 Welcome back to the channel guys. I'm Titus with Mid Valley Mercenaries and I'm glad you guys clicked on this video today to join me on the beginners guide to duck hunting. I get a lot of questions on, hey I want to get into duck hunting but where do I start? That's what this video is going to be about. Now the fact is the majority of us, probably most of us in the United States of America, we don't have to hunt to live and survive to feed our families and ourselves. So it's not always a widely skilled that's possessed by all of us. Yet still there's something about it that brings us back to our roots just feels right when we're out there in nature enjoying God's creation and doing the thing that it was ordained for us to do. This video today is to familiarize you with the basics on how to start duck hunting. If at the end of this video you get something out of this and it helps you out do us a favor click the thumbs up button and subscribe to the channel. Let's get started. Step number one, taking the life of a living creature. I know we think this is a given a lot of times but the real answer is can you handle taking the life of a living creature? Obviously you got into this knowing it's called duck hunting so you know that taking something's life is going to be part of it but do we really put ourselves in those shoes that once we do it how precious the life of this thing is. People have been very disrespectful to life they have done things that I personally don't agree with but we got to remember guys this was not just really for our pleasure. Dude that's like a dream come true since I was a kid bro. Look at the color. Yeah that's pretty cool. That's awesome. I'm gonna have a break. Stove. Hunting has sometimes got a stigmatism that us as hunters do it just for pure enjoyment. The majority of hunters take life very precious just remember you are taking something's life and always always respect it. If you can go into duck hunting with that attitude respecting the creature and looking at their beauty then you'll do very well in the hunting community. Step number two, find a friend. Let me preface that by saying if you can do not let that stop you if you don't find somebody that you can hunt with. You may have to go solo for a while you may have to go out by yourself. I've done that. Guys I've had so much fun hunting by myself and the pure joy of going through the moment and harvesting that first duck or that 5000 duck however long you've been duck hunting. What does make it a lot more fun is if you can find a friend somebody to go with. That's the crystal. I got another one. Double big rocky. Woo! Baby! Nice double baby. That was perfect wasn't it? No I got it dude. Oh perfect. Locked. Did you when I whistled did you hear? I saw him the first time. Oh you did. Nice. That was awesome. But don't let that stop you. Don't be the person nobody will go with me. I can't get anybody to go. Nobody will take me under their wing. Trust me if you start the tradition you may be starting it by yourself but I promise you you will build a group around you when people start to see how fun it is. Invite somebody else that hasn't went duck hunting. I'll tell you this I've hunted a lot of game. I've hunted elk. I've hunted deer. I've hunted pigs. I've hunted coyotes. I've done all these things but duck hunting truly is one of the most social styles of hunting. When you do finally harvest that animal you'll be at the point to where you can high five and you can celebrate together and you can lock in those amazing memories of that bird cupped up or that moment when you fell over in the mud. Honestly the tough times. Tough times brings more memories than really success at long times. The toughness, the ice, the cold, the wind, the unsuccessful hunts. Those are what bring the success to a point where it's overwhelming and so exciting that you can't even put it into words and sharing that with somebody else is incredible. I've heard this a thousand times. I've got this in my messages on Instagram and Facebook. I know duck hunters but they're so tight clicked they won't let me hunt with them. I do get that that's out there. Some people may be rude about it and then there's others that do want to help but I promise you there is good people out there that do want to help you. I feel like most duck hunters do want to help and I get people saying to me all the time they won't help me out. They won't take me with them. Well to be honest with you guys nowadays there's so much stuff on Google. You can Google beginning duck hunting what to do. There's so many videos like this out there that you can watch other channels tell you what to do. There's a lot of information. 20 years ago that stuff wasn't there because there was none of the stuff that we have nowadays. There was no YouTube. There was no Instagram. Before you were straight up blind and videos like this and people like this nowadays they do want to help. Maybe we can't just individually help every single person but I want to tell you don't let something like this like duck hunting go out of your mind because someone won't take you under their wing. If you do have a mentor yes the process will be a lot easier but I want to encourage you it is far from impossible. Stay encouraged, read up, do your research and you can get out there and have an amazing time duck hunting. Step number three get the gear. Before you can even head out you need to do your research. You need to see what the cost is. Part of this involves you educating yourself about duck hunting