Photo by R.E. Ilg

Despite the shotgun in my hands, the black Lab perched behind me, my familiarity with the river and my hunting partner expertly handling the canoe to allow me the first shot of the morning, the burst of wing beats caught me by surprise. A pair of wood ducks had jumped off the water from behind a fallen tree where the river curled into an eddy. We were floating the Toccoa River among the shadows of the Blue Ridge Mountains in southeast Fannin County. The colorful birds, draped and crowned in royal hues of bronze, copper and gold, quickly flew out of range.

"Your turn," I humbly announced.

We then swapped ends of the canoe and I picked up the navigator's paddle. Fortunately, all our encounters for the day did not end the same way. Blue, black, white, red and green rounded out the "coat of many colors" worn by four wood duck drakes we killed that December morning on a six-mile float.

With the variety of hunting opportunities available during the 2005-06 Georgia waterfowl seasons, you have plenty of options from which to choose. From the mountains to the coast, there are plenty of them. Let's take a look at some of these.

SMALL-WATER WOOD DUCKS
No matter where you choose to hunt wood ducks, steady to good breeding populations of the birds inhabit the rivers, streams, swamps and beaver ponds across the Peach State, according to state waterfowl biologist Jeff Balkcom of the Wildlife Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

"If there's water and acorns on the ground, there will be wood ducks flying through the adjacent woodlands," Balkcom reported. "These include both resident birds and a tremendous influx of migrating birds that fly south from as far away as the Great Lakes states and New England. Numbers of woodies are especially good in the southern half of the state, with the coastal plain being a real hotspot. Hunters do well to check out the big river swamps, those created by the Chattahoochee, Savannah, Flint and Altamaha rivers. Float the channels or walk and wade the sloughs and shallow wetlands."

River hunting for woodies is also good in North Georgia, where other duck species are few. Primary waterways are the top spots, including the Coosa, Conasauga, Oostanaula, Etowah, Chattooga (in Walker and Chattooga counties, not to be confused with the Chattooga River in Rabun County), Toccoa and Nottely rivers. At low elevations these rivers, which rise in the southern reach of the Appalachian Mountains, are characterized by slow flows through wooded bottoms that feature large eddies, backwater sloughs and ponds.

But hunters must use caution when hunting Georgia's rivers and streams. These streams flow mostly through private property. Unless the waterway is considered navigable by the Tennessee Valley Authority, or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, they may be closed to floating. Even on navigable waters, you must stay in the boat or have written permission to go onto private property. Because special shooting restrictions can also apply on any waterway, always check local hunting regulations before taking to the water.

Wood ducks typically fly early in the day. Expect the flight to occur at or shortly after daylight, and it rarely lasts more than an hour. Woodies leaving their roosts commonly squeal in flight, but do not respond well to decoy spreads or calling. Guns should be at the ready when you hear them. Shooting will be fast and can be furious, as pairs of the small duck, weighing in around 2 pounds, twist and turn sharply as they speed through the bottoms.