FLOATING STOCK
You're almost certainly going to have to use a boat for big-water hunting, and hitting big water calls for more boat than hunting a farm pond does. Your trip to your hunting spot or spots is likely to be a long one, and you're apt to encounter big towboats and barges on a river and rough water on rivers and lakes alike. Therefore, a sturdy, seaworthy, wide-beamed, high-sided, shallow-draft boat is mandatory. At the minimum, you'll need a 25-horsepower outboard; 40 or larger is better. Wear a PFD at all times when the boat is under power.

Maps of almost all large waters, lakes and rivers alike, are available somewhere. Sniff out these sources and get those maps. All COE lakes have a resident engineer's office where maps are available, and district COE offices sell books of navigation maps for rivers like the Mississippi and Arkansas. Commercial maps for fishermen are also available at reasonable cost for many COE lakes. One such company is Fishingmap.com, 21869 Birchmont Lane, Nisswa, MN 56468, (218) 831-1058, www.fishingmap.com. Or you can always rely on good old topo maps. The point here is that some type of map is absolutely vital to success and safety on big water.

PLAN FOR BAD WEATHER AND ROUGH WATER
The weather doesn't have to be bad for big-water hunting to be good, but in general, its quality is inversely proportional to the quality of the weather: The colder and nastier it gets, the better the action. At such times, sheltered spots become a lot more appealing to waterfowl and waterfowl hunters alike.

Of course, conditions like that can be extremely uncomfortable at best and life-threatening at worst, and it's axiomatic that you must prepare for it beforehand. Even if you're beginning a hunt in mild weather, be prepared for bad stuff.

While keeping that "travel light" motto in mind, put together a survival kit in a watertight plastic tote. Fill it with such items as heavy parka-style float-coats with drawstring hoods, waterproof insulated mittens, waterproof matches and fire-starting materials, high-energy foods such as candy bars, a flare gun and flares, an extra compass, a cell phone, and similar items. You may never need your kit, but if you do need it, you're going to need it very badly.

None of this is meant to scare you away, but waterfowl hunting on large rivers and big COE lakes is quite a bit different from hunting ducks in a flooded field or farm pond within sight of your vehicle. It can be dangerous if you're not prepared and don't have the right equipment.

MIXED-BAG HUNTING
Last but not least, it's a good idea to be up to speed on duck identification and on specific bag regulations where you're hunting. Big waters tend to attract a hodgepodge of species, and you literally never know what's going to come into the decoys next. In many areas, it's not uncommon to see a dozen species of ducks -- everything from common birds like mallards and gadwalls to gee-whiz species like oldsquaws, goldeneyes and ruddy ducks -- on a good big-water hunt.

Aside from equipping yourself properly, scouting via maps or on-the-water recon, and boning up on regulations and species identification, the only thing left to do is get out there on the big water and see what happens. Properly done, it will add a whole new dimension to your waterfowling pleasure.