Late season strategies and subtle adjustments will ensure hunters fill straps until the very last hunt.
Story and Photography by Nate Skinner

Waterfowl hunters seem to have a love-hate relationship with ducks and geese late in the season. And rightfully so. It’s a breathtaking sight when they work into a spread, but getting them to do so can be downright tough.
This time of year the birds are dressed in their “Sunday Best” as they sport their breeding plumage. Gorgeous feathers worthy of gracing the wall in just about any trophy room fill the air during the last month of the season. And many hunters succumb to the addiction of filling straps with an assortment of vividly beautiful colors.
Not to be fooled by their mesmerizing appearance, any seasoned pursuer of ducks and geese knows their wary eyes make deceiving them a challenge. The waterfowl wintering in our great state have seen many a decoy spread in a variety of conditions over different terrains during the past few months as they migrated down the Central Flyway. Combine this with the fact they’ve heard hoards of gunfire while some have even felt showers of steel all around them, and the word spooky just doesn’t seem to accurately describe their behavior. The term educated is more appropriate.

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