like you're doing right now and the other part of it will involve you learning what you need to hunt and I'm talking about appropriate clothing, gear and guns. We have lots of videos on our channel and I'll start linking them throughout the video up in the top in the cards over here but I want to let you know that we have the stuff out there to help you get started whether it's guns. We also have a podcast that we talk about picking the right gun for duck hunting. We have videos on gear, we have videos on backpacks, bags, decoys, decoy bags, everything you can basically think about. We have videos on that you can check it if you want to check our channel but there's also a lot of other content on YouTube you can check out as well. Another huge thing is for gear an absolute must licensing and permit. Every state is different guys but like for instance in California you can go to the California Department of Fish and Game you can go on there click on hunting and I'll kind of show you as I go along in this video go in there you can click on hunting then you go in there and you click on purchasing your license if you haven't already as a new hunter you need to get your hunter's safety permit then you can start buying your hunting license then you can start buying your waterfowl stamp your hip all these other things that evolved and getting your hunting license for ducks. Every state is different I'll tell you that I'm just going to reference to what I know I have traveled outside I've been to Washington I've been to Nebraska I've been to Wyoming I've been to Montana I've been to Kansas I've been to a lot of places hunting for big game or ducks all you got to do guys it's very simple is go on to their websites for this state just click in Kansas Department of Fish and Game or Washington Fish and Game or California Department of Fish and Game and trust me it will show you on licensing usually is what it says you can go and click in there and they'll tell you exactly what you need to do now I'm not going to lie to you guys this can be very costly both in terms of time and money and duck hunting is a very highly regulated sport with lots of restrictions as far as duck hunting gear itself let me just give you a basic example of gear you're going to need number one waiters preferably chest high waiters there is a different types of waiters out there you can get waiters that go up to your hips I prefer chest high waiters not so much for the fact that you're going to be in water that is waist deep you know bottom of your chest deep which at times it can be but it's when you sit down and your gear that covers you if it rains there's just a lot of reasons for it but trust me you want to stick with chest high waiters if you can decoys is your next thing that you want to get I've always said this to new hunters a dozen will get you by you may want more you may want less at times believe it or not there's times I use two or three decoys there's times I've used a hundred decoys but to get started the basics a dozen decoys will get you by and it doesn't have to be nothing fancy or expensive and you say okay Titus what kind of decoys well the common thing to go with is mallard decoys if you get mallard decoys you really can't go wrong unless you're hunting on the coast and you're hunting sea ducks be honest with you I don't want to dig into the weeds there but grab a dozen decoys of mallards and you'll be good to go next thing and you ain't killing ducks if you don't have this and that is guns and shells a gun is like a duck hunter's baby it is the tool of the trade but if you guys are totally lost and you don't know what to get you're very unsure about it let me just suggest to you a 12 gauge chambered in a three inch there's lots of variations I don't want to get in there and confuse you guys but a 12 gauge three inch shotgun will do the trick and it doesn't matter what brand we all have our brands and guys will tell you this is the best brand this is the best brand but really what matters guys if we're talking about a beginner duck hunter grab the shotgun off the shelf throw it to your shoulder and whatever you feel fits you well sits in your shoulder well and you can aim down naturally that's the shotgun for you as far as shells go it's all personal preference duck hunters can get very picky I'm picky about my shells too but I've been duck hunting for a long time but first and foremost guys don't buy lead lead is completely illegal when it comes to hunting waterfowl do not buy lead it doesn't matter what state you're in the regulation is the same and everywhere in the United States of America so at least the minimum buy still if you want to spend the extra money you can buy tungsten you can buy bismuth there's other things like that but trust me those get very expensive and pricey so as far as basic goes just buy yourself some steel shot loads and a lot of boxes will say waterfowl on it they'll have ducks flying out whatever so just as a reference you know if you buy the 12 gauge three inch shotgun buy three inch shells they gotta say 12 gauge on it and then as far as shot size goes you're gonna be safe with anywhere from two to four shot so don't get too concerned and overwhelmed with that the point is just getting you going getting the right stuff not getting yourself in trouble and getting out there to duck hunt and have fun quick tip you are gonna hear the word as a new hunter sky busting it is very hard as a beginner to know how far a duck is what's in range how close do they need to be when should