Opening Day North Zone Maine...Sept. 28....Pics....

[maineduckhunter]

So I went out opening day north zone with my brother.....the new pit blind wasn't very productive but we did see a few flights.....So we decided to go do some jump shooting, this proved to be more productive....6 ducks total...4 hen mallards and 2 blacks.....I know why hens???   We didn't see maybe 2 or 3 drakes out of 30-40 ducks seen including woodies.....Here are some pics....by the way...the SKEETERS were TERRIBLE!!! 




Opening Day 6...with Rocky the Duck Dog.....

[fish_finder]

Good job not a bad shoot at all, I shoot hen mallards, I don't see enough mallards in general to pass on a hen, more black ducks than mallards here but they are getting more common

[nyspike]

very nice, I shoot hens too, only allowed 2 a day here.

[BBK]

I see 4 immature drake mallards and 2 hen mallards. Orange beak means hen, yellow means drake or black duck. Those birds still have some pin feathers so I have to go with immature drakes.

[nyspike]

I see 4 immature drake mallards and 2 hen mallards. Orange beak means hen, yellow means drake or black duck. Those birds still have some pin feathers so I have to go with immature drakes.

The male and female black duck are similar in appearance, but the male's bill is yellow while the female?s is a dull green. The head is slightly lighter brown than the dark brown body, and the speculum is iridescent violet-blue with predominantly black margins. In flight, the white underwings can be seen in contrast to the dark brown body.
Also immature drake mallard would still have a dark bill.

[BBK]

Well anyone that has ever shot a mallard knows that the only way to tell immature birds apart is by the bill color. Hens will get an orange beak at 4-6 weeks old while the drakes turn yellow. He said he shot 4 hen mallards but I only see 2 orange beaks.

[fish_finder]

Better than my opening day, I only ended up getting one female mallard, If i woulda passed on her i woulda got skunked, my dad did pretty good getting 2 beautiful drake woodducks and a gw teal. I went out yesterday for the 2nd day and did better ending up getting 5 (1 short of the limit) black duck, another fem mallard, 2 drake woodies and a widgeon, which was a pleasant suprise up this way...thought it was a woodduck until I saw the bright blue bill...ill post a pic of the dog wiht the birds later

[northern fisher]

Nice pics.I'm not the best duck hunter around and not that great at calling so when any mallard shows up at my spread it's fair game.I got out today for the first time and was lucky enough to take 2 hen mallards,1hen bluebill and one meganser.Two short of a limit but a great morning no matter how you look at it