What will I need to duck hunt at LBL?

[15thTN]

I am wanting to get serious about duck hunting, and would like to hunt at LBL next year and am wondering what I will need to hunt there. I have a dozen decoys will that be enough?

Should I hunt on land, or invest in a boat and put a blind on it? I have a 10 foot jon boat I fish out of in the coves, but do not go out in the main part of the lake. Would that be sufficent to use to hunt off land as long as I don't venture in the main part of the lake?

[BDT]

I do a lot of my waterfowl hunting in LBL. I would recommend that you use more than a dozen decoys. We generally use at least three dozen; usually more. It all depends on how the ducks are reacting and the time of the year. I definitely would not take a ten foot boat very far from the shore in the winter. I wouldn't waste time putting a blind on it either. However, it might be good to have to help put out decoys or retreive ducks. We have a 20 foot boat and a ten foot boat; we use the small one to retrieve ducks and put out decoys. Our dog died and we didn't have another one yet. It beats walking through the mud. I would recommend that you hunt on the bank; most of your puddle ducks tend to land near the banks anyhow. You'll need a LBL permit and the regular permits. If you spend time scouting, you can have very good success at the lake. I would invest in a Roboduk because they aid very well in getting the ducks attentions on the big open water. The lakes are best when everything else begins to freeze up. The main problem in LBL is that on the weekends you might run into a lot of people that don't know too much about hunting. The lakes are a popular place for idiots.



Edited by - BDT on 01/24/2002 1:33:50 PM

[15thTN]

Which lake do you recommend to hunt, and what area would you recommend to someone in my situation (small boat)? Yes, I don't go very far from the shore in my small boat. Most of my time fishing is spent in small coves where I don't have to worry about strong current and the wind. Would Bacon Creek be a good spot? I fish there some and am familiar with the general area, but do not know about any draw blinds that may be there, and I definately don't want to cause any trouble.

Sorry about all the questions but I want to be able to hunt depending on my fancy than having to try find somewhere to stay every weekend to hunt with my family at Reelfoot. Thanks for your time.

[BDT]

Personally, I prefer to hunt Lake Barkely but both lakes contain a lot of ducks. Kentucky Lake is deeper and it tends to not freeze up as quickly as some of the bays in Barkely. The Bacon Creek area is near Devil's Elbow, which is one of the most heavily hunted parts of the lake. We hunt the quite a bit there because the area holds a lot of ducks especially when they're migrating. It's rarely crowded on weedays; we hunt elsewhere on weekends. We used to lauch our boat there sometimes. There are several draw blinds, but none of them is on the LBL bank. They are out on the lake and near the islands; Barkely is very shallow. As for good spots, It's all about scouting. You can get to the lake by many of the backroads in LBL. You really don't even need a boat. We hunted last year and killed 90(all puddle ducks, no divers) out of one of our blinds without a boat. We only had people hunt near us on two days; It just takes a lot of time and scouting. Most people are just to lazy or not dedicated enough to find spots. We hunt a lot in KY lake to, but we do the majority of our hunting on Barkley. Just make sure you know where the refuges are; and don't hunt close to anybody. It's not benificial to either party.