Below are 20 tips to make you a better waterfowler, some basic, some more advanced.

Tip 1
If you blanket the area around your blind with decoys, waterfowl will land out of range.  When setting out decoys, always remember to leave a spot for waterfowl to land in.

Tip 2
Practice your calling during your commute (as long as you’re not taking the subway). Do so safely, but calling practice not only breaks the monotony of a long commute, but you’ll be surprised over your improvement in only a few weeks.

Tip 3
Add a couple of floating goose decoys to your late-season mallard spread. Not only is it a good confidence technique for ducks, but may also attract the attention of a wayward goose or two.

Tip 4
Participate in “resident goose” seasons. More and more states are enacting a special season to control the booming population of “golf course” geese, which gives you an additional opportunity to hunt geese.

Tip 5
Don’t overhunt a productive field. Rest a good field for three or four days between hunts to ensure the geese continue using it.

Tip 6
When hunting resident geese during the early season, use fewer decoys than you will later during the migratory season. Also, set them in clumps of seven or eight to represent family groups.

Tip 7
If you don’t normally participate in shotgun games, always shoot some skeet or sporting clays before the season begins. Not only does this get you back in the shooting form, but also gives you an opportunity to make sure your gun works as intended.

Tip 8
When hunting in a blind with other hunters, choose one person to call the shots. Take turns or select the most experienced hunter to call the shots.

Tip 9
Stop calling when ducks are approaching, and only begin calling again if the birds veer off or appear to be losing interest.

Tip 10
Don’t neglect jump-shooting. Walking stealthily along a river bank or to a milk-run of small ponds is a great way to hunt. Focus on river bends and marshy areas, and use a good binocular to locate ducks before they spook.

Tip 11
Line length for puddle-duck decoys should be 4- to 6-feet; diver ducks should have 8- to 20-foot lines.

Tip 12
Be sure to add “something different” to your decoy spread to act as a confidence decoy. Some hunters like to add a blue heron decoy on the shore nearby, and others prefer a couple of crow decoys hunt in trees not too far from their spread.

Tip 13
Participate in the special snow goose season. In addition to helping by thinning the way, way overpopulated species, but electronic callers and liberal limits make this an awesome hunt.

Tip 14
Add motion to your spread with an X-Tra Motion Lander and Mojo Spinning Wing decoy. The X-Tra Motion Lander allows hunters to pull a string and lift the spinning wing decoy off the water, then back down. The wings stop when the deke hits the water.

Tip 15
Use fewer decoys when hunting smaller waters, not only because of the space available, but because it’s more natural for a smaller flock to use smaller, pothole, waters.

Tip 16
Mornings are for goose hunting; afternoons for scouting. After the morning hunt is over, most outfitters and guides spend the afternoon scouting for other productive fields being used by geese. Be sure to ask permission before hunting.

Tip 17
Call aggressively when a circling flock of waterfowl begins to veer away. They’ve looked you and your spread over, and if you don’t act now, they’re leaving and not coming back.

Tip 18
Learn to use a drake call. Try throwing a drake call in the mix when calling to skitzy birds. It just may be the confidence call they need after hearing hen calls from every other blind on the lake.

Tip 19
Do something good for the population by putting up a wood duck box. In many places devoid of hollow trees, wood duck boxes can attract new birds to your area.

Tip 20
Pattern your gun before the season. Things can happen between hunting seasons, so pattern each year. Also pattern each new shotgun shell type you plan on using this season, because each shot material flies a little differently.