by Rod Clark (The American Outdoorsman Pro Staff)

It is upon us!! The leaves are turning and the cool northern breeze is blowing in memories of cupped wings and orange webbed landing gear. It's duck season! I have hunted ducks for almost 30 years and the build up to opening day never gets any less exciting. I start watching old hunting videos and reading through duck magazines trying to absorb anything and everything that is duck related. It's kind of like a quarterback would prepare for the Super Bowl watching film and reading playbooks. This is a ritual that all true duck hunters can attest to. I can't seem to find the time to rake the yard but I have no trouble climbing up in the oak trees and cutting branches that seem to fit my duck blind perfectly. What am I doing? Looking for the "Edge". I am looking for anything that will give me a higher percentage of success in the field. I have compiled a short list of things to try that will help give you an advantage over even the most seasoned birds.

For nature lovers everywhere.

Something really amazing happened in Downtown Spokane this week. A loan officer, Joel, at Sterling Bank works downtown in a second story office building, overlooking busy Riverside Avenue. Several weeks ago he watched a mother duck choose the cement awning outside his window as the uncanny place to build a nest above the sidewalk. The mallard laid nine eggs in a nest in the corner of the planter that is perched over 10 feet in the air. She dutifully kept the eggs warm for weeks and Monday afternoon all of her nine ducklings hatched.

Joel worried all night how the momma duck was going to get those babies safely off their perch in a busy, downtown, urban environment to take to water, which typically happens in the first 48 hours of a duck hatching. Tuesday morning, he came to work and watched the mother duck encourage her babies to the edge of the perch with the intent to show them how to jump off!

As I was running outside and the door slammed shut, the last words I heard my Aunt Myree say to me were, "Jon Howard, you be careful and don't play with that dog!" "That dog" in question was a Terrier mix and My Aunt and Uncle, Myree and A.C. Turner, had put it on a leash attached to a clothesline in their backyard because it had been acting "funny". Their backyard was in Huntsville, Texas, one block off of old Highway 75 and my Mom, Dad and I had gone up to spend a weekend with them and their two, young sons, Bill and Roy Peyton, known then as "Bubba".

Once outside, being five years old, the first thing I did was go right up to the dog and try to play with it and it responded, not very playfully, by jumping up on my chest and biting me! Inside I ran bleeding and crying, not caring about all of the "we told you so's" heaped on me.

By T.R. Michels, Trinity Mountain Outdoors

Shortly after I began guiding goose hunts in 1987 I met Dr. Jim Cooper, one of the most highly respected waterfowl researchers in the world. He is an Associate Professor of Wildlife with the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at the University of Minnesota, and has studied Canada Geese for over twenty-five years. The first time we met I told him I wanted to pick his brain about calling, feeding habits, reaction to weather, habitat, family behavior, flock makeup and migration. After talking to Jim and reading the results of his studies it became apparent to me how important the family behavior of the flock is in understanding geese. Once I began to understand the role of the family in the flock, it changed the way I hunt geese.

By Chris Hustad, from Nodak Outdoors

This type of bird cleaning is best used for ducks, snow geese, lessor Canada geese, and upland game. The process of breasting the bird and packaging takes about 3-4 minutes/bird. It's a great way to do large numbers at a time. I learned this years back and have been using it ever since.