Beauties...

Those are the nicest ruddies I've ever seen! Usually by time we open, the males' white cheek patches are completely faded.
 
Ruddys get a bad rap due to their intelligence but they are one of the tastiest and most tender ducks out there. Even better than some puddle duck species. When they fly to the dekes I'll always shoot them more often then not they swim in and I have long since stopped trying to get them to flush for an on the wing shot.

I would definitely like to see some pictures of your ruddy duck long line. FASCINATING little birds
 
Dollar Ducks, strong fliers when they do and tasty, but a real challenge to hand pluck...

Look forward to the long line photo's.
 
Agree on all points, very tasty but more often than not they swim in. When they do fly, it's like shooting fast moving teal or buffies. And predicting when and where you might see them is futile.
 
We have a local lake that gets a pile of ruddies--hundreds and hundreds--late in the season. It's the only place I've ever seen them. It's not a spot I want to hunt--highly developed lake and a lot of pressure on the few spots that are legal--so I settle for a trip a year over there with binoculars to watch.

What do they feed on? This particular lake has a big fall draw down where they drop water levels, and I wonder if that's what pulls them in.
 
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Jeff - I am not 100% sure but I know a biologist that did work with ruddies and will check.
Steve - Glad you were inspired...
Carl - They were extremely clean...

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Although I am not a mount guy, I do have 2 mounted ruddies in my home. Jim Schmiedlin was an inspiration to me on ruddies. He always had a couple in his rig... Pat
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I have sculled in to a few hundred of them and split the flock, it wasn't challenging but it was cool to be that close to them. We never shoot them since we rarely see them fly.

Funny little birds.
 
Pat there is no doubt that you had a great day of duck hunting. Congratulations. Love the ruddies.
Al
 
Pat , WE have a good crop of them in N.J. Only in certain areas do they raft up. We hunt them out of Lay Out boats a very sporting bird. Losts of action & fun when nothing mush else is around & happening.
 
Our group loves our ruddies and spoonies. A nice mixed Illinois River bag... In two weeks, we'll assemble one of the few longlines entirely made up of ruddy ducks that I know of. Anyone ever rig an entire longline of ruddies?
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Pat - Haven't seen them on a longilne but Jason Russell has got a nice spread of ruddies down here in AL... definitely the only ones I've seen on the bodies of public water I hunt. Great colors on those drakes btw!!!
 
Dollar Ducks, strong fliers when they do and tasty, but a real challenge to hand pluck...

Look forward to the long line photo's.
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Dollar ducks now that's old school. Had to start going thru some older books as I remember ruddies referred as that during the market hunting days. I found a price list on pg 66 of Harry Walsh's The Outlaw Gunner .90-1.00 per pair.
Also on pg 145 there's an interesting way of gunning them for market.

Phil
 
Awesome John! I'm thinking the way these rascals fly, if they did a header into your boat, you'd be making a repair to your gunnel... Pat
 
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