Self Guided Duck Hunts

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Self guided duck hunts within Mid-America Hunting Association is balancing the resources the Association provides and the duck hunter's skills and effort.

That balance is not to expect the MAHA staff to know on a daily basis where the better duck hunting will be found. We have general observation and leave it to the self guided hunter to make his own hunt. An illustrative example of what we provide above that of the wetlands, blinds and goose fields is the Hunting Updates we post during the season.

2006 - 2007 Season

Duck season started out with some above average early hunting, but the temperatures averaged over 70 degrees, which created hit or miss hunting.

The water conditions in Henry County have been as dry as we have seen in over 20 years. Many members have been used to the close drive to Henry County and were not willing to make the drive to our wetlands in the north zone, but still enjoyed some decent hunting on the water that was available.

Last weeks abrupt cold front froze the wetlands in both the middle and north zones, but some of the best mallard hunting is yet to come for the dedicated hunter with the decoys and gear to make it happen.

Scouting for open water and fields the geese are using will be up to the hunters from now till the end of the season. Good luck and be careful with the ice and water that is over chest wader in depth.

This particular season and weather conditions being mostly dry and a cycling of hard cold and higher than above average temperatures put the duck hunter in a constant search of where to go duck hunting. The effort that produced the most results was best described by a well seasoned duck hunter that said: "...the first day is the duck hunt to find the birds, the second day was just a shoot.."

MAHA has the wetlands and lease crop fields on a variety of water within historic Missouri migration paths. It is up to the hunter to find which wetlands on any given day where the ducks are.

One interesting point on being on this side of the telephone and email is to see trends of whom is successful by different methods/seasons/resources. Field over water sets have become more popular, however it is a minority that regularly hunts the fields. Most stick to the wetlands to include those that have a brief venture to the fields. The same testing of different hunts occurs with the early Kansas muzzleloader season in September and the late into January Iowa muzzleloader season. More than half that try it any year never come back to those seasons citing the hunt quality less than desired. Those that do hunt one of these two or both muzzleloader seasons on a regular basis do so citing the good hunt quality as the reason they come back. The assessment is the flexibility offered by self guided hunts allows all to find their balance.

Have a look at our duck attracting wetlands.