2022-2023 Waterfowl Pics Thread

Great pictures guys. Love the full color birds --- especially that cinammon teal.

Have not posted this years adventures. I added a pup so at 4 months he was out with us Duck hunting and managed his first retrieves on water. At the start I would only send him on teal. Then Gadwall and on the last two outings Mallards with a couple of winged birds. The early exposure I am sure will do him well for next season. We had a very good year on both ducks and white geese.

DSC01085.jpgDSC01097.jpgDSC01119.jpgDSC01124.jpgDSC01200.jpgIMG_4584 b .jpgIMG_4585 b .JPGIMG_4625.jpgIMG_4626.jpg.
 
seeth07 said:
Totally agree on the geese. Until now. Holy moly are the geese here, my the 100s of thousands, it's nuts. It's like nothing migrated until this last Wed and now they are all here. Get ready nick, your way probably after this weekend
Click to expand...
Just like that the ducks are gone we are just about completely frozen out. Can't remember being having everything frozen this early. You guys up north seeing any ducks still? Also we have snow geese here as of yesterday. Local pond had about a dozen mixed in with probably 4 to 500 Canadas.
 
nick87 said:
Just like that the ducks are gone we are just about completely frozen out. Can't remember being having everything frozen this early. You guys up north seeing any ducks still? Also we have snow geese here as of yesterday. Local pond had about a dozen mixed in with probably 4 to 500 Canadas.
Click to expand...
Read my post...
 
I've posted pictures of Mexican ducks before, but this pair represents a tragic love story. To clarify, from left; mallard drake, Mexican drake, Mexican hen, mallard hen. (Note how much darker the Mexican hen is). So mid-morning I get this pair to turn from a good ways off and they are coming in great. But at the last second they veer away instead of turning over the decoys, and look like they are going to light downriver, which almost never ends well. It was a long shot going into the sun but I told my buddy "let's take them". The hen was on the left, my side so I shot it and it fell a short distance to the water. Head was still up so I swatted it, probably too far but I don't hesitate on cripples. We'll the dang duck got up and I knocked it down again. Turns out the drake was also on the water, it got up and flew a few feet, but hit the water again when my duck (the hen) fell for the 2nd time. A this point I thought my buddy had knocked down the drake, and maybe shot it again, just like I had done with the hen. So I start running toward the ducks to finish off any cripples, and get the dog going on retrieves. Before I got very far the drake got up and flew off, I took a long shot but no dice. So it turns out my buddy was totally blinded by the sun and had never fired a shot! Took a few minutes to get this sorted out, so apparently the drake had heard several gunshots, but lit at least twice because his mate did not fly off.

So it gets better (for me, not the duck), we get back in the blind and a couple of minutes later the drake returns and starts circling high around us. He didn't totally commit suicide by diving into the decoys, but on the 4th pass I decided I could probably kill him, which I did. If you've hunted long enough you have probably seen something similar, I'd guess I see it once every year or two. But it's usually a hen that commits suicide, and usually later in the season when the pair bonds are stronger. This one was also a bit unusual due to the earlier encounter involving so much gunfire, flushing and landing again, and he still gave it up in the end. She must have been special!20221206_100258.jpg
 
jrabq said:
I've posted pictures of Mexican ducks before, but this pair represents a tragic love story. To clarify, from left; mallard drake, Mexican drake, Mexican hen, mallard hen. (Note how much darker the Mexican hen is). So mid-morning I get this pair to turn from a good ways off and they are coming in great. But at the last second they veer away instead of turning over the decoys, and look like they are going to light downriver, which almost never ends well. It was a long shot going into the sun but I told my buddy "let's take them". The hen was on the left, my side so I shot it and it fell a short distance to the water. Head was still up so I swatted it, probably too far but I don't hesitate on cripples. We'll the dang duck got up and I knocked it down again. Turns out the drake was also on the water, it got up and flew a few feet, but hit the water again when my duck (the hen) fell for the 2nd time. A this point I thought my buddy had knocked down the drake, and maybe shot it again, just like I had done with the hen. So I start running toward the ducks to finish off any cripples, and get the dog going on retrieves. Before I got very far the drake got up and flew off, I took a long shot but no dice. So it turns out my buddy was totally blinded by the sun and had never fired a shot! Took a few minutes to get this sorted out, so apparently the drake had heard several gunshots, but lit at least twice because his mate did not fly off.

So it gets better (for me, not the duck), we get back in the blind and a couple of minutes later the drake returns and starts circling high around us. He didn't totally commit suicide by diving into the decoys, but on the 4th pass I decided I could probably kill him, which I did. If you've hunted long enough you have probably seen something similar, I'd guess I see it once every year or two. But it's usually a hen that commits suicide, and usually later in the season when the pair bonds are stronger. This one was also a bit unusual due to the earlier encounter involving so much gunfire, flushing and landing again, and he still gave it up in the end. She must have been special!View attachment 254006
Click to expand...
Haven't we all done some equivalent of this for past or present loves? I'm married to mine. Just wondering at what point I am going to get water swatted?
 
jrabq said:
I've posted pictures of Mexican ducks before, but this pair represents a tragic love story. To clarify, from left; mallard drake, Mexican drake, Mexican hen, mallard hen. (Note how much darker the Mexican hen is). So mid-morning I get this pair to turn from a good ways off and they are coming in great. But at the last second they veer away instead of turning over the decoys, and look like they are going to light downriver, which almost never ends well. It was a long shot going into the sun but I told my buddy "let's take them". The hen was on the left, my side so I shot it and it fell a short distance to the water. Head was still up so I swatted it, probably too far but I don't hesitate on cripples. We'll the dang duck got up and I knocked it down again. Turns out the drake was also on the water, it got up and flew a few feet, but hit the water again when my duck (the hen) fell for the 2nd time. A this point I thought my buddy had knocked down the drake, and maybe shot it again, just like I had done with the hen. So I start running toward the ducks to finish off any cripples, and get the dog going on retrieves. Before I got very far the drake got up and flew off, I took a long shot but no dice. So it turns out my buddy was totally blinded by the sun and had never fired a shot! Took a few minutes to get this sorted out, so apparently the drake had heard several gunshots, but lit at least twice because his mate did not fly off.

So it gets better (for me, not the duck), we get back in the blind and a couple of minutes later the drake returns and starts circling high around us. He didn't totally commit suicide by diving into the decoys, but on the 4th pass I decided I could probably kill him, which I did. If you've hunted long enough you have probably seen something similar, I'd guess I see it once every year or two. But it's usually a hen that commits suicide, and usually later in the season when the pair bonds are stronger. This one was also a bit unusual due to the earlier encounter involving so much gunfire, flushing and landing again, and he still gave it up in the end. She must have been special!View attachment 254006
Click to expand...
Seen it a few times myself and agree its usually the hen.
 
seeth07 said:
Totally agree on the geese. Until now. Holy moly are the geese here, my the 100s of thousands, it's nuts. It's like nothing migrated until this last Wed and now they are all here. Get ready nick, your way probably after this weekend
Click to expand...
Still not many where the F are they?
 
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