I have never been serious about waterfowling but want to get involved this year. I have a small alluminum boat/motor and 24 decoys with access to 4 dozen more. There is a small lake a few miles away where I can hunt off the water, but the land is private owned. I have a 12 gauge 2 3/4" with steel chokes (i/c, mod, f/c). I am looking at hevishot, have been told you can use smaller shot to obtain the same killing effect of larger steel, and with more shot in the air to improve hit ratio, but its rather pricey for a beginner. Is it what I need to use, or should I just go with steel, or a blend?
I reload but based on prices I have seen I dont see much economy in buying bagged hevishot and loading my own.
I have a call someone gave me years ago but never used it in the wild. Can I get some advise on dusting some ducks? My plan is to put out some dekes and get behind some cat tails and hope for the best.
Any ideas will be appreciated,
Eterry

a handful of dekes wilst sitting behind cattails sounds like a good set-up to me. as long as ducks are in the area and you've some #4 steel shot, you're good to go!

Eterry, glad to here you are getting serious, but it can become addictive though. As far as shells go I usually use 2 or 4 shot and bbs for geese. I have never used heavy shot because steel does the trick just fine. I use echo calls because they are cheap and really easy to blow.
Getting behind some cattales sounds like a plan, but try to position yourself with the wind to your back because ducks will almost always land into the wind. Hope this may help a little.

Thanks for the info guys, the wind to my back is a good idea. I priced hevishot and decided almost $2.00 a round is too rich for my blood. I located some Fiochhi steel 2's for $10.00 for a box of 25. Do I need a handfull of calls like I see on tv and commercials? If you could only use 1 or 2 which one would you use?
I dont have a dog, Will have to paddle over to my kills, when I get them. Do ducks move ahead of cold fronts? Seems I have heard that somewhere.
Thanks,
Eterry

First thing you need to know, getting serious about waterfowl leads to a serious addiction.

Here are general rules of thumb from the midwest, might be different in TX:

-Leave a landing area in the decoys.

-Wind at your back or crossing.

-Using steel shot use an I/C choke. Faster is better with steel shot try to find some in the 1500 fps range.

-Call at their wing tips and butts (swinging and going away) if they are coming lay off the call (especially if your are a beginner).

-Throwing in a few goose decoys (like 4 or 5) really improves your spread.

-Limit your movement (sit still), remember they are above you and looking down.

-Don't be afraid to move your location if you see birds working a different area.

-Scout, scout, scout (hunt where the ducks are).

-Get ready spend all your disponsable income and all kinds of new gear...that's part of the fun!

-Usually speaking-the worse the weather the better the hunting. Windy, rainy, snowy, cloudy days are the best UNLESS you are hunting flooded timber when bright sunshine is what you want.

-Have fun, there's nothing like a big bunch of mallards falling into the decoys...

My son wasn't having very good luck with ducks and steel shot until he switched to Kent Fasteel. He says it shoots almost like lead. And it's some of the cheapest steel shotshells out there.

Eterry, I think Hevi shot is definatley superior to steel shot. Yes, it's pricey. But I know it work's better on duck's and geese. I have seen duck's and geese shot with steel and sometime's they take a while to fall, kind of like a full metal jacket bullet through a animal. Again-Hevi shot kill's quicker.
Another option for you might be Bismuth.

Hevishot is some awesome stuff.That being said......Im not shooting it anymore.The cost went way up this year.I did buy a box of hevisteel and shot 3 geese with #2s.3
shots....3 geese,so they work also.