A Gray Morning

[Craig F]

With the second to last Saturday of the season upon us here in NJ and, contrary to popular belief, being a weekend warrior that works 9-5 I made sure to be up bright and early to take advantage. Having fixed my trailer I was finally back in my own sneakbox and with my father along headed to the coast to target puddle ducks.

Thankfully we arrived to a ramp with open water and not too much of a crowd. After finding a nice protected cove to set up in we settled in for sunrise. 20 minutes before legal we had quite the show from a few nice groups of puddlers bombing the spread. Usually a good omen for the day. Once legal shooting time rolled around we had steady action for most of the morning with black ducks and loads of gadwall. It seems like every year we see more and more of them all over the state and today they were practically all we saw.

If we had been shooting a little better we would have had our limits but with the way my last couple hunts have been who am I to complain? Another hunt for the memory banks and a great morning to share with my dad.

 

[Todd Duncan Tennyson]

Great photos and write up.


We rarely go gadwall out on the lower Columbia river where I used to set up.


One of my all time favorite looking birds, and very good eating.

 

[Tom Rowe]

Very nice Craig!

 

[Bob M]

Love it Craig

 

[Gerald N]

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.

 

[Craig F]

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[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]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. [/font]

We always had a few areas that were great for gadwall, but not on the coast. I'd bag at most a couple per season on the coast until a few years ago. Now they have been outnumbering mallards at times, especially when we get cold weather. I'd have to check my log but I think they were my second most bagged duck last year after black ducks.

 

[Dick Veal]

awesome hunt

 

[Steve Sanford]

Craig~

Congratulations to you and your Dad! I love all the Gadwall - but my favorite is that big Black Duck on the left - he is why I like to paint my bills toward Cadmium Yellow/Ochre (and not Chrome) end of the spectrum.

Happily, I will be back on Long Island for the end of the season - and will try to shoot one (or more!) of my own.

All the best,

SJS

 

[Craig F]

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My favorite is that big Black Duck on the left - he is why I like to paint my bills toward Cadmium Yellow/Ochre (and not Chrome) end of the spectrum.

I even mentioned to my dad that the bill on that particular black sure looked like your painting tutorial. Both blacks had very slight hints of green on the top of their heads in the sunlight, but no visible white banding on the speculum. Just large prime drake black ducks.
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