2016 duck kill thread

Never seen one on here so I thought I'd start a thread for duck kills. Let's see some pictures guys

6 woodies, 4 drakes and 2 hens

Dont do pictures but we killed 16 Friday morning. Shovelers gads and woodies.

Didn't burn any barrels Sat., but managed 3 gads. My son attended his 1st duck hunt (my 2nd hunt) so it was still an awesome memory. He says he is ready to go again and loved eating them.

He did manage to get in a little rest between the action.

First Mallards of the season. Finished the day with (2) Mallard Drakes, (2) Teal Drakes and (2) Teal Hens.

Went down to Cameron parish, LA on my first duck hunt the last few days. Killed 24 first morning and 30 the second morning. We killed grey ducks, widgeon, green wing teal, pintail, shovelers, and one mallard. Don't have photobucket, but if someone wouldn't mind posting for me I'll text them to you. Sure had a good time.

And for your greenhorns a grey duck is a Gadwall.

1st youth day in Arkie today

5 kids smashed em. Ended up waiting on trash ducks, cause had 20 mallards by 9:00 AM. They burned some powder.....

Posting for TurkeyJoe!





Awesome Joe! That's the kind of trip that duck hunters dream about! Congrats!

That's TurkeyJoe on the far left!

Are those coot decoys?

looks like it. I have three dozen myself

Well dang man you were in my back yard. If you don't mind me asking where did you hunt? Wish I'd known you were in the area, it would have been good to meet you.

Well I just saw the pics. You were about 30 mins away from me. You get the right days and them marshes will produce some ducks. Looks like y'all hit it right.

Thanks marsh we were in Creole. Will have to holler at you next time.

Finally getting some water in a few of our holes here. Had to set up in a bad spot this morning and the ducks were literally lighting within 20 feet of us. The problem was it was 5 minutes before legal light and we couldn't see them until they were right on top of us. Killed 4 but lost 2 of them in cattails. I wouldn't send the dog after them until I could go with him and we never found them. These 2 hit in open water so I let him go on them.

That drake shore is pretty

12/04/16





12/06/16

Might wanna check your dates there, Coosa1

done told on himself didn't he!

Thats what happens when I run on very little sleep. I don't even know what month it is.....

12/04/16

Killed these 2. Didn't kill many but was an awesome hunt

Last weekend. Only bird that gave us a shot.

Yesterday evening

Yesterday was slow for us but heard a lot of shooting. 3 of us only got 2. Today was better. 4 of us including one who had never hunted knocked down 7 and picked up 6. We saw a Lot more birds today.

Found a few on Friday

Cant post pictures but the other day we shot some woodies and one green wing teal. This morning I had the wood ducks raining in on me and I shot six. Pretty good weekend of shooting ducks

I would change that to read ".... and WE shot 6."

Good job buddy. You are the reason we have a 3 bird wood duck limit.

Love the canvasbacks.....my favorite duck

5036 read the rules

I've never had the pleasure of killing one, but I'd like to. What is it you like about them?

They are my favorite diver to hunt. The King of Ducks. There is just something awesome about a group of 40-50 of them coming in the decoys. Big majestic ducks. And it doesn't hurt that they can be suicidal sometimes.

Haha if you read the first sentence it says WE. It was supposed to say we again I just screwed up on the typing.

Your post reads like it was two separate hunts.

"The other day WE shot some woodies and one green wing teal"

"This morning I had the wood ducks raining in on ME and I shot 6"

Have you written the English language before or is this your first time?

The other day and this morning reads as two separate days...

Cant post pictures but the other day we shot some woodies and one green wing teal. This morning I we had the wood ducks raining in on me us and I we shot six. Pretty good weekend of shooting ducks

Neither have I! I just love their colors and shape. I was fortunate to grow up with a buddy that had his own family hunting land that had duck hunting available. The first time I ever even knew of canvasbacks was seeing one he had mounted. He shot the duck in a flooded corn field. It was a total fluke that the duck was even there! Nobody had ever killed them in our area in South Carolina. I fell in love with that mount. One of the most beautiful ducks IMO....sleek build, love the colors, a diver (my favorites). I just love them. I hope to someday be able to harvest one.......

