Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Purpose built and 50 years young: 1973 Lund Ducker

I’ve always just carved out the meat. Fugg plucking them. Great boat and congrats on the ducks.

Hey Aces. Thanks for the sharing and your bud sounds like he qualifies for the 'serious about killing birds kind of guy' club.

I might be ignorant, but the three flavors of mergansers/sawbills/fish ducks I'm familiar with are the hooded, red-breasted and common. Never heard of a 'crested'.

Thanks for the chiming in on the thread and in any event, best regards to you and yours.

What exactly does the weeping Ginzo playing the Wounded Knee 'victim' have to do with this thread?

Maybe I wanna get invited to go duck hunting sometime.......


Not that I have the money to go...but it would be nice to be asked.

I never woulda thought sculling would be that efficient, the guy was moving along pretty good. Cool boat 😎

To put things in perspective, it’s the bird dweebs in the American Ornithological Society ( formerly the AOU) who choose the “official” English names of our North American birds, more specifically the North American Classification Committee (NACC).

Some of these people will be pretty hard core but I’d guess most voted for Biden and prob’ly only one or two have been in a duck boat.

The hooded does have a serious crest going on, maybe it’s that one.

Kamo….it is the hooded Merganser. My bud calls them crested and I’d always screw with him and his somewhat made up names…the “crested” is “Tim speak” for hooded merganser. He’s going to laugh his ass off at me when I tell him that he’s got me calling the damn things “crested”. They’re a beautiful bird, as you know, and it’s one of the the first “ducks” I dropped on my first duck hunt 42 years ago and ever since I’ve had a soft spot for them.

Thanks Birdie and you’re correct that the “crested” is the hooded.

Those boards look like they would get the job done but I could never enjoy one, Same with a kayak..... If my legs are straight I am laying in my back. I have no flexibility that allows me to sit up with my legs straight out in front of me. To many injuries in my youth.

Glad you had an opportunity to take the old girl out again!

You definitely live the outdoors life most can only dream of👍🏻

Thought if you the other day, made the news here in Michigan, a huge flock of ducks were on the water, just off the Big Mack bridge, folks thought it was a oil slick at first. Part of the flock was a group of 6,000 Red Heads, said to be the largest flock of them ever. Happy Hunting

Merganser and cormorant both have three syllables... just chance?

Kamo gari: Thanks for sharing your photos and the story of your Hunt!
Great job there.
I try to get out at least once a year to Hunt Ducks and Geese - over decoys in fields. But on rare occasion we jump shoot Mallards from spring creeks (they never freeze up).
This year we are allowed to harvest 7 (seven!) Mallards (only 2 can be hens) a day and the "dark Geese" limit was raised to 5 (five) this year and the Snow Geese bag limit is 20 (twenty).
Two years ago I put in for one of the 500 Swan permits they give out here in the Pacific Flyway of Montana and was drawn for it - but alas I could NOT bring myself to go bonk one!
Due to the early and profound cold here this winter most all of the migrating waterfowl have long since left here - passed over us.
Thanks again for the great photos.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
P.S.: I meant to add/inquire - is there a shortage of Mallards this year in your area or are the limits always this low?

Got it and thanks for sharing. Only had an hour or so for this morning outing, and today's sunrise was worth the price of admission, but also had a few run-ins with these pretty fellers (common merganser drakes). One looks like he'll make the cut, as it were, and join the birds already here in the cases after a time with my bird guy. I'll just need the RB now for the complete merg set. The other two are going to a bud for training with his new male Chessie pup.





V-Fingers, yes sir. We used to have a four bird limit on mallards (w/2 hens) until two years ago when they chopped it in half due to dropping mallard numbers. Good news is that they doubled our black ducks from one to two. Total daily bag--if you could limit on everything open-- is six ducks total with a pretty wide variety of species, with certain restrictions. Also in regular season daily bag we can take two Canada geese, three brant, six sea ducks, fifteen snow and blue geese. Also in early season we can hunt snipe and two types of rails. MA and New England in general is not seen as a bird hunter's destination, but I love the variety. One year I took 23 species of waterfowl here (insert Gump and his box of chocolates line here). One of these days I'm going to get after a swan. Thinking maybe NC.

Thanks to you boys who commented. There's something so special about hunting stuff, especially so with older stuff, and all the memories that they help make with we hunters.

Article on declining eastern mallard numbers below. Unsure of publication date. To be honest, I'm just not seeing the decline that is cited, but if it is to actually benefit them, I'm in. Just have to hunt twice as many days to get my greenheads.

https://www.ducks.org/conservation/...erfowl-whats-wrong-with-eastern-mallards



Understanding Waterfowl: What's Wrong with Eastern Mallards?

Declining numbers of this popular species will likely result in changes to hunting regulations in the Atlantic Flyway
© MICHAELFURTMAN.COM
By John M. Coluccy, Ph.D.

The mallard is far and away North America's most abundant duck, and this highly adaptable species is found year-round throughout almost the entire continental United States. Historical accounts suggest that breeding mallards were once rare in eastern North America, although they were common seasonal visitors along the Atlantic coast during migration and winter. Today, nearly 1 million mallards breed in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada, but surveys indicate that this population has been declining in recent years.

