hen and drake mallard and they came across the pond right at me.
Now you have the story, here's the questions.
1-Does this mean I am starting to make a realistic "quack" or were they just trying to figure out what the hell that terrible noise was?
2- I've always heard multiple quacks was an alarm call. Why would she do this over and over but not fly away and come towards me.
3- this got me thinking, is there anything illegal about going out pre-season, tossing out some decoys, hiding good and trying to get birds to commit? Is this even a good idea? I just thought it would help me to see if my calling was effective or not.
Any help is appreciated.

This thread was before my time and I'd not noticed it until AB brought it back up, but it's a "near and dear" topic to me.

Great to see you're paying attention in the field and looking for your own answers, rather than following the rank and file down old, often misdirected ruts that, over time, will leave a lot of birds in the marsh that could be going home with you.

When I started learning to call, Bill Harper's cassette from Lohman was about the only audio instruction available, and it impressed on me the notion that a single quack series was an alarm call to be avoided. But eventually moving to a Southwest Louisiana home with a marsh across the road in front and a rice field adjoining my backyard showed me otherwise. It wasn't at all uncommon for the local mottled (the Gulf Coast's version of black ducks) hens to let fly with long series of single quacks for no reason I've been able to discern. Once thought I might be on to them when first one, then another, and another and so on until there were six or eight of them sounding off from around a small marsh for quite some time before the evening feeding flight from their marsh to rice began. But that's the only time I've seen it associated with movement. Unless, of course, it was spooked hens giving what were, indeed, alarm quacks.

For practical purpose, however, it doesn't seem to matter why they do it, just that they do and you can use it to advantage. It's something different you might want to do when hunting an area filled with hunters quacking in more common cadences to separate yourself from those wary birds might suspect have guns.

Again, congratulations on paying enough attention to look outside the box. Keep doing so, and you'll learn that some of callings most "tried and true" rules are often best ignored.

To your question about tolling birds outside of season, I'd want to check for local enforcement's interpretation of the law. Know I was surprised to learn that the "hawking" forbidden outside legal times by federal regulation didn't refer to falconry but to calling to birds. Couldn't say whether it's only applicable when guns are along or not, but would want to know if I planned on working out of season birds where I was apt to be observed doing so.