Wisconsin duck hunters - Northern opener

[Barndog56]

Me and my duck hunting crew live and hunt in the southern zone. But we've tried to hit the Northern opener the past few years. Since I'm just a passenger, we go where the boat owners want to go. Which seems to be just above the zone border, where everyone and their brother goes as well.

We go up the night before, are never close to being the first boat, get a crappy spot, and are crowded all around. We have a couple of contest winning callers, but even when ducks are coming in some other group sky blasts them.

I know it's almost a cardinal sin to give up your hunting spots. But does anyone have a recommendation of a less crowded area for us?

 

[Turkey Creek]

Not able to give you the "X spot", but have you tried hunting later in the day? Good trick we used more than once on public ground. About the time everyone was headed back to their trucks, we headed out to hunt. Local birds tend to stretch their wings a little bit more than migrants in my opinion. Also if they are puddlers and are out feeding in crop stubble they might not come back to water until later in the morning. We killed lots of birds when guys were back at home getting ready to watch a football game.