Duck Calls

Some duck hunters duck call for hobby or competition while others call to decoy and harvest ducks. We can go on and on with this topic, but the purpose of this page is to inform those interested in duck hunting with Mid-America Hunting Association what type of duck calls and species of ducks they need to prepare for before hunting our private wetlands in Missouri and Kansas.

We have a variety of both puddle ducks and diver ducks to choose from. The puddle duck is the most sought after with the Mallard most popular. Other puddle ducks include Teal, Widgeon, Gadwall, Pintail, Wood Duck, Shoveler and Black Duck.

The most common species of diver ducks that use our wetlands are Canvasbacks, Redheads, Ring-necked Ducks, Goldeneyes, Buffleheads, Scaups and Ruddy Ducks.

Another mixed bag (right) including a Widgeon, 2 Red Head drakes, a Wood Duck and 2 Scaups.

If you listen to our duck hunters in the field, you will notice 80% of the duck calls used are mallard duck calls with a variety of whistle duck calls for Divers, Pintails, Teal, Gadwalls and Widgeons.

The majority of our managed wetland duck hunting is in Missouri on the Mississippi flyway, although we do have a number of lakes, ponds and crop stubble fields in Kansas on the Central Flyway. All of the land available to our hunters is on private leased land.

Type of Duck Calls

Single reed and double reed are the two different types of calls used for duck hunting. Single reeds are used for larger volume situations when the hunter wants to produce larger sounds to entice the birds from far distances (open water, fields, lakes, large marshes).

Double reed calls are used to produce duck sounds at lower volumes so that the birds are not spooked by loud sounds (timber hunting, sloughs, or any situation were the ducks are working close).

Both single and double reed calls are made out of either wood or acrylic. Wood calls produce a smoother and less loud sound when acrylic calls are typically used for competition calling. Acrylic calls allow the hunter to be more versatile and create large and high pitches.

Basic Midwest Duck Calls & Methods

Although the following methods of duck call use are basic, we would like to share them with hunters from other parts of the country that are not familiar with this approach.

Quack- The quack is a one note call that mallards use. Once a caller is able to master the quack they are able to use it to create several other duck sounds.

Hail Call-The hail call is used to entice the bird at large distances away. It is a heavily disputed call that is typically used greatly during competition calling. Some hunters believe it is effective and some do not.

Greeting Call-The greeting call is the most common duck sound produced by hunters and mallard hens. It is a five note call that greets the ducks into your duck spread. If over used it may scare the ducks, but if used properly will increase hunting success.

Feeding Call-This is the sound that waterfowl make when they are eating. It is a heavily debated call as well. Some believe it is affective and some do not. When mixed with a quack or greeting call it can be very realistic sounding.

Comeback Call-This call is the opposite of the greeting call. It is used when mallards are flying away and you want them to come back to your spread. It can be used at different volumes and can be highly affective.

Long term, duck calls and duck calling techniques play a huge role for the number of birds in the bag, but quality private land with food and water as the photo above is just as important..