When the Chesapeake bay freezes over some of the spring fed creeks will still have open areas. I've seen open areas about half acre in size that would have more a thousand ducks in them easily. Looked like they put the last five hundred in with a shoe horn. I could easily see a big marsh gun killing or wounding most of them. A amateur claps his hands and tries to shoot into the mass as it takes off. No way you could kill many with the closer birds absorbing most of the shot. A pro would whistle which would cause th ducks to become alert, not alarmed, so they just put their heads up.
Don't ask how I know because even though he is long dead I guard some people secrets. And people over on Smith Island are still very funny about strangers and keeping their secrets. Awesome and terrible now that I am older.
When I started duck hunting baiting was legal if it was 500 yards from your spot. The Feds stopped that. The old timers would still bait until the season started but do so a mile away. They would put a cedar pole with the top still green over the bait. Then when the season came they would put that pole among their decoys. Ducks would come to the pole which had marked the bait. The Feds would come and check the hunters for bait but never find any.
Worked well until the Feds figured it out. Then they would just watch them put out the bait before season, then they would either write them up or get real nasty and have corn in their little scoop they used to dredge the decoys for the bait later when hunting.
