That mexican looks similar to the mottled I'm working on right now. All the bands make me sad, I've been duck hunting since 1967 and still haven't shot a banded anything although I have had a few collared wolves on my bear baits, wouldn't mind killing a few of those. I do pass on mallards most of the time as you know, that's probably part of the problem.
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- Thread starter William Reinicke
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I’ve killed a crap ton of black ducks. I’ve also killed a good many black mallards. They never seem to be the same. Killed them with completely green heads and a mostly black duck body. Killed them with half green heads and a body that's a mix of both... etc etc. I would assume any cross breed with a mexican or mottled would have similar results but I have no real idea.
That mexican on the tailgate is a sweet bird. They are beautiful ducks, same with mottleds. I'd love to shoot some of both one day. How many Mexicans can you kill a day?
William Reinicke
Active member
Don, I target mallard because we have a ton of them, and they carry the most bands in my area. There is a biologist who colors all the numbers in the band. We all know instantly where the bird is banded based on band appearance. He bands a lot of mallard. Its a funny thing with bands. I will go 4 or 5 seasons without killing one, and then I will kill like 3-6 in a single season. No rhyme or reason to why either. Location is huge though when it comes to bands.
The band on the preening hybrid is actually my first band. Its so thin, it would likely fall off if on the lanyard long enough. Only 1 number can be read on the band its so worn. Being my first, I was so disappointed I couldnt report it. My grandfather (the mean one who was a true artist at heart) was on his death bed. I told him about it, and he said we can figure this out. Pretty sure the conversation started something like this....
"You dumb shi*, go get a clear plastic cup, a wooden dowel and some acid and meet back here at the house. I will walk through how to get those numbers." When I asked how he knew to do this, he said thieves would sand down or scrape off the numbering on old aluminum vin plates. This is how they would retrieve the vin numbers on stolen cars. So I showed up with all the supplies and he walked me through the 50/50 water/acid mix, then put the band on the wooden dowel, swirled in the clear plastic cup for about 60-90 seconds when sure enough the bubbling of the numbers started. It was so clear, I read off the numbers, he wrote them on a piece of paper and we reported the band together. It was one of my final memories with him before he passed. I say it all the time, it might be the lightest band I have, but it carries the most weight.
I have like 160ish pigeon bands as well. Had a buddy who owned a dairy that was overrun with pigeons. Federal gov't even said to get it under control or get shut down. It was within city limits, I got put in handcuffs so many times but as soon as I presented the federal documentation in the office, there was nothing local law enforcement could do. I always felt pretty bad when I picked up a banded homer from someone's coop. It was never my intention, but they gobbled up the dairy corn as much as the nasty city pigeons.
Ive seen collared animals before. Every time i see one, I always think theres the banded version of a 4 legged creature. Do they want collars back if an animal is shot with one? I know GPS trackers on birds get sent back in exchange with the map of the birds travel. I would gladly hand over a gps tracker for that information.
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William Reinicke
Active member
Agreed on this. I truly have no idea. I always notice the no bar mallard have a much darker chest than regular mallard. The two I killed on that hunt last year, I picked both out of separate flocks because of how dark chested they were. I do have really good eye sight and I have been known to even call bands on birds in flight or landing in decoys. Conditions do have to be pretty much perfect to be seen on mallard. Geese are real easy to see with that silver against a black leg.
So the way the regs read here is "Mexican ducks are considered part of the Mallard bag limit". The central flyway says 5 mallard, only 2 of which can be hens. The tricky part of this is if a game warden would be sound enough to know that this is a drake based on bill appearance. I feel like if you had 3, or more, mexican ducks and you got checked, you would be asking for trouble. It seems obvious, but I also hunt a ton with an overunder and I swear to god I got checked one time and the warden asked where my plug went. I also had a buddy who had to appear in court because the warden's magnet wouldnt stick to the tungsten shells he was shooting. Even though the box stated "non-toxic" the warden didn't buy what he was saying. Very uneducated wardens in my area unfortunately. Its very rare to kill more than 2 Mexicans a hunt anyways though. But it can be done. This was certainly one of the prettier mexican ducks that I have killed but its so hard for me to get one mounted as they just remind me of a hen mallard. They have some red in them and touch of green on the top of their head. But end of the day, they just look like a brown duck to me.
You ain't the only one with dumb game wardens.
I'm in the "No Band Club" as well. 59 seasons. Of course I haven't had the opportunity to shoot at anything this year yet either...lol
I used to have a guy I would take to my spot the first thursday following thanksgiving week. We had lots of mallards and wigeons back in those days. We had a mallard coming in and it was my turn to shoot, but a wigeon came streaking through underneath him. My friend knew I'd shoot the wigeon first and I did, he took the mallard drake, of course the mallard was banded.
