# Southwest Michigan hunting areas



## stets656 (Oct 5, 2016)

Hi, so I'm a college kid that lives in Kalamazoo looking to do a lot of duck hunting this fall and was wondering if I could get some advice to get started. Last year I hunted in Gourdneck state game area on the lake and didn't have much luck, couple teal and few geese. Didn't see any mallards all year, does anybody have any other recommendations as to where to try hunting. I've heard fennville can sometimes be good but I'm not sure how it works, sounds like there's a lottery to get in. I have a truck, boat and motor. Any advice? Thanks.


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## ducksarge (Jul 3, 2011)

Gourdneck is tough. You have a lot of competition there and the ducks are few and far between. If you are looking at public land, start exploring the Barry and Allegan SGA's. I used to live right in the Barry game area so I hunt there frequently. There are spots to be had, but you have to look for them. A lot of spots on both SGA's do not even require a boat. Again, scout around ( half the fun anyway ) and you can do decent.


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## stets656 (Oct 5, 2016)

ducksarge said:


> Gourdneck is tough. You have a lot of competition there and the ducks are few and far between. If you are looking at public land, start exploring the Barry and Allegan SGA's. I used to live right in the Barry game area so I hunt there frequently. There are spots to be had, but you have to look for them. A lot of spots on both SGA's do not even require a boat. Again, scout around ( half the fun anyway ) and you can do decent.


Ok thanks. Any thoughts on Fennville or Muskegon Wastewater?


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## jwinks (Mar 20, 2014)

Fennville is hit or miss for ducks. It has a weird season too. Both fennville and Muskegon are (primarily) dry field hunting. Fennville is fun, in spite of the success rate being sort of low. There are a pile of threads on here with a how-to about fennville. Try the search function.


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## stets656 (Oct 5, 2016)

jwinks said:


> Fennville is hit or miss for ducks. It has a weird season too. Both fennville and Muskegon are (primarily) dry field hunting. Fennville is fun, in spite of the success rate being sort of low. There are a pile of threads on here with a how-to about fennville. Try the search function.


I thought they were flooded corn fields? Not sure how you hunt ducks in a dry field...


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## jwinks (Mar 20, 2014)

stets656 said:


> I thought they were flooded corn fields? Not sure how you hunt ducks in a dry field...


Fennville is dry fields. You sit in a strip of standing corn to hide and you put decoys in front of you in some crappy grass. The refuge is huge and is like half standing corn and half cut corn, and it holds ~10000 geese at peak migration. There are a few ponds and creeks that attract ducks. I don't think many people go there for ducks, but it can be good later in the year when everything is frozen. You have to just go see what it's like.

Link to the managed area map:
https://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/asga-ffarm_299391_7.pdf


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## DecoySlayer (Mar 12, 2016)

stets656 said:


> Not sure how you hunt ducks in a dry field...



Puddle ducks often feed in dry fields. They tend to come in early, often before shooting hours and almost always before the geese.


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## craigrh13 (Oct 24, 2011)

stets656 said:


> I thought they were flooded corn fields? Not sure how you hunt ducks in a dry field...


:lol::lol:


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## stets656 (Oct 5, 2016)

jwinks said:


> Fennville is dry fields. You sit in a strip of standing corn to hide and you put decoys in front of you in some crappy grass. The refuge is huge and is like half standing corn and half cut corn, and it holds ~10000 geese at peak migration. There are a few ponds and creeks that attract ducks. I don't think many people go there for ducks, but it can be good later in the year when everything is frozen. You have to just go see what it's like.
> 
> Link to the managed area map:
> https://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/asga-ffarm_299391_7.pdf


Ok gotcha. Thanks.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Fennville is trying to have six (6) flooded fields on the north side. They've had issues with the pumps so if it's working this year that will be a new dynamic. Not sure how long birds will use it getting hammered pretty much every day, or if they'll strip the corn clean feeding at night and render it useless. Early in the year the SE corner tends to be best for ducks, as the season drags on they disperse through out the unit and any zone can be good on any given day, if it happens to be the correct zone, and best of luck sorting that out. High winds to push the ducks off the refuge are a plus.

