Tips and Tactics for Ice..

[MagDaddy]

I know with the wealth of hunting knowledge on this forum there are bound to be some tried and true techniques for hunting ducks w/ Ice in the hole..

Since some of us up north will probably be facing that scenario by week's end, let's hear some...

My tip is-- "Divide and Conquer".. Try to break the ice into large solid sheets and slide them under the adjacent ice instead of breaking the ice into chunks.. It looks more natural and your decoys will be more free and clear to do what they're supposed to do..

[Dutch Dog]

Boat hunters if having to break ice, run your boat in a circle, then push the ice out of the hole with your boat in REVERSE!!! The back of your boat is flat or relatively flat anyway it will work wonders to push the ice out of the hole. If you run forward it will just break it up in small pieces and your hole will look like crap!

[Super Black Eagle]

I thought I was seeing things too, but I saw a group of hunters spread a large portion of black visqueen(sp) on the top of 2.5" thick ice, then set out 2 dozen land decoys on top w/ two robo's jabbed down in the ice.

from where I was, 250 yards away, it looked like it was working.

SBE

[judge jb]

if any one believes in the " break the ice in large sheets and slide them under the ice" then you have never tried it....... always looked like a herd of wild water goats been thru my hole.....

one tried and true suggestion for ice huntin.... take a five gallon bucket of water and add a full bottle of blue cake coloring and sling it over the existing ice... it will freeze in a few moments...... it has never attracted a duck, but it is so pretty......

i think it was Welldoggie or Scooter that suggested i put a 1X12X16 platform over the blue ice to attract DIVING DUCKS...... give them a 10 if they come in........

judge jb

[MAG]

What about that driveway De-Icer stuff? I wonder if that would work on 1 inch thick ice??? Would this be harmful to the enviroment? Has anyone tried this?

MAG

[Nitro Mag]

A quarter of a stick of dynamite works real good for opening up a hole in the ice. It blows most all the ice out of the hole.

[RedEyed Duck]

People with blinds or pits have been known to run trolling motors all night.
4 wheelers work great in a flooded field just like a boat in deeper water. You can also run a mallard machine all night.
We have also broke the ice about three hours early and run a sump (gas burning) type pump to keep it open til shooting time.
Have even cut a hole open with a chain saw, while thawing the saw in the blind on occasion.

Good luck to all during this freeze!

[SoftCall]

Judge is right. I have broken large sheets and slid them under the remaining ice. It works but it's a pain in the butt. Walk through the ice with a full bag of decoys and pick it up and drop it in front of you over and over and it will bust the ice for you. Then slide the detached sheet under the ice. Try to bust the middle of the hole out because you have to slide the ice in three or four directions to keep it from doubling up. This doesn't work in a flooded field because of the stubble and shallow water. In that situation, I hit the fields at about 9:00 AM when they start to thaw. Ducks gotta eat and they'll change their patterns to do so.

My advice is to find the hole that the ducks have kept open and hunt it or go to big water or the river!

I hope we all get some sliders this weekend! BOOM - WACK - SKID!

Keep your dogs off of the ice in deep water.

[Deltaduk]

we have used minnow seine after busting ice in a field.attach a post on both ends of netting.the netting is strong enough to pull large amounts of ice either underneath or above the ice around the edges of your hole.seems no matter what you try it is gonna look like $#!+. but this method does move lots of ice much faster .but you will work your a-s off.but it does work.

[digger]

I'v seen the blue color on ice work but if you let the first one's land you can't shoot for laughing so hard if you ever see a duck butt surfing you'll know what I mean.Oh yea it's illeagel so is the plastic.

[Super Black Eagle]

what makes it illegal?

could've gotten myself into serious trouble, thanks

SBE

[River Hunter]

Had a friend tell me this. Take very durable netting tie it to stakes cover the area you need to keep free of ice. Stake in the ground in the water then stretch it to the bank in front of the blind. When time comes go and break the ice up good w/whatever and pull the stakes up in the water and pull to the bank this will remove the broken ice. Therefor it will not freeze back up. Never tried it, its hard to freeze the river

[webbmaster]

Keep your dogs off of the ice in deep water.

No kidding. Unless you have experienced seeing a dog fall into the ice 100 yards away and NOT come up, I would also reccomend doing this.

If you have experienced this, I doubt you would take your dog back under these conditions. Scary sight to say the least.

[Ducks&Hogs]

I have had success setting up on the edge of the ice line in flooded timber. I have broken ice and removed the ice and still had ducks land just before the original ice line.

[mallardchaser]

I haven't had much luck with the break the ice in large pieces trick either. Everyone must've read the same DU article last year. It works sometimes. Most of the time I ride my 4 wheeler around in circles for 5 or 10 minutes. It does break it up into small pieces and looks kinda crappy, but seems to work for me.

If that's not an option,follow soft calls lead, open water. Moving water mean open water..