Leave mine out all year long. Clean before ice off and never on a tree. Predator guards are extra protection. Mine are about shoulder high give or take a little bit. Have something in the inside for the chicks to climb up and out. Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
Early goose ended here today. Unfortunately didn't get out this weekend but had a great early season. 28 birds in 4 hunts. 100x better than last few years for sure. Season is closed for 5 days then opens back up for duck well. Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
In addition to what greatwhitehunter3 said buy cedar ones not plastic. Tilt them forward a bit to help with chicks climbing up the side to exit with the wire mesh stapled to the inside or grooves sawed into the wood. Place them away from overhead branches so squirrels don't jump onto them and destroy the nest. I have good success with on land ones and with ones over the water. Make sure ones over the water are high enough up so nothing swimming can get at them. Also ones on land high enough so a cat can't jump up and attack the hen, 6ft or higher I think. Don't use sawdust use wood chips. Put in 4-6 inches of wood chips. If you make boxes make the hole only as big as recommended. Bigger holes could lead to predators sticking their claws in deeper to kill the hen. Clean them right before ice melt. Check them a couple times during spring to clear out bird nests and bee hives. If you spook hens don't worry they'll come back. Sometimes a hen will lay eggs than a bird wil come along and take over. May take a couple years for boxes to be used. They need to be spread out some to avoid dump nesting, which in my case happens anyways sometimes though. Don't forget about Mallards! Mallard hen houses are fun also. Check out deltawaterfowl for info on hen houses. I've got 11 wood duck boxes and 6 mallard hen houses on my property. I get like a 75% successful hatch rate usually which is good.
My buddy moved to west river SD a couple weeks ago and was back this past weekend. He dropped off a half dozen GHG FFD lessers for me to keep since he won't be waterfowl hunting out there. Score! Early season is now closed here but duck and goose both open back up this coming Saturday.
Hunting Sunday night for the last night if early goose I called in and landed 4 wood ducks. First leg I look at through my binoculars was a banded hen woodie. Just my luck; 6 days before duck opener! Not best picture through binoculars but if you can zoom in, you can make it out on her right leg right above the corn stalk. Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
Exactly! Was really cool watching her walk around with three drakes in the decoys but every time she turned just right, the sun would reflect off the band.
Last year was the first time i had wood ducks land in goose decoys in my 27 years of waterfowl hunting... and it wasnt duck season either Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
I have a pond that the wood ducks were coming in like clockwork... until the season opened here. Never saw them again after that.
I can't say how well they hold up/work but I have a dozen to try out this year but I really like their size and how they look! I'm excited to hunt over them. I want to buy one of their new 6 packs that has feeders and resters. The 6 on the left are avian-X backwaters FYI Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
