Summary: At one time or another, many duck hunters will be faced with a situation where they will be hunting ducks over water where ice is present. When these conditions appear, you need to adjust your calling accordingly. The critical adjustment that you must make when ice becomes a factor is controlling the volume of your call and to a lesser degree your cadence.
When ice first forms and becomes a factor ducks become much more wary and skittish. One of the reasons for this is that bare ice tends to amplify sounds that ducks hear. Bare ice is not good at absorbing sound; rather it reflects sound and allows sound to bounce off it.
Here are two ways to help you control the volume of your call. The first is to change the style of call that you are using. If you are duck hunting and use an open water or an extra loud call switch to a softer call such as a timber call. Timber calls are built to limit the volume they produce and they don't produce the "ring" associated with many open water calls.
If you don't have a timber call or don't want to spend the money to buy another call here's another way to control your volume. On the hand that you use to hold the end of the call, wear a heavy cotton or wool glove to absorb much of the sound that is leaving the call. Using a glove in this manner will help flatten out the sound and will reduce the amplification caused by the ice.
The other important key to successfully calling over ice is to use cadences that are less aggressive and more relaxed. Simple quacks, feed chuckles, and short contented greeting calls work extremely well for ducks when ice is present.
The next time ice becomes a factor during your hunting season; try these simple tips for calling success.