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Attn: Waterfowl fanatics!

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Make it up to Montana some day and we will get after em. 2-3 days a week from first week of dec through the central flyway closer (usually 3rd week of January). We got some pretty epic spots.

This is the field we hunted this weekend.

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I’ve been seeing a lot of that, including a couple thousand geese piling into one field this morning. Getting permission on one of those fields has been the hard part.
 
Make it up to Montana some day and we will get after em. 2-3 days a week from first week of dec through the central flyway closer (usually 3rd week of January). We got some pretty epic spots.

This is the field we hunted this weekend.

View attachment 209213
Um, can I get in on this? Montana was home for me for 30 years. I moved eight years ago and just took up waterfowl last year. Now kicking myself, not realizing what I had been missing all that time in the 406.
 
Um, can I get in on this? Montana was home for me for 30 years. I moved eight years ago and just took up waterfowl last year. Now kicking myself, not realizing what I had been missing all that time in the 406.
Oh yea! The last best place for maybe a little while more anyway when it comes to fowl.
I’ve been seeing a lot of that, including a couple thousand geese piling into one field this morning. Getting permission on one of those fields has been the hard part.

Getting permission gets a little harder every year, still some less known corners of the world where it can be done relatively easily.
 
After a great hunt last week the ducks were just not cooperating today, very frustrating after I thought I had them figured out. Only got one shot at a pintail and i missed, didn't even get a shot at a mallard. But there was one bright spot; on previous trip I let a redhead sneak up on me, but today I saw him coming (actually a pair) and cashed in. Banded ducks aren't super rare around here, but I think this is the first banded diving duck I've ever shot.
20220118_121919.jpg
 
How are Redheads on the table, taste good? Do not ever see them in my hunting areas, I have never shot one.

They generally have a good reputation, I've shot a handful on this lake and they were feeding on the same seeds as the puddle ducks and tasted fine. I've heard that the ones in saltwater can be less desirable, but no firsthand experience.
 
Growing up on the coast Reds and Cans were all over the map as table fare…one might be as mild as a mallard, the next kinda fishy/funky like a ringbill. Pretty much all shot from around the same areas sooo 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
Try hunting up here in late Sept through early October. Geese from horizon to horizon. And weather is usually not bad. I'm not much into laying in a box on a snowy field. Manitoba is calling me next year. I did my PhD in Winnipeg and fished the area around Robblin. Fantastic waterfowl country. I believe it is possible for nonresident Americans to DYI for birds but big game requires outfitter. Did hunt geese with an outfitter in SK a few years ago. Would have been better off hunting by myself I think. Hell, most of the time I was anyway. All he did was drop us off and throw out the deeks then left for the day. We didn't do that great but weather was horrible. Can't fault anyone for that. Early blizzard.
 
How are Redheads on the table, taste good? Do not ever see them in my hunting areas, I have never shot one.
The ones i'm getting down here have been some of my better birds for the table. They've also been some of the fatter birds that i've gotten every year the last three years. To my knowledge these birds are not venturing over to the coast towards saltwater but i cant verify that with 100% accuracy. Their crops are usually full of hydrilla tubers when I process them .
 

The band on this duck looked pristine, so I figured it was banded recently. I figured wrong!

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Dang that's a pretty old duck, coming up on 10+ years. I shot a mallard that was 7 or 8 years old, the band was hard to read. Most others I've collected were banded within last year or 2, and usually from NM or Colorado.
 

This past Saturday, somewhere in Montana. The season always ends too soon
"I bet there are 300 ducks out there" :ROFLMAO:

That is a pretty sweet looking field. I saw a few like that on the second to last weekend that made me stop in awe. I think the filed you drove by doubled the fields I was looking at.
 
The band on this duck looked pristine, so I figured it was banded recently. I figured wrong!

View attachment 209540

Dang that's a pretty old duck, coming up on 10+ years. I shot a mallard that was 7 or 8 years old, the band was hard to read. Most others I've collected were banded within last year or 2, and usually from NM or Colorado.
I have a goose band that was only a couple years old but looked like it had been through WWII. Had to guess at one of the numbers. Got it right on second attempt. I think some birds find the bands irritating and peck on them.
 
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