Curious what birds out of the ordinary you gents are targeting this season(to put on the wall).

Mine is a fully-plumed drake Redhead.

I missed my chance decades ago to mount a Canvasback or Redhead. The Can is unusual now in the Mississippi Flyway...rare actually... and the Red is only seen at times. I'd like either.

I once saw what I think was a Eurasian tufted duck, but it was not very attractive...a ruddish colored mallard size duck...only one I ever ran across.

There are some sea ducks and ducks from South America that look interesting, but not likely to happen...already have a pintail, woodies, mallard and gadwall.

King eider
Redhead
Pintail

The 1st one is a real pipe dream.; I only know of one guy who has actually taken a fully mature KE, out of maybe 50 guys I know who hunt ducks pretty religiously. What's that work out to, 1000 years of waterfowling for one king? Long odds! The other two are possible, but long shots, to say the least...But a man can dream!

Dream Birds for mounts:

Canvasback
Pintail
Widgeon

In the British sense of "bird" I'd like to mount: Kate Beckinsale

quote:

Originally posted by cable68:
Dream Birds for mounts:

Canvasback
Pintail
Widgeon

In the British sense of "bird" I'd like to mount: Kate Beckinsale

Pintail: already on my wall
Widgeon: at taxidermist now
Can: totally agree

Kate Beckinsale: already did that

JK about KB.....damn I wish it were true though!

I think I did mine last year, I have a Sage Grouse at the taxidermist now.

Agree that a Canvasback would be really cool too.

Somewhere around 1980 I was hunting a club in the Delta alongside the Mississippi River. I was sitting right beside a nice little pond in the deep woods with a black lab at my side. And I hear this sound almost like a jet plane and looked up in time to see a large flight of Canvasbacks coming in to land on the water within only a few yards of me. The dog got real alert and honestly looked at me as if "Well boss, I'm ready when you are.."

The thing was, laying across my lap was a fully loaded .50 Thompson Hawken muzzleloader. We were deer hunting that day.

Those were my last Canvasbacks. In all the time I've spent waterfowling since, I've not seen another. Doesn't mean they haven't been there..I just haven't seen any. And I would've liked one mounted even then.

Btw, that pond (then Brushy Lake) and most of the then 2,000 some acres of timber have long since been drained and cut down. Just one enormous laser-levelled cultivated field today. There was this huge extremely old dead Oak that marked one end of the lake. Last time I went to that property I couldn't find anything and thought I had the wrong farm, but then saw the same old dead Oak, now standing alone way out in the middle of a bean field. And I wondered, why in the world did they leave just that? I have made it a point to never go back...

Went online to buy my NY license last night: CANVASBACK SEASON IS OPEN!!!!!!!!

Makes that December trip I'm taking out there for Redheads even more enticing!!

Any BANDED waterfowl is my goal this year. Three years & no bands...

I'm on open water again this season. We should see some Can's and Redheads as per usual. Last year about 75 Redheads landed in the decoys and two friends managed to take 3 drakes between them. One was banded. The Can's appeared on 2 separate days but they were closed. I'd recommend anyone getting a Canvasback have it mounted. Spend the bucks and get a high quality mount. You never know when they will close the season for a long time or for good. Maybe something unusual will be my prize this year. I've had that luck several times in the past.
Good hunting,
David

I hear you on that, David. Just out of curiousity, where would you suggest for the best chance at cans in full plumage? I want to say I read somewhere that the Great Lakes/MN/WI/MI area has some areas that hold decent numbers of them. Any other opinions welcome too. I'd do a travel hunt for cans and redheads in a minute, if there was a reasonable shot at poking one of each for the collection...

Got a pond I hunt that gets Cans every year...... right after season closes.

KG...oh ye of little faith......there may be a can or 2 about where we're headed late December. Positive vibes man, they bring the cans in every time.

David, is that in TN you're talking about?

A banded Can for a mount would be cool...aka a married duck.

Chesapeake Bay was ground zero for Cans back in the day.....My mother lives on the bay in VA near the Rappahannock AND Cans are open this season AND ducks are open until Jan 31.......hmmmmmmmmmm. I'll be making a few calls shortly.

If you're keeping score, it's Canvasback 5 votes (sort of), Redhead 3 votes, Pintail 2 votes and any banded waterfowl 1 vote. Canvasback then's the dream bird.

I'll go with that, with one condition...the familiar, ever popular and gorgeous greenhead mallard wasn't mentioned simply because it's just understood that everybody already has one..

quote:

Originally posted by Shack:
I'll go with that, with one condition...the familiar, ever popular and gorgeous greenhead mallard wasn't mentioned simply because it's just understood that everybody already has one..

I agree with you Shack.....I have a beautiful triple curl greenhead on my wall already....I'd be ashamed not to since he's our bread and butter. Funny, I posted a pic of him on another duck hunting forum and everyone was like "so what". Cretins.....

A very, very nice mount, Norton!

