justin boucher
New member
Anybody else get lucky enough to shoot a hybrid this year? Gotta mallard/ black duck in delaware
Hybrid ducks
- Thread starter justin boucher
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Cool looking bird, but doesn't look like any mallard x black I've seen. Not sure what it might be a cross with if not black, just different than the ones in my experience. Thanks for sharing your photo.
On second thought, I guess it is a mallard x black. 
justin boucher
New member
roy brewington
Well-known member
Yea, i,ve killed 2 Black duck hybrids so far this year on river I hunt actually in past 2 weeks. That's not a normal place to find hybrids in past years. Our Bayfront is where Blk/Mallard hybrids are more prevalent. Each time they came in with a mate that showed no outward signs of being mixed with mallard.
Wyatt Russo
Member
Wyatt Russo
Member
Might be pintail/wigeon I think
We have years we shoot as many hybrids as blacks or mallards, but I didn't see one this year among the folks I hunted with. They are normally most abundant in the late season on the coast.
My first thought as well. Cool bird!!
First think I thought was pintail X wigeon. Only thing that made me think slightest possibility of mallard is the sprig starting to curl a little bit but nothing else really says mallard. Thats one of the coolest birds I've ever seen, I hope its headed for the wall!!!
Wyatt Russo
Member
Yes he’s going to the taxidermist for sure!
At first looks, thought maybe a pin x mallard, bu that white front looks maybe wigeon like. BEAUTIFUL bird. Ive killed 3 pin x mallard in my life time. Still looking for my brewers!
This one looks like mallard x Mexican duck to me. If we shoot anything that looks like this in the southwest, that’s usually what it is. The dark speculum in the wing though throws that off for me. Maybe mallard x mottled?
some hybrids, no bar mallard, and mounts over the years….
I’ve been on hunts where a nice brewers was killed. I found a brewers sitting next to a leg band, targeted that bird for weeks, never could get him in the decoys. I’d kill a brewers over a leg band any day. Cool pic anyways. Snow x Canada killed a couple years ago too.
For the life of me, I can’t find my mallard x Mexican mix pics. Looks just like the original post. Was going to post for comparison reasons.
I’ve been on hunts where a nice brewers was killed. I found a brewers sitting next to a leg band, targeted that bird for weeks, never could get him in the decoys. I’d kill a brewers over a leg band any day. Cool pic anyways. Snow x Canada killed a couple years ago too.
For the life of me, I can’t find my mallard x Mexican mix pics. Looks just like the original post. Was going to post for comparison reasons.
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You should contact DuckDna when you harvest a suspected hybrid, they may send you a tube for the tip of the tongue and will genetically determine what you shot.https://www.duckdna.com
Jay K
Active member
That was my immediate guess as well.
The more I look at it... Im still leaning towards pin x mallard. It just has super cool white in the front face and looks like maybe the wing. Maybe an older hybrid with some leucistic features. When I google wigeon x mallard cross, it looks very different than what wyatt killed. Wyatt's bird still looks very much like every pin x mallard ive killed and seen killed. Definitely more relatable than wigeon mallard crosses across the internet. My final guess..... Pin x mallard
Wyatt Russo
Member
I only know of one other pin x mallard in my area being shot so that’d be pretty sweet
Dude its a very cool bird. When I killed my first, everyone told me it was a once in a lifetime bird. 4 years later I killed my second. Then about 5 years after my second, we were working a pair of mallard and I was actually shooter on the right. Birds presenting Left to Right. The back bird just looked a little odd to me, and I shot the back bird. My buddy was a good enough shot, he shot the front bird but instantly says "Dude what the heck". I told him that back bird is different and sure enough dog brought back that third hybrid. What is sickening... We were working a huge group of geese in a little water hole at the end of season. Again, targeting a super cool snow/canada cross. Even better than the one I posted earlier. Saw that goose in that same hole 3 weekends in a row. Bet we worked in 1500-2000 geese looking for this one special. As we are sitting there waiting for geese to come back, we were killing some mallard coming in. All of a sudden, another one lands right on the ice, away from every other bird and decoy. Just lone trophy right there, 30 yards from our layout blinds. I should of just shot it, but I told my buddy, "theres your hybrid, kill it." Instead of reaching for my gun, i grabbed my phone to film it, and he barely hit that bird. It went down but wounded. We searched for about an hour with the dog, never found it. Still makes me sick as we should have 4 successful pinards killed over the last 20 years. I love targeting odd ball birds, more than any leg band. There are more around than I think people think, and its amazing what you can find by glassing big big groups of birds if the opportunity presents itself.
Wigeon are boring for me. I can end tons of my hunts in 10 minutes if i targeted wigeon. But I have sifted through literally thousands upon thousands looking for a eurasian and never found one. Ive killed quite a few good storms but never have found that eurasian. Again, I would love to successfully put a brewers on the wall one day as well. The ultimate trophy though would be a blue phase ross and Ive seen only handful in my lifetime. One of my buddies did kill one, got it home to wrap it and before he could get it in the freezer, his cat jumped in the back of his truck and completely plucked the feathers off the breast of the bird. I was sick for him. Chasing these odd balls gets addicting. Congrats on the super cool bird once again.