Scouting for ducks

[Deleted member 38069]

This morning I went and scouted a public land pond.

It showed some promise. A few trees near the bank for cover.

Here is the view from this spot.

This would put shots around 30 yards.

I jumped a group of teal and woodies. Then had a few groups of cans fly over! I can't wait for the opener!

 

[dirtclod Az.]

This morning I went and scouted a public land pond.
View attachment 113533
It showed some promise. A few trees near the bank for cover.
View attachment 113534
Here is the view from this spot.
View attachment 113535
This would put shots around 30 yards.

I jumped a group of teal and woodies. Then had a few groups of cans fly over! I can't wait for the opener!

Boomer,what kinda cans?Ameri-cans,Mexi-cans,Peurto Ri-cans?Ha!,Ha!

 

[BrentD]

Where at? (State)

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Where at? (State)

Southern Minnesota

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Boomer,what kinda cans?Ameri-cans,Mexi-cans,Peurto Ri-cans?Ha!,Ha!

CANadians

 

[BrentD]

Southern Minnesota

Hope you see more than us
Not a lot of birds about. Very few are teal.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Hope you see more than us
Not a lot of birds about. Very few are teal.

I wonder why? Is there typically a good amount of BWT? I've seen lots of wood ducks.

 

[Northwoods Labs]

Hope you see more than us
Not a lot of birds about. Very few are teal.

We saw very few teal this weekend as well. Tons of wood ducks like you said. Lots of geese but all large flocks up high, got a few to come look but no takers. Hunting NW Wisconsin. Boomer, looks like a good spot. Hope you get some ducks on it

 

[Deleted member 38069]

We saw very few teal this weekend as well. Tons of wood ducks like you said. Lots of geese but all large flocks up high, got a few to come look but no takers. Hunting NW Wisconsin. Boomer, looks like a good spot. Hope you get some ducks on it

When does your season start?

 

[bpitt]

New to duck/goose hunting here. My youngest daughter really took a liking to hunting/fishing this past year, so we've been busy scouting for anything/everything. We've located an area that Canada geese visit a few times each week (we have an early 'resident' Canada goose season). We checked a couple of public land ponds and flushed some ducks. Two look like female teal, the other three looked like maybe male teal, or something else. They had white stripes on their wings, and they looked dark from a distance. How the heck do you properly identify ducks?

 

[Deleted member 38069]

New to duck/goose hunting here. My youngest daughter really took a liking to hunting/fishing this past year, so we've been busy scouting for anything/everything. We've located an area that Canada geese visit a few times each week (we have an early 'resident' Canada goose season). We checked a couple of public land ponds and flushed some ducks. Two look like female teal, the other three looked like maybe male teal, or something else. They had white stripes on their wings, and they looked dark from a distance. How the heck do you properly identify ducks?

It's difficult at first. The size is a big factor. Teal fly like fighter jets. Buy some decoys on craigslist and go try it out. Lots of fun!

 

[BrentD]

It's difficult at first. The size is a big factor. Teal fly like fighter jets. Buy some decoys on craigslist and go try it out. Lots of fun!

It is difficult after a while too

For teal, shape of the wing and the way they fly helps a lot but I want to see the blue wing patch, or I am not shooting. Been fooled too many times by woodies at this time of year. Usually woodies have a pale chin strap, different silhouette, and a white eye ring, but not always, or not always visible in fast flight.

Two things we did last weekend - 1. Did not shoot at first light. Just not enough light to be certain, so some probable teal got away, but better that than making a mistake. 2. We had a pair of binoculars. One of us was a spotter, and called the shots. Sometimes the spotter got shots off as well, but we traded back and forth. That helped a lot, but even with binos, it can be difficult in some lighting conditions.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Binoculars are a good idea!

 

[kansasdad]

New to duck/goose hunting here.

How the heck do you properly identify ducks?

Under certain conditions such as first light, ID is much more dicey, and I subscribe to the BrentD method of holding my shot. KansasDeptWildlifeParks scouting reports always include the warning of multiple species present on certain marshes for the early teal season.

Woodducks and teal are generally the same shape (small bodies) but to my eye the teal have the fastest wing flap of all duck species, and I use that fact to rule out many non-target ducks before I can see wing/body color. Bluewing teal's beaks are proportionally much larger than woodducks, and sometimes I think it is a Northern Shoveler flying by in mistaken identity. Wing position on the body will help in separating divers from dabbler ducks. Flight characteristics are another good clue......there is a reason for teal being nicknamed the F-16's of the marsh, jinking, juking and twisting away as they move your way. And the final clue is wing/air noise.....a flock of teal turning as one creates such a whooooosshing of wind that sometimes I am stunned into watching and marveling at the audible spectacle and fail to pull the trigger.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Have fun scaring some of those birds - I'll try to kill some of them when they fly south.

I was intimidated by duck ID for a long time and so didn't attempt to hunt them. Then it was explained to me that you can basically always kill the first duck without having to ID it and based on what you shoot you just make a list of what you CAN'T shoot for your next duck. For example you shoot a hen wood duck well you know you are one closer to the limit for that type and can still shoot any one duck for your next one. As you approach your daily limit you have to be more sure about ID and have to pass on more shots.

 

[BrentD]

Have fun scaring some of those birds - I'll try to kill some of them when they fly south.

I was intimidated by duck ID for a long time and so didn't attempt to hunt them. Then it was explained to me that you can basically always kill the first duck without having to ID it and based on what you shoot you just make a list of what you CAN'T shoot for your next duck. For example you shoot a hen wood duck well you know you are one closer to the limit for that type and can still shoot any one duck for your next one.

Not during special teal season you can't.

 

[bpitt]

Yeah, we're really wanting to make sure we don't shoot something we aren't supposed to shoot. Only teal...and of course Canada geese, which are easy to identify. But those ducks...we spied the 2 female teal with binoculars BEFORE they flew off. I feel confident we made a positive ID on those. It's the other three that we're not sure about. They took flight before we could get the bino's on them. They looked, from a distance (200 yards) to be dark/black heads with maybe a white stripe..and a dark brown body with a white patch/stripe on their wings.

 

[lr123]

The best way to start positively ID'ing birds is spend more time looking at birds. Also for early season teal usually fly in groups from 4-20 birds low over the water. This isn't to say that wood ducks won't be in groups but rarely do you see more than probably 6 birds at a time flying. I think that they should open wood ducks up during early season as I believe a lot of people make the mistake of shooting wood ducks thinking they are teal. The wood ducks often tend to start migrating shortly after teal move south as well.

 

[Hunting Wife]

If you’re just starting out, find one of these little books.

You can find them at most National Wildlife Refuges and some state fish and game offices. If you can learn the relative sizes and the patterns of light and dark on the different species, you’ll be most of the way there.

 

[BrentD]

Duck up close. This am.