Very well done! Mine's only a double curl and is also a wall mount, but with the wings cupped and the feet out for a landing. It's on a cross section of what's probably cypress. I have several mounts and wish I'd put a plaque or something on them with where and when taken. Now I've forgotten in some cases. I think the mallard was late '70s from a flooded ricefield at a club in eastern Arkansas (most waterfowling here is done in clubs or guided hunts).

On bird mounts generally, dust is such a nuisance that years ago I switched from doing open mounts to ones that are under glass. A wood base is built with a different kind of wood for each mount. Then a natural habitat scene is prepared, then the mount is added. Then I have a glass case built at an automobile glass place.

For instance, one of my woodies is in a swamp scene, my snow goose is standing on a dry bean field and the specklebelly is on a partially wet cornfield with half eaten corncobs about. I'm thinking about going back and adding some frost to the snow goose habitat, or maybe an empty shotgun shell or two. Eventually I'm going to place these in different spots within a bookcase that forms one side of a 23' den wall with lighting for each mount.

Thanks gents, I'm working on a mix of mount positions.....obviously, the ones with nice specula will be flying....but the divers with drab wings like Cans, Redheads, etc will be standing or sitting.
Here's my bull sprig in a jumping position(sorry for the crummy photo):

Those two are very nice, but how about sharing some of the really spectacular ones you have. I'm thinking the hoodie or the woodie you have. Guys, prepared to be wowed! And I do mean WOWED! You've never seen anything like these birds, I assure you...

Ah yes, the pieces you speak of are on loan right now to a taxidermy school.....they will be used for the course entitled "Bad Taxidermy 101".

On the up side, they do have that "antiqued" look on the day you pick them up. People pay extra for that look in certain circles.

quote:

On the up side, they do have that "antiqued" look on the day you pick them up. People pay extra for that look in certain circles.

The first time I saw them I was like, "oh how cool; antique stuffers!" He then blows my mind by telling me in a serious voice that actually, they are fairly recent. At first I was like, "ummmm...ummm...really? Oh, OK, ummm...Really?" Then when he starts giggling at the sort of weird moment where I am not sure what to say. He then lightens it up with "oh, ya ain't seen anything yet!"

In one of the birds, if two guys were on opposite sides of his study, we'd still each be able to get an eyeball staring at us! The mink looks as if someone used it to put out cigars for a few years, and the roofing tack hanging out of the head of the merg is a nice touch, too... OMG I'm cryin' just thinking about it. They're so bad they're truly awesome!

Always display them proudly bro, but as a suggestion I'd not let any hunting buds in there with any wine in hand. That stuff can stain when blasted out a nose onto the carpet!

I see King Eider is on some people's list. From a difficulty stand point they are at par with the Marco Polo Sheep hunt. Cost and time invested on getting something like a King Eider are tremendous.

One of my most precious trophies I hunted in Alaska. This here is a mature fully plumed King Eider drake. (It takes them 4 years to gain full plumage).






45 yard crossing shot, Benelli SBE, Briley MOD choke, Hevishot #BB, 3.5 inch (And days and days of Sporting Clays practice before the hunt).

That KE is a beauty. Although what you say is mostly true.....2 fully plumed KE drakes were shot just down the road from here in Boston Harbor last year. Now I wouldn't say ANYONE would make that a destination for a KE hunt but.......you never know.

Thanks Norton, he is one of my "big" bulls

Kings on East Coast
Maine, Mass, Rhode Island, New Jersey....all have reported kills of males, females and juvies. Chance of getting one are ridiculously small (think lottery mega millions).

The only way to actually hunt Kings properly is in Greenland, Russia, and very specific areas in Alaska.

P.S. Kodiak is not a good place for Kings. Females and juvies are taken in Kodiak with some regularity but fully plumed mature males out of Kodiak are far and few.

quote:

Originally posted by Norton:
2 fully plumed KE drakes were shot just down the road from here in Boston Harbor last year. .

If you're talking about the one the Jackie's sport shot, it was a king, but fully plumed? Not even close. It also wasn't in BH. It was off of...well, it wasn't BH.

quote:

Originally posted by Kamo Gari:

quote:

Originally posted by Norton:
2 fully plumed KE drakes were shot just down the road from here in Boston Harbor last year. .

If you're talking about the one the Jackie's sport shot, it was a king, but fully plumed? Not even close. It also wasn't in BH. It was off of...well, it wasn't BH.

Alright, so I exaggerated a bit.....not fully plumed, but 2 were killed in our area. Don't be such a wet blanket.

quote:

Originally posted by Norton:

quote:

Originally posted by Kamo Gari:

quote:

Originally posted by Norton:
2 fully plumed KE drakes were shot just down the road from here in Boston Harbor last year. .

If you're talking about the one the Jackie's sport shot, it was a king, but fully plumed? Not even close. It also wasn't in BH. It was off of...well, it wasn't BH.

Alright, so I exaggerated a bit.....not fully plumed, but 2 were killed in our area. Don't be such a wet blanket.

Don't mind me, bro. I'm just beginning to get bitter after too many days not waterfowling. I'll be just fine after I kill some geese on Tuesday.