Deer Point Lake gave up this brace of wood duck drakes. Photo by Robert L. Brodie

It was not my first waterfowl hunting experience in Florida, but it was the first time I had tried hunting the opening weekend of regular duck season in the Sunshine State. So there I was hunkered down in a small clump of grass in the pitch-black darkness, sporting neoprene waders in chest-deep water.

My hunting location was somewhere on Deer Point Lake in the back end of an out-of-the-way cove almost completely covered in lily pads, hydrilla and a variety of other water vegetation. In the stillness of the night, all sorts of nearby watery sounds broke the silence, causing me to make quick, neck-wrenching head-turns. Fish busting bait amongst the lily pads created most of the pre-morning stir.

It was evident the pond's surface was coming to life in the pre-dawn period. However, in the sky, other sounds of life were being generated along the tree line running behind me. To the front, my smattering of mostly hand-carved cork decoys covered the water and consisted of wood duck, blue-winged teal, coot and moorhen imitations. Coming off their roost, wood ducks and their fast pumping wings created swooshing sounds overhead, and their strange whistled squeaks and squeals filled the still air.

Just after the hunting hour arrived, a duck came splashing into the decoy setup before I could shoulder my trusty Remington. Now, as I peered through the reeds, a magnificently hued drake wood duck swam nervously amid the decoys.

At the precise moment the duck and I made eye-to-eye contact, the multi-colored fowl slapped its wings upon the lake's crystal-clear waters and was instantly airborne. Quickly shouldering the shotgun, I took aim at the fleeing silhouette and fired off a quick round. The pattern of No. 4 steel shot found its mark, and the highly prized woody fell hard on the lake's serene surface. Moments later, another bird made a fast pass across the decoys, and another round of steel felled the speedy duck, this time a hen distinguished by its white eye patch.

With my pair of Florida woodies now floating on Deer Point Lake, my quest to bag a couple of these beautiful and delicious ducks was complete. A short while later, my guide, Capt. Todd Jones, returned in his 14-foot Gheenee to pick up the ducks and me. In fact, the morning before, Capt. Jones had hunted the exact same location and had quickly filled a full limit composed of ringed-necks and woodies. Compared with my usual rough and nasty, open-water, layout boat-hunting for diving ducks, the freshwater hunting on this lake was definitely a welcome change of pace and scenery.

TIPS FROM A PRO
Capt. Todd Jones of Youngstown is an extremely knowledgeable and professional guide who now resides on Deer Point Lake. He is an expert on hunting waterfowl on this lake, including ducks, coots and moorhens. From studying the ducks and their patterns on the lake, Jones has developed a setup for fooling Deer Point's waterfowl.

"On Deer Point Lake, there are good numbers of moorhens and plenty of coots, so it's important to have these waterfowl mixed in with the regular setup of decoys for a natural look. In a setup of two-and-a-half-dozen decoys, at least a dozen should be coots along with a couple of moorhens. Of course, the rest of the setup should include a few wood ducks, ringed-neck ducks, bluebills, teal, redheads and, depending on where I hunt, a few buffleheads. I like my decoys to look like a group of content birds at rest, so I scatter them about in pairs to get that relaxed look," Jones stated.

Jones went on to say that, when hunting the lake, he looks for small, out-of-the-way pockets to set up his decoys, and most waterfowl on Deer Point seem to favor such secluded niches. To call in ducks, he takes along a Big River wood duck call, a Haydel teal call and a call capable of making the "brrrrrrr" sounds made by diving ducks. Jones also suggested bringing along a can of insect repellent, especially if the weather is mild. Primarily in these southern regions, annoying gnats and mosquitoes may appear out of nowhere when temperatures rise.