I hear ya. I've always heard them referred to as "the king of ducks" but never knew why. It seems a lot of hardcore waterfowlers avoid divers like the plague. To a newby like myself that seemed contradictory to the title of "King of Ducks" given to a diver. So I was curious what your thoughts were on them.

I've only shot puddle ducks, but it's certainly not from skill or selective harvest. I'd love to harvest some divers someday.

Cans were nearly wiped out during the market hunter days selling them for meat. They are great table fare, I just don't get to hunt them much.

I talked to some people that had almost stopped hunting a couple of years ago because they were tired of shooting divers. For someone new like myself, anything new is a treat. I have shot a redhead drake, but never killed a can, ringneck, or any of those. I sure would like to though. I need to go hunt AR or somewhere to broaden my horizons.

We certainly have divers in Alabama. They mostly prefer big water and can dive much deeper than puddle ducks to obtain food. Cans, redheads, bluebills, ringneck and buffleheads are all present in Alabama in hunt able populations. Killed lots of the black and white ducks in Alabama.

Diver hunters on big water use good equipment, lots of decoys and big boats. For most of us weekend warriors the cost of admission is too high. Mallards and wood ducks can be killed with knee boots and a few decoys. So the majority of the Alabama contingent will be set up in shallow water (Guntersville is an exception). Besides the puddlers are usually better table fare.

The market hunters targeted Canvasbacks but the ducks fed on wild celery then. I couldn't ID that plant and don't know if it is even found locally. The Cans I have eaten have had a very strong flavor and I prefer puddlers.

What are the white and black ducks again?

I've killed a bunch of cans, redheads, bluebills, ringnecks, buffleheads, mergansers. There were years here that all I would kill all year were divers and gads. The puddle ducks weren't here. Heck I would kill canvasbacks in backwater sloughs and flooded corn fields. I've killed redheads in beaver ponds back off in the timber. I had a few pics of some on my old phones, I'll look tonight and see if I can dig some out.

No real code with this, simply ducks that are black and white in color. Bluebills, ringneck and bufflehead. In Arkansas often referred to as blackjacks or simply jacks. Pull into an Arkansas ramp with a limit of jacks and there will be commentary but if there are a few Cans in the mix, they will be asking where you shot them.

Later in the season, Guntersville will sometimes hold a pretty good amount of divers. They can be killed from the bank, but hunting pressure usually causes most of them to raft out in the middle of the lake or river. We have pretty good success hunting them out of a layout boat.

Almost a one man limit this morning. On the board in AL at least.

That's been my experience there. I either have gadwalls that circle the decoys a bajillion times and sometimes commit, or divers huddled up in the middle that I have to pray someone runs through and jumps them up. They usually land back in the middle though.

I think divers are the coolest of ducks. Very diverse in appearance and beautiful ducks. I can still remember the sound of a group of ringnecks, close to a hundred, dropping into the lake we were hunting early in the morning. Sounded like jets! They can haul some serious ass.....
It's one of the coolest things to me about duck hunting.....there is so much diversity in appearance and habits. Kind of like fishing in the ocean, never know what you got till you reel it in.

All the pics I could load because photobucket freaking sucks so bad . Just a few divers to show

Awesome hunts guys! I shot one of my holes this morning and wound up having to wait some out. Nothing flew in to my spot off of the roost so we waited until some swam through. Could've finished my limit with a hen but decided to let the egg layers live!







Rio also trailed his first deer Tuesday afternoon! I've had some good dogs over the years but never had one smarter or a better hunter!

Scouts first hunt..

Thats a beautiful dog. How well did he hunt?

He did great!!

I knew this duck hunting kill thread would get someone posting over the limit. LOL
Heck it's hard to hunt Woodies legal even when stopping at the limit.

A few for the wall this past weekend.

I hope that blue wing and that black bellied squealer was the last one alive. Those things will destroy a fresh planted rice field in the spring. Nice mottled duck drake also.

No rice near these boys.

Florida hunt?

Roger

Awesome birds and well worth the taxidermy bill.

Had a fun hunt today. Killed my first black duck!

I love those black ducks.....such a unique, beautiful trophy duck!

Very nice strap.

congrats on the black duck. killed a relatively small one two weekends ago. hadn't seen one in-hand in several years.

