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Looking for some help and hints for the 2012-2013 hunting season. We currently hunt in buckbrush with water surrounding us. we have a hole that seemed promising for the 2011-2012 season. I dont know if it was us, the decoys, the birds, or the weather but our season was not so great. We tried different tactics and couldn't seem to find out what exactly the birds wanted. Im just curious to know if anyone else out there hunts in these similar conditions and what you do to be successful. It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Could you be more specific about the birds in the area? Were they using the hole and just not working in while you were hunting or was is just a lack of birds?

Could be the mild winter and lack of birds in your area.

But if you had birds using your hole and not working in while you were hunting then they were probably seeing you. It's tough to hide next to buck brush. Mallards can see right through a bush and pick out a glaring face. Luckily, it is easy to build some great blinds with buck brush. You can start now cutting limbs, stickting them in the water and they will grow. For this year you could do some cutting away from the hole and make a a really good blind with the buck brush. Bring wire, gloves, cutters, and brush that sucker even more than you think till you all you have are a few shooting windows. The number one problem I notice people make is not paying enough attention to concealment. poo poo facing it doesn't count.

Another possibility is they are using it later in the morning as a rest area. I'm not saying you leave early, but try sticking it out till 1 o'clock one day if you know there are birds in the area and they just haven't shown up.

Hope some of this helps. Good luck.

thanks for the advice. Im thinking this past year might not have been so great for us because the warm winter we had. Maybe because the fields didnt freeze pushing ducks into our area. Now we did see lots of birds, i would say about 50% were high flyers and knew were they were going and the other 50% didnt seem that interested. As far as concealment, we built a blind and had it brushed really well. This next year we are going to try and brush it even more. I dont think that they saw us because most of the ducks werent decoying and flaring they just werent interested in us. We did stay a couple of days of there till 2-3 o-clock and sometimes all day. Now another thing that concerns me is our hole size. It seemed to be plenty big enough though i may be wrong. We are going to open it up even more for this season. Keep the advice coming, i'm always learning new things! thanks!

Sometimes, for whatever reason, ducks just don't wanna use a spot.

agreed. we are going to try and get it worked out this year. hoping it gets colder and more birds in this area.

Like Champcaller said, it's hard to hide in buckbrush. When you hunker down in it, the brush seems thick, but from above, it's not the same. A boat stands out like a neon sign unless it is really well-camouflaged. If you have a cypress tree or two in the right spot, sometimes that will provide enough overhead cover to make a difference.

Daisy& brutus wrote: Now another thing that concerns me is our hole size. It seemed to be plenty big enough though i may be wrong. We are going to open it up even more for this season.

Champcaller and Hambone are right on concealment that is a big issue.

I hunt alot of buckbrush areas and sometimes a small hole is good. A lot of times ducks use these areas later in the season when they are sometimes 'hole shy' and also later in the year when mallards are paired etc. Ducks will find there way into smaller buck brush holes and sometimes this is a more appealing place for them and provides them with the thermal cover and security they are looking for after feeding in fields....each situation/area is different just something to think about before you open the hole up too much!

champcaller wrote:Sometimes, for whatever reason, ducks just don't wanna use a spot.

No truer words can be said!

We had a buckbrush hole once that was one of the better ones in the state i would say on some public ground.... it was small and tight and the mallards loved it. Shots where typically no more than a couple of feet.....

with that said some jack legs (pretty sure who they are and may even be lurkers here) cut the brush out of the hole to open it up or make a bigger hole.... BAM over night the ducks quit using it and quit working it like they used to when it was very tight

havent hunted that hole in over 2 years now cause they aint there

if the ducks are using it dont fowl it up if they arent go find one they are

DUCK-HUNT wrote: if the ducks are using it dont fowl it up if they arent go find one they are

A very astute comment. I have seen manmade "improvements" ruin some really good natural duck habitat.

Hambone wrote:

DUCK-HUNT wrote: if the ducks are using it dont fowl it up if they arent go find one they are

A very astute comment. I have seen manmade "improvements" ruin some really good natural duck habitat.

Me too. I've hunted on a club on the L'Anguille south of us that thought "bigger is better" and took a buckbrush hole you kill a duck across in any direction with a 20 gauge and made it about 100 yards wide and 200 yards long. They don't kill ducks in it like the used to.

what would yall say the ideal hole size would be?

This is not a smart booty answer: The ideal-sized hole is one that the ducks like. I have one buckbrush hole that's about 4 acres and it is absolutely killer when the ducks are using it. I have also done really well in certain areas where there is no defined hole (provided the bushes are far enough apart to allow the ducks to land) when the wind, sun and other factors are right.

Oh i understand. I know there are plenty of different sizes it could be. Just trying to see if ours is big enough. I would say its about 30yrds by 15-20yds. If that gives anyone any idea should i add or keep the same?

Another thing to remember is that ducks choose what the "x" is not us. True killing duck ground have been chosen by ducks from years and I mean years past. Our best blind at DC to most eyes would not look really like this is where I'd hunt. But I can promise u there has been more ducks killed out of it that only god him self could count. There has been a handful on here that have shared a day looking west in the bayou that would vouch for that!!