5 Overlooked Puddle Ducks and How to Hunt Them

Most duck-hunting TV exhibits and different media deal with mallard searching, and I’ve even seen the birds tattooed throughout hunter’s chests and arms. It’s simple to say that, just like the largemouth bass and the whitetail deer, the mallard is America’s favourite duck. But that doesn’t imply it’s the one duck try to be searching.

Our nation is house to over 2,000 species of waterfowl, and virtually each one in all them may be harvested. Nonetheless, the explanation that mallards take up the majority of the eye is that they’re one of many largest and hottest members of the group generally known as puddle geese.

These shallow-water-frequenting waterfowl, which tip themselves within the water to feed relatively than diving, are extremely enjoyable to hunt and are simply the best-tasting geese within the waterfowl menagerie. Nonetheless, whereas mallards and, to some extent, pintail and teal, get many of the intention from duck hunters, these birds are solely the tip of the puddle duck iceberg as there are a plethora of different tasty dabblers on the market which can be nicely price your consideration.

Black geese are maybe essentially the most neglected puddle duck as a result of they’re often mistaken for mallards. At across the identical dimension and form, black geese have the identical rounded heads, thick payments, and hulking our bodies distinct in mallards, besides with a lot darker plumage.

Native to the East Coast, black geese really interbreed usually and extensively with mallards, with the hybrid species being virtually unattainable to determine. Regardless of their shut relation to the mallard, although, searching black geese may be a completely completely different expertise as “blackies” may be extraordinarily elusive.

Not like mallards, which can stack up in enormous flocks in open water, black geese want to cover beneath cowl. The birds will land amongst and conceal in thick stands of cattails, reeds, and different flowers, preferring to spend the majority of their time in smaller swimming pools of water relatively than open expanses.

Looking them often means dropping a couple of decoys in small areas of dense cowl the place they’ll nonetheless be simply seen from the air after which hunkering down with little to no calling. It may be a recreation of endurance, however the rewards may be immense as as soon as a couple of black geese decide to your unfold, they’ll are available and land with out hesitation, offering some simple capturing.

There’s no different duck that’s as fairly as a woodie. With the males having their distinct inexperienced crested heads, highlighted with creamy streaks of white and iridescent oranges and reds, and their our bodies and wings dappled with shiny blues over a chestnut breast, wooden geese stand out as true magnificence queens within the waterfowl world.

Many hunters pursue wooden geese as a result of they make glorious desk fare and high-quality, stunning mounts for the wall. One other Japanese puddle duck, wooden geese vary from New England to the Carolinas, the place they fly at excessive speeds by way of thick cowl and fill the air with their distinct whistling calls.

Looking wooden geese means discovering the kind of habitat that provides them their title—wooden. Not like different puddle geese that want agricultural fields and vast open marshes, wooden geese are often finest discovered over flooded timber, on water our bodies like inland lakes and beaver ponds which can be enclosed by timber, and on marsh edges that run into the forest.

The birds love firm, so searching them may be fairly just like searching turkeys in that they’re very aware of, and can even come swimming into calls. With solely a few decoys arrange within the timber and a speedy collection of calls, you possibly can convey wooden geese in from all sides the place they’ll line up proper in your shotgun sights.

Gadwall, grey geese, or gaddies, as most hunters name them, are one other very distinctive member of the puddle duck household that’s usually neglected for its lack of plumage. Not like different puddle duck species which can be dappled in good greens and blues, gadwall are simply form of…boring trying. The hens look virtually precisely like hen mallards with their mottled brown plumage, whereas the males are just about simply grey.

Nonetheless, what they lack in coloration, they greater than make up for in tastiness as gadwall are on par flavor-wise with every other duck on the market, and there are many them available. One of the plentiful puddle duck species, gadwall have a variety that extends from coast to coast and might fill hunter’s freezers from Canada to Texas.

Gadwall searching is all about creating motion and discovering cowl. The geese are enormous followers of wing and water movement so spinner decoys, fluttering followers, and jerk-string setups are all extraordinarily efficient for them. Nonetheless, it may be laborious to camouflage your self from the birds as gadwalls are massive followers of open wetlands, prairie lakes, and moist grasslands or marshes with sparse vegetation round their fringes. Due to this fact, it’s finest to hunt them from a everlasting or moveable duck blind the place you possibly can disguise out and draw the geese in with out being seen.

Shovelers, or spoonbills, as they’re usually referred to as, get a foul rap from a variety of duck hunters. They’ve a diversified food regimen the place they use their uniquely vast and attribute payments to filter each vegetation and small crustaceans from the water. Many imagine that this offers the geese an unappetizing taste.

Nonetheless, identical to different questionable victuals from Brussels sprouts to bear meat, don’t knock shovelers till you attempt them. Personally, I’ve all the time appreciated consuming shovelers, discovering their meat to have a stronger, extra distinct taste that compares with mallard. Type of like mule deer in comparison with whitetail—it’s not unhealthy, it’s simply completely different from what we’re used to consuming.

One other factor that ought to elevate the repute of the Northern Shoveler amongst waterfowlers and particularly new-duck hunters is that they’re pretty simple to hunt. Shovelers have an unlimited vary throughout North America and are easy to search out as they’ll land and feed anyplace from coastal marshes, beaver ponds, slow-moving rivers, and even giant and deep lakes. In truth, anyplace you discover water with shallow entry to aquatic vegetation, likelihood is a shoveler can be swimming by way of it in the end.

The birds are extraordinarily interested in decoys of any form and can land amongst spreads willingly and simply. So, the simplest option to hunt them is to throw out a swath of decoys alongside the sides of the water and look ahead to shovelers to fly or swim over to say hiya. Along with their being simply fooled by decoys, shovelers are additionally notoriously sluggish flyers with virtually torpid and rhythmic wingbeats, making them a terrific goal for rookie duck hunters and for hunters with children as they’re simple to hit and supply a variety of bang on your buck.

Few different geese are extra distinct and extra enjoyable to hunt than the widgeon. Like wooden geese, these medium-sized, fast-flying puddle geese have extremely stunning plumage, with each women and men being dappled with a wide range of luminescent grays and powdery whites. As well as, drake widgeons have a really distinctive, shiny inexperienced stripe operating alongside their head with a snowy white cap. In brief, they’re a good-looking, distinguished-looking duck that may make for a number of the finest meals you’ve ever had. That’s, as long as you could find them.

Although they’re current in all 4 of the North American Flyways, wigeon are mostly discovered within the Central and Western US and alongside the Pacific Coast. Like different puddle geese, they like to feed and relaxation in flooded pastures and grass fields however appear to gravitate towards bigger, extra open our bodies of water. You could find enormous flocks of widgeon on lakes, ponds, and tidal marshes.

Not being too specific about who they hang around with, you possibly can entice widgeons with any puddle duck decoys as long as it’s a big unfold of a dozen or extra birds. They love companionship, so the extra decoys you utilize for widgeon, the higher. When you’ve acquired your decoys out, you possibly can add to your possibilities of success by making the birds’ distinct breathy “who-WHEET-whooo” name, which is pretty simple to do with simply the human voice and might have the birds flocking in by the dozen should you do it proper.

Over time, I’ve run into a variety of duck hunters leaving the water early as a result of “the mallards aren’t there but.” It’s a tragic scenario to see and one that may simply be averted. Whereas the mallard often is the icon of the duck-hunting world, they’re not the one geese on the market.

By opening your self as much as different duck species and different varieties of duck searching, you’re making your self a extra full waterfowler. Or, on the very least, you’re getting some photographs in and a few duck meat on the desk till the birds you’re ready for lastly arrive.