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Always enjoy your pictures and accounts. Curious if you have always had huntable numbers of gadwalls in coastal NJ. They were rare along the coast here in New England twenty years ago and now they are the primary bird in bag so season totals.

Ice is a huge factor followed by temperature but they usually play hand in hand with boats in tidal rivers and salt ponds. Great response Steve and another consideration even when temp raises after freeze is wind pushing ice. Last year I had an X spot where the birds had to be and ended up not...

I agree 100% and not for increased take but to limit the take of blacks. Connecticut's speculum pictures in their game law abstracts is way to liberal for my liking. A faint white line on secondaries is a hybrid to be counted as mallard. This is where some biologists disagree since some are...

and an eclipse mallard drake looks like a hen. Does that make it a hen eventhough it is a drake biologically. Thought process is same and in fact the esclipse drake looks more hen like in early season than drake mallard. Same goes here in New England with eiders and one hen limit. Many one and...

Thanks for sharing. Seeing a beautiful deer like that during daytime is always a treat. Hope you get a few dropped souveniers besides the digested corn.

From a past life I am all to familar with color enhancement in the waterfowl as they age. Soemtimes it is three years others times one to two. I agree that the color does enhance as they age. The female hormone surpresses drab colors in birds and if they live long enough when they hit menopause...

The biologists have made the intentions of the regulations known. Now how the state wardens interpret is is a matter in and of itself. Sadly I believe it depends on which one you run into. Wardens in these parts are mostly funded by marine fisheries and target enforcement efforts accordingly...

Another option to aid in the drying is to put it near woodstove or in an attic. Just be careful on your setbacks if near a stove and be sure to rotate it often as it will turn and crack if to close or for to long. Have used the stove method with great success on smaller wood.

When I called it in they only gave me location and date of the banding. Knowing the bander I serously doubt it will be labeled a Black-or-Mallard. I betting on Black Mallard cross.

What a memorable day for what has been a slow season. Thought I was going to get stuck in the low tide mud but the tide returned quickly with the aid of a Southeast wind and snow squalls. At noon the sky was grey with the sun poking through and then when legal approached the snow started...

I know the exact feeling. Hunted a spot a few years back and the ducks were thick as flies on road kill in August on Friday and Saturaday. Went back Monday morning and didn't see a single duck? Yet we keep going back.

Have been battling the tide for last few hunts. The low tide is ideal to make what few brids we have fly but high and dry as pictured is never ideal no matter how well the birds fly. Does your tide turn quickly? I would be stuck about 1-2 hours before boat floated in my area never mind run an...

Had to chuckle reading about your fuel line mishap. Happened to a friend the other day, however, it was in the dark and took awile before the culprit was identified. I second that on the changes-goldeneyes were outright common here up until thirty years ago and now we see a single here and...

I have been told that but never bothered to give it a shot. If it works with eiders I see no difference.

Resorted to pulling out the pond box today for Black Ducks. Needless to say it was a success and broke my drought. Decoyed one of the five blacks in four hours of hunting. Usually I see all sorts of birds and a few hundred at this time of the year. This is unreal. Sure beats last years cold. One...

A number of years ago I saw an article in Wildfowl magazine where a reader pulled the top off it and used the hull for a twin pond box. Ever since then I keep my eyes peeled for a fixer uper.

Same here to the East. Sorry but glad to know I am not alone in my misery. After being skunked twice I was thinking it was me. My sure fire black duck spots have been a bust. To make matters worst we have had so little wind on days when pressure may move birds the head out to sea and ride out...

Nice pictures and great day in the field from the looks of it. Question: Do you pull your boats on the marsh or are they still in the water? I look for ditches or cuts that I blend into. Most marshes up here were ditched in the 30s by WPA for mosquito control with the opposite results than...

Only thing I would do is hit it with flat brown spray paint. I call it dusting. Just spray it from about 18-24" away and qucikly. All it accomplishes is to take the brightness off the gass as it drys out. Looks good and looks like it held up fine in transport. My decoy storage is 12 slot bags...

Awesome drake wigeon. One of my favorites that I seldom get a crack at and never that nice. You had a better day in the Bluebill than behind a desk even without the birds.