Mallards are over rated!!!

[Reeltime]

Ok, I enjoy hunting, shooting and eating mallards too! Although I sure enjoy the colors on late season birds of "other" varieties! What did you shoot this season, besides good ole' green?

 

[406LIFE]

One of the most intriuging aspects of waterfowling is just the diversity in game. From Trumpeter Swans to GWT, add in snipe, cranes, and other wierd birds. you can spend a lifetime and not bag them all, a personal quest of mine. I limited on my Sandhills again this year, but I spot and stalked them, a first for me. As for ducks, my season was kind of a bust, nothing too remarkable.

 

[Aussie_hunter_JD]

You have some pretty birds, this is one of my favourite here. Pink-eared duck.

 

[smarandr]

That's some awesome stuff.

I think I need to look for a new duck blind; I've shot hundreds of ducks over the years and all but a small handful were mallards and goldeneyes. Every time I get an "exotic" drake that isn't shot all to hell I send it to the taxi. To date I've got a GWT on the wall and a Wigeon at the taxidermist right now.

 

[brownbear932008]

Man I love those pintails and bald plates.....

 

[Doublecluck]

The only thing I miss from California is being able to shoot a limit of ducks and not one be the same kind. Big beautiful sprig were a guarantee. Haven’t shot a fully Plummed spoonbill in 7 years.. I hate mallards, so freaking tired of them.. I did shoot this thing (we don’t normally shoot hens) was 99% sure it was a black duck when it came in. Still not sure if it is a really old hen or some type of hybrid..

 

[huronmtns]

Kind of hard to see with the lighting in that picture, but I do not see a dark saddle on the bill or the orange color that hen mallards have. The head also looks like it has Black Duck traits. I'm guessing that to be a hybrid. A check of the sex organ would help determine if this was a male bird and if it was it would be a hybrid. Male mallards and black ducks typically do not have saddles on the bill. Double white bars on the wing speculum is a mallard trait.

 

[F250]

I have banded hundreds of Black Ducks and thousands of mallards. The white bands above and below the speculum indicate a Black Duck/Mallard cross.

 

[midwesthunter]

I got a pintail this year hunting north central IN. My second year duck hunting, guys I hunt with range from 10-40 years and they have never seen one in the area.

 

[JDH]

I got a pintail this year hunting north central IN. My second year duck hunting, guys I hunt with range from 10-40 years and they have never seen one in the area.

There seemed to be more pintails around this year in central Indiana also. It was mainly mallards and gadwall for me this year. Did shoot my first ring-neck duck about a month ago though.

 

[Nutrioso]

The grass is always greener across the fence. Where I hunt in California Northern Shovelers are common and mostly we pass on shooting them. Green wing real and pintail are everywhere, but of course this year we were limited to one sprig. What we wouldn’t give for a full strap of greenheads!

 

[Duck-Slayer]

Here in SW Idaho its Mallards, blue and green wing teal, wigeon, goldeneye's, buffleheads, spoonbills, redheads, cavasbacks, bluebills, ringnecks, Gadwalls, Pintail, woodducks, Canada geese, Ross Geese, Snow Geese, Speckle-belly Geese, an occasional sea duck of some sort. Shot them all in the past 17 years I've lived here except for a bluebill and sea duck...... so we see a wide variety of ducks that come through this part of the country.
Matt

 

[TheDudeAbides]

The toughest bird pound for pound is a Ringneck. They could be plum full of pellets and try to swim or fly away.


I did get my first Barrow's Goldeneye this year.


I mixed all the ducks I shot this year with antelope meat and pork fat and I am making a batch of jalapeno snack sticks tonight out of them.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Here we get a mixed bag for the most part.

Early we get widgeons, gaddies, all three species of teal, spoonies, and mallards. (September / Early October)

Mid we get the divers in Ruddies, Buffies, Ringnecks, Cans, but not too many Scaup or Redheads. (October)

Late we get a lot of goldeneyes (90% Common / 10% Barrows) mixed in with local Mallards and a few remaining ring necks and buffies (November)

Normally everything is close to locked up including the river in December, so there are mainly Goldeneyes.

This year is a strange one, because of how warm it is. Normally out season closes and there are very little ducks around the first of January. This year if the season was longer we would still be shooting ducks in good numbers on the river.

People have seen a few scoters, but those are probably from the GSL area and lost.

 

[JTHOMP]

For me a trophy duck is one that is normally not killed in the area. I was 19 or 20 by the time I killed my first drake mallard, and was so excited I forgot to keep shooting at the rest of the ducks that got up. Here is my nephew's trophy from this past season. A hen green wing teal killed on one of the cow ponds on my family's farm. Yes, teal are very common and I've killed countless in other areas, but this was only the third time in my life to see one here.

 

[TripleJ]

We had more mallards then normal this year in my neck of the woods, but I still got to see some variety. I did shoot my 1st "hybrid" this year...



Untitled by https://www.flickr.com/photos/150350916@N03/, on Flickr


Untitled by https://www.flickr.com/photos/150350916@N03/, on Flickr


Untitled by https://www.flickr.com/photos/150350916@N03/, on Flickr


Untitled by https://www.flickr.com/photos/150350916@N03/, on Flickr

Untitled by /url], on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/22pqFcR]Untitled by https://www.flickr.com/photos/150350916@N03/, on Flickr

 

[BucksnDucks]

I love Mallards and will try to shoot a limit of green if possible, which is a rare accomplishment where I hunt. In the North Sacramento Valley we are blessed with a wide variety of waterfowl including a spectacular White Fronted goose season.

 

[NCSU_Lewis]

We see a decent amount of mallards where I hunt, but I sure won't pass of them. I almost feel guilty about how easy it is to kill woodducks where I am. Most days it is all we will see. They are such a beautiful bird and I find myself taking that for granted some days, wishing for something else.

 

[icebreaker12]

The only thing I miss from California is being able to shoot a limit of ducks and not one be the same kind. Big beautiful sprig were a guarantee. Haven’t shot a fully Plummed spoonbill in 7 years.. I hate mallards, so freaking tired of them.. I did shoot this thing (we don’t normally shoot hens) was 99% sure it was a black duck when it came in. Still not sure if it is a really old hen or some type of hybrid.

Full white top and bottom and white extending to the tertials. Just a dark hen mallard.

How do you like the divebomb mallards?

 

[jrabq]

...was 99% sure it was a black duck when it came in. Still not sure if it is a really old hen or some type of hybrid.. View attachment 79749

If the bill is a solid color (looks to be in photo, but can't tell for sure) then I doubt it's a hen. Looks a lot like a Mexican Duck, which are fairly common in NM. Mexican ducks do have the white bars above and below the speculum (which is usually a little more violet colored than mallards). They aren't as dark as a Black Duck, but definitely darker than mallard hens. Hybrids are common, and are somewhere in between in coloration, but that one looks like a pure Mexican duck to me. Hybrids will usually have some green in the head, and a bit of a dark rump. I'll see if I can find some pics, but you can do a search on internet and find some ducks that look very similar to your pic.

We get a lot of our mallards from MT, so it would be easy to see how a few Mexican ducks might fly back north with them.

Just BTW, a little variety is nice but I never get tired of shooting mallards!