8 Offseason To Do’s for Every Waterfowl Hunter 

Matt Opsahl, Maverick Outfitters

1.) Clean Your Calls/ Work On Vocalizations: 

This may seem obvious, but its really easy once the season ends to hang your calls up and forget about them. If you’re like me, your calls are an extension of you throughout the season. What we forget about is your eating, spitting, drinking fluids while in a blind, and all of that goodness goes into your calls. I clean my reeds with soap and water and I clean the tone board and inserts with q- tips to remove any grime. This process will also give you a great opportunity to really familiarize yourself with the component parts of your calls. You’ll learn where exactly you like your reed to be placed and how the call actually functions. Once your calls have been cleaned, it’s time to practice. I try to practice twice to three times a week in the offseason. There is absolutely no substitute for listening to live birds and trying to mimic them, but there are some great resources for anyone trying to learn to blow a call or trying to improve on there calling. I like Joey Vassallo’s (Midwest Flyways) YouTube and Cory Loeffler’s (DRC calls) instructional videos. Reminder- If you’re learning to blow a call, go slow, Rome wasn’t built in a day. 

2.) Build Your Dream Blind:

Every single waterfowl hunter has either been into a blind that feels like the Taj Mahal or has dreamed about hunting out of one. Now is your chance to build your own. Be thorough in your process here. When you’re designing the blind of your dreams, take things into account. What kind of ground are you driving your 4x4’s into? Do you want a low profile blind? How are you going to hide? Do you need shooting slats? Do you need dog boxes? Where do I need to place the blind depending on the wind I hunt most? Do I need room to cook? When I design a blind, I work in reverse. I picture my perfect blind, brushed in, and exactly where I want it depending on the wind I hunt most. I then figure out the best natural hide surrounding my blind. Once I’ve decided where I’m placing the blind, I focus on the blind itself. I hunt groups ranging from 4-6 clients with two guides, and my 2 dogs. My blinds need to BIG. Also, no one likes feeling cramped all morning in a blind. For bigger blinds, I focus on the roof first. I like a lower profile blind and the roof is really important, but clients need to be able to stand up comfortably to shoot so I angle my roofs accordingly. Then I build out the rest of the concept. We hunt a lot of tidal areas so my floors are 2x4’s attached to supports, which are directly tied into my 4x’s. I do this so water can freely move between the 2x’s and not completely soak the blind itself in the case of a really high tide. In terms of benches, I like a wide bench so everyone is comfortable. I then focus on dog boxes. I build larger dog boxes attached to the blind itself so my dogs are comfortable and out of the elements. Tip- Throw hay into your dog boxes when its cold so your dogs can be dry and warm. Lastly, brushing is massively important. A good hide can make for a great hunt. I prefer to brush my blinds with Cedar trees and switchgrass. Where we hunt, this makes sense because of our natural surroundings. I start by layering in small Cedar trees and then I layer in switch grass. Throughout the season, I brush in with as much natural material as possible (sticks, branches, leaves, etc). Build your dream blind, It will help you harvest more birds and you’ll have a blast constructing it.

3.) Get Your Bird Dog In Shape And Keep Your Bird Dog In Shape:

I am really fortunate to be in the situation I am with my dogs. I have a 9 year old lab named Maverick who has been my pride and joy throughout the journey of Maverick Outfitters so far. Maverick is getting older and needs a break every now and then so I picked up my 10 month old puppy, Riggins, last summer. The reason I say that I am fortunate is that I have two very different jobs this summer pertaining to my dogs training. For Maverick, I need to keep him in shape, I’m not as concerned with his formal training. To give you an idea, Maverick is 85lbs and has picked up a ton of birds throughout his career so he doesn’t have a ton of tread on the tire left. His training is very different from Riggins. I don’t run Maverick as much on dry land throughout the summer, I swim him. I try to swim Maverick 3-4 times a week. We keep it simple with around 15 retrieves per session. I throw a mix of doubles and triples to make sure he’s getting his heart rate up and keeping his body loose without the wear and tear of running. In the case of Riggins, we are still building a water dog foundation while focusing on fitness. Riggins gets trained everyday of the week (land and water), two times a day lasting for about 20 minutes in each session. We focus on everything from steadiness, to singles, doubles, and triples. We also try to shoot blanks with his training 2-3 times a week and swim every time Maverick swims. I swim both dogs together, because they need to understand how to work as a team. Work your dogs throughout the summer. If you don’t regularly train them, you can’t expect them to perform when the season rolls around. 

4.) Clean Your Decoys: 

If you’ve spoken to me about decoys then you know I am an absolute lunatic about realism when it comes to decoys. If you have dirty decoys that are caked in mud and the paint is chipped, I think it can affect a hunt. I wash all of my full bodies and floaters after each season with a light setting on a power washer to make sure to not strip any of my paint. For my flocked decoys, I find whats chipped and I fix them with a simple solution after I’ve cleaned them. I use a really thin coating of black Rustoleum paint to repair blemishes in the flocking. For my duck decoys, I do the same. Spend time on your gear. It’ll save you money and help you produce better hunts in the future. 

5.) Shoot& Shoot a Lot: 

It’s always amazing to me that people are willing to spend a ton of money on a gun and then only pick it up once hunting season starts. These same people are also usually the ones wondering why they can’t hit anything on said hunts. Join your local trap and skeet club and get to work. I try to shoot at least twice a month. Learning your gun and how it performs is a MUST. TIP- You usually aren’t standing in a blind with your gun shouldered for an entire morning so I try to focus on shooting clays without my gun already shouldered. I call “pull” then mount my gun, find my target, and shoot. It’s far more realistic and I’ve definitely seen the benefit.

6.) Get Involved With A Conservation Organization 

We are hunting a resource that needs our time, money, and labor to maintain. To be blunt, if we don’t give back in some way, we are doing a disservice to the thing we love most, and possibly jeopardizing the ability for future generations to waterfowl hunt. There are a ton of great conservation organizations to get involved with. I am a huge fan of Delta Waterfowl. Delta focuses on Hen houses, predator management, and producing more ducks from the duck factory. If you can go to banquets, do it! Not only are you supporting duck habitat and conservation, but you’ll also build out your network. Who knows, you just might meet your best new duck hunting buddy at an event!

7.) Buy Trail Cameras

If you would’ve told me 10 years ago that I would be utilizing trail cameras to help me scout, I’d have told you to kick rocks. Now, I think very differently. We hunt in several different counties in Maryland. That’s a TON of driving and I can’t be in multiple places at the same time. More importantly, I need to see whats going on at first light and last light. I use trail cameras strictly as a tool, I don’t rely on them entirely for a scout. I use trail cameras to start to build a pattern and to tell me what sections of the state birds are heavily congregating in. Once I have an idea of whats going on, I can then go and get my eyes on where birds are heavily congregating and come up with a specific game plan for the next hunt. Buy cellular cams so you can pull images directly to your phone. 

8.) Workout

Let’s be honest, waterfowl hunting is not an overly physical activity. However, if you’re planning on hiking through a marsh, dragging decoys through wet fields, or sticking it out all day on a hunt then what you do now matters. Lift weights, run, and hike whenever and however you can. It’ll pay dividends for you throughout the season and it will allow you to hunt longer and harder.