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Please greet Gary Bartlow from Illinois.

Gary has been hunting for 24 years and lives to kill limits of waterfowl. He hunts more than 45 days per year primarily targeting ducks. Most of his hunting is done on public land in Illinois.

He also makes waterfowling trips to Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas every year, and loves to spring snow goose hunt which leads to about five trips to NE Arkansas every February.

Gary grew up in Southern Illinois, about eight miles from Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge. In years past, it was the wintering grounds for 300,000 Canada geese.

In the following text, Gary shares his thoughts and experiences about public refuge hunting.

A big welcome to Gary.

BB Guns, Wood Ducks, and Canada Geese

I started following my Grandpa and Dad around in the woods, fields, and marshes when I was three years old. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting in a duck blind or goose pit in front of the heater holding my BB gun.

That soon changed for me when I killed my first squirrel when I was eight years old. Later on that year, I shot my first bird, a hen wood duck, with my H&R single shot 20 gauge. After that I was hooked on waterfowl.

By the time I was 14, I was hunting geese solo in the fields on the outskirts of town. While other kids my age were asking for the latest video game for Christmas, I was requesting goose decoys, calls, or my favorite gift, boxes of shells. Every day after school I would run into the house, quickly change my clothes, and be in the field set-up in time to kill at least one bird before shooting time ended.

My dad and I would mostly hunt in dry fields, and occasionally a pond that we had permission to hunt, so up until that point almost all of my waterfowl hunting had been done on private land.

That all changed when I was 14 and was invited by a friend to hunt with him and his dad out of a boat on Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge. Since I was a guest, it was agreed that I would get to shoot first, and it wasn't long before I got my chance. A lone Canada goose locked up on our spread, and two shots later I had my first public land goose.

Since then, the geese no longer migrate here in significant numbers, and I have adapted from a focused goose hunter that would also shoot ducks, to a hard core duck hunter.

Public Land Benefits

Hunting public land has the advantage of seeing different terrain every day. I know guys that spend thousands of dollars to hunt their blind day after day, looking at the same old field all season long. I hunt a variety of different habitat from flooded corn fields to rivers, sloughs, and my favorite, flooded timber.

Public Refuge Techniques and Strategies

Scout, scout, and then scout some more. To be successful day in and day out you have to hunt where the ducks are targeting. I hear it all the time, "We were mashin'em the first two weeks of the season, but have only killed a few since." Too many people have only one place they hunt. I have my favorite holes too, but why hunt the timber when the ducks are 60 miles away in the flooded corn?

Get away from the crowds. With waterfowl hunting so popular these days, public areas can be crowded. I like to find those out of the way places that few people visit. This requires work. I may have to get up early and leave the house at 1:00 in the morning. I might also have to hike and wade back into places that are difficult to access and others are not willing to go.

I'm also a dedicated bow hunter, with over 30 deer, but at the end of November I hang up my bow and turn my attention to ducks. Deer hunting the river bottoms and sloughs has a side benefit for my duck hunting though, and often gives me the edge I need to get away from the crowds and kill limits of ducks while others are fighting over other well known duck areas.

Lastly, be versatile, and willing to make changes. Just because it worked yesterday, doesn't mean it will work today. If the ducks want to see a lot of decoys, then haul as many as you can. And if they don't like a spinning wing decoy, take it down. Are others hunters calling a lot? If so, then try a few soft quacks or feeding calls. Overall, watch what the birds and other hunters are doing, either right or wrong, and adjust your hunting accordingly.

Hunting Preferences

I'm a puddle duck hunter, pure and simple. Nothing gets me going like mallards feet down in the decoys. I also love to see woodies screaming through the trees, or teal buzzing the decoys. I will go out on open water and shoot ducks that smell and taste like rotten fish too, but only if there is nothing else to do.

I love hunting flooded timber, and I also hunt the rivers. We have some great marshland available, and manmade wetlands are popping up more and more frequently. Sloughs just off of the rivers can provide some of the best hunting, because either others just don't know about them, or aren't willing to put in the work to get there.

I use three jon boats for my hunting. An 18 foot river jon, a 14 footer we use for some of the marshes, and an 8 foot boat for transporting gear into flooded fields. I also use a four wheeler when needed to access some of those harder to reach honey holes. A belly boat can also be real handy for the deeper sloughs or marsh waters. Deer carts and decoy sleds are great for getting decoys and other gear into the places that others give up on too.

Dome Light, Dead Battery, and Mallards

It was the middle of January and we had been frozen up for almost two weeks, but for the last three days the temperatures had edged up into the mid 40's. I had planned on going bow hunting the next morning, but at the last minute decided to hunt ducks.

As I drove down the levee towards my hunting spot in the dark hours of the morning that day, I didn't pass any other trucks, usually a sign that I probably should have stayed home, but I continued on anyways. I got to the spot I wanted, a borrow pit in the middle of the flooded timber, I set out my decoys, and then sat waiting for shooting time.

As 6:34 AM approached, legal shooting time, ducks started bombing into the trees on the back side of the hole I was in.

At two minutes till shooting time, I heard something behind me. I turned around and saw someone wading into my spread. I announced my presence and told him I was by myself and that he could hunt with me if he wanted. He said that was ok, he would work down and hunt the next hole. He also shared that the dome light in my truck was on! With the ducks coming in like they were, I opted to take my chances with the battery being dead when I was done hunting.

I looked at my watch. It was now 6:35 AM, time to hunt.

Seconds later, five mallards were on me, feet down and heading for my decoys. I let three of the five land and shot one greenhead as he was back peddling onto the water. He folded up, and I then picked out a drake that was getting up in a hurry, shot, and he fell too. On my third shot on another drake, I pulled feathers, but it wasn’t a clean shot and he exited fast.

I had just reloaded two shells into my Remington 870 shotgun, when I observed that the ducks that were previously sitting behind my hunting hole had gotten up and were going to re-land. At my feet! As they funneled in, I singled out a drake, pulled the trigger, and he folded up. Despite the shot, the other ducks just kept on coming!

I missed the next shot, and as I reloaded as fast as I could, they continued to swarm me. With one more bird to go for my mallard limit, I shot the next closest mallard and he dropped while a hen remained swimming three feet away from me!

I then looked at my watch and noted the time. It was 6:40 AM.

In five minutes, I had shot my limit of four mallards, all drakes. At that point, I decided to hike back to my truck and turn off my dome light. I then returned to my hole to see if I could kill two "other ducks" for my total limit of six birds.

I had just settled in when three wood ducks buzzed the decoys. Two shots later, one lay feet up on the water. Shortly after, a lone teal worked in that didn't make it out back of the hole.

I was done.

As I picked up my deeks, I thought, “Man, what a day. No one is going to believe this. I have a limit of ducks and it is barely an hour after shooting time. Plus I had to make a trip back to my truck. This duck hunt sure beats the deer hunt I had planned.”

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