How did mallards gain a foothold in the East? During the 20th century, millions of captive-reared mallards were released in eastern states to supplement wild populations. Coupled with changes in habitat conditions caused by farming and urbanization, breeding mallards became well established from the mid-Atlantic states north to New England and across much of eastern Canada. Recent advances in genetic techniques have confirmed that eastern mallards are more closely related to Old World mallards (the source of captive-reared stock) than are their counterparts in other flyways.

The Status of Mallard Populations Overall, continental mallard populations have been doing well. In 2017, breeding mallards in the traditional survey area (including the Prairie Pothole Region, Western Boreal Forest, and other breeding areas) numbered 10.5 million birds (a level 34 percent above the long-term average), and have been trending upward over the long term. Mallards are counted separately in the eastern survey area (encompassing eastern Canada and parts of Maine) and in the northeastern United States from Virginia to New Hampshire. Over the past 20 years, this population—which numbered just under 900,000 birds in 2017—has been gradually declining at a rate of about 1 percent per year. While breeding mallard numbers have been largely stable in eastern Canada, they have decreased by about 38 percent in the northeastern United States. Data from the independent Breeding Bird Survey also suggest that breeding mallards have been declining in this region.


If mallards are doing so well continentally, why should we be concerned about the status of the eastern population? To answer this question, we must examine how source populations contribute to the mallard harvest in different areas. This is accomplished by calculating harvest derivation using data from mallards banded on specific breeding areas, band recovery data from mallards harvested in different states, and breeding population data. In the northeastern United States, an estimated 79 percent of the mallards harvested by hunters are produced in that region. In Pennsylvania, 75 percent of harvested mallards are raised in the state, while in New York, 69 percent of harvested mallards are homegrown. As you move south in the Atlantic Flyway, the proportion of locally raised mallards in the harvest decreases. For example, in the mid-Atlantic region only 39 percent of harvested mallards are produced locally, although 72 percent are derived from the eastern mallard population.

Why Are Eastern Mallards Declining?
Waterfowl managers are not sure what has caused the decline of the eastern mallard population. There are many theories, including the loss and degradation of breeding and nonbreeding habitat, lower survival and fitness caused by winter food shortages, and the adverse effects of hybridization between wild birds and released game-farm mallards. But none of these hypotheses have been formally tested.

The size of the annual mallard breeding population is largely influenced by two factors: adult survival and production of young. The long-term decline in eastern mallards suggests that there is a problem with either survival or production, or perhaps both. However, survival estimates from banding data have changed little since the 1990s, when the population was stable. Over the same period, estimates of mallard production obtained by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Parts Collection Survey have not decreased either. This suggests that there might be an issue with the accuracy of one or both of these data sources.

Proposed Changes to Hunting Regulations
Since 2000, the status of the eastern mallard population has been used to set hunting seasons and bag limits for ducks in the Atlantic Flyway. Given that mallards make up only 20 percent or less of the total duck harvest in the flyway, this is no longer considered an optimal strategy. As a result, the Atlantic Flyway Council and USFWS have developed a new approach to harvest management based on the status of four other common species (wood ducks, American green-winged teal, ring-necked ducks, and common goldeneyes). Moving forward, hunting regulations for eastern mallards will be developed like other species that are currently below their population objectives, such as northern pintails and scaup. Based on our current understanding of eastern mallard population dynamics, recent harvest rates for these birds may no longer be sustainable. Consequently, waterfowl managers have recommended a reduction in the mallard bag limit from four birds to two (in the Atlantic Flyway only), beginning in the 2019–2020 waterfowl season. Hen restrictions within the two-bird mallard limit are still being considered. Managers are hopeful that a bag-limit reduction will stabilize the eastern mallard population while a new harvest strategy is developed using the best available science.

Final decisions regarding the change in the mallard bag limit and a new multispecies harvest management approach will be made this fall. The Atlantic Flyway Council will make a final recommendation to the Service Regulations Committee following their September meeting. The USFWS will then make a recommendation to the assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, who makes the final decision on the regulations. (See "How the Seasons Are Set" on page 48 of the printed magazine for more information about this process.)

Assisting the Recovery of Eastern Mallards
A crucial first step toward the recovery of the eastern mallard population is evaluating potential bias in banding and Parts Collection Survey data to help pinpoint the cause or causes of the decline. Specific research can then be conducted to evaluate what's potentially impacting survival or production. If research shows that habitat loss is significantly influencing the decline of eastern mallards, DU will work with our state and federal partners to develop conservation strategies to help stabilize and increase the population.


Dr. John Coluccy is director of conservation planning in DU's Great Lakes/Atlantic Region.

Very cool. Many years ago locally we'd get rafts of scaup in those kinds of numbers. We see very few now. I've read that lack of eel grass, a common forage for them, amongst other food sources, is the culprit.

I can only imagine what it'd have been like to put the sneak on a massive flock of ducks and torching off one of these beasts mounted in the bow...

First geese of the season this evening, a flock of specks (greater white fronted geese) passing overhead, actually cheered 😎😎😎😎

Geese are hit or miss over San Antonio, same thing with Sandhills.

College Station further East, there would be long lines of snows passing overhead against a starry sky, lit up by the city lights below. Spectacular!

Pulling an all-nighter in Grad school in College Station one rainy and windy night, a flock of specks, mistaking the flooded parking lot outside my office window for water, came in below the parking lot lights, touched down briefly before moving on, they were having a tough night.

Funny thing is, never saw geese going north in the spring, just heading south in the fall.

I believe my Alumacraft ducker was built in the early 60's. I love that boat and it will float over wet grass!