Breaking Ice

[jdaves]

If you are forced to break ice, do most of y'all leave the broken pieces of ice in the hole? Or do you typically try to get as much of the frozen chunks out of the hole as possible? I've always tried to break it up with a 4 wheeler in as little pieces as possible and that was it. But I've read where some people actually try to rake it off to the side with either an actual rake or even a seine net. What do you do and can you tell a big difference in how the birds work?

[Anatidae]

For what it's worth.......we've had better results breaking large sheets of ice (like 20 foot sections) and shoving them under the edge of the surrounding ice. Small chunks don't look natural and will re-freeze in a short period of time (depending on conditions). If you have much vegetation in the spot you want to open-up, it will be harder to do the 'sheets' thing.

Sometimes you go through all the trouble to clear a hole and the ducks never had any intention of going anywhere until later in the morning, knowing particular areas will be frozen.

[quack_a_tack]

For what it's worth.......we've had better results breaking large sheets of ice (like 20 foot sections) and shoving them under the edge of the surrounding ice. Small chunks don't look natural and will re-freeze in a short period of time (depending on conditions). If you have much vegetation in the spot you want to open-up, it will be harder to do the 'sheets' thing.

Sometimes you go through all the trouble to clear a hole and the ducks never had any intention of going anywhere until later in the morning, knowing particular areas will be frozen.

I 2nd that, I don't like leaving chunks in the hole, the big sheets are easier than raking also. Another thing we have done is go out at like 9 and hunt till 100 or so after the thaw. Good luck.

[MSDawg870]

I don't like leaving chunks in the hole

I'm with ya on that one.

[Locked Up]

Same here. We did weld a big ice pusher like a brush guard to attach onto one of our 4 wheelers and it works OK also. It's made out of steel tubing and expanded metal.

For what it's worth.......we've had better results breaking large sheets of ice (like 20 foot sections) and shoving them under the edge of the surrounding ice. Small chunks don't look natural and will re-freeze in a short period of time (depending on conditions). If you have much vegetation in the spot you want to open-up, it will be harder to do the 'sheets' thing.

Sometimes you go through all the trouble to clear a hole and the ducks never had any intention of going anywhere until later in the morning, knowing particular areas will be frozen.

I 2nd that, I don't like leaving chunks in the hole, the big sheets are easier than raking also. Another thing we have done is go out at like 9 and hunt till 100 or so after the thaw. Good luck.

[CO2GURU]

I have been on some great hunts where we just threw the decoys on top of the ice. Killed a lot of big ducks... plus its fun to watch them fold and slide across the ice!

[novacaine]

I am with the push under school. Also try throwing a few 5/8 shells or full bodies on the ice, but fullbody stands can stick out so i would keep it to a minimum.

[thcobb1]

We mainly hunt fields and I have finally learned that trying to hunt the fields is a waste of my time if they are frozen. Busted ice or not nothing seems to fly in our area until the fields thaw. We have tried arriving and hunting later this year but it is not a good measure if it will work. I mean you gotta have more than 30 birds in the whole freaking county to really be able to make a judgement on if it will be effective.

However, when we bust ice we drive the 4 wheeler around a large loop and then push back the sheets. Chopped ice really looks unnatural. I wonder if 20 gallons of fuel and a match would melt a hole.

I have never tried it but I do know some folks that used 1/2 stick of TNT to bust the hole and then diesel to melt the chunks. However, this was in AR and the ice was real thick. Others were using a chain saw to cut their small hole and then pushing back the sheets.

I am not sure that I am that mad at the duck.

[augustus_65]

tcobb, tried it again Saturday. Didn't get out to the blind until 9:30 when the ice was melting. Hunted for three hours and didn't see a duck. Things aren't looking too good for the next week or so with lows in the teens and single digits. Field hunting will be useless until the lows get back into the mid 30s.

[husker duck]

Anatidae has it right by where we hunt, half of our days have been ice hunting this year. Break open as big a hole as you can and shove the broken pieces under the remaining ice. If you can when you're done though break open even more. If you get a real prolonged cold snap the ice you put underneath will just strengthen the other ice. If you run a four wheeler threw it it'll be that much easier next time you hunt.

I would stick as many full body ducks or geese on the upwind edge of it though, we kill birds until the last day of the year doing that.

[Skeeter]

i hunt private land, but we are bracing for a huge freeze in our fields, we have a nice brake, but that will be frozen over as well....we are gonna break the ice and use metal rakes to rake the ice out.....but if you have access, i suggest catfish ponds....no one ever thinks about them, and for whatever reason, they hardly ever freeze over.....that is where we are hunting sat morning.....the last freeze like this, we hunted a catfish pond and slaughtered the mallards, and killed just about every species of duck known....

hope this helps...

[quack_a_tack]

i hunt private land, but we are bracing for a huge freeze in our fields, we have a nice brake, but that will be frozen over as well....we are gonna break the ice and use metal rakes to rake the ice out.....but if you have access, i suggest catfish ponds....no one ever thinks about them, and for whatever reason, they hardly ever freeze over.....that is where we are hunting sat morning.....the last freeze like this, we hunted a catfish pond and slaughtered the mallards, and killed just about every species of duck known....

hope this helps...

You do know that just because it has a green head don't make it a Mallard right? Couldn't resist!