So you are sitting at home in the heat of summer dreaming of some far away marsh with a cool breeze and some ducks cupped and committed. Its never too early to start getting ready for duck season. Here are a few things you can do now to make the work in the Fall easier and less hectic.
1. Re-Rig the Decoys.
Spend a few hours in the garage out of the heat and check those decoys. Make sure your weights didn't fall off last season. Shorten up the decoy line..you probably don't need as much line as you think. Better yet, re-rig with some Tanglefree line and weights.
If you wait till right before the season, you will get overwhelmed with other stuff and forget. While you are at it, put them on the lawn and give them a good rinse and brighten them up with some armour all.
2. Buy a comfortable PFD.
With the summer upon on, there are some great deals on comfortable PFDs like sospenders or other types of wearable PFDs that will save your life. The horseshoe orange ones are great when you need to have them onboard but are not as comfortable when you need to wear them. Try Bass Pro or Gander Mountain during their preseason sales, but don't forget checking Ebay or The Sportsman's Guide.
3. Pattern your shotgun now.
Spend time at the range shooting 5 stand or skeet. Try every choke you have and get an idea of what works good in different situations. One day you may be hunting a small shallow pond where ducks with decoys with ease and require close shots and open chokes. Some places may require tighter chokes for longer passing shots. A little time figuring this out now makes the opening better and will lead to better shooting if you know your range.
4. Find a hunting buddy now.
Make plans now to hunt with people during the season. Plan who you want to hunt with and when. Not too specific but a list of folks that wanna hunt with you is great to have handy...especially when you need someone at the last minute because your regular buddy gets food poisoning.
5. Order your new gear now.
Don’t procrastinate. Shipments can be delayed. Sizes could be off. Don't be worrying about whether stuff will arrive before the opener. http://www.mossyoak.com/ http://www.mossyoak.com/
6. Grow the sport.
Make plans to take at least one new person to the marsh this year. We all need to help our sport grow. Maybe you have someone who says they want to duck hunt but never have. Make arrangements now to hunt with that person so they can get their “ducks in a row”..i.e. buy a license, get hunter education completed and get ready gear wise.
7. Make a checklist.
Its a good idea no matter how long you have been hunting to make a checklist of stuff you need in the duck blind. If you are like me, some things like flashlights and knives are used for other hunts (i.e. deer, turkeys etc.) Make sure you have everything you need to have in your blind bag so that you aren't left in the dark or without the basics on opening day. When you rush to get everything together at the last minute, you will forget something..its guaranteed.
8. Start scouting.
Scout for new areas in the marsh. You can even scout using Google Earth from the comfort of your house. Never too early to find ducky areas near you.
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