Muskegon is a pair of sewage lagoons that the birds roost on surrounded by crop fields you can hunt only through a drawing, unlike the walk in opportunities at Fennville. The zones are huge and you can scout and pattern the birds as they have to leave the refuge to feed. It's a much better quality hunt as it's not nearly as competitive and you don't get screwed as badly by dumb neighbors, really it's a better crowd all around as having to scout and carry your stuff in most of the way weeds out the guys that want to park behind the corn, set up 60' from their car, and just pull the trigger a couple times like you get at Fennville. You haven't seen stupid skybusting until you've hunted Fennville. A way to hide, a dozen goose decoys, and a spinner in the right spot and if you can't limit it's your problem at Muskegon.

I hunt both areas a lot. I get my geese over 50% of the time at Fennville, ducks maybe 25% and it's usually 1 or 2 and not a limit. The last time I didn't get a bird at Muskegon was 5 years ago and we plan on mallard limits if we're targeting ducks. Had one last day of season hunt where a pair of mallards dropped in at 20 seconds before hours - was sweating that one - but we got both and kept the streak going.


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## stets656 (Oct 5, 2016)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Fennville is trying to have six (6) flooded fields on the north side. They've had issues with the pumps so if it's working this year that will be a new dynamic. Not sure how long birds will use it getting hammered pretty much every day, or if they'll strip the corn clean feeding at night and render it useless. Early in the year the SE corner tends to be best for ducks, as the season drags on they disperse through out the unit and any zone can be good on any given day, if it happens to be the correct zone, and best of luck sorting that out. High winds to push the ducks off the refuge are a plus.
> 
> Muskegon is a pair of sewage lagoons that the birds roost on surrounded by crop fields you can hunt only through a drawing, unlike the walk in opportunities at Fennville. The zones are huge and you can scout and pattern the birds as they have to leave the refuge to feed. It's a much better quality hunt as it's not nearly as competitive and you don't get screwed as badly by dumb neighbors, really it's a better crowd all around as having to scout and carry your stuff in most of the way weeds out the guys that want to park behind the corn, set up 60' from their car, and just pull the trigger a couple times like you get at Fennville. You haven't seen stupid skybusting until you've hunted Fennville. A way to hide, a dozen goose decoys, and a spinner in the right spot and if you can't limit it's your problem at Muskegon.
> 
> I hunt both areas a lot. I get my geese over 50% of the time at Fennville, ducks maybe 25% and it's usually 1 or 2 and not a limit. The last time I didn't get a bird at Muskegon was 5 years ago and we plan on mallard limits if we're targeting ducks. Had one last day of season hunt where a pair of mallards dropped in at 20 seconds before hours - was sweating that one - but we got both and kept the streak going.


From what I've read on here, fennville is mainly for geese and Muskegon can be decent for ducks.. thanks for the info


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## michiganoutdoorsman (Dec 29, 2010)

stets656 said:


> I thought they were flooded corn fields? Not sure how you hunt ducks in a dry field...


Dry field ducks are a blast if you can find them lol.


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## stets656 (Oct 5, 2016)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Fennville is trying to have six (6) flooded fields on the north side. They've had issues with the pumps so if it's working this year that will be a new dynamic. Not sure how long birds will use it getting hammered pretty much every day, or if they'll strip the corn clean feeding at night and render it useless. Early in the year the SE corner tends to be best for ducks, as the season drags on they disperse through out the unit and any zone can be good on any given day, if it happens to be the correct zone, and best of luck sorting that out. High winds to push the ducks off the refuge are a plus.
> 
> Muskegon is a pair of sewage lagoons that the birds roost on surrounded by crop fields you can hunt only through a drawing, unlike the walk in opportunities at Fennville. The zones are huge and you can scout and pattern the birds as they have to leave the refuge to feed. It's a much better quality hunt as it's not nearly as competitive and you don't get screwed as badly by dumb neighbors, really it's a better crowd all around as having to scout and carry your stuff in most of the way weeds out the guys that want to park behind the corn, set up 60' from their car, and just pull the trigger a couple times like you get at Fennville. You haven't seen stupid skybusting until you've hunted Fennville. A way to hide, a dozen goose decoys, and a spinner in the right spot and if you can't limit it's your problem at Muskegon.
> 
> I hunt both areas a lot. I get my geese over 50% of the time at Fennville, ducks maybe 25% and it's usually 1 or 2 and not a limit. The last time I didn't get a bird at Muskegon was 5 years ago and we plan on mallard limits if we're targeting ducks. Had one last day of season hunt where a pair of mallards dropped in at 20 seconds before hours - was sweating that one - but we got both and kept the streak going.


