Help with flight pond

[Donnie]

Evening all, i have been granted permission on a small nice flight pond. I have had it a few weeks and started to feed it with wheat and potatoe scrappings from local chippy. I know it is late in the season but im doing it to prove to the farmer it would be good for me to have it next seasob as well.

 

Ive hunkered down and watched the pool tonight and had a few teal and a fee mallard. My questions are

 

yhe pond is fed via a few fields so the water level changes daily, this means when i feed it the food never seems to stay in the shallows i.e 6", could i feed from a raft or does anyone have any other ideas?

 

When watching the pool tonight the ducks didnt seem to go to the area where i feed over a 10ft space where ive cut the reeds back but just want to areas where i dont believe it is shallow. Where would be an ideal place to feed? Can i feed in reeds?

 

Ive also tried calling them in tonight with an acme 572 call, and then leaving them on yo try and encourage them on, does anyone know of any good sources of instruction for using these calls well?

 

Im also feeding sweepings from the farmer and taking potatoe peelings/slices from the chip.shop and letting them go off for a.few days before putting them in, should these be rotten and if so.how can i speed up them rotting?

 

Thanks for reading

[markyboy]

Your spuds could be put in bags and put into a chest freezer and alow to thaw to soften up and then split in a large bucket I use the garden spade just to open them up a bit, but if using Peelings these should be ok but def freeze them

Don't use to much wheat it makes them fat but around this time of year or when cold should tempt them more it times of hardship, but try barley aswel.

I've used soften crab apples and they can't get enough of them just now, but when was milder they weren't too keen and went for barley instead

My pond levels often change I tend to work out the levels and feed on dry ground if likely to rise and throw some in deep if its likely to drop, even a few crates at sides with some grub on them will help

Feed around the reeds if they get to it easily

[soap]

Never tried aples before- do they need to be rotten or will they take them fresh?

[millrace]

^{ok here goes again.....lol}

 

 

^{get a pallet....put cavity polystyrene insulation in middle nail 4x1 around the edges, this makes it float,,,,now nail ply to top with say 2x1 round edges to stop food falling off stake in pond hey presto floating feeder........im going to start charging for this info soon.......lol.......}

Edited December 16, 2012 by millrace

[Donnie]

Been up today about 3:30 and had 30 mallard and 10 teal lift. Wasnt sure if to put them off or jot as we will look to shoot it from 3-5pm, decided to put them up to feed again as they have seemed to have found the food. Think ill start visiting about 2ish now to clear the pond off hoping they will be back for 4:30ish. Do you think this is about the right time for this time of year?

[lee-kinsman]

My dad and I have been feeding flight ponds since I can remember, ours too change in depth according to rainfall etc. We get 100's of wild mallard and teal and shoot every 2 weeks right through the season

 

Sounds like your overthinking the job.

 

Put all your food in the same place in the water in a heap, don't spread it out and don't put it on rafts to feed crows. Throwing the feed around the pond only wastes it, the ducks will learn to go to the same area every visit. Ducks will get down 12inch, maybe deeper when they know the food is there and it's the sound of ducks feeding that brings in the other ducks.

 

Don't clear the pond off if the ducks can be undisturbed that is better, more ducks bring in more ducks.

 

Put the feed in earlier in the day rather than later so that you don't ruin the early part of the flight, you can't manipulate there flighting behaviour because it will change according to weather and time of month. Ducks flight in all night so you don't want to teach the early arrivals to come later or just to go somewhere safer after the have filled their bellies.

 

Next year start to feed last week of august to start to shoot in october.

 

Regards,

Lee

[Donnie]

Well shot the pool last night just me and the farmer, i was on my last two cartridges at the.end as.we were being bombarded with teal! Great couple of hours ending in 4 mallard and 6 teal, just been back this.morning for a double check with the dog and there were 40 ducks on the pool again.

 

Cracking night and the dog worked well in his new jacket from jack pyke

 

[silver pigeon 3]

Top shooting mate, well done

[samyw]

That's what I like to see someone putting the work and thought into something and seeing it pay off well done mate

[Donnie]

Thanks, ive just met with the chip shop owner and hes gunna put in all the batter bits left over in with the peelings, has anyone tried these?

[Pole Star]

Hello Chaps have any of you ever tried feeding your flight ponds with bananas ? I was given 2 boxes of then but have never tried them all reports I have heard are good including from some chaps who were shooting on the main land & had a good evenings shooting over a pond fed with then .

 

Oh ! merry Christmas to friends & foe on PW . Pole Star

Edited December 25, 2012 by Pole Star

[rjimmer]

Drive the duck off every morning. You don't want to have them use it as a daytime roost. You want them to go off to their roost and bring back more mates each night. Don't wait for huge numbers because they seem to get fed up after a few nights and go somewhere else. We found that once there are about 20 coming in at dusk, the following night there will be enough come in to shoot 20. If you can get hold of some aquatic snails, they will attract Pochard and Tufted.