Went out yesterday morning for opener out here in West Texas. Put a nice spread out of about 50 decoys. Had numerous big ducks start to suck into the spread then at about 70 to 80 yards they just flared and flew away never thinking twice about coming back. Wind was at our back and I know they couldn't see us because we were invisible in the grass. Anybody have the same problems??

Were you calling?

Did you have half the decoys tied on from the back? You cant be havin' all your ducks in a row.

they saw you,,,,you were not invisible....

Were you using a robo? Sometimes they love em and sometimes they hate em.

They could smell you.

We were calling moderately. Seemed like when we hit the call it did more bad than good. I know we were not "invisible" but I know that was not the problem. I've had numerous ducks land in the spread while I was standing in them picking up dead ducks. No mojo or robo duck. Decoys were not in a row. We had a good "U" shaped spread of mallards with a separate small 5 pintail spread detached from the rest of the decoys. Not real sure what happened. Only thing I can think of is that it is just the same group of big ducks that were here from teal season. I don't know. Just never had this happen before.

There are just too many variables to really know what it is based on this post. However you should answer the calling question...I've seen lots of ducks flare to overcalling.

I've had that happen most when it was very still out. No movement in the spread and even though I felt good about being hidden something looked unnatural. You said you didn't have a mojo- were you using a jerk string or similar, or was it as windy out there as it was in east Texas?

that will do it everytime

less calling is sometimes better

We hunted out that way as well, only used about 10-12 dekes per spread ( had two groups)
Tried the mojo' s both mornings, they would shy from them, shut them off and could get them to work closer but only got a few groups to actually decoy well.

Ours would turn with the call ( when operated properly) had to get off of it once turned though. Noticed the ducks that were on the water were not making much noise and apparently they didn't want us to either.

Good morning though with old and new friends and plenty of ducks.
Had one wore out old retriever by the end of the hunt.

Oh the wind was blowing every bit of 20. Talked to a few other friends yesterday that had the same problems. One went on a guided hunt, had the same problems I had, and they didn't kill one duck. At least we managed 6. I guess it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

I'm guessing resident ducks know were they want to go and in this instance were just curious. They were probably never going to come in, just curious.

Probably too much calling, and you aren't invisible.

The best call is sometimes no call at all.

On a windy day, ducks will often look for calm water. If it's too choppy, they don't get a chance to do much resting. Was the water choppy?

Yeah the water was choppy but it was choppy everywhere. I dont care anymore, We'll just give it a shot next week and see what happens. Thanks for the input.

Yea I had this problem too this saturday morning. We were layed out in some tall grass just like we did for early teal season. I got paranoid that they could see us and Covered up good with tumbleweeds and milo stalks the next day. We got alot more big ducks landing into our spread after we did that. Thats what id recommend,

Yeah I definitely forgot how dumb teal are and how much smarter the big ducks are.