Hollister Area Ducks?

[Jeff Olson]

Hi guys,just moved to hollister this year and was wondering if there is much for duck and goose hunting in this area? looks like there is alot in the mid to upper part of the state,but have not seen much around here.anything within a hour from branson area? any advice would be great! thanks.

[Feathers and Fins]

Jeff several of us do very good waterfowl. Beaver has an enormous population of Geese and as a rule produces limits of ducks daily but Big Deep water requires a diffrent type of set-up. There are some great post in the forum from last year. The Rock can be very good as well and there are plenty of areas that you can still knock on doors and get permission to hunt farm ponds. Tack on the MDC areas and you will quickly find plenty of birds.

A big well kept secret is if we get 3 days of freezing temps hit the creeks they can produce some awesome hunts. Last year was horrible in compare to most years but we still had a blast.

[Jeff Olson]

thank you F&F!,that is great info and very encourageing.I will check out the old posts! I like all your posts on beaver about walleye fishing,as I love to fish walleye.been mainly fishing BS & the rock some,but sounds like beaver is pretty good also! got alot to learn down here,buts thats half the fun! I appreciate your help.

[Feathers and Fins]

If you Hunt Beaver or the Rock. You will need to go with longline rigs, most the guys I see hunting the lakes are using typical decoy sets with 6 to 8 feet of line and that limits their ability to suck in ducks and geese. Long lines are simple and your spread is 100 times more visable to ducks.

To do it simply buy 12 slot bags. Place 12 barrel swivels on the line and slide them down it a little, attatch a 12oz to 16oz weight to it and pull off 30 ft of line and tie the first swivel add the decoy and place int the bag. repeat every 3 to 5 ft untill fisnish then pull off 50ft of line and tie on another 12oz to 16oz weight take the weights and place them on something and reel the line around it. I like using coke bottles flattened out as the cone on them seems to allow line to spool off easy.

When you get to your spot place the 30ft line on shore and let the boat drift off shore untill all the decoys are out then unwind the 50ft weight and throw it out behind you as far as you can. YOUR SPREAD will now start at 10yrds offshore to 30 on average and highly visable.

For decoy selection I suggest 2dz goldeneye be in the spread for visability to birds and boaters other than that mix them up, its typical to see goldies buffle redhead mallards and gaddies all mixed togeather and their is many scaulp in the area.

[Jeff Olson]

thanks again F&F!, the longlines sound great.interesting about the goldeneyes as I have not used them before.havent bought decoys for quite a while, so it sounds like a good excuse to get some. courious on the open water hunting, is it mostly pass shooting or do they decoy pretty good? also is early season good hunting? I dont seem to see many birds trading around the lakes so far this year,at least on TR or BS when im fishing. are there good numbers of local ducks or do you wait til later for the migrators.

[mic]

A big well kept secret is if we get 3 days of freezing temps hit the creeks they can produce some awesome hunts. Last year was horrible in compare to most years but we still had a blast.

F&F. I'm not a duck hunter, but I'm curious. Do you jump ducks in the creeks or hunt from a single location and call them in?

[Feathers and Fins]

Jeff nothing decoys as great as divers, The high vis of the goldeneye suck in the other ducks as well so 90% is decoying birds average shot is under 30 yards.

Jeff we have local birds mostly mallard and woodies and some teal. Most of what we get is migration birds. Numbers are dependant on year. last year sucked year before was best i had in over 35 years hunting.

Mic Blinds most the time. I will jump shoot if im low on time and see a bunch in one spot that is the rare occasion. Also always bino the creek first you may want to grab a bow or rifle and say forget the ducks when a big buck is sighted

[Jeff Olson]

hey F&F,thanks again! on your creek hunting, are you talking the larger creeks that flow into beaver and TR and motor into where they start to narrow down, or small creeks out in the country or surounding areas that you hunt on foot? I assume you mean the lake ones by saying to glass them first for deer, but not sure. back in WI our creeks and small rivers would be good when the pot holes freeze over, but I assume the lakes here dont freeze over, or do they?thus why would the birds move off the big water? I bet you got to love cabelas opening up right by you soon! I am up in minnesota now visiting family and was at cabelas in rogers,mn. today and they were out of goldeneyes. so I think i will have to come to rogers,ak when i get back! also do you believe in magnum decoys and or regular size to be able to put out more numbers of dekes.( do they even make magnum goldeneyes?)I did pick up a good supply of jigging spoons today so I am anxious to get back and chase some walleyes.

[Feathers and Fins]

The birds move off the smaller lakes and farm ponds to the nearest creek, some of the best creeks are small ones with a nice size pool. The lakes here dont freeze over so what birds that dont go to creeks go to them. Also there is a fair amount that use them constantly.

Decoys I use standard size ghg decoys, they are fine and cheap to replace when they get holes put in them. Check out Rogers sporting goods and Macs Prairie Wings for decoys. Rogers is best on price and customer service IMO http://www.rogerssportinggoods.com/62-avery--ghg-decoys/63-floating-duck

We are blessed to have great game here and Deer on the smallest of creeks are sometimes the big bruisers so always glass before going down, I mean they are on creeks. Now we do have deer on the lakes especially on islands but they get heavily hunted.

[Jeff Olson]

Hey F&F,thanks for the info! I found the goldeneyes on the rogers site, thank you. I see they are up by K.C. I read a bunch of the old threads today. alot of posts and comments. that is really great,It is really getting me excited for the season,which I saw on the mdc site they dont determine til mid august if I read it right. and is there a early goose season? there usually is in WI,mn,sd&nd that I know of but havent seen in missouri? how are the #s usually for the early teal season? hope im not bugging you to much,I really enjoy the chatting!