[WIDGEONATOR]

I just recently found out that mallards and wood ducks eat acorns. Personally I have never found acorns inside of bird, and figured most acorns were too large for a duck to swallow. I was just wondering how many of you have ever found acorns inside of a duck, and how often. Once in awhile or all the time?

 

[Tom Phillips*]

It depends on where the birds are. If they are mallards or wood ducks on a river with lots of oaks, it is very common. If the birds are feeding in grasslands or rice, it's very uncommon.

When the mallards are eating acorns, you can almost kill them with a stick, they want them so bad.

 

[RNT~DuckCaller]

Most every wood duck I have ever shot on the delta had acorns in their throat. On one occasion the impact of the duck hitting the water shot the acorn half way out of its neck. VERY BIG ACORN for a litt wood duck to have eaten as well!

 

[Tom Phillips*]

Most every wood duck I have ever shot on the delta had acorns in their throat. On one occasion the impact of the duck hitting the water shot the acorn half way out of its neck. VERY BIG ACORN for a litt wood duck to have eaten as well!

RNT~DuckCaller,

Have you ever watched a mallard eating one of those big acorns? It's funny as heck. They shake their heads, stretch out their necks and just work it on back. Then they go looking for another one. :biggrin:

I've seen them hitting the oak trees like bees returning to a hive - just swarming in, then combing the grass. :thumbsup:

 

[RNT~DuckCaller]

Cant say that Ive ever seen them eating them....just found them lodged in their throats when we knock em dead. some of the sizes of the acorns make you wonder what the heck they were thinking eating something that big....

 

[RNT~DuckCaller]

Cant say that Ive ever seen them eating them....just found them lodged in their throats when we knock em dead. some of the sizes of the acorns make you wonder what the heck they were thinking eating something that big....

 

[Pilgram]

& woodies from a foothill pond last year.

19 acorns. They were stuffed

 

[Tom Phillips*]

& woodies from a foothill pond last year.

19 acorns. They were stuffed

Ha. That's funny. Half the duck was acorns. :yes:

If you ever get a chance to see band-tailed pigeons eating acorns it's even more impressive. They are much smaller than a wood duck, but I've gotten as many as 11 black oak acorns (which are short and fat - about the length and diameter of the last joint on the thumb) from one. They go nuts (pun intended) over them too. :thumbsup:

 

[upcedarcreek]

I've shot woodies near a pond in the mountains that were stuffed with acorns, such that when you took one on an incoming shot you could hear the shot hitting the acorns.

 

[GoldHunter]

I have shot a few with acorns in them...but I also have shot a few at the Lodge back in the 90's with craw dads in their throats...

 

[Quack Addict]

I've shot quite a few with acorns in them. I shot a mallard this year with 13 acorns lodged in it's throat!

Another weird thing, my cousin shot a canvasback this season that had a whole clam halfway down it's throat!

 

[norcalhunter13]

My last duck of the season was a greenhead...and it had nothing in its throat...but it did have a steel BB lodge in its yellow bill. It just grew around it. It looked like a wart. LOL Guess it got lucky before, but not when I was around! :biggrin:

 

[timber talker]

killed alot of mallards & woodies in the flooded timber in arkansas that full of acorns they love em

 

[duckjumper]

Funny you should mention this - we had a duck hunter's dinner earlier this month and held a "mallard tasting." We had one duck from the Grasslands, a corn-eatin' from the Delta, a rice-fed mallard from the Sac Valley - and an acorn-eating mallard from Amador.

The results were pretty interesting....

 

[WIDGEONATOR]

It must be the salt in the Grasslands that gives it the better flavor. :yes:

That looks like some good food. :thumbsup:

 

[K.A]

I just recently found out that mallards and wood ducks eat acorns. Personally I have never found acorns inside of bird, and figured most acorns were too large for a duck to swallow. I was just wondering how many of you have ever found acorns inside of a duck, and how often. Once in awhile or all the time?[/quote

If you ever hunt along the river when the water is up you will see that alot. Ive kill a few woodies at sutter that had eaten acorns. Those dang birds can eat really big stuff ive found whole almonds in doves before.

 

[duckjumper]

Thanks, Widge! I think the Grasslands one was better because of a varied diet - lots of different kinds of seeds, plus wild plants. But that's just a guess...

And K.A. - A whole almond in a dove?! Wow. I'm speechless.

 

[K.A]

I see it ever dove season. Especialy when they are harvesting. A dove cant get into the shell but when they shake the trees they always brake a few hulls. And more so after the opener when the birds get pushed out of the safflower fields. They have to find something to eat. :thumbsup:

 

[TealMan]

Funny you should mention this - we had a duck hunter's dinner earlier this month and held a "mallard tasting." We had one duck from the Grasslands, a corn-eatin' from the Delta, a rice-fed mallard from the Sac Valley - and an acorn-eating mallard from Amador.

The results were pretty interesting....

Too bad there aren't any mallard in the grasslands! :biggrin:

 

[K.A]

Funny you should mention this - we had a duck hunter's dinner earlier this month and held a "mallard tasting." We had one duck from the Grasslands, a corn-eatin' from the Delta, a rice-fed mallard from the Sac Valley - and an acorn-eating mallard from Amador.

The results were pretty interesting....

Too bad there aren't any mallard in the grasslands! :biggrin:

shoot the Hollister club. They got a few. :thumbsup: