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First Limit on my own.

3K views 25 replies 17 participants last post by  Minneguy 
#1 ·
Went out to hunt this morning and the weather was perfect for it. Cloudy with a little mist of rain and the wind in the right direction for a little cove I scouted on Friday. The birds where moving and for once I had found where the they wanted to be. This is my first time to shoot a limit without being on a guided trip. It feels nice for all the work to finally come together. I'm finally learning how much work it actually takes to make it happen. Ended up with 4 widgeon, 1 Mallard, and then a lonely pintail that crashed into the decoys with reckless abandon. It was a great hunt.







Hopefully some of the other places I have scouted turn out like this. I have never scouted and covered the miles that I did this year prior to the season. On question I have is how often do y'all scout during the season? Probably going to do some more next week on a weekday to avoid disturbing any others hunters on public land.
 
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#3 ·
Nice hunt man! It may just be the pic but I think your id is a little off on two of those birds.... I could be way wrong and I am not trying to bust your balls. Just wanted to give you a heads up so u don't ever make a mistake in bag limits. If I'm wrong I apologize 100%!

I believe the mallard hen may be a gadwall and the pintail may be a diver (possibly redhead hen)... Can't be sure what type of diver from the photo exactly. I could be wrong and if so I apologize just trying to help out.

Either way congrats on the limit and hard work put in!
 
#4 ·
Nice limit. No pintails in there. They have blue bills like the wigeon. The black billed on may be a gadwall. I think your mallard is a mallard. Show the wings open next time. Wings NEVER lie.

sent from my fancy phone that has a really cool kickstand via tapaskwawk
 
#6 ·
Indiancreekducks87 said:
I believe the mallard hen may be a gadwall and the pintail may be a diver (possibly redhead hen)...
X2 on Gadwall hen and Redhead hen... Congrats either way!! Hard work does pay off!

On public land, I like to scout the day before hunting. Scout in the morning if hunting the morning and likewise if afternoon. Key to successful public hunting is to HUNT WHERE THE BIRDS ARE!!
 
#9 ·
Indiancreekducks87 said:
Nice hunt man! It may just be the pic but I think your id is a little off on two of those birds.... I could be way wrong and I am not trying to bust your balls. Just wanted to give you a heads up so u don't ever make a mistake in bag limits. If I'm wrong I apologize 100%!

I believe the mallard hen may be a gadwall and the pintail may be a diver (possibly redhead hen)... Can't be sure what type of diver from the photo exactly. I could be wrong and if so I apologize just trying to help out.

Either way congrats on the limit and hard work put in!
I always like the help. You would be correct about the 2 ducks. Ran into the game warden shortly after posting this and he was sure to correct me. It was a gadwall and a young redhead. He also suggested learning to identify them by the wings. Identification is still something I'm not as good with as I'd like to be. Any recommendations on ways to improve duck id? I downloaded a few apps on my phone and going through them as much as I can. Still new and learning so any help is always appreciated.
 
#10 ·
Experience is the number one thing that helped me.... But I also looked at a lot of pics of birds that were flying. As dumb as some may think or as it sounds the du website used to have a quiz u could take for waterfowl id. Take that to learn. And I think delta has one as well. Just keep it up and read whatever u can find. While scouting maybe try to id them before looking through binos to confirm, If u can get that close without spooking them of course. Kind of like your own little quiz. Glad to see u are interested in learning and doing things right! Keep it up man! And keep putting in the work.

Others may have better suggestions too. Hopefully they will post em up for ya. Good luck!
 
#12 ·
Congratulations on the hunt :thumbsup: It's a good feeling to do it on your own.

Id comes in time. I spent a lot of time looking at duck hunting magazines and identifying them in pictures in the beginning. Du and Delta waterfowl have some id help on their websites. Drakes are the easiest to identify so I try to limit myself to them with the big ducks. Not to say I won't bust a strap of hens during a slow hunt :lol3: Every time I have almost overshot a particular duck it was with a hen. Don't feel bad I have met some GW's that couldn't identify as well. My brother can't id either. He just waits for me to say shoooooooot!
You'll get it. Congrats again!
 
#15 ·
Fester said:
Please learn to ID your birds properly.
Really? Let the guy enjoy his successful hunt...I doubt he would call you to help pay his fines if he got a ticket.

