Ohio Valley Outdoors Magazine

Late season calling tactics
By Christ Wright

I am sitting with a group of friends in the local wing joint after our morning shoot listening to an argument brew between a couple of my hunting buddies. You see, what started as a friendly ribbing between friends turned into an ugly disagreement over my friend “Lean” taking a poke at a pair of high fliers that were cupped and overshot the decoy spread. I did my best to stay out of it because I gave him my ribbing in the field but I knew the inevitable was going to happen…… “Hey Chris, what is your opinion?” To be fair, I will give you a brief description of the event as it happened.

We were running traffic from a cornfield that was directly south of a corn field that 4000 to 5000 ducks and geese were using heavily. The birds were coming off of roost areas to our east, north and south. We were right in the middle of “where the birds wanted to be.” We had been using the field on and off for two weeks and were setting up 150 to 200 full bodied duck and goose decoys in different areas of the field, depending on the wind. The weather was overcast with light snow; wind was 10 to 15 mph out of the south, southwest. We were set up perfectly for birds that overshot their intended field, coming off of the roost from the north and were in line with the birds coming from the roost in the south.

Now we had put a pretty good pounding on both ducks and geese early on. By about 10 o’clock things seemed to be slowing down and we were considering a break. A body count showed we were two geese and six ducks shy of our five man limit. After a few minutes of friendly banter about the cold we heard a lone “honk” from behind us. I lay down in the blind and stretched my neck to get my head out my peek hole so I could get a visual on the geese we had heard. About 200 yards out was a pair of big “honkers”. I hit them with the same calling sequence I had used all morning. The birds responded to the calling and worked past the spread, then cut hard and hooked to land. They were still high, about 70 yards, and the wind was giving them problems, but they were still locked up, chatting up a storm, and dropping. As they hooked passed me for another turn, I hear “bang. …bang…. What the bleep!...bang.” It was my buddy “Lean” making them honest at 70 yards out. Needless to say Lean didn’t pull a feather and got beat up pretty hard by all of us for that move. Lean’s error is one that is common, especially during the late season. He just did not read or listen to the birds.

His mistake was thinking that the birds were bailing because they had overshot the “kill hole” and had gotten more excited has they hooked past the rest of the spread. Had he been paying attention he would have noticed that the birds were having trouble with the wind but were still locked up and hooked. Had he been listening to the dialog between the birds and I he would have heard the birds responding to my “double clucks” and “laydowns.” So instead of filling our goose limit that morning we got to beat up on Lean.

Late season birds are a different breed of fowl. They are weary to calling and decoys and wise to every setup we could think of. They have traveled hundreds of miles and have been shot at every step of the way. Decoys and setups aside, calling will seal the deal on late season birds. The “gift of gab” or “talking the talk” on late season birds is acquired through experience, observation, and trial and era. Twenty years of calling and guiding has made me some what of an authority on consistently putting birds in your face especially during the last few weeks of the season. In my line of work there are “duck callers” then there are “duck call blowers.” The goal is not to be the latter, so here are six calling tips that will help you hook and finish weary, late season birds.

Feed Chatter on Working Ducks
When ducks are working a spread and bail after a pass or two, most callers will try to use a comeback call to get them back on line or hooked. The comeback call is a rapid fire set of “quacks” set in a cadence used show excitement within the spread and is commonly used when birds are bailing for other areas. The comeback call is an effective cadence in most circumstances, but I try to refrain from using this call in the last few weeks because of how often it is used by other callers. Instead I will replace this cadence with a series of aggressive feed chatters. Late season birds pounding fields are doing so for one reason, to eat. The birds are aggressively feeding to build up fat stores for the migration south. This is why I have moved to using an aggressive style feed chatter to get birds back on line. When birds are at the point that most would consider using a comeback call I instead use a rapid series of “cuts.” I blow the notes fast and aggressive and throw a lot of rasp into the call. The birds are not use to hearing this call so it is like flipping a switch. It is as if the call is saying “we insist you come back!” I will vary the air I put through the call in order to break up my “cuts.” This cadence is just another way to say to the birds “comeback and join us.”

