Waterfowl without equipment

[Aethuviel]

Is there any point trying to hunt waterfowl without equipment? Or is the chance of happening to find some in the water, close enough to shoot, pretty much zero?

With all the equipment needed (long range caller, short range caller, two for each species, decoys, special blind, am I forgetting anything?) compared to hunting other animals, I won't buy all of that just to try it out.

Is it a waste of time to try without all the gear?

[Nicpus]

When i didnt have a duck setup i actualy went out hunting after ducks without equipments. It is possible althouhg you wont get much. Same with geese. You can find them on the ground. How i started was with only the long range caller laying on the ground. I got 100 canada geese from doing that over and over again.

[Nicpus]

Although if you want to hunt ducks i have a setup.

[Brandon_Lee]

Originally posted by Argagax:

Is there any point trying to hunt waterfowl without equipment? Or is the chance of happening to find some in the water, close enough to shoot, pretty much zero?

With all the equipment needed (long range caller, short range caller, two for each species, decoys, special blind, am I forgetting anything?) compared to hunting other animals, I won't buy all of that just to try it out.

Is it a waste of time to try without all the gear?

Certainly it's possible since you have appropriate gun and ammo for free. But as stated above you won't see much. Some you'll probably find on the ground. However it's tricky, you need to get close enough before flushing and make sure that flushed bird is facing you which will result in it flying in your direction making it easier to have a sure shot. With luck, skill and patience you'll probably bag like 2-3 in a 2-hour session. But if you have proper setup... Well, this morning I bagged seven in less than 15 minutes. Difference is really huge.
Bottom line: possible but not much fun. Really, if you want to go for waterfowl - then you need a long range caller at the very least! In this case you'll end up lying next to some big body of water spamming your caller hoping that some would break off and then not be scared away before in range of your shotgun Full setup - 1-2 blinds, several callers, 20+ decoys, camo, blaser o/u or pump action... That's gonna cost you.