But on the other hand, he's headed to the areas newly flooded by winter rainfall. "The real secret to successfully hunting Sardis is to reach a spot no one else has hunted, whether you see ducks there or not," he said.

At Sardis, instead of scouting for ducks as you would on most lakes, look for hunters; once you know where they are, hunt somewhere else. But, of course, you do want to cross-reference their locations with the sites you've pinpointed through scouting. In other words, find the promising locations that other folks are missing!

ADJUST YOUR TACTICS
Littlejohn not only searches for sites with unstressed ducks but also tries to give those birds something new to look at.

"I don't use the traditional decoys other hunters use," he noted. "I have one dozen oversized hand-carved, hand-painted Autumn Wings decoys I use when I hunt. I got my first Autumn Wings decoy as a Christmas present. These decoys cost about $60 each.

"I don't set my decoys out in the traditional 'U' or 'J' shape, like most hunters. I scatter decoys the way I see ducks sitting on the water, which makes my spread appear much more natural than everybody else's."

Littlejohn's penchant for going his own way also extends to his calling techniques. "I make my own duck calls out of cocobolo wood like my dad taught me," he explained. "Dad constructed his first duck call out of bamboo, put a reed in it and started calling ducks."

A good duck caller has an idea of what the birds are thinking and gets inside the mind of the ducks. It is by becoming "bird-brained" that you can figure out what the ducks want to do, and thus outthink the hunters with whom you're competing as well.

NOWING THE AREA
"Most hunters on watch outdoor waterfowling TV shows to learn how to call to ducks," Littlejohn said. "When these hunters see the pros blowing those loud hail calls to get the ducks' attention, they decide that that's exactly what they need to do."

At Sardis, Littlejohn does just the opposite. "I rarely blow loud, ringing hail calls when I see ducks," he emphasized. "I give a normal greeting call of two or three quacks, and then I shut up and watch the ducks. Once I see what effect my calls have on the ducks, I decide how much and what type of calls to use. Each day I let the ducks tell me how they want to be called, and I try really hard not to call as much as everyone else does."

Late in the season in particular, Littlejohn knows that he's hunting ducks that have been called, decoyed and shot at all the way down the flyway. That's why he's confronting the birds with decoys and calls that they've probably not encountered on the move south. He also hunts from a portable boat blind that he can set up quickly, enabling him to move about in a hurry to adjust to the ducks' changing moods.

From time to time, Littlejohn also applies his techniques to Grenada and Arkabutla lakes. "You'll find some good hunting on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lakes," he said.

But you need to know the policy regarding water levels, and to scout them as well. These lakes are very productive when the water is up. "You have to learn the lakes, the hunters and the ducks," Littlejohn concluded.

HUNT THE RIVER
Kent Driscoll lives in Cordova, Tenn., but does his duck hunting in the Magnolia State. Though he does visit Grenada and Sardis lakes occasionally, those are not his regular haunts.

"I primarily hunt the oxbow lakes off the Mississippi River," the hunter reported. "Two of my favorite lakes are Tunica and DeSoto." The Tunica Cutoff is, of course, in Tunica County, while DeSoto Lake is farther south in Coahoma County.

If the Mississippi River registers 12 feet or higher on the Memphis gauge, Driscoll hunts the Tunica Cutoff.