Summary: Perhaps the most important lesson I learned regarding calling ducks was taught to me at a very young age. When I was about ten years old my dad started taking me hunting with him. He was an old school duck hunter with a couple dozen decoys and a wooden single reed duck call. He always used five or six alluring notes and his feeder call was deadly. He was reluctant to shoot anything but fully committed greenheads even though he was a phenomenal wing shooter.
During one of those early hunts we had a tremendous amount of ducks passing by us that he paid very little attention to. I wondered if he was seeing them so I asked him. His reply: a simple relaxed "Yep". I couldn't understand why everyone else around us was calling at these birds but we weren't. So I asked him why he wasn't calling at the ducks that were passing by and he once again replied in a calm relaxed voice: "They're not the right birds". The "right birds", I wondered. They looked all right to me.
Suddenly I saw his attention drawn to the front of the boat. He muttered to me: "Here we go". I split the blind in front of me to see two ducks in the distance. My first thought was, Oh wow, two ducks coming our way, big deal. We just passed up hundreds of birds during the past hour. Why are these any different?
As the ducks approached my dad whispered: "Get your gun ready". I gave him a doubting glance as if to say, "why"? His concentration was unbreakable as he raised his call to greet the pair. His calling was nothing fancy but it was five of the duckiest notes I ever remember hearing. He than quickly turned to some feeder chatter. I once again peeked out of the blind and to my amazement this pair of greenheads was locked up hard and fully committed to our spread. As they hovered over the decoys my dad firmly said, TakeEm!! We stood up together, fired our guns and both greenheads crumpled lifelessly into the water. As my dad smiled, he looked at me and said: "Those were the right birds"!
Over thirty years have passed since that hunt but the lessons learned about calling at the right ducks have stuck with me throughout my hunting career. Not every duck is callable and not every duck should be called at.
To make sure you're "calling the right ducks" you need to know what to watch for. The pair of greenheads my dad called in were identified by their wing beats, their head movement and their erratic flight pattern.
Here's a simple system to use to identify the right ducks to call. A duck looking for a spot to rest will often times have an irregular wing beat or stuttered wing beat. As a comparison watch a group of ducks going out to feed. Their wings never miss a beat; there is no confusion in their mind, as they know exactly where they are going. But when they return from feeding many times you'll see that their flight is variable, their heads swinging a lot, their wing beats are lazy then rapid and then once again lazy. These are "the right ducks to call" and they are the ones that you should spend your time calling to.
Calling at the "right ducks" will not only help you increase your success the day you're in the field, it will also help you throughout the year, since you're not educating the ducks every time they get up and fly around. Learn how to identify the right ducks to call and you'll enjoy more consistent success and satisfaction.