Avoid cotton, as it absorbs water like a sponge and requires heat to dry out. Instead, choose a synthetic material such as polypropylene as a foundation layer. Moisture easily passes through this material into the outer layers where it can escape to the atmosphere.

When you go on your next late- season duck hunt, stay warm. Think C.O.L.D!

PLACES TO GO
Setting the waterfowl season in Indiana begins with a framework from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), which outlines several parameters that Indiana biologists have to follow. If the predicted duck numbers don't match up to population goals, expect shorter limits and seasons. If things look good, expect limits that are more liberal and longer seasons -- such as we have had the past several years. When the "season setters" have 60 days to allocate, it's easy to pick enough early dates to satisfy the fair-weather hunters, dates that coincide with the peak of the migration and provide enough late days to satisfy the late-season hunters, too.

If the predicted duck numbers don't match up to population goals, expect shorter limits and seasons. If things look good, expect limits that are more liberal and longer seasons -- such as we have had the past several years.

It wasn't always so easy. When faced with 35- and 45-day seasons several years ago because of short duck numbers, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) would hold a series of public meetings across the state to get opinions from avid waterfowlers about which dates would suit them best. There was always a strong showing at these meetings from the late-season hunting fraternity arguing to set the season as late as possible.

The point of this isn't to determine if their showing and opinionating got them the seasons they preferred, but rather to note the areas these tough-guy hunters singled out as late-season hotspots. Those are the areas (or at least the kind of places to seek out) if you want a crack at your own flock of late-season ducks.

Most of these guys hunt big rivers, big lakes or a few other areas where open water remains long after smaller lakes and streams are coated with ice. Find the open water and you can find the ducks. Then you have to devise a strategy to get close to them. Here are some likely spots in each of Indiana's waterfowl zones:

Kankakee Fish And Wildlife Area (FWA)
The Kankakee FWA normally leads the state in waterfowl harvest. Unlike most properties, Kankakee is managed primarily for ducks and geese. Deer, upland game and other species are secondary offerings at best. The original Kankakee FWA was the land between the Yellow and Kankakee rivers from where they merge, upstream to state Route (SR) 39. Several years ago, the DNR was able to acquire roughly an additional 1,000 acres south of the rivers, which used to be a working farm in the spring, summer and early fall and a pay-to-play duck-hunting club come November.

The new acquisition, called the Gumz Unit after the previous owner's name, is a prime location for waterfowlers most of the season. Corn and other crops are grown during the summer. The tenant farmer harvests his share and the land is then flooded, allowing access for the ducks to glean the remaining grain. These elements make for prime hunting until the cold weather comes, turning the flooded fields into ice-bound stubble.

That's when the "old" Kankakee blinds start to shine. Gravity and ingenuity does the work. The K and Y blinds (designated to show whether they are accessed off the levee along the Kankakee or Yellow River) are flooded by an inlet structure leading off the Yellow River. The water can be lowered in this unit by letting the water out at the western end into the Kankakee River.

At freeze-up, however, by regulating the amount of water coming in and balancing that with the water going out at the downstream side, a portion of the Yellow River's flow diverts through the K and Y blind units and the current keeps open water available adjacent to many of these blinds.

Hunting opportunities are allocated by a daily drawing held at 4:30 a.m. (central time) each day. Call (574) 896-3522 for additional information.