DuckSouth.com

Over the years I've seen countless wood duck chicks come out. The hen will stick around til the first 3 or 4 come out and hit the bank or the water. If there is a little delay in the rest of the chicks coming out she will start moving and move completely out of the area. I have never seen her come back to get the rest of them. I guess she is in the mind set a bird in hand is better than 2 in the bush. I have picked up and carried 5 chicks over 1/2 mile to the rest and boated off. I hope she picked them up.

Mallard hens when they nest in the fields will be some times over 1 mile from water. I wonder how many made the trip!

If I found 4 wood ducks on the ground at my house, I'd pick them up in a heartbeat!...hell, if they even made it to my house, they were lucky...cats and coons, and dogs, hell, the predators are limitless....to leave them there in a residential area WITH or WITHOUT the mother is certain DOOM...a wood duck hen ain't gonna fend off a hungry cat!....at least they have a chance now.....where before they didn't.

NOW, with that said, don't go picking up every duckling you see....the circumstances have to be studied.....and I'll guarantee wingman and SB ain't gonna ever tell you to pick up baby ducks....."BUT the game warden told me it was OK." that ain't gonna happen!

ya'll actually think the ducks woulda lived if he hadn't RESCUED them?
hell I say good job....now raise them and release them ASAP.(don't worry guys, you won't be able to tell they're Penraised ducks come hunting season)....wood duck hens DO make mistakes where they lay eggs...I've pulled 3 out of my chimney over the years....that's a helluva place to lay eggs....had she hatched some chicks in my chimeny should I just let them die there, or help?

but ya'll keep up the good work...that'll teach these to come to this website looking for help! damn topwaters!

duck_nutt wrote:I'll guarantee wingman and SB ain't gonna ever tell you to pick up baby ducks....."BUT the game warden told me it was OK." that ain't gonna happen!

And there's a good reason for that!

duck_nutt wrote:ya'll actually think the ducks woulda lived if he hadn't RESCUED them?

As good a chance as any in the wild, and this was some rescue.

ruger0771 wrote:I found four of these things running around in my fathers yard. I chased them down, and put them in a cage... thinking they were wood ducks.

duck_nutt wrote:that'll teach these to come to this website looking for help! damn topwaters!

ruger0771 wrote:I'm all excited about this cause I have been trying to find some wood ducks for our daughter for the last 3 months.

He wasn't lookin for help. He was lookin fer a pat on the back.

you can cut and paste every damn sentence I wrote and respond....2 wood ducklings in the wild have a better chance than 2 walking around my house(and I live in the country)...their chances of surviving would be ZERO! I have baby chickens..if they get out of the pen, they're cat food...or dog or coon bla bla bla

least now they have a chance..like someone said before, they found 4 and 3 died..well, at least 1 made it...

when a wood duck falls outta a box or a cavity in a tree, that's it....it ain't no running back to the nest for security..
I still think he did the right thing, weather it's legal or not....
sometimes ya gotta use that thing on your shoulders for more than a hat rack



sportsman, you actually believe they would have lived?

If wild animals arent broke....dont fix em...nature will sort em out. Now ifn your lookin for pets...the local feed and seed will hook ya up.

nature will sort them out.......you absolutely right

but I thought we were doing all we can to help teh woodie SURVIVE....by intervening! BTW, that's what you're doing by placing wood duck boxes out....intervening with nature...to help a species survive and thrive

help me to understand just when any of you would have help..draw us a picture...if you came across the ducks in the north park mall parking lot would you save them?....4 baby ducks unable to fly with no mother around...or is there just absloutely no way under any circumstances you'd help?

sportsman, you actually believe they would have lived?

man, i didn't read the original post anymore than seein the pics and the "spirit" of the thread, so i can't be sure, but i dunno if they got lions, tigers, bears or cats/dogs running around in the back yard....

in fact, something i think is being lost on folks is, them suckers got IN the yard SOMEHOW, maybe they woulda got back out.....PLUS, how long they been there i wonder.....so, moving them "may" have been a big mistake OR it may have been a saving grace...point being, from what i can tell, the original poster took NEITHER into consideration, therefore, nullifying any "good intent" anyone can dream up.....

it's a "risk/benefit" deal to me....if the "risk" of them dying outweighs the "benefit" of me not bothering them, i mighta moved em too........BUT, reading that original post, i just don't seem to be the case.....these seemed to have been "sought out" so to speak....

gator

gator, you absolutely right..I have no idea just how 'bad' he wanted baby ducks for the kids...or just what the conditions were at his house....but the response from most was like he'd murder for touching the ducks...what I'm saying is there might actually be a time when helping would be the right thing to do, legal or not...like you said, risk/benefit


but he should absolutely 100% release the ducks if they survive so we'll have something to hunt this fall!

I would not help any lost baby dux in the mall parking lot, or, anywhere else...if an animal was injured in the mall parking lot, or anywhere else, that would be different. This here fella was looking for wood duck ducklings for three months prior to finding these seemingly lost dux, then took em home and put em in a cage...Im saying instead of looking for lost woodie ducklings, buy some Delta Duck did the right thing in HIS situation, but, man....he puts alot of time outside around them critters. Id like an update on these ducklings...I promise I wont holler at you...Y'all have a nice day!

duck_nutt wrote:gator, you absolutely right..I have no idea just how 'bad' he wanted baby ducks for the kids

Then you must have just missed this.

ruger0771 wrote:I'm all excited about this cause I have been trying to find some wood ducks for our daughter for the last 3 months.

duck_nutt wrote:but he should absolutely 100% release the ducks if they survive so we'll have something to hunt this fall!

Then You must have missed this too because it doesn't sound like he planned on doin anything but keepin em.

ruger0771 wrote:ANY input on what you think these things might be would be great!! I want to know if they are going to honk or quack! Thanks is advance!!

duck_nutt wrote:what I'm saying is there might actually be a time when helping would be the right thing to do, legal or not...like you said, risk/benefit

No, what you said was:

duck_nutt wrote:I still think he did the right thing, weather it's legal or not....

duck_nutt wrote:sportsman, you actually believe they would have lived?

I have no idea, and it's not up to me.

duck_nutt wrote:sometimes ya gotta use that thing on your shoulders for more than a hat rack

Sounds like a good idea!

can't we all just... get along.

asking if they honk or quack means he's keeping them forever?

nevermind, saving the ducks is sometimes the right thing to do..
keeping them as pets isn't

my last comment

good day

champcaller wrote:can't we all just... get along.

dayum cc >>>------> i had ta clean dr pepper off my monitor after readin that!

I think Wingman needs to put a special band on these woodies, if they survive. So we can see if and when they are harvested.

He had been looking for baby wood ducks for 3 months, BAM 3 show up in the yard! The Good Lord sho works in mysterious ways!