With duck season winding down here in the states, the Argentine lodges such as Los Crestones are gearing up for another exciting year. Here are some late season duck hunting tips to make you more successful during those last few days of the season. With the motion decoys, like Mojo, becoming almost a necessity, the ducks see these every day. Especially during late season when the ducks are more call and hole shy, I like to take the spinning wing decoys out completely. With the mojo's gone, I am only left with a jerk cord and my legs to make some ripples in the water. There are a lot of different ways to make a jerk cord, and they all do essentially the same thing. Many companies such as Rig'em Right offer jerk cords in their line of duck hunting products for those of you who do not have the time to make one yourself or just do not want to make one. Just a few quick jerks when the ducks are making their pass can be all it takes to make them commit. In my opinion, I have found that these work wonders when calling in those late season ducks.
As a general rule, I have found that the later in the season it gets, the less calling that needs to be done. Especially down there in the south after the ducks pass through the Arkansas guys hail calling and giving them everything they have to get the ducks to give them a look, this can be key.
Lastly, decoy placement and presentation might need to be changed up a bit. After talking with many guys at the duck clubs, it seems that most people use two dozen decoys and a mojo or two. This is convenient and really is all you need to be successful in the early season. Now that ducks have seen literally thousands of similar spreads, I like to either go "all out" or very small. Sometimes it takes 8 dozen decoys or more to convince that big group of ducks to commit, but my favorite thing when being creative during this time of year is to take about 6-10 decoys total. I have found that this along with some soft calling can be that special recipe to make all your buddies jealous.