Ducks on a pheasant shoot

[Grazy]

Hi,

We run a small DIY shoot, putting 600 down per season. We have several drives that contain ponds and we have been discussing adding ducks next year. Does anyone have any experience of doing a similar thing or can recommend any reading references so I can learn more.

Cheers

Graham

[wisdom]

Our now disbanded syndicate had several ponds and we had some good duck drives from them.Fed the ponds and attracted plenty of wild birds in addition to the ones we put down.Did a pheasant drive, and stopped short of the ponds.Beaters re grouped and the guns changed to non toxic shot and away we went.

[Grazy]

Thanks wisdom. Did you have any boxes for them or just simply feed the ponds. Any recommendations on feed?

[wisdom]

Just fed the ponds with barley.

[Grazy]

Thanks wisdom. We're there any breeds that you found were better than others?

[wisdom]

We used plain and simple mallard but we often got teal joining them.

occasional white ducks added that raised a fine if shot.

[Outlander]

We feed our ponds with tailings or whatever we can get our hands on, I think the key to it is keep the feed going in on a daily basis.

Outlander

[Essex Keeper]

We feed our ponds with tailings or whatever we can get our hands on, I think the key to it is keep the feed going in on a daily basis.

Outlander

+1.

 

And try to stop anyone going near the pond

[lksopener]

If you want real quality bring in the wild ducks, feeding barley will attract them along with geese. But our best season has been when we have fed potatoes. A couple of sacks per week.

 

We collect all the discarded ones after harvest, it's labour intensive but worthwhile.

 

We've had mallard, gadwall, teal, Canadian geese and greylag this year. All free other than the time to collect and feed potatoes.

 

I tried a 100 mallard once and they were a spectacular fail!! The became overly tame and refused to fly. The ones that remain are now useful for calling others in but I wouldn't try stocking ducks again!

[Grazy]

Thanks all for the tips !!!

[Penelope]

You will need to shoot the ducks with non toxic shot, but you can shoot the pheasants with lead.

 

Hi,
We run a small DIY shoot, putting 600 down per season. We have several drives that contain ponds and we have been discussing adding ducks next year. Does anyone have any experience of doing a similar thing or can recommend any reading references so I can learn more.
Cheers
Graham

[rjimmer]

It depends on whether you want duck drives or flight pond shooting.

[Killshott]

As others have said already, we put down mallard on our syndicate shoot this year. No boxes & fed with barley on the banks of the pond. We planned a combined pheasant/duck drive and expected good things but had a right job getting the b*ggers to fly. Those that eventually did stayed very low and weren't shootable.

I would not advise any white birds, even for fine/prize purposes. They stick out like a sore thumb and attract every preadator for miles.

[Grazy]

Thanks Killshoot. We already have a few wild mallard in the ponds on 3 of the drives and they fly well. Maybe just clearing out the ponds a bit and feeding may attract the wild ones without putting any down. There are a number of large estate lakes nearby which I presume is where they may come from.

[rjimmer]

If you already have a few wild ones, get them used to finding food every evening. The most important/efficient way to encourage ducks to a flight pond is to drive them off every morning so that they do not use it as a daytime roost. Every evening they should bring back a few more. In my experience, once you have about 20 coming in, shoot the next evening when there should be enough come in to shoot 20. If you wait for numbers to build up too much, they will suddenly disappear, especially if a lot of teal start using the pond and creating a commotion that mallard don't like. We put some water snails in one pond and it attracted a lot of Pochard.

[tomaddy525]

Instead of releasing ducks I'd be tempted to just feed the ponds and shoot whatever wild ones you attract. As previously mentioned, you will have one hell of a job teaching the ducks to fly (not really warranted for a small DIY job) and wild ones will invariably present much more testing birds. As long as you're not flushing a pond more than once a week there should always be some there. Most importantly, the pond must not be disturbed apart from in a drive, ducks simply won't rest on a small pond in the day that gets disturbed frequently when there are all manner of large bodies of water they know they can be safe on. We have one pond that is PERFECT for duck during the day, but because it gets disturbed perhaps every other day they won't use it until flight time, whereas one small, overgrown wet hole in the centre of a field always has an abundance of ducks.

[Nmb]

We have released mallard and have never had a problem getting them to fly. My dad and I usually walk down either side of our pond with the dogs and try and flush them into the wind.

Sometimes takes a few attempts over a few days but they always end up flying pretty well.

This season coming however we are going to try and encourage the wild ducks and for get about the reared ones.

Edited February 9, 2016 by Nmb

[Bleeh]

We used to put down a couple hundred mallard and didn't have many issues, they flew well and some would turn around mid drive and the guns would get a second go.

They where in a pond surrounded by a spinney.

 

We used to rear from day old, and they don't half stink!.

[pg123]

We put 100 down on our DIY shoot. We feed them using a barrel fitted with a soft duck spring. We also use an auto feeder giving out a bit of feed first thing in the morning so they don't run short and get used to being on the pond at the time we wish to shoot them. If you have other feeders near your pond you will need to swap from springs to wright feeders or the ducks will scoff everything they can find.

 

Not feeding them by hand keeps them a bit wilder and they fly well. With them circling overhead we had good sport from them the first 2 days but after that they would be off at the first sign of trouble which caused us problems getting them to split up enough to give more than 1 or 2 guns some shooting. I think we shot half overall.

[clay shooter]

Yes we put down a hundred on our 6 flight ponds and you have to feed each day Barley keep them fed..keep away from the ponds except to feed em.. until shoot days Have duck drives separate if you can..But pheasant and duck together is well worth the effort..when you put them down clip one wing so it does not fly for a few weeks till growth..Wild duck will fly in and often stay..more female than drakes on the pond will attract them...Pheasants/partridges are feeding there also at the feeders so a mixture keeps the guns on their toes and gives a variety .Also do remember ....Duck will often as said turn and come back over the guns and return to the pond...trees around helps for high birds as well..and if you rear your own..They do indeed stink...

Edited February 10, 2016 by clay shooter

[Grazy]

Just a little update. We've been feeding just one pond to start with. Visited on Saturday to get the wheat in for the pheasants and lifted 35 mallard off the pond so really happy. Usually only see 2 or 3. Just been spreading tailings around the pond and close vicinity. Will be ordering an autofeeder to increase the feed rate.

 

Next step is to determine when they are coming in and where they are going, so as to agree when we best to push them off.

 

Is it worth learning how to call the in with duck calls?

[mudpatten]

It`s always worth learning how to properly call ducks with a decent call.

 

Lots of instructional stuff here mpkcustomcallsandwoodworking.com

 

You might find that, later in the season the duck become a bit wary of coming into a well shot pond whilst it`s still light enough to see them.They also get into the habit of circling the pond at great height and looking intently for any signs of danger. In which case a carefully and skillfully used call might be the difference between getting a few shots or not.

 

Matt Kirk at MPK Custom calls does a special order short barreled "Flight pond" call for those times when you need a realistic sound, but without the great volume that you might want out on the open estuary.

[markm]

Hi Graham.

 

We've invested in a auto feeder this year to compliment the trough feeding of the ducks we release. I done a little research and the model in the video was reportedly the most reliable. It's also solar powered to recharge the battery. Total cost to make was around £100.

 

Any questions, just ask.

 

 

[Grazy]

Thanks for the tips, that looks like the type of feeder I was going to get.we hold the pheasant shoots every other week and were planning on shooting the duck every other shoot, so only once a month, in the hope that this wasn't too often for them to get wary.

[markm]

I have it on light use at the minute as I'm up on the shoot every day. The solar is holding the charge well. I would estimate it will release 4-5kg of barley per minute.