Pick a Bird – Any Bird
When calling late season geese that are under a lot of hunting pressure we commonly let flagging do most of the work when it comes to getting the birds attention. Once the birds are in call range I will blow one single honk and watch the birds’ reactions. I will choose a bird within the flock and call to that bird specifically. If that bird responds to the honk by calling back, I will give the bird a small series of honks and clucks, nothing to aggressive. Just enough to make the spread look and sound alive while keeping the birds hooked. If the bird I have picked out responds to my series of calls, I continue talking back and forth with that bird. I will move to a small series of clucks and moans and start a “greet and feed” dialog with that specific bird. The key is to always wait for a response, sometimes this will take a couple of seconds, and so… be patient. I vary the air pressure I put through the call to vary the tones and I move my hands to toss the notes out to different points in the spread. If at anytime the bird stops the dialog and I will back off the calling and start again. The key is to keep them hooked till they have finished. At anytime late season birds can bail on you, so observation and listening are keys to finishing them off.

Short Landing Late Season Birds
Sometimes late season birds just won’t finish but still want to be in your field. For birds that “short land” your spread use a very aggressive rapid fire series of clucks, honks, and moans to get them back on line. For this to work timing is everything. I will usually use this barrage of wild sounding tones and notes on a flock when they decided to land outside the spread and are about 10 feet off the deck. This radical change in calling style shows excitement within the spread and screams out “come and join us!” Once the birds get back on line and are coming toward us I change back to a more normal calling sequence and use a lot of laydown calls till the birds finish. To me this aggressive style of calling sparks the birds’ natural curiosity and has the geese thinking, “we need to check out what is going on over there!”

Make it Count. Keep it Simple
for Ducks
A mistake I see a lot of callers make is over calling. Instead of blowing the next great competition routine like the guy in the videos, try evolving your calling style and work your call to sound like a duck. As I said before, late season birds are under a lot of pressure and have adapted as such. For hunters that means we need to adapt our calling styles in order to coax weary birds to finish or at least within range. When I say “make it count” I mean call less more often. Simple chatter, three to five note greets, and lone quacks when used at the appropriate times will hook and keep birds hooked. Knowing when and where comes with experience, but as the season wears on and hunting pressure increases toning down your calling style will help increase your chances of working and finishing call-shy birds. Observe the birds as you call, and their reaction to your calling will help you determine how to keep them hooked.

Flagging to Get Birds Attention
We commonly hunt wide open corn fields using medium to large scale decoy spreads. When using larger spreads we have found that movement pays off huge dividends especially during the late season. Motion stakes and bobble heads will help gain the confidence of birds working your spread from up to 100 yards. But for birds off at further distances we use flags instead of calls to get their attention. The flagging simulates birds dropping into the spread and or birds stretching their wings. We use a 4’ by 6’ flag for birds up to a mile off. As the birds get closer, 300 to 500 yards off, we switch to a flag designed to mimic the natural wing beat of a goose. We usually try to run two to three guys on the flags because we have found the more motion the better, especially at farther distances. Once the birds are within 100 to 150 yards we lay down the flags and begin working the birds with our calls. The bobble heads and motion stakes will keep the spread looking “alive” while the birds work. This combination of motion and a less aggressive calling style generally allows the birds to work without making them weary.

Goose Calls for Ducks
Something I learned from my father many moons ago was, that in most cases, ducks will work goose spreads because they trust geese more so than other ducks. Now some of my peers may argue that ducks work goose spreads more often than not because they can see them at farther distances. Wherever you stand is your decision, but I see truths in both sides. The goal is to make your spread sound like live ducks and geese feeding. In my experience, ducks just love this noisy chatter. Because of this, when we are hunting a mixed spread for ducks and geese, we will designate someone to blow some simple clucks and groans on their goose call while the others work the birds with their duck calls. The combination of greets, feed chatter, and clucks makes the entire spread sound “alive” and has helped us hook and finish many a late season flock. The trick is to keep the goose calling subtle, nothing too excited or over the top, with simple clucks and groans every 10 to 15 seconds. Let the goose calling serve as background chatter as you work the ducks with your duck call. Don’t call to the ducks with the goose call, just create feed chatter by tossing the tones straight ahead or toward the ground. You will find that this little trick will pay off huge dividends in the form of finishing late season birds.
One of the top waterfowlers and duck call builders of our generation said it best when he was asked about his calling techniques: “In duck hunting there is competition callers and competition killers….. I am a competition killer.” Phil Robertson the Duck Commander

Knock’em Stiff

Chris Wright is a veteran waterfowl guide, multiple champion caller and owner of KES Waterfowlers (custom call maker) of Hilliard, Ohio. Wright has claimed several duck and goose calling championships in several states, including six top five finishes in the Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin State Duck Calling Championships.