Duck Hunts

The Birds

• Redheads. The bird this coast is known for. Big rafts winter on the Apalachee Bay grass flats, and they decoy hard.
• Bluebills (scaup). Fast, low, and in your face over open water spreads.
• Wood ducks. First light shoots in the cypress and creek swamps when the season and water allow.
• Puddle ducks. Available depending on weather and what is using the marsh.
• Other divers. Ringnecks, buffleheads, canvasbacks and goldeneye all turn up in the Apalachicola Bay and Apalachee Bay rafts through the season.

Cast and Blast

Shoot ducks in the morning, fish the same water when the birds quit. Top water on the oyster bars or shrimp worked in the holes, and a spotted redfish in the box next to a full plume redhead. That is the best day this coast has to offer, and it only works here, where the marsh and the flats are the same water. Ask about it when you book.

How We Hunt

Mornings start in the dark with a boat ride to the spot. Two boats run every hunt. One sets decoys, one carries hunters. By the time you are in the blind the spread is already right, and if the birds shift we move with them instead of making you wait on us.

We can put out more than 300 decoys, set as rafts, long lines, and Texas rigs depending on the water and the wind that day. Carrying that many is what lets us change the setup mid morning without costing you shooting time.

We hunt from brushed boat blinds or the marsh edge depending on tide and wind. Shooting starts at legal light and the best of it is usually over by mid morning.

Staying ahead of wind and tide is the whole game on this coast. Conditions change through the morning, and the birds change with them. Knowing where they will be an hour from now, and having the boats and the decoys on hand to already be there, is what separates a good day from a long one. That comes from a lifetime on this water and the equipment to act on it.

We run trained retrievers, and you are welcome to hunt your own dog.

The Dog

Dixie runs every hunt. She is Nilla’s daughter — Nilla put in her years on this bay and is retired now, happy and spoiled rotten. Dixie picked up right where her mother left off. She will find a cripple down in the grass that you had already written off, and she will do it in water you do not want to be walking in.

Season

Florida’s regular duck season runs in two splits from late November through late January. Exact dates and limits are set each year by FWC and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Prime redhead hunting is December and January. Dates fill, so book early.

Booking

We do not combine parties. Your group hunts together, and only your group, every day you are here. We do not run half day hunts. A half day does not build anything, not for you and not for us. The minimum booking is one full day plus one half day, and three days is what we prefer. Three days lets us move with the weather, put you on birds when the wind swings, and actually get to know the people in the boat. Large and small groups both welcome, and there is no minimum number of hunters.

Make It a Cast and Blast

Ducks at sunrise, redfish in the afternoon. See Cast and Blast at SoReel Outdoors.

Call or text Mike: 850-528-7012
mike@soreeloutdoors.com