i shoot when should i stand up guys that's all experience or going off of something that has experience telling you when because trust me it is very hard i totally understand that and i know a lot of duck hunter struggle with that when they're beginning best way i can tell you to do this if you don't have a mentor someone to tell you when to stand up and shoot is grab a rangefinder range 30 yards 20 yards and 10 yards get those ranges in your mind if you don't have a rangefinder that's okay 12 steps of most men or women is 10 yards so step off 36 steps is 30 yards and go to a tree or go to somewhere and look at that and if you have your decoys at that point put them on the ground and you can see how close that is it's pretty close so try not to waste your time and frustrate other hunters around you by shooting at birds 50 60 70 yards high especially as a beginner i as someone that's experienced i can be very comfortable very very comfortable shooting at 40 yards but beginning you really got to pay attention to your distances out of help to you to not waste any more ammo than you need to and also to respect other hunters that are around you next on the list of gear is camo now unlike big game hunting a lot of times where you have to wear fluorescent orange so you don't end up shooting each other you do not have to do that in duck hunting and i promise you you don't want to do that by all means camo every single part of you that you can your hands your face your neck everything needs to be camo guys now what camo it doesn't matter again it's personal preference i like sick of gear that's just my preference i've also used drake i've used a bazillion other different brands over the 20 plus years that i've been duck hunting and trust me i killed ducks wearing all of them so for a good example on camo i don't want to go into a marsh that has nothing but green and be wearing tan you want to match your surroundings so to be honest with you to save money try to buy something that's neutral that can get you in a bunch of different environments and blend in very well and i can't stress this enough when it comes to gear and camo a face mask if you don't have a face mask you can buy paint on amazon we'll do face paint sometimes just depends on what we're doing if sometimes face mask can rub against your ears and make it hard to hear if you want to hear ducks come in or flying or quacking or making their calls everyone has their personal preference i use both but don't treat waterfowl as someone trying to tell you and help you do not treat waterfowl as stupid birds they're very smart be hidden blend with your background as best you can duck calls have your duck call with you do not leave that at home do not leave a behind you say well i'm not a good caller i don't know how to call that good that's okay that's fine if you're with experienced people as a beginner let them do the calling practice at home don't try to learn out there in the blind you'll frustrate them but if you're by yourself do what you gotta do there's a chance that you could still call them in but take the time when you're driving down the road you're headed to work wherever you're going grab that duck call and practice there's dvds out there there's cds i highly suggest you downloading the ducks unlimited app it will give the sounds and calls of every single waterfowl that is out there as far as instructional videos i don't feel like that we would probably do the best but i'm gonna link a couple videos i'll put them right here if you want to come back and reference or maybe i'll put it down in the description just look for it that i highly suggest going to these guys and learning how to blow a duck call and also the another video that i'll put in there of a guy that's from california jj lairs is the company in the name of the calls he's an incredible duck caller because there's a couple competitions there's live duck calling that's what this one is and it's incredible and it sounds just like a duck and if you can listen to that you learn the basics and then go to that to try to learn the advanced stuff you're gonna be a very good caller now i know i didn't cover all the gear but there's a lot of different things that you could do there's optional gear there's a dog that's something you will look to down the road i don't suggest doing that as you're a new duck hunter if you're hunting by yourself because you need to take that time to learn how to duck hunt let alone trying to train a dog a boat a kayak you could go down the river those are different tools that you can use do you have to have them to duck hunt absolutely not but they are different options that you can look at now we could get stuck and talk about a whole lot more things but we have plenty of videos on our channel if you want to look through waterfowl hunting gear things like that that you can look at later but let's go ahead and move on to the next point find a spot trust me guys when i say no matter what state you're in there are countless places to duck hunt you just got to find them a quick easy internet search will show you guys a plethora of places to go and again it doesn't matter what state you're in people all the time what refuge to go to what guys you can go on your state's fishing game and able to list out every single place that you can duck hunt once you any mini money mow it you can pick out the place you want to go try that may be closest to you use google maps or use your internet if you don't have a nice phone a cell phone that can do that and