Weird Duck Today

[Nemont]

6 of us hunted a cornfield, which surprising just got cut on Dec 22!!!. It is about three hundred yards from the river. Abolutely loaded with mallards, those big tornando's of birds :hump:

Anyway like usual the birds circle and circle, we call and call and finally after what seems like forever a flock of 50 plus are cupped up and floating over the decoys right in our lap.

I hear the shot called and pic out a drake and drop him. I pull up on the next bird that looks goofy but it has green on it's head and drop him/it.

here are the pics of the weird bird.

My camera completely froze up after taking these pics but we ended up with 27 mallards, three short of a 6 man limit. Still a great day and all it did was fuel to my kids duck hunting addiction.

It will all be over this week, well except for geese.

Nemont

P.S. If the reports are accurate we are holding 60,000 plus mallards just here. Sounds like the Yellowstone, Big Horn, and other rivers are holding even more. Snow and cold no longer make the birds migrate south I guess.

 

[cornfed]

Cool looking cross,got any taxidermy friends that would like it?

 

[fowladdict]

Are the feathers on the head fluffed up or is it really that much bigger than the other drake?

 

[Nemont]

It was that much bigger then the drake beside it.

 

[Big Fin]

Wow, never seen anything like that in a wild duck. Seen a few living at parks that have some sort of domesticated duck mixed in with them. That is weird. Would be interested if you find out more about it.

In 2003, my son shot these four geese up near you, on the Milk, north of Saco. To this day, I still have no idea what they are. They were in a flock of snows he flushed off the river. They weighed more than most greater canadian honkers and had almost pink meat. I am convinced they were some sort of domestic goose, but they were flying, cackling, and trying to get away, the same as wild geese.

 

[TLC]

Nemont, that thing looks like a BIG hen? have seen a few mallards that live at farm ponds around here end up with that coloration after a few years. never have figured out why that happens. it's either that, or are you shooting illegals?

 

[TLC]

BF, those are a domesticated type goose. neighbor has some that look just like the 2 on the outside of the photo. will ask him what they are the next time I see him.

 

[Oak]

My guess would be an American Black Duck/Mallard hybrid.

 

[Nemont]

Well I have visited with a taxidermist and I posted this pics over on the duck hunters .com website. The consensus is that it is a Brewer's duck, a mallard x gadwall cross. The question is then should it be left with the Taxidermist?

Nemont

 

[fowladdict]

Hmmm...gadwall are smaller than mallards. Weird for it to be bigger than a normal mallard if it is a gadwall/mallard cross. However, I would say the coloring fits the bill of a mallard/gadwall cross.

Years ago my dad shot a mantial (pintail/mallard). He donated it to fish and game and for years it was hanging in their nature center.

I vote for stuffing it.

 

[smalls]

That's a weird one Nemo. With the size of that head I would say that it has to be a cross with a domestic of some sort.

60k mallards? Holy schnikees. When it gets cold those birds sure love the corn, eh!

 

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

It is mature so I would mount it! My guess is cross with a Grey but need to see more of body shape and color. I have killed 3 mallard/Grey crosses, one Sprig cross and one woodie cross but all were juvenile and immature so I didn't mount them---they were ugly unlike this cross you dun kilt!

BF, we used to kill 1 or 2 a year geese that looked like one on left. Flying with resident Canadas....crosses with domestic.

 

[Nemont]

Well just as quickly the consensus changed to that it is a hen mallard with hormone problems. Who knows, just a different duck I guess.

Nemont

 

[Drake4]

BF, you sure you didn't shoot those geese out of Farmer John's front yard?

 

[Big Fin]

BF, you sure you didn't shoot those geese out of Farmer John's front yard?

Promise, it was on state land. Also shot a pheasant and a couple mallards there the next day.

When the flock was flushed and Matthew shot, they came over me. My uncle was yelling not to shoot, as he thought Matthew had toasted a bunch of swans. So, I let the snows and the couple other "unknown geese" pass at twenty yards without a shot. Afterwards, I wished I would have taken out the few remaning "inbreeds" from the flock.

Like I said in the original post, I think they were some sort of domestic type goose. But they could fly with the snows and were making as much noise as any other goose. If it acts like a wild goose and sounds like a wild goose, it is a wild goose, right?

I am sure the public park visitors in Edmonton were wondering what happened when only a few of their big popcorn fed geese showed up the following spring. Same might be said for Nemont's mystery mallard.

 

[fowladdict]

When the flock was flushed and Matthew shot, they came over me. My uncle was yelling not to shoot, as he thought Matthew had toasted a bunch of swans

Did you forget to put the plug in Mathew's shotgun??? 4 birds?

 

[Nemont]

Big Fin,

How far north of Saco? Could be my MIL's flock of tame geese, she is north of Saco. Those do look like they have some park goose in them. Those goofy snow geese will let any kind of goose fly south with them.

Nemont

 

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

I got a cuppla ex-wives that had a hormone problem but I didn't shoot them...gave them friggin houses instead.....my mistake....

 

[Big Fin]

Big Fin,

How far north of Saco? Could be my MIL's flock of tame geese, she is north of Saco. Those do look like they have some park goose in them. Those goofy snow geese will let any kind of goose fly south with them.

Nemont

About six miles north and west. You would know exactly where it is. About the only area in that stretch that has any public access to water. Don't tell your MIL, I have enough people mad at me for a multitude of indiscretions.

Yeah, those damn snow geese will shack up with anyone.

...I got a cuppla ex-wives that had a hormone problem but I didn't shoot them...gave them friggin houses instead.....my mistake....

If that doesn't make a guy laugh, he better pack it in. Hilarious.

 

[Nemont]

BF,

I know exactly where that is. I will have to dig through some pics I have of a friend of mine hunting that stretch and the "snow goose" he shot. I think the statute of limitations is expired now. Have you ever watched the snows stage out of Nelson? Looks like a version of Freeze Out.

Nemont