Try preaching to the folks on here that can only ID ducks once they have them in hand, and mud stomp them once they realize they screwed up.
 
#16 ·
:-) said:
Fester said:
Please learn to ID your birds properly.
Really? Let the guy enjoy his successful hunt...I doubt he would call you to help pay his fines if he got a ticket.

Try preaching to the folks on here that can only ID ducks once they have them in had, and mud stomp them once they realize they screwed up.
So it's OK that he shot a limit and it's OK he does not know what he shot. I am not preaching but if you shot ducks you really should know what you shot, before and after the shot.
 
#17 ·
Fester said:
:-) said:
Fester said:
Please learn to ID your birds properly.
Really? Let the guy enjoy his successful hunt...I doubt he would call you to help pay his fines if he got a ticket.

Try preaching to the folks on here that can only ID ducks once they have them in had, and mud stomp them once they realize they screwed up.
So it's OK that he shot a limit and it's OK he does not know what he shot. I am not preaching but if you shot ducks you really should know what you shot, before and after the shot.
Misidentification happens all the time. Especially in poor light conditions and sometimes after the kill. Get over it.
 
#18 ·
Your telling me that before you ever shot a duck you were 100% on your identification? Event when you first started hunting. I am still new to duck hunting and am making an attempt to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can. I would rather hear a recommendation on how to improve my identification.
 
#20 ·
RShockley said:
I would rather hear a recommendation on how to improve my identification.
I would start by learning to identify birds that you can blast away at like Gadwall, Wigeon, and Teal. Gadwall and Wigeon both make distinctive noises which should help you to id them, and they both have white wing patches and white bellies with a defined chest bar when in flight. Mallards should be pretty easy if in a group, a lone hen could be identified as just about anything in flight unless she is quacking. Teal are teal, they are small, come hard and fast, and fly kinda in a ball compared to most other ducks.

Then learn how to identify those species that have a restriction on them... Redheads, Bluebills, Pintails, Mottled Ducks, Canvasbacks, Mallard Hens, etc. Learn to identify those species and be extra careful once you are approaching your limit of those birds. Now depending on the areas that you hunt, you may be able to cancel out some of those species if you aren't likely to see them. For instance, if you don't hunt near the coast or coastal prairie then don't worry about learning to id Mottled Ducks bc you aren't likely to ever shoot one, let alone more than one.

Hope this makes sense... Bird identification comes with time in the field.
 
#21 ·
Mojo281 said:
RShockley said:
I would rather hear a recommendation on how to improve my identification.
I would start by learning to identify birds that you can blast away at like Gadwall, Wigeon, and Teal. Gadwall and Wigeon both make distinctive noises which should help you to id them, and they both have white wing patches and white bellies with a defined chest bar when in flight. Mallards should be pretty easy if in a group, a lone hen could be identified as just about anything in flight unless she is quacking. Teal are teal, they are small, come hard and fast, and fly kinda in a ball compared to most other ducks.

Then learn how to identify those species that have a restriction on them... Redheads, Bluebills, Pintails, Mottled Ducks, Canvasbacks, Mallard Hens, etc. Learn to identify those species and be extra careful once you are approaching your limit of those birds. Now depending on the areas that you hunt, you may be able to cancel out some of those species if you aren't likely to see them. For instance, if you don't hunt near the coast or coastal prairie then don't worry about learning to id Mottled Ducks bc you aren't likely to ever shoot one, let alone more than one.

Hope this makes sense... Bird identification comes with time in the field.
Thank you! That makes sence and helps a lot. I don't want people to think I'm not even trying to identify them before the shot. I just need to get better at it.
 
#23 ·
when i first started i waited for better light to help with identifying. if you let them work and possably commit to your decoys it is eazy to tell what they are when they are swimming in your decoys. im sure i passed on some shooting but i never had to wonder about the game warden when i got to my truck. with cell service today if you do shoot something your not sure about just google what you think it is. we have done it a few times to settle arguments in our blind especially with hens.

most of all congrats on the limit!!!
 
#25 ·
Nice job! I haven't been able to get but 1 or 2 on any of my own hunts and am looking forward to getting a limit. Great to hear about your success. I had to laugh about the "please learn to ID your birds" comment. On the other hand, I really appreciate the guys providing the instructional feedback...very helpful to us new guys.
 
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