I shot a black duck hen in Kansas my sophomore year in college. I quit without a limit that day, but was fairly confident if I got checked they would have called it a 90 point mallard hen instead of a 20 point unlisted duck. In years before that the local warden had checked my teal limit of four birds and complemented me on a 4 green wing limit, three of them had distinctive blue patches on their forewing. It's kind of like everything game warden, you are dependent on their knowledge to avoid a ticket.
I figure my first band will trigger my death just like Mark Twain and Halley's Comet. I'll likely drop dead from shock, I still look at every duck i shoot.
As far as other banded creatures, I mounted a bear for a guy decades ago that had an ear tag, I figured he must have been a trouble maker. When I was bear hunting one year we had lots of wolves around, this was before we had a season. When I took my bear in that year they asked if I had seen any wolves, I told them I could do better than that, send me an email and I'll send you the photos. I had two different collared wolves one with a black collar and one with a white/beige collar. They knew the pack the black one belonged to, they had no idea where the white collar wolf was from. The white collar wolf was by himself, the black was with a mate. The third interesting one was my dad was fishing with me when I lived in Fairbanks on the Chena river, he caught a big grayling that had a red tag in his big dorsal fin. I had the tag laying near the sink after preparing the fish to mount and later asked my wife where it was. She thought it was a twist tie and threw it away. I've only been around for a few bands with guys I'm hunting with, but I'm usually chasing wigeons and divers, that probably reduces my chances however my son has shot a banded wigeon and banded wood duck.
I shot a black duck hen in Kansas my sophomore year in college. I quit without a limit that day, but was fairly confident if I got checked they would have called it a 90 point mallard hen instead of a 20 point unlisted duck. In years before that the local warden had checked my teal limit of four birds and complemented me on a 4 green wing limit, three of them had distinctive blue patches on their forewing. It's kind of like everything game warden, you are dependent on their knowledge to avoid a ticket.
I figure my first band will trigger my death just like Mark Twain and Halley's Comet. I'll likely drop dead from shock, I still look at every duck i shoot.
As far as other banded creatures, I mounted a bear for a guy decades ago that had an ear tag, I figured he must have been a trouble maker. When I was bear hunting one year we had lots of wolves around, this was before we had a season. When I took my bear in that year they asked if I had seen any wolves, I told them I could do better than that, send me an email and I'll send you the photos. I had two different collared wolves one with a black collar and one with a white/beige collar. They knew the pack the black one belonged to, they had no idea where the white collar wolf was from. The white collar wolf was by himself, the black was with a mate. The third interesting one was my dad was fishing with me when I lived in Fairbanks on the Chena river, he caught a big grayling that had a red tag in his big dorsal fin. I had the tag laying near the sink after preparing the fish to mount and later asked my wife where it was. She thought it was a twist tie and threw it away. I've only been around for a few bands with guys I'm hunting with, but I'm usually chasing wigeons and divers, that probably reduces my chances however my son has shot a banded wigeon and banded wood duck.
William Reinicke
Active member
Oh you guys will get a band soon enough. You really should target mallard for bands though, unless you are in cali and they band everything over there it seems. Even after you have one or two or 20, they are always a shock when you see it coming back in the dogs mouth. I am pretty bad about checking birds, and I never truly had the band itch after I killed that first one. I have given so many away at this point, would much rather chase hybrids or oddball birds I see scouting. There was one time, I held this pintail in my hand for about 2 minutes, gawking at the length of the pin. The whole group was just in awe of this pin. It was one of the better pintails I had seen. Then I turned it over and it was rocking a canada band. I cant even count how many times I was picking up birds from the pile and noticed the band then. I guess the aluminum thing never truly got me that excited. They just seem to show up in the spread every so often.
I guess I would have to start hunting 4 legged creatures to get a collar or ear tag. The only thing 4 legged I have killed is coyotes. I say every year I will put in for deer or elk... then I just don't. I already know me, I would get drawn, would get a storm and huge push of birds, and I would skip the big game hunt all together and be in a marsh somewhere. Wouldnt even feel guilty that I got a tag and never even attempted to fill it lol.
I guess I would have to start hunting 4 legged creatures to get a collar or ear tag. The only thing 4 legged I have killed is coyotes. I say every year I will put in for deer or elk... then I just don't. I already know me, I would get drawn, would get a storm and huge push of birds, and I would skip the big game hunt all together and be in a marsh somewhere. Wouldnt even feel guilty that I got a tag and never even attempted to fill it lol.