then you can find these duck hunting places find one that's closest to you and go spend time there drive up there even if it's an off day find out what days the refuge is open find out what times the refuge is open what time is checking i know it sounds intimidating guys but it's not as bad as it sounds truly it is up to you guys to do your due diligence and find out information of places that you want to hunt just bear in mind that if you don't do well at a place that you don't have to stay there you can always venture out and try different places guys will help you more than you think especially at check stations if there is check stations now some states don't have that but there is so much i'm telling you guys you can google i do it all the time still this day as long as i've been duck hunting if i'm going to a new place i will google hunting at so-and-so whether it's in washington or kansas or wherever it's at and there'll be people on there there'll be threads on there duck hunting chats that will tell you all kinds of information it may not give exact spots but no duck hunter is going to do that and you wouldn't do it either nobody gives away their deer hunting spots nobody gives away their turkey hunting spots nobody gives away where they're catching 10 pound bass and guys we can't expect people to tell us exactly where to go when it comes to duck hunting but there's plenty of information out there to tell you what refuges or what land to go duck hunting at i promise you now if you found a spot that has ducks and you've killed several ducks up congratulations to you on harvesting your first ducks and figuring something out for yourself but just remember don't get stuck day after day after hunt day hunting in the same spot because guess what all those ducks are going to fill out their buddies have been shot and they're gone missing they're not going to keep coming back to that spot over and over again step number five duck identification guys you must absolutely absolutely know your duck id nothing can get us into more trouble than shooting something that we're not sure of if you don't know what it is don't shoot it do yourself a favor and pass the bird up there has been so many times i've seen guys come out of the refuge stoked that they had an eight bird limit when the bird limit is seven birds or guys come out thinking they did something good they shot this rare duck and the season wasn't open for that duck till later again all that stuff is in the state's fishing game department you can go find the rules and regs book you can see how many can shoot of canvas backs how many can shoot mallards how many hands how many drakes ducks unlimited app can show you what these birds look like in flight standing it's very hard at first tight d ducks in flight but the more you do it the better you'll be at it and one little side tip i could give you guys is go to a game reserve and just take some binoculars out there and look at birds and identify them if you don't know what it is google it north american waterfell and pick the one that looks like the duck you're looking at and then boom you know like okay that's what that is every year as duck hunters we should be refreshing ourselves on the rules and wrecks because every year they change not all of them but there is things that change we've got to know what they say so read through that book it's interesting to read anyways last but not least step number six once you've harvested your ducks you went on your first duck hunt you walked away successful you came out checked your birds out whether it was online whether it was a card or whether it was to one of the workers at the check station you go home with it now what do you do you have these ducks the most common method guys for preparation is to breast the duck out so until blue wings greens just kind of start putting your thumb together like that so you do this and you push down and pull apart it literally opens can you get that and then you pull down like that look at that boom it's that quick so anyways just a little tip for you guys if you guys weren't and then you go down the breastbone don't want to go too deep pull that one piece of meat slice down there's one this is if you're just breasting it also you're gonna do it whole it's a lot different it takes a lot more time also you can do them whole but do not be the person or the hunter that because you don't know what you're doing with it to just throw it in the garbage we eat what we kill again we have a podcast that we have a chef on that's very well known a book called duck duck goose it will tell you how to cook those and harvest those if you don't want to buy the book on amazon you can also go on to his website hunter gather cook and he'll tell you how to cook duck and i promise you most of us cook it wrong just remember this one tip that i'll give you and we'll end here cook it like it's steak do not cook duck like it's chicken you cannot go wrong with a medium cooked duck it's going to be tasty the choices to me are pintel and mallard and green wing till are some of the best eaten out there if you shoot those and you can look those up trust me you won't be dissatisfied well that will wrap this video up i hope this video helped you guys if you have any questions or comments put them down below in the comments section check out the links i was telling you about i hope this help you guys out if there's anything i forgot just ask me down below and we'll do our best to help you we'll see you out there guys good luck in the field