Ducks "forgetting" and changing mental states

This has happened to me many times, as I'm sure it has many people on this forum. Yesterday, I was hunting and twice over thirty minutes a group of three gadwall circled nervously, high and out of range. They wanted to be where I was, but kept seeing something. They would land on a tank about 500 yards away. The third time I saw them, they cleared the trees low, headed my way and came in on a line and I was able to shoot two of them at about twenty yards. Their behavior was totally different on the third approach. Much less cautious.

Obviously it's possible this was not the same group of birds I saw the first two times, but I'm reasonably sure it was based on the direction they came from and the total number of birds in the sky (not too many). It seemed to me that they kept going back to the same loafing tank and eventually they "forgot" about the potential danger they saw in my spread and just pitched right in. It's like their mental state totally changed and they just finally committed to the spot.

Anyone else care to share their experiences with birds like this?

Ducks can be stupid

they're not looking for 1 thing right...they're looking for 1 thing wrong

Is there a chance the wind picked up and you finally had decent movement in your spread? That would be my guess.

Leonardo,

Not much wind, but certainly possible. Was a very calm day.

x2

it's so true I had to add it to my sig ha!

They were just testing the place. they get shot at so often anymore by guys shooting too high. Seen it alot out of gadwall this year.

Maybe they just got hungry?
You're over thinking it.

Yes, this is why skybusting can ruin your hunts.

Sounds like the women i date.

what you describe is a cheeba duck, from time to time you come across them in the wild. They can be very forgetful and if your spot is holding food they will risk it all for just one bite of sweet goodness.

consider yourself lucky to find them in the wild like you did

Could also be the change in angle where they started to work. You said they were high the first times and then just barely cleared the tree tops the last time. Maybe they weren't high enough to see whatever they didn't like the first two times.

I was out bow hunting on my lease and was watching a group of live gaddys sitting in a creek. another group came in circled 3 or 4 times and flared. I was about 100yards away and nothing out there to flare them.

Merican duck slaya,

Yes, I thought of that. They certainly couldn't see much at the angle they came in. What was odd was the second time they came around the came off the tank, went high, circled, and said no. The third time they came around they left the tank, barely got any height, and dumped in. They certainly wanted to be where I was, but that one wrong thing...

Gacman,

Agree with you on the ladies. I talk about a "collective goodwill bank." If my girlfriend does something to piss me off, the cranky feelings go away quickly because she's built up a strong bank of goodwill with me. If I piss her off, all that good stuff I do doesn't mean much.

This happened to me this morning but they never really came back for a 3rd pass. I felt like I had a neon 'Do not land here' sign on my head or something...I did manage to get 4 to commit but missed them all.

Gadwalls, in my opinion are just really dumb. Same thing has happened to me numerous times. Dumb birds simple as that.

Zach Attack,

That's funny. I find gadwalls to be tied for the most wary birds I shoot with pintails. Mallards win. Yes, plenty of groups decoy without problems, but many circle and circle, whereas I feel I rarely have trouble decoying wigeon, teal, shovelers, divers, etc.

I used to feel the same way about gadwalls being dumb and easy birds to fill a limit, but the last 2 seasons its seemed like the entire population got a reality check and all the sudden they're hard to get to commit. My buddy in Louisiana said the same thing a week ago.

Huh. I guess it's just different from place to place, but I know the ones we've been bringing down don't seem to be too cautious. Of course we do a lot of timber hunting in close quarters so they want those acorns any way they can get em!

ducks are dumb/smart and predictable/unpredictable. Thats why they're fun to hunt

This exact thing happened to us this past weekend. Birds were circling a different pond. We called them to us and they circled high forever then headed to the other pond. Called them back and they did the same thing. Later another group came and did the same thing. They really wanted in that smaller pond. Still scratching our heads as to what happened.