Afternoon Black Ducks

Craig F

Craig F

Well-known member
Decided to hunt the afternoon tide for the south zone first split closer Saturday so mid morning my dad and I hooked the sneakboxes up and hit the parkway south.

With clear skies and temps hovering around 65 degrees we didn't expect a ton of action, but it's always good to be out on the salt marsh.

Just as we planned the birds started moving on the tide change as the water started to drain from the many potholes and mosquito ditches. Unfortunately 90% of the birds moving were black ducks. After a few missed opportunities passing up birds we thought would make one more pass we had a drake work in pretty as a picture at 15 yards. Ozzie made a great retrieve and shortly thereafter we had a pair work in for my father to take his black duck.

We had some groups of mallards give us a look, but they did not commit and once again never saw a teal. Very strange start to the season so far and hopefully we get some colder weather for the coastal opener next weekend.

I only have taking the one bird on camera as I needed to do a battery swap at the wrong time, but if you like seeing black ducks at 15 yards, here you go:

https://vimeo.com/110065162

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Now I know this usually starts an argument, but I figured I'd take a picture of the two black duck wings before I sent them off to the FWS. The one on the left had a very small tinge of green on it's head, barely visible but notice the white banding on the speculum.

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Craig,
Doesn't get much better than a limit of blacks. Looking at your wing pics, I've got to say that the bird on the left is obviously the product of interbreeding with mallards. Even the coloration of the speculum is more "mallard blue" than that blackduck blue-purple hue. But the telling factor is the anterior white bars. I think you'd be hard pressed to see many blacks who don't have a bit of that white posterior bar, but your mention if the shot of green in the head further confirms the load of mallard genes in that bird on the left.


Of course, one had better not argue that point with a CO and try not to count it as a blackduck in the bag. ;-)


Looks like it was a good day all around.
 
The hybrid is a considered an "other duck" and is counted as 25 points towards your daily bag. If you are under 40 you probably don't what the hell I mean.
 
The hybrid is a considered an "other duck" and is counted as 25 points towards your daily bag. If you are under 40 you probably don't what the hell I mean.
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While I was not around in the points system days my dad has told me enough stories I catch your drift!

These days I don't get too adventurous with counting hybrids unless they are clearly not a black duck, just not worth the potential headache back at the ramp.
 
Craig,

The video is excellent! And I just love those boats. It's so cool to actually see them in action and watch how they move on the water. They look like the perfect tool for the salt marshes. We obviously don't have that in Michigan but I'd bet those BBSB's would do great on the rivers.
 
Great pics and video as usual,keep them coming.I've just started using the gopro,will be awhile before I get to where you are with editing and shooting clips. I hunted the Sat morn out that way,as I was leaving the wave runners were putting in,(about 20 of them) some kind of event.Felt sorry for the guys hunting the afternoon.Hope they missed you.
 
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Great pics and video as usual,keep them coming.I've just started using the gopro,will be awhile before I get to where you are with editing and shooting clips. I hunted the Sat morn out that way,as I was leaving the wave runners were putting in,(about 20 of them) some kind of event.Felt sorry for the guys hunting the afternoon.Hope they missed you.
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The wave runner gang!!! We were hunting the same area. Had that group pull up right behind us at one point then race off... gotta love the early season.

The GoPros are honestly tough to get great hunting footage with as they make every shot look 50 yards away, but I try my best to get some good footage for the memory banks. If I did a dedicated hunt where I just filmed I could get some excellent footage, but I don't know if I'll ever reach the point where I put down the gun for a camera.
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Awesome footage Craig, you really capture the tradition of hunting with a sneakbox. Really like how you included the pre hunt events.keep me coming coastal on its way
 
Nice video!
Just put the finishing touches on my boat today
I will be hunting the L.I. youth day hunt with a young boy who's really taking to hunting and shooting.He got his first turkey last week and we hope we can get a blackduck next month to drop in for a visit.
 
I'm a Old Timer...the point system sucked, and degraded the value of ducks and duck hunting. I am a Big fan of Black Ducks (one of the two Atlantic Flyway dynamic duo, the other Brant). Thanks for the photo's and the info.
 
If you're an East Coast waterfowler, especially from NJ or Long Island you know all about the usual limit of brant and your black duck. While I don't do a lot of brant hunting anymore I still will do a trip as I did Saturday, three hours of driving for what amounted to one duck. Everyone wants to shoot limits, etc. and of course so do I, but with conditions and the full migration not hitting us quite yet, fooling that black duck to commit at 10 yards makes all the time and effort worth it.
 
Dont need a full limit to have a good time.
Absolutely nothing like shooting a black duck at close range landing into a nice cork or wood decoy spread.
 
Great hunt and pics. I hunted dividing creek with my old man on Friday, with the same result u had. 2 blacks. That's all that was there. I saw 1 mallard and 1 ruddy and hundreds of blacks. Can't be leave there weren't any teal around.
 
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