Do you need a lay down blind for fennville? Or do they have tall corn stalks as well?


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## jwinks (Mar 20, 2014)

stets656 said:


> Do you need a lay down blind for fennville? Or do they have tall corn stalks as well?


In principle there is corn to hide. I always bring a layout, it's more comfortable cause it is frickin cold there. You have to hunt from the corn. Sometimes the corn is knocked down, and sometimes it's short. If you don't have a layout, it's not worth buying one for this. Bring a piece of burlap to make a blind though.


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## stets656 (Oct 5, 2016)

jwinks said:


> In principle there is corn to hide. I always bring a layout, it's more comfortable cause it is frickin cold there. You have to hunt from the corn. Sometimes the corn is knocked down, and sometimes it's short. If you don't have a layout, it's not worth buying one for this. Bring a piece of burlap to make a blind though.


Ok thanks. How many goose decoys would one need to be effective?


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

I run upwards of 350 but the guys in the zones next to me don't seem to run nearly as many and get some shooting. Last year one time the guys next to me didn't run any decoys and got two geese, both if which were,workjnv my spraad, one if which they shot a good 20 yards into my zone as I let it line up. Funny the zones are 200 yards,wide and my neighbors always seem to sit 2 yards from the gap between our zones.

You can kill birds over far fewer decoys though.


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## jwinks (Mar 20, 2014)

stets656 said:


> Ok thanks. How many goose decoys would one need to be effective?


I just set up next to Far Beyond Driven and shoot birds over his spread. 

Most people run big spreads of silhouette decoys. We didn't kill any geese until we started running 10 dozen silos.


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## stets656 (Oct 5, 2016)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> I run upwards of 350 but the guys in the zones next to me don't seem to run nearly as many and get some shooting. Last year one time the guys next to me didn't run any decoys and got two geese, both if which were,workjnv my spraad, one if which they shot a good 20 yards into my zone as I let it line up. Funny the zones are 200 yards,wide and my neighbors always seem to sit 2 yards from the gap between our zones.
> 
> You can kill birds over far fewer decoys though.


I've got 6 geese decoys.  Any recommendations as to how I can get a bigger spread going? I'm fairly new to goose hunting but I've duck hunted all my life. What type decoys would you recommend? Silhouettes? Shells? Flags? I understand if you don't want to tell me all your secrets.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Just go hunt there and learn a little about the place before investing in a spread. I was in my favorite zone last year with a huge spread out and too proud to see the birds were skirting it, and I should have sat to the side. Kid down the way with four full bodies shot a goose that bailed out right over him. After he left all the birds that came out poured out through that gap in the decoys, or around the edge of my spread, being the last one in the row.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Offer up your services as a decoy Sherpa just before season opens. There's also a huge thread tracking the whole season there last year back in these posts. Find it, read it, lots of good stuff in there.


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## stets656 (Oct 5, 2016)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Just go hunt there and learn a little about the place before investing in a spread. I was in my favorite zone last year with a huge spread out and too proud to see the birds were skirting it, and I should have sat to the side. Kid down the way with four full bodies shot a goose that bailed out right over him. After he left all the birds that came out poured out through that gap in the decoys, or around the edge of my spread, being the last one in the row.


 Sounds good, Ill probably buy maybe a dozen used shells before opening day.



Far Beyond Driven said:


> Offer up your services as a decoy Sherpa just before season opens. There's also a huge thread tracking the whole season there last year back in these posts. Find it, read it, lots of good stuff in there.


I tried searching fennville and I couldn't find too much on it. Is there anything that I absolutely need to know before I show up on opening day?


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## jwinks (Mar 20, 2014)

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/index.php?threads/Todd-Farm.577372/


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## jwinks (Mar 20, 2014)

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/index.php?threads/Fennville?.550129/


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

That opening day for geese is a youth only hunt, and that place really doesn't get rocking until duck season is about done, at least for geese.

I'm selling a lot of decoys this fall.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Otherwise known as the Todd Farm.


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## stets656 (Oct 5, 2016)

[QUOTE="Far Beyond Driven, post: 6348990, member: 17319

I'm selling a lot of decoys this fall.[/QUOTE]

I'd be very interested.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

stets656 said:


> I've got 6 geese decoys.  Any recommendations as to how I can get a bigger spread going? I'm fairly new to goose hunting but I've duck hunted all my life. What type decoys would you recommend? Silhouettes? Shells? Flags? I understand if you don't want to tell me all your secrets.


