resident ducks.....

[judge jb]

i literally have more ducks at the Quack-Shack now than i had during prime of the season... lots of mallards with young, more woodies than i have seen in years, and a pair of geese with 5 youngins each... ain't life full of suprises... i know that a lot of fowl tend to lay over, but has any one else experience the same? i have never seen such in all my career... a local state lake is also full of ducks and young... maybe they know the pot-holes are dry....

judge jb

[SB]

Judge,

I've seen the same thing the last two years. Last year both a mallard nest and young. This year I've flushed a hen mallard while driving across a WRP field and had an area manager report the finding of a mallard nest to me. I guess short stopping works both ways!

[Super-X]

Not fortunate enough to have a duck-hole here on the place, but did see a couple of pair of woodies and watched a mallard hen
land in a road ditch in Tunica while heading to the DU great outoors festival
the other day. [img]images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img]

[Wingman]

Neat ain't it Judge? We have a bunch of Canadas and mallards here on the place. I filmed no less than 30 grown and young Canadas feeding the other day. And what gets me is the adult geese will walk and swim with their heads low to the water when they are with their young. I suppose they realize their necks are long and very well seen. Several mallard broods from duckling to half-grown. Pretty cool watching them grow up.
Got some film of that blonde hen...but just the other day I notice a brown hen with 8 or so ducklings...two of the ducklings are light yellow instead of the yellow/brown. It must be a gene from a drake.

Wingman
ISAIAH 40:31

[stateguy]

I saw 3 mallards (2 drakes) fly up from the big drainage ditch between I-240 and the Mall of Memphis last week. Really shocked me. Hell I might have a new hunting hole.

[nomsduckhunter]

If you're ever in Memphis, go through Shelby Farms. This is out Walnut Grove road at the Penal Farm. There are more Geese and Ducks there than I've ever seen. There are several hundred geese that have a bunch of goslings running around behind them. This is unbelieveable at this time of year. People have been caught deer hunting there, so I guess duck/goose hunting will be next.
[img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[duckhuntalot]

My boss used to have several pair of woodies that would nest on his lake (Winona area) He said that he would see the young come out of the boxes (at least five there that I know of) and would be there for about two to three days and then would be gone. He has trophy size bass (common to catch 8-10# 13 largest so far) Catfish were put in about five years ago some weighed 3-6# then) I am assuming the fish are eating the young because the woodies were there earlier this year but didn't raise there. Experience I guess!

[Welldoggie]

Hey Stateguy,
if you are near the Mall of Memphis, you'll need that shotgun more for self defense than duck hunting... [img]images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img]

Nomsduckhunter,
I was working my dog on training dummies next to the shelby farms ponds...on several long retrieves she would not see where the dummy fell. I noticed she missed it every time more ducks flew by with landing gear down (alot of groups of mallards raising all kinds of racket)...she was more interested in the live quacking things than dummies. I guess natural instinct beats stupid man tricks. [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[Anatidae]

Here's proof that fish DO eat ducks......and they don't have to be THAT BIG, either.



This is my brother holding a 2-1/2lb bass caught on May 14, 1963 in Lacassine Refuge near Lake Charles. The bass had a baby mallard in its throat and still hit a 'Lucky 13'. [img]images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img]

[ June 15, 2002: Message edited by: Anatidae ]