Pictured above is what most waterfowl hunters wood call is a Woodie. It's real name is a Drake Wood Duck. This bird, in particular, is mostly hunted in thick woods that have streams, creeks, and even ponds. That’s why we call them wood ducks, because they are very rarely seen out in the middle of a field on a pond.

Waterfowl hunting to me is not a hobby, it's honestly a passion. If I had the ability to hunt from the opening day of teal season in October to the last day of goose season in February, I would without a doubt. I went on my first duck hunt when I was 13 and from that moment on I have been hooked on waterfowl hunting.

East Coast Waterfowl Hunting can be probably the most challenging hunting to do. One, because it isn’t the biggest flyway for most birds. The biggest flyway is the Midwest flyaway which is the best hunting for waterfowl. The East flyway isn’t half as big as the Midwest flyaway, which makes it even more challenging and rewarding to hunt waterfowl on the East Coast.

But the most challenging thing about waterfowl hunting is that birds do not always do what you think they’re going to do. They may be on one pound or creek, or any body of water that is huntable for 3 to 4 days, and the next day you plan on hunting there, if the wind or the moon changes, or even if it’s foggy the next morning, the birds may change what they do. They may decide they don’t want to fly from where they roosted the night before and may stay there till later that day or they may go to a closer feed or different body of water.

So what that means is that you can’t just always go out and kill waterfowl. You have to spend every day patterning birds and checking every body of water or fields that you can hunt out of and keep up with which way the winds blowing and what time, and even what was the weather and how bright the moon was last night.

Waterfowl hunting is probably the most satisfying hunting you can do because the hard work will pay off. From building blinds to digging out different ways for water to run to different ponds and creeks and streams, and even planting Japanese millet before running the water to refill the ponds and streams that you spent all summer digging and planting, you have to think about what the birds are probably doing.

When late fall and wintertime comes around birds have more options. And even working in the fields, combing cornfields and wheat fields so that the birds can have a place to loaf during the day so that when they want to get up and feed in the mornings and evening, they don’t have to go far to find both.