i want to get back into duck hunting

Go to section 120 rd in sherburne if you're near Baton Rouge.

Don't do it, unless you want to go broke. Just kidding. Second split is only for the true duck hunters. The ducks are super spooky and limits are hard to come by. Answer yourself this, would you crawl through mud to shoot 3 ducks late in the season? If yes, then go at it!

Just remember that hunting public land anywhere is a challenge. You have to deal with a lot of hunting pressure that you don't have any control over.

If you want to have some good hunts on public land I would get some WMA maps and starting NOW begin looking for and scouting out locations for next season. That means going out in the woods and in your boat to look at the locations in person. Keep in mind that if it's easy for you to find and figure out, there are probably a lot of hunters there. During the season you'll need to devote days from time to time to just scout. It helps to have other buddies to hunt with because you can combine your scouting information. Apart from that, you can work your way into better calling, blinding, shooting & decoy spreads as you go. But scouting is more important than anything else. You can't shoot ducks if there ain't no ducks where you are.

If you want to hunt marsh, for starters I'd recommend Biloxi WMA and big branch NWR. (No mud motors allowed on big branch tho iirc.) Manchac, Salgador/timken and many more also have some decent marsh areas. But if you do scouting now and during February you'll have a much better idea of where the ducks will want to be next season. Hell you might even get in a decent hunt in the next two weeks if you just get out there.

Almost any WMA has the potential for providing a great hunt. But having consistently good hunts on public land requires a lot of scouting and perhaps some luck as well.

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One more thing if you plan to hunt public land... Don't tell anybody anything about your success. Unless it is a very close hunting partner, nobody owes any loyalty to you on public ground and that is exactly the way most people see it. Nothing you can do to keep somebody out of your spots, all you can do is keep your info completely to yourself Ask me how I know...

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This. Be very careful with photo backgrounds and what you say online. Scout for yourself, bring only trusted buddies, and get after it if you really want to get in the game. Good luck

Hell, I refuse to hunt one of my spots on Saturday and Sunday just so the 'boom scouters' don't find me.

I see how it is

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Hell, I refuse to hunt one of my spots on Saturday and Sunday just so the 'boom scouters' don't find me

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amen to that...

Check your fb

Save you're money and go on guided hunts. If I told you how much stuff I lost, broke, damaged, replaced, and/or repaired you'd laugh you're arse of and while i get even more frustrated about how much money I spend on duck hunting. To make matters worse I've only shot about 5-6 limits with hunting on average 3 days a week. Add the up the cost of a boat, training for a dog, a ruined dog, and ruining a shotgun.... Well you get the picture. I'd take up fishing instead or deer hunting. I think it would be much cheaper, and deer hunting is likely to actually put meat in your freezer.

Good luck, and remember you're not a true duck hunter unless you completely black out your face with paint.

Oh and section 120 is where all the ducks are at!!

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Do what you want. Go buy that boat and hit it hard during the next duck season. I'd feel better spending my money on a boat than guided trips for ducks. You are saying you have some experience so you are not jumping into it ducking hunting totally blind. They are just steering you away so a newbie dont shoot all "their" public ducks and take all "their" public spots

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If hunting woodrows on a bar pit is most of a persons duck hunting experience and they want to start seriously hunting ducks on public land in South LA, then yes they pretty much are going in blind.

And I can promise you he won't be hunting where I hunt