As for geese, over the last 20 years McCadams is seeing fewer migrate to the area. Still, if we get drastic weather changes in January, Kentucky Lake inherits geese from the north and it can happen in a very short time -- a day or two, or even overnight if the weather is right.

McCadams said popular public areas there are Camden Bottoms, Harmon's Creek, Big Sandy and West Sandy WMAs, along with some areas south of I-40 and the Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge. Hunters can set up small decoy spreads and hunt from shallow shorelines or boat blinds or sometimes find unoccupied permanent blinds in the WMAs, especially during the weekdays.

Jackie McCrary is the freelancer supreme of freelance hunting for ducks. If they're in an area, he'll figure out a legal way of getting to them and taking his shots. McCrary journeys from northeast Tennessee each year to hunt what Kentucky Lake has to offer and he doesn't care which species are in town when he gets there.

McCrary travels light, with 25 diver decoys and no more than 10 or 20 puddle duck decoys. He said he'd rather have a few detailed dekes that really look good as opposed to a bunch of poor looking, "nothing" decoys. McCrary's going to hunt whatever bird is in the area, and he said if you're where they want to be, you don't need many decoys.

McCrary said he believes that the guides have the best spots -- "Heck, they live there." But there's some good hunting to be had for the freelancer willing to put in some work.

McCrary sets up his boat blind in coves and other areas based on his scouting efforts. If the ducks aren't there on that morning, he moves quickly to another spot.

"Kentucky Lake holds ducks," McCrary said. "Most of the time, there'll be something there."

What McCrary likes about Kentucky Lake is its proximity to the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. He said ducks moving down those waters could end up at Kentucky Lake. And it's bred into them to know where to go. McCrary said you can hunt right between the surrounding refuges and migration routes when you're on Kentucky Lake. You can count on a pretty good waterfowl hunt where there's a fairly huge waterfowl population. There's always some kind of shooting to be done from divers to puddle ducks.