Finally saw some birds yesterday--15 in 3hrs.

2 @ shootable range.

Looks like they are beginning to move in abit.

(Slightly west the Trinity south of Dallas)

It was a great morning out no matter the lack of birds.

Any other sightings/ reports?

Jealous that you're already getting into them! GW or BW--or do you guys get both? I've seen exactly two BWs in all my days hunting ducks here. Plenty o' greenwinged, however.

Haven't been into the salt marsh to scout, but not that important. Where I chase them, they're there every year.

Upland opens in MA/NH in short order, and waterfowl is right behind that. Can't wait.

Mostly Greenies, a few Blues, yesterday only GW
Season is half over --only 2 wks in the early season/
.

I'm afraid I can't add much. When I was young I did this religiously but haven't been in several years now. Our place at Stuttgart AR (the self-styled Duck Capital Of The World) was sold out from under me. I went there and many other spots in AR. It was Blue Wings only for a ten day period in mid Sept. My home state of TN didn't allow the Blue Wing shooting but instead did Woodies in Sept.

Never saw a Green Wing in September. Blue Wings migrate early and those along with Woodies and Spoonies are what I recall. Well, lots of migratory Snipe too over the flooded rice fields..talk about good eating and excellent shooting sport!! I strongly recommend Snipe shooting if you guys can figure how to get into them (you can find them over shallows and especially on mud flats). Also, countless Woodies in the reservoir and along rivers, but like I said each was legal in different places.

I also never saw a Blue Wing in full plummage with that crescent on the face. They apparently get that later. The Blue Wing are larger than the Greenies and much easier shooting. I think a BW was in fact my first duck. I even remember the shot, standing on a levee it flew out of a reservoir and fell in a rice field. Good feeling, that shot. Kind of like feeding off the bounty of nature, or however you want to put it.

The place at Stuttgart was stocked with catfish, bass and slab crappie. We did this literally with a fishing rod in one hand and a shotgun in the other. Anyway, I'll avoid the temptation to get going with the stories about it..

OK, speaking of teal......I recall a few years back someone telling me that GWT were the fastest flying duck.......I now know that not to be true.....does anyone know which duck it actually is?(I do, and you're not allowed to look it up.....but I'll give you a hint: they taste like chit....or so I hear).

Would that be coots?

quote:

Originally posted by The Shottist:
Would that be coots?

Nope.....but they do taste like chit too.

taste like chit??? Scoter... or any seaduck for that matter

Buffies, if some of what I've read is true. And they don't all taste that bad at all, prepared right. Seriously. Mergs burn it up, too. Which ones *look* the fastest? GW Teal. And the ones that are taking off after landing in your spread while you have your waders down and your gun 5 feet away.

Hey Shack, don't be shy, man. Any duck story's a good story.

Red-breasted merg......~100mph.

That being said......mergs aren't really ducks anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by Norton:
Red-breasted merg......~100mph.

That being said......mergs aren't really ducks anyway.

Another damned trick question.

I didn't want to insert any spoilers here until the "winner" was announced, but fwiw my Winchester ammo handbook that was handed to me in the 1950s by Win's famed exhibition shooter, Herb Parsons, contains a listing of the speeds of the most common ducks, and it shows 100 mph as the Canvasback 's top speed. What the Can is like as table fare however I couldn't say; they aren't usually encountered in the Miss. Flyway.

Several years ago I was in a pit in a flooded rice field and saw some high ducks in a flight that was really getting it on with no sign of working the field. I didn't even recognize them. The guide, a farm kid who lived there and hunted every day, pointed them out as Cans.

Could it be we have a tie for first place??

Yeah, I read somewhere about the Cans being clocked @ 72mph. And as far as eating, Cans were "the" duck to eat back in the market hunting days......highest-priced duck for table fare way back when......or so I've heard. I need to get some historical duck hunting books to read......even the occasional article about the Bay market hunters I find fascinating.

Those little bastards were everywhere 2 wks before our season opened, opening weekend you couldn't buy a teal. Last week...no teal, last weekend...no teal. Planting food plots today and I come over one of the tank dams not thinking teal and there are over 2 dozen. We all stare at each other for a couple of seconds and then they fly off...I know I saw one shooting the finger at me. Just wait til this weekend.

Perry

Go get 'em Perry.....and post pics. Another 14 days for us yet......and then life begins(or ends if you happen to be a duck anywhere within about 100 miles from here).