Duck hunters

What’s your favourite duck to decoy in and why?

Mallards. They are big ducks and good eating. Respond well to calling and decoy well.

Agree,with gadwalls second.

Definitely mallards are a lot of fun to get into the decoys. We have alot of them here earlier in the year and they’re really smart for sure

I love decoying divers, Canvasbacks are my favorite.

If I could only shoot one species ever, it would be Teal, Bluewing or Greenwing, doesn’t matter to me. Fun little birds to shoot and outstanding on the plate!

Teal

The next one that comes in is my favorite

Teal here also. But I have to agree Cans coming into a spread is a sight to see. My group would alway get excited when a bull pintail would work. We shoot very few pintails in this state compared to many other species

I like the way gadwalls are fairly easy to convince to decoy.

I like how erratic shovelors can be rocking all over the place at high speeds.

I also really like watching watching a big wad of ringnecks buzz around every which way like a swarm of angry hornets. They'll usually land on the fringes of the decoys for a few minutes and get up and do it again over and over all morning long if there's enough of them.

I think all duck is good to eat and can't hardly taste much of a difference between species. I believe any "sportsman" who thinks certain species are "trash ducks" and not worth eating, mergansers aside, are severely misguided.

Here none of us have ever shot a pin tail I don’t think . That’s a bucket list bird for us !
But we love golden eyes , they come in like a rocket !

Wherever people eat whales and seals and sea birds (murres, gulls, shearwaters etc,) mergansers are good birds. It's an acquired taste that you usually got to grow up to. Icelanders, Greenlanders, Inuit (Eshimos), northern coastal peoples in general understand.

I agree 100%.
Shovelers, ringnecks, scaup. They all go in the pot. Some species are better than others baked, but in gumbo, on the grill, in stir fry I can’t tell one from another. (Not counting mergansers)

GW teal....the very best eating duck there is. Don't want no bluewings...they ain't nothin but a narrow billed shovler.

I gotta say Canvasback on a cold November day with the wind out of the Northwest spitting snow. Hot thermos of good, strong, black coffee and a couple ham sandwiches and homemade cookies in the pack.

We get a lot of them on the Mississippi and they are fantastic on the table.

Beside Canvasbacks I will never pass on Mallards, Gadwalls, Widgeon, Ringnecks, Bluebills, Blackducks, Shoveler and any other legal duck to fly across my decoys. They are all good on the table when taken care of an cooked properly.

Moosetrot

Teal are fun, especially when a big knot commits , and as the first gun comes up, they all flush straight up in the air like fireworks. Long fall till they plop on the water for the dog to retrieve.

First light mallards are fun to watch, that five minutes prior to shooting time can be really active and vocal. Sip coffee and enjoy the show!

Or that tight wad of twisted up bluegills/scaup coming in over the decoys. Pick out the black fronted drakes and let them have it. Kill them dead cause they’re tough when they start diving!

Few more weeks and we’ll be in the blind! Can’t wait!

John

While I enjoy all waterfowl attracted to my decoys,I get as much enjoyment laying out my spread. When I am able,I set divers,puddlers and goose decoys.
I love looking at my spreads,and more than once ,I haven't even bothered to shoot the ducks or geese that have been drawn in and landed--watching them and how they react is a learning experience.
I have had eagles grab a decoy and try to fly off with them. I remember one time,I watched as another hunter pulled off the road and got into the ditch,he crawled about 200 yards and was all set to jump up and open up on my decoys--it was then that I yelled that they were decoys.He was so embarrased,he crawled back the entire 200 yards in the ditch,rather than get back on the road near me.
I sure do love decoys and waterfowl hunting.
Tom

Woodies are fun, and have a nice call/whistle. And pretty too.

Grew up shooting lots of mallards. Everything else we we wouldn't waste our ammo on.
Considered everything else mud ducks not worth cleaning or eating.

My buddy up is Saskatchewan says anything that is not a Mallard is a sh*t duck. Pintails, etc. are Long-necked sh*t ducks, divers teal, etc. asre Shortnecked sh*t ducks.

Moosetrot

Mallards of course, but a nice pack of pintails working on the whistle in a north wind are hard to beat. Widgeon are great too when they are really working the call and ecoys.

Those pintails might not taste good when they come off the prairie potholes in Canada, but after a couple months eating rice, they are right up there with the finest greenhead you ever ate.

Pete

a good read guys , I'm envious of you guys that can taste the differences of a duck , when cook together , same with beer ,it all taste the same , that being said I like duck , and I like all ducks that decoy in ,

golden eye are one of my favorites. but ringnecks are fun when a flock works the decoys. by the way rusty I hear you only shoot em when they're sitting down lol!

Can't believe no one has said widgeon!! When you hear that whistle and see them make that final circle...that's my favorite by far!

We mostly have wood ducks here, but I don't think I've ever shot one over a decoy. I just hunt where they eat and hide good.

