this will be my first year duck hunting i have wanted to do this for many years and i finally decided to do it this year i a have a few questions i would like some help answering i live in michigan so other than mallards what other kind of duck decoys could i put in my spread ? when i watch duck hunting on t.v. they always have several duck calls with them but they never explain why . i bought a knight and hale smooth talker what others should i have ? i appreciate the help and an other tips pointers or in formation you think i may need

Welcome to the forum Hunter 28. Wow, you have asked a few questions that would take more than ample space to respond adequately, but first I would start by contacting someone who duck hunts locally in your neck of the woods and pick their brain a bit. You may have a local expert that could give you some quality tips and let you know what calls, spreads, decoys, etc work best where you plan on hunting.

Most of the time, you can't go wrong with a few mallard (drake & hen) decoys, and a few widgeon or teal deeks thrown in, as well as one or two pintail thrown out in the spread in the shape of a "J" or "W".

The best advice I can give you is to set up with your back to the wind and don't shoot until the ducks have just about landed in your decoy spread (ie....webbed feet thrust out). Be prepared to retrieve every duck you've shot either by yourself or a trained dog and know the Federal migratory game limits and which species of ducks are actually in season! And don't scare away the ducks by blowing the calls too much, let them do the talking once they get close enough. Keep your head down, don't move and don't look up into the sky like a tourist.

Maybe Dustin (our resident duck expert) can weigh in on this topic. Good luck.

TB

To add advice, make sure you are camouflaged as good as possible. Scout you hunting spot or future hunting spots see where birds are, where they land with the wind a certain way. Also if you decoy spread is not working switch it, or if the wind switches. Motion to a decoy spread is great, but if the weather is nice and windy it does the job for you. You can set up you decoy spread with a mix bag. I use ducks and goose decoys in my spread, but I hunt for both at the same time and keep them separated. It depends on what decoys you have. If you are hunting big body of water then more decoys the better. Smaller body of water not as much decoys. Some duck calls are made for shorter distance, some longer distance, tone, brand, personal preference or you just buy a lot of calls because you like seeing which calls fit you the best lol. But it is also a good idea to have a extra in case you drop one in the water, if you hunt in cold freezing weather and ducks fly over head and you check you call and you spit has frozen the call,  you have another one there to call them in or lose it or what have you. Waterfowl hunting is one of those things you do that is a lot of work and things don't always go as planned so just know that. lol Probably the best advice