Whoa...slow down there young buck! LOL Don't invest a whole bunch of money until you try it out. And if you play your cards right on a forum like this (i.e. offer to pay some gas money, buy breakfast/lunch, carry lots of gear, etc.) I'm betting someone may invite you out to show you the ropes. That's how many of us learned in the first place. Best advice I can give you is to offer to do any of the above, be courteous and help any way you can, keep your mouth shut and OBSERVE! my two cents


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## Spartan88 (Nov 14, 2008)

The OP is in college and plans on hunting quite a bit. I picked classes around duck hunting my first two years, ended up graduating a year later than my non waterfowl hunting friends.


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## stets656 (Oct 5, 2016)

just ducky said:


> Whoa...slow down there young buck! LOL Don't invest a whole bunch of money until you try it out. And if you play your cards right on a forum like this (i.e. offer to pay some gas money, buy breakfast/lunch, carry lots of gear, etc.) I'm betting someone may invite you out to show you the ropes. That's how many of us learned in the first place. Best advice I can give you is to offer to do any of the above, be courteous and help any way you can, keep your mouth shut and OBSERVE! my two cents


I don't think you need a whole bunch of money to buy a dozen honker decoys.


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## LooksMoosey (Aug 29, 2015)

stets656 said:


> I don't think you need a whole bunch of money to buy a dozen honker decoys.


haha, somebody hasn't been decoy shopping lately. That stuff gets pricey quick.


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## jwinks (Mar 20, 2014)

Ash said:


> haha, somebody hasn't been decoy shopping lately. That stuff gets pricey quick.


Better call the financial aid office and ask them to increase your cost of attendance so you can get some more student loans. Just write "goose decoys" on the request form. It's an investment in your future.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

I bought my 14' boat using a student loan. Got out a term early after setting up the funding. Best money I've spent.


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## stets656 (Oct 5, 2016)

Ash said:


> haha, somebody hasn't been decoy shopping lately. That stuff gets pricey quick.


Not if you buy it used off of Craigslist


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## West side shooter (Jan 22, 2015)

Fennville has the ability to be one of the best hunts or the worst hunts depending on the day. You can kill birds over 10 doz or 2 doz, all depends on the day. The guys are correct, there are plenty of guys that have room for somebody to join them if you want to hunt. 
We have had plenty of people hunt with us, if you want to join us, just hit me up when season gets closer


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## stets656 (Oct 5, 2016)

West side shooter said:


> Fennville has the ability to be one of the best hunts or the worst hunts depending on the day. You can kill birds over 10 doz or 2 doz, all depends on the day. The guys are correct, there are plenty of guys that have room for somebody to join them if you want to hunt.
> We have had plenty of people hunt with us, if you want to join us, just hit me up when season gets closer


Sounds good! Thanks man


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## jduck (Jan 21, 2000)

I haven't hunted it in many years, but have moved back into the area. Send a PM we can probably get together for a hunt.


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## Dag_Gummit (Aug 29, 2017)

I'm new to waterfowling too, but I'm in SW Michigan and I'm game to team up if you want. We can go learn together.


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## jduck (Jan 21, 2000)

Dag_Gummit said:


> I'm new to waterfowling too, but I'm in SW Michigan and I'm game to team up if you want. We can go learn together.


I have 10dz new goose silos that will need some testing this year once Fenville opens up.


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## deerdown (Jan 1, 2014)

West side shooter said:


> Fennville has the ability to be one of the best hunts or the worst hunts depending on the day. You can kill birds over 10 doz or 2 doz, all depends on the day. The guys are correct, there are plenty of guys that have room for somebody to join them if you want to hunt.
> We have had plenty of people hunt with us, if you want to join us, just hit me up when season gets closer


Hitting you up...new to goose and duck hunting never shot any.not new to deer hunting and fishing.would love to hunt goose. Got my first duck stamp this year.


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## Aaronjeep2 (Nov 18, 2016)

deerdown said:


> Hitting you up...new to goose and duck hunting never shot any.not new to deer hunting and fishing.would love to hunt goose. Got my first duck stamp this year.


Be prepared to spend all your time and money on this addiction. you will most likely give up deer hunting if you get the waterfouling bug.


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