Have gotten several updates from the grand prairie and delta that many ducks have died on the front side of this cold front. If they read the book, many will also die on the back side of it during the coming thaw. Looks like we'll slip into a slower cycle with mild temps and cloudy skies. Never a good weather pattern for duck hunting but seems common in late Dec the last few years. Won't stop me from going though.

I'd be interested in knowing where those reports came from

Sorry, that's about as specific as I'll get. There are some holes still producing. A little bit of "here today, gone tomorrow" but when "here" they can't be shot out. I have pics of multiple man limits from early AM last Thurs and Friday in 3 different locales. We are off to one of the best seasons in the last 5 years.

you must be part of the duck hunting elite

Nope, just a duck hunter who is interested in protecting what I have worked for. I have a blanket policy of no pic posting and no coordinates. I love the boat and ranger pics full of ducks as much as the next guy, but loose lips sink ships. I wish it wasn't that way and we could share openly but we live in a different reality.

Quick story....Had a guy hand a blank check to one our farmers a few years ago saying he'd like this one field and it didn't matter what the cost was. The farmer (to his credit) handed it back and told the guy we had that lease until we didn't want it anymore. To that end, I'm not interested in complicating my life anymore than it is.

I will tell you I talked to some groups on Reelfoot (not where I hunt) and they have been stomping them since this hard freeze. Frozen fields has them moving to big water I guess.

Its called "the season of hate" for a reason.

Sad.... but true

I misunderstood you. I thought you were referring to "many ducks have died" like there was some natural event that killed off a bunch due to the weather😅 at least that's how I read it

. me too, I was thinking "What?"

Haha. Many ducks have died in the pattern of a scatter gun.

Mae's first woodie limit.

Great picture! I know her "dad" is very proud!

Good lookn dog!

Thanks guys. It's always fun watching your dog work for you

There were four of us hunting today and we had a great shoot..

Good hunt this morning! Killed a pair of wood ducks, a hood and a widgeon hen!

Nice Hank. Unusual to get a Widgeon around there isn't it?
Too bad it wasn't a nice drake.

First time we've ever killed anything other than wood ducks here!

Nice.

You've got a good farmer! I don't think I've ever heard of that situation ending favorably for the current lessee. There's some stupid money being thrown around just from the little bit I hear and I'm not as much in the loop as some.

Its great to see all these pictures. A buddy and I killed 5 woodies this morning; 4 drakes and a hen. it was nice not to have to layer up for the cold. This is the best season i can remember in 10 years. Ive killed mallards in alabama for the first time in 3 years. Glad to hear everyone is doing well. We can all keep it going by managing wood duck boxes other nesting habitat, and food sources.

Awful slow with everything flooded right now. We need this cold front to push in some ducks!

It was worth the 18 degree boat ride this morning

Got an invite to go hunt the Mississippi delta this past weekend and it didn't disappoint..

Real proud of my pup for making it a great hunt also..

Well it finally rained enough last weekend to put some water in my main duck hole. Between lack of water, working every weekend, a lack of birds and a 7 month old I have only been twice this year. Saw quite a few mallards, but none that wanted to work. I normally don't shoot hood rats, but the dog was having a fit when they lit in the decoys so I let her get the retrieves.

I've had a great season, but haven't shot the first wood duck which is quite unusual. Just got water in my woodie holes in the past couple of weeks. I was fortunate enough to hunt AL, GA, TN and MS this year. Going grind out AL and GA this weekend.

This was also the 1st season for my 3rd son Cash. He's turned into quite the duck dog.









Cash had to bust some major ice to get these mallards on that morning.

Good going guys. This is the season I purchased stamps and never fired a shot.

Good looking dog solo.

Congrats again solo. How did the sandhills end up tasting?


3 birds came in this morning and 3 birds left on the strap. At least I got to work a few birds this season.

It was one of our better years and am both happy and sad it is over.

Man those are some beautiful pictures rumrunner. Congrats on what appears to have been a great season.

Yeah, Rumrunner nice season.

Looks like everyone had a good season! Can't wait for next season already!!!

Thanks buddy, he's my best friend and shadow. I've taken a lot of pride in training him myself. Cash is now 14 months old. We'll be doing hunt tests to get him his junior title during the offseason.

Rumrunner - Beautiful dog first off!! Excellent pictures as well!! Congrats

TC- If I remember correctly you fairly close to farm. Let's get together and end that drought.

Thanks guys.