Divers decoy great, but sometimes they make me seriously question their intelligence. I think I could set out two long lines of old tennis shoes floating on top of the water and they would come from miles to land there.

Mallards are great too, but cotton tops are my favorite

Mallards.Then Geese if they count.

Black Ducks!, Learned on them and specialize on them, Everything else fell off the IQ truck, lol

Too many with Rice Breast on BD's around here, and yeah I know it won't hurt eating them. :-(

Coots. Very good eating. Rice hen

Raised hunting mallards and blacks. Nothing like having a mixed flock of wary, red-legged mallards and blacks circle you a half dozen times before they commit. But canvasbacks are the most coveted because consistently seeing them is rare where we hunt....Hope to kill my deer early so I can get more duck hunting in when the weather gets good and snotty!!

If your targeting just black ducks is there any tricks to setting up a decoy spread or on calling ?

I'm glad to see a thread on the eating of waterfowl. You hear the comparisons of game, like turtle to chicken, beaver to roast beef, which are both accurate. But waterfowl are waterfowl you can't make it taste like chicken or roast beef. It is the main reason I spend "TIB" time in blind. The second reason is watching them come to decoys, nothing like it.

goose or puddle ducks slow cooked in onion soup mix in a crock pot tastes like roast beef if your serving to people who don't like "gamey" food. add horse radish and mashed potatoes and gravy and everyone's happy. we shoot mostly divers later on in the season and sometimes it takes some fancy cooking to make them edible lol

[quote=Knappett]goose or puddle ducks slow cooked in onion soup mix in a crock pot tastes like roast beef if your serving to people who don't like "gamey" food. add horse radish and mashed potatoes and gravy and everyone's happy. we shoot mostly divers later on in the season and sometimes it takes some fancy cooking to make them edible lol [/quote


I hear common merganser chilli is pretty good

TeePee2

I suck at shooting so I get to watch them come to decoys, and leave . Lol

Actually, there is a "routine" Black Duck setup. BD's are generally anti-social and group in pairs. 5 >7 dekes in an open area ( in pairs or 3) is more productive than a large spread such as other species. Space them apart!

Actually, there is a "routine" Black Duck setup. BD's are generally anti-social and group in pairs. 5 >7 dekes in an open area ( in pairs or 3) is more productive than a large spread such as other species. Space them apart! Less is more :-)

Thanks for the advice! I didn’t know they were an anti social bird
We have been talking about trying that lately - the ducks seem to be shying off the bigger spreads a bit-
So glad to hear that it works

You can say that again SJA.

Too bad we don’t have waterfowl on the Delmarva Peninsula.

Yup! ducks are getting real scarce on the Delmarva ISLAND

Greencaps against a clear November sky! Over decoys of course. If they tasted like pheasants or quail, they'd be extinct.

I agree, mallards offer more diverse opportunities, here in the great lakes states,considering over decoys on water and more fervently , field shoots over recent corn harvests,those mallards are the bulk of attention. Corn fed mallards put roasters in the oven!
Pintails are fantastic to work, decoy well,seem to ride high, just have to work them.
Waxed full bodied teal in the oven,...hard to beat.

If you don't like eating duck you are cooking it wrong. Most likely over cooking it. There is a reason it is one of the most expensive things on the menu at the fancy restaurant and its not bc it taste bad.

Heading to Saskatchewan to hunt ducks on Saturday. Have waited my entire life to do it. Cannot wait. I have a great dog and love every aspect of duck hunting, other than our best duck hunting takes place during trapping season, and it s impossible for me not to trap. Every different duck, weather condition and day brings something different to the table and its impossible for me to say what my favorite one is. Divers in a spitting snow when its cold as (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman), a big knot of teal doing their version of top gun at daylight, Cans coming down a j hook, big flock of mallards getting ready to pile in to a picked cornfield, honkers tipping and feet down in a field spread, snows and blues in a tornado! Its all a spectacle. God is good and as outdoors people, we all love what it has to offer. So many people will never experience what we do as hunters, trappers, fishermen. They are truly missing out on the best that life has to offer.

Heading to Saskatchewan to hunt ducks on Saturday. Have waited my entire life to do it. Cannot wait. I have a great dog and love every aspect of duck hunting, other than our best duck hunting takes place during trapping season, and it s impossible for me not to trap. Every different duck, weather condition and day brings something different to the table and its impossible for me to say what my favorite one is. Divers in a spitting snow when its cold as (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman), a big knot of teal doing their version of top gun at daylight, Cans coming down a j hook, big flock of mallards getting ready to pile in to a picked cornfield, honkers tipping and feet down in a field spread, snows and blues in a tornado! Its all a spectacle. God is good and as outdoors people, we all love what it has to offer. So many people will never experience what we do as hunters, trappers, fishermen. They are truly missing out on the best that life has to offer.

Have a great trip to Sask, Suchlike2! I went up there for many years and had incredible hunts.

Good luck, be safe, have fun, and let us know how it goes.

Moosetrot