My son started duck hunting last year and is ate up with it. I haven’t duck hunted in 35 years and that’s when I lived in Nebraska surrounded by farm land so it was pretty easy. We joined a club this year that has a nice pond marsh probably 1-1 1/2 acres. No one duck hunts it at all. We’d like to hunt it but I’ve read you need to “establish” it one year ahead of when you plan to hunt it to get the ducks using it. If this is the case, what do I need to do/plant, and really, how?

Does it currently hold ducks?
Japanese millet next September would be my suggestion. Is it a wet weather marsh or stay wet pretty much all year?

Stays wet all year. Holds some ducks but would like to attract more from the surrounding public area.

Bait it all year except during season

Keeping hunting to a minimum would be my suggestion. Get a cell camera on it and just hunt when you have a good number of ducks. Let the public push em into to you.

This.

Perfectly legal and they’ll key in on it.

I certainly agree with planting jap millet also if possible.

Keep feed in it. Plant food for the season but also supplement that until duck season gets there . Hunt it 1 single time the first year then leave it alone. Hunt it for a couple or three hunts the next year. Never hunt it in the afternoon. Shoot your ducks and get out early and leave it for the ducks to use the rest of the day. I can't state this enough. OVER HUNTING has killed more duck holes than anything else. especially when it comes to trying to establish a long term hole. Ducks will not tolerate much pressure. you do that and you'll have a hole you guys can enjoy for years to come. Hunt it too much and you'll have one or 2 semi good hunts and never see a duck there again

Feed them heavy and leave it til next year. This year Black oil sunflower seeds , wild bird seed, scatter around the edge in the water they will find it. I’ve heard Powdered molasses float it on the water. The sweet taste keeps them coming back. Saying it sticks to trees and branches in the water. As said above let it rest. Very hard to do but it will help. Feed them heavy in February and March. The food needs to be gone 10 days if your hunting it after feeding them.

If you are the “new guy” sat at the club, I’d be very discreet when hunting it. Maybe only hunt it once when no one else is around. Others will either think “great idea” and hunt it themselves (ruining the hole) or get pissed at all the shooting on a deer club and run you off.

Put up a couple of wood duck boxes and maintain them every year. It will imprint ducks to that pond.

Double check your club rules on duck hunting it. A lot of folks get highly irate if your hunting anything besides deer in a club. I’ve always felt like club membership meant hunting any legal game. But some folks don’t see it that way.

Put some cracked corn on a bunch of styrofoam plates and let them float around if you want to know how many are in the area.

X2

What kind of ducks?

What part of the state and what kind of ducks? The answers will determine the plan.

Only at I’d fooled with it is if I owned the land. Too many variables there and past knowledge of things not working out for others.