YO-YO DUCKS

Calls, Shells and Spreads

EDITOR'S NOTE: For more than 20 years Billy Blakely of Troy, Tennessee, has guided duck hunters on Reelfoot Lake in Tiptonville, Tennessee. Reelfoot Lake is 18,765 acres of water that was formed by a series of earthquakes that started in December of 1811 and ended in February of 1812. At that time the Mississippi River flowed backwards and spilled over into the hole left by the earthquakes, creating Reelfoot Lake. Loaded with shallow-water flats, cypress swamps and plenty of shallow-water areas, this lake homes ideal duck habitat. And to make this haven for duck hunters even better, one state and two federal waterfowl refugees are located around the lake. Another reason Reelfoot Lake has the most-dependable duck hunting of any area I know in the United States is due to the yo-yo effect this area experiences during waterfowl season.

"When the weather is cold, the ducks migrate from the North to Reelfoot," Blakely explains. "When the weather turns hot, the ducks that travel north from Mississippi and Louisiana also stop here. Reelfoot Lake seems to be the midpoint of the two extremes of weather during waterfowl season." This week we'll learn how Blakely and the other guides at Blue Bank Resort consistently take ducks at this time of the year.

Question: How do you get high-flying flocks of ducks to come in to your decoys?
Blakely: I use a very high-pitched duck call, and I do a lot of highball calling. I believe you have to blow the calls loudly and excitedly to get those high-flying ducks to look at your blind and your decoys instead of someone else's spread. The guides here will call to a lot of high-flying ducks that duck hunters in other areas of the country would not think of calling. Because we use a large number of decoys, many times we'll get those high-flying ducks' attention and pull them down to our decoy spread. I'll call the ducks aggressively until I can get them down to the point where I can soft-call them. If you're hunting ducks in a rice field or in flooded timber, you can call to the ducks lightly and let the ducks see the decoys to pull in the ducks. But here on Reelfoot Lake, we have to call a lot, we have to call loudly, and we have to call aggressively until the ducks set their wings to come in to light. Question: What kind of call do you use? Blakely: I use a Haydel double-reed call, the DR85. This call delivers a loud, high-pitched call that practically reaches out and touches the ducks.

Question: What type of shot shell do you recommend?
Blakely: I really like the Remington Hevi Shot. Many times our ducks will come in a little bit wide, and you'll need a shell that will reach 40, 50 and even 60 yards. Not only will this Hevi shot down the ducks at that range, but in most cases it will penetrate the ducks. So when you get ready to eat the ducks, you won't be biting into shot. I've noticed that the Hevi shot also results in fewer cripples and fewer ducks getting away. Another advantage to using the Hevi shot is that you don't have to lead the ducks as much as you will when using steel shot.

Question: How far in front of the ducks will you normally lead with steel shot, and how does your lead change when you're shooting Remington Hevi Shot?
Blakely: If a duck is coming from left to right with steel shot, you normally shoot about 9 feet in front of the duck. With Remington Hevi Shot, you only have to shoot about 5 ½ to 6 feet in front of the duck.

Question: How is your decoy spread set up?
Blakely: Directly in front of the blind, I place my newest mallard decoys. I put a few coot decoys in with the mallard decoys because any time you have something black in your decoy spread, the ducks can see the spread better. If you set two decoys on the water and get a long way from them, you'll be able to see the black decoy much easier than to the painted decoy. This is why I use so many Filler Killer decoys in my spread. I believe that the Filler Killers enable the ducks to see my decoy spread better from farther away than if I don't use them. The Filler Killer decoys are as big as goose decoys, and the ducks can see them and will come into them much faster than if we didn't have those big black bottles floating. The Filler Killers get the attention of the ducks that are high and cause those ducks to drop down to take a better look at the decoy spread. Once they see the spread, the ducks usually will try to light close to the more natural-looking decoys. I also put Canada goose decoys on the side of my spread because I think they help me pull me in high-flying ducks. Occasionally we'll get a few geese that fly past the blind, and those goose decoys gives us a chance to call in those geese. In addition, I set out gadwall decoys in small groups on the edge of the hole where I want my ducks to land. Oftentimes gadwalls will drop in to those decoys and try to land close to them instead of lighting near my mallard decoys. So I'll keep at least one or two groups of gadwall decoys close to my blind at all times.

For more information on hunting at Reelfoot Lake, call the Blue Bank Resort at 731-253-6878, visit www.bluebankresort.com, or write to Blue Bank at Route 1 Box 970, Tiptonville, TN 38079. To learn more about Filler Killer duck decoys, call (800) 659-7303, or visit www.agsouthco.com. Go to Haydel's Web site at www.haydels.com or call (318) 746-3586 to learn more about the company's quality duck calls. Contact Remington at (800) 243-9700 or visit www.remington.com for more information on Hevi Shot.