My dad killed several banded birds when I was young, he reported the bands and then dropped them in the trash. I'm pretty sure my son has no idea where his bands are, one of them is floating around my house. They will let you keep the collar from a wolf after they take the good stuff out of it, or more likely give the hunter a dummy collar and keep the expensive collar. One of my buddies had a collared bear on his bait one year, but never hunted enough on his own to expect to harvest. I'm not much into big game hunting other than bears and I haven't done that in 8 years, mostly no one to go with anymore.
William Reinicke
Active member
I wonder if banded birds will be as common as technology gets better and better. Since they can do live gps tracking with non-invasive back packs now, I would think a biologist could gather more data with 15 of those, compared to 300 banded birds that may or may not be reported. Also, bands only give you the starting location and the shot location. The in between is always a mystery. Not with GPS trackers.
Bear eat any good? Just doesnt seem like they would.
William Reinicke
Active member
Very very close. Mottled I think have a lighter head and the speculum in the wing doesnt have white in the mottle ducks. Just black and blue. Ive been told the black line through the eye is more pronounced on mottle ducks, but clearly even the stud mexican ducks get it as well as seen in this bird. All my mexican ducks have the white bar in the wing, I always always look when I shoot one. One day I hope dog brings back just black and blue and I can confidently say I may have killed a mottled. We just don't get them here.
Noah Shaver
Member
Yep - the head is the tell all for me on Mexican vs. Mottled. A pretty drake mottled that is 100% mottled duck has a very bright head. Mexican ducks have a darker mustier head. We killed a few Mexican ducks in south texas a few years back, and I sort of regret not keeping one to do a Mexican, Mottled, Black Duck, Mallard Hen comparison mount. I think that would be pretty neat. To the untrained eye it would nearly look like you mounted the same duck 4 times.
Here's a couple pure mottled drakes from Florida. Note the speculum color difference.
Also, if you are curious on the genetic makeup of a questionable duck that you shoot, like a hybrid or the no bar mallards, there is a DNA service for that: https://www.duckdna.com/
Here's a couple pure mottled drakes from Florida. Note the speculum color difference.
Also, if you are curious on the genetic makeup of a questionable duck that you shoot, like a hybrid or the no bar mallards, there is a DNA service for that: https://www.duckdna.com/
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If only Al Hansen were here to educate all of us. He was a long-time member of duckboats.net before you guys came on board and may have been one of the most knowledgeable people on the subject of Mexican ducks. You can search his old posts for information from a man that studied waterfowl passionatley and probably harvested as many Mexican ducks as anyone around today.
Same here. We all do.
William Reinicke
Active member
Lol all duck and goose is sausage and jerky meat here. I am not the best cook by any means, but I can whip up some jerky in a hurry and when I bring it to work, it gets gobbled up fast. Its a quick and easy way to keep the amount of bird meat down in the freezer. its always a bit of a worry of mine, some argue that bird meat in a freezer goes against the possession limit. There was an old timer here who was caught with like 300ish rainbow trout in his freezer and he was cited something ridiculous because they said it was over possession limit. The way regs read here is that processed meat does not count towards possession, so on every ziploc bag, I write "Goose steak" or "Duck Steak" and if I was ever questioned, I would say its as processed as that meat will get. Even though, I fully intend to still slice with a meat slicer but it only slices well when its still mostly frozen. Still though, I can keep the freezer meat down pretty well by just bringing bags of jerky to the break room. I cut it thin enough that I don't worry about anyone chomping on a pellet either. I never bring my sausage sticks to work for that very reason, last thing I need is a lawsuit because someone lost a tooth from a missed pellet.
I just wouldnt imagine bear being any good. They are fascinating creatures to me and I have one admission.... I am not sure I could ever pull the trigger on a bear. It might be one of the only animals I enjoy watching and have 0 desire to kill. Which is weird, because I dont mind killing pretty much anything that has a season. I could certainly be apart of one, just not sure I could ever be the one to pull the trigger.
I just wouldnt imagine bear being any good. They are fascinating creatures to me and I have one admission.... I am not sure I could ever pull the trigger on a bear. It might be one of the only animals I enjoy watching and have 0 desire to kill. Which is weird, because I dont mind killing pretty much anything that has a season. I could certainly be apart of one, just not sure I could ever be the one to pull the trigger.
William Reinicke
Active member
Id be so pissed! A big reason I get my birds to a taxi as soon as possible. Usually I am waiting a year or more to get it back anyways and the deposits are usually very affordable.Somewhere i have a digital image of a beautiful drake mottled duck I killed years back in Mobile. Have to dig that out.
I saved it to get mounted but then it rotted when we lost power during Hurricane Ivan.
