By Jason Patterson | Mossy Oak ProStaff
I would like to share with you how to be successful at taking your limit of waterfowl. Most people overlook the basic tried and true tactics on how to increase your odds of taking fowl.
With the boom in the waterfowl industry over the past several years, our sport is growing at a rapid rate. All kinds of new hunters are trying to take their shot at being a waterfowl hunter, which is great news for us. But they often overlook the back-to-basics approach that is the foundation of being a good hunter in general.
One of my biggest pet peeves and probably one of the more important aspects of being a good hunter, and this will hit home with a lot of you, is camouflage. Of course there are many aspects of being a skilled hunter but one of the top tips on my list is being concealed.
Camouflage is a key to being hidden from your quarry. Mossy Oak strives to make the best patterns available for every situation. Most waterfowl people will go to their local retailer and buy a waterfowl pattern because they hunt waterfowl, and sometimes that can be a key mistake. We have Shadow Grass Blades in our line up as our waterfowl pattern, and it offers great concealment. But if you hunt flooded timber, it may not suit your needs. This is where you need to get familiar with your surroundings you hunt. We hunt out of a lot of oak brushed blinds in my area and buck brush flooded areas. I primarily use old school camo such as Bottomland, Break-Up Infinity, and even sometimes the Brush pattern.
The key is matching your surroundings no matter if it’s labeled for deer or duck. Camo is versatile and you should use all the tools you have to match where you are hunting. Blades, on the other hand, works extremely well for me when I am hunting out of my Avian-X A-Frame blind. Sometimes when birds are working other areas, we grab the A-Frame blind out of the truck and go set up. Most of the backdrop we hunt when we do this is lighter shades of weeds and grasses and Blades works really well in this situation.
So the bottom line and one of your first considerations when hunting is to get a pattern that meets your needs, and try to purchase a variety of camo that will have you prepared when you have to make adjustments. If you want to take a look at the blind we use when we are on the move, check out avian-x.com and look over the A-Frame blind; it will be a benefit to you when birds are working other areas.
Another simple overlook by most waterfowl hunters is not brushing your blinds correctly. You never have enough brush and cover. When you think you do, get double the amount. It will help you harvest more birds.
In our next segment we will discuss decoys and gadgets that will increase your odds of harvesting more waterfowl.
