October waterfowlers have several great destinations to choose from this fall. From what we can tell so far, these areas should be hopping with ducks.

The April habitat report from Ducks Unlimited Canada indicates that conditions across most of Canada were fair to excellent for duck production, though there were some poor ratings in a few important areas, according to W. Adam Phelps, the waterfowl research biologist for Indiana's Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW). Overall, the news was good and last year's good hunting should continue into 2008.

"In 2007, we saw record numbers of canvasbacks, redheads and northern shovelers," Phelps said.

American widgeons rebounded to previous numbers, while scaup and pintail numbers remained steady but still well below their long-term averages.

Here's a look at five great spots to take your limit of Hoosierland ducks this fall.

PIGEON RIVER FWA
According to biologist W. Adam Phelps, the Pigeon River Fish and Wildlife Area (FWA) is one of the state's top picks for the opener this year. The FWA encompasses 11,600 acres of great duck habitat and the birds aren't shy about using it.

"Waterfowlers can expect to see mostly wood ducks and a few mallards early on in the season," assistant property manager Michael Holcomb said. "We'll occasionally see a teal or two. The puddle ducks like pintails, widgeons, gadwalls and blacks will follow as the season progresses until close to freeze-up. About that time, the black and white ducks show up, along with golden-eyes, hooded mergansers, buffleheads and others. We get very few redheads, canvasbacks and scaup."

Duck hunters can use whatever tactics they like, Holcomb said. Decoys, jump-shooting, blinds and river zones that are set up for boats all come into play.

Kyle Williams owns the Critt'r Gitt'r Outfitt'rs guide service. Williams volunteers his time as the University Recruitment State Chairman for Indiana Ducks Unlimited and began hunting waterfowl nearly 20 years ago. He's a pro staff member for Southern Game Calls, and has begun competing in "Main Street" style duck-calling contests.

"I love hunting public land, but it can be tough," Williams said. "We all realize that we're in a state where there aren't huge numbers of ducks coming through in the fall. We definitely have huntable numbers, but there are only a handful of really good public waterfowl hunting areas."

Williams has found that a natural-looking spread of decoys with a little added motion is the key to success. He sets out a couple dozen decoys, usually oversized mallards with a few pintails and blacks thrown in. He avoids no-head feeders, butt-up feeders or sleeping decoys. He's using the feeders and sleepers to paint a picture that everything is safe and secure to birds that are passing by.

Attaching a jerk chord to the feeder decoys adds natural motion and avoids the frozen-in-time look. Slick water around motionless birds isn't what passing birds are used to seeing.

"In public hunting situations, you have to be different than the next guy down the line," Williams said. "I think that it sometimes comes down to having your decoys noticed over other sets. If you think about it, we've all driven down a road and looked at a wet hole with ducks on it. We probably noticed the motion on the water and that's what caught our eye. We have to do the same thing with our blocks to draw the attention of ducks. Using the jerk cord gives that motion, while the white on the pintails and the dark color on the blacks gives flying birds a little more help in seeing the decoys."