Matt Masters
Active member
Looking to try and get a good drake Common Merg this season. If you are a guide, someone who is willing to help me out, or do a swap hunt please shoot me a PM.
Common Mergs
- Thread starter Matt Masters
- Start date
Steve Sanford
Well-known member
Good morning, Matt~
Since you asked....I guess I'll share my story of 2017's "Bull Shellpecker Quest".....
I wrote this as a "Christmas Gift" for my gunning circle here in New York.
Shellpeckers on Parade - or - The Challenge of the Single Shot
22 December 2017
The New York State Department of Health (DOH) - based on collections and analysis of waterfowl taken within the Empire State by my former agency NYSDEC - decades ago issued formal Health Advisories concerning the human consumption of various species - or at least groups of species. In fact, as a young Waterfowl Biologist for DEC in the 1980s, I recall "collecting" a number of waterfowl on Long Island for this research. The birds were shipped off to our lab at Hale Creek and the edible tissues were analyzed for a variety of metals and organic chemicals. The result - sadly but not unsurprisingly - was that significant levels of contaminants were found in most wild waterfowl. The DOH Health Advisory and the recommendations in our annual Waterfowl Syllabus suggest that the fat in ducks and geese - where most of the bioaccumulated toxins are stored - be avoided. So, most waterfowl are now filleted before cooking, rather than being plucked; most of the fat is thereby discarded.
One group of waterfowl, though, got special attention. The mergansers - also known as Sawbills, Shelldrake and even Shellpecker - eat fish almost exclusively. This dietary fact puts them higher on the food chain than other ducks. It also means that they consume and accumulate more contaminants. The DOH Health Advisory regarding the consumption of any merganser is clear and terse: "Eat none."
It is a plain fact that my hunting companions hereabouts shoot (or catch) only those creatures that they intend to eat. It is equally plain that my hunting companions always manage to find one thing for which they can heap ridicule and even disdain upon this author....
I suppose I make it easy for them. While I generally subscribe to the "eat what you shoot" convention, I have for many seasons now (see last year's A Bull Fit for a Matador) made it an annual practice to take one prime drake Common Merganser - a Bull Shellpecker in gunner's parlance - if one presents himself correctly. The goal is not to simply shoot a nicely plumed drake. The shot must have something about it - speed, height, angle of approach - to make it a "memorable" shot. As with any fine repast, presentation is critically important. I seek drama. Thus, entire seasons can come and go without the appropriate opportunity. Until yesterday morning, I was thinking 2017 might be another "year without bull".
Although a Saturday morning - and despite a thorough canvass of the troops - yesterday found me hunting solo along a favorite riverbank. A variety of infirmities and inclemencies kept each of my potential partners/witnesses home in bed. It was a dark morning, with an icy drizzle that commenced just as I set the last decoy. The river was mostly free of ice and the water level was low. Clad in whites, I sat quietly for about a half-hour prior to shooting time. I was disappointed to detect no early birds - no whirring wings or chuckling overhead, nothing landing in the decoys or drifting down on the rig from upstream. This duck-free condition continued even once the legal moment had arrived.
My hunts this time of year are brief - lots to do just before Christmas. I planned to sit until 7:30, about 10 minutes after sunrise. About a quarter-past-seven I began to see some life. Three Hen Shellpeckers roared in from downstream, over my left shoulder. They were losing altitude fast and sat down out of sight, upstream. As expected, they floated down minutes later. As is typical, they were dunking their faces to look for prey whilst cruising with the current. I simply enjoyed them as they continued past. Several minutes later, a single Hen flew upstream. She was right on the deck, cranking along a full speed. Again, I simply enjoyed the spectacle.
Just minutes before 7:30, I watched a Great Blue Heron descend from a great height. He was parachuting slowly and gracefully, intent on alighting somewhere upstream from where I sat. I was disappointed only that he did not join my 10 Mallard and Black Duck decoys. But, 7:30 was soon upon me, and so I prepared to pick up the rig.
Here I need to mention my gun. Old "Locomotive Breath" - the 1925 Winchester Model 12 still aglow from that sweet double on Black Ducks a mere 48 hours previous - remained full of bullets as I waded out into the riverbed. It stayed ashore with my gunning box and wading staff. Had I companions along, it would have been unloaded and cased at this juncture.
As I walked out to collect each decoy, I first noticed the Great Blue. He was standing on the south bank, head tucked down into his hunched shoulders. More important, though, were the dark forms I could make out just beyond him. They clearly became ducks - Blacks or Mallards - as I watched from amongst the stool. At first just 2 or maybe 3, I could ultimately see perhaps 8 or 10. As I turned from the Mallards to pick up the Blacks, they took off. Most looked like Mallards. Perhaps if I had sat longer, they would have drifted down....
Just as I grabbed my first Black Duck decoy, I heard that marvelous sound from above. Not a quack or chuckle or whistle - but that sonorous croak, croak emerging from the gullet of one Mergus merganser. I glanced skyward to be rewarded with the image of a big, salmon-blushed drake, winging powerfully upstream, about 20 or 25 yards up. A sweet presentation, but - sans Model 12 - I could only watch once again. I smiled to myself and thought: "He was probably my Ought-seventeen Bull."
Back ashore, the hunt was over and I got organized. After setting the now-full decoy bag on snow, I removed the 2 shells from the Winchester's magazine. Before I could eject the chambered shell, though, I heard - or somehow detected - something behind me on the river. I glanced downstream to glimpse two Shelldrake right on the deck, streaking upstream (Shelldrake can show Mallards and Blacks a thing or two about flying....). And, the first bird showed lots of white! I glanced at the gun in my hands and initiated a brief but wordless conversation: "Should I? Is it okay to come out on a bird with but a lone bullet in - of all firearms - The Perfect Repeater? Can I make the shot?"
As he has for many decades now, Old Mister Winchester, perhaps a little hurt or annoyed that I should ever doubt the strength of our partnership, answered in the affirmative: "Are you kidding me? Of course we can! Let's just do this!" So, I wheeled around and took in the scene: a presentation I crave! Left to right, swinging the barrel as fast as I can to catch up with the lead bird. My brain stepped aside. The muzzle got out ahead of the drake and my eye told my fingertip "Now!" The Ought-seventeen Bull crumpled immediately, dead before he could hit the river just a couple of feet below.
The retrieve was easy. The thrill of seeing a perfect Bull Shellpecker in peak plumage never fades. In hand, the beauty of stark black and white, the salmon wash, the blood red bill and the forest green headdress overwhelm the eye.
View attachment sm Bull 2017 02.JPG
View attachment sm Bull 2017 01.JPG
View attachment sm Bull 2017 03.JPG
For the last few days of the season, every Common Merganser is now a non-game species. I am hoping a Black or a Mallard will present itself before this week's impending frigid air will seal up our waters and send everything south to coastal waters.
All the best,
SJS
Since you asked....I guess I'll share my story of 2017's "Bull Shellpecker Quest".....
I wrote this as a "Christmas Gift" for my gunning circle here in New York.
Shellpeckers on Parade - or - The Challenge of the Single Shot
22 December 2017
The New York State Department of Health (DOH) - based on collections and analysis of waterfowl taken within the Empire State by my former agency NYSDEC - decades ago issued formal Health Advisories concerning the human consumption of various species - or at least groups of species. In fact, as a young Waterfowl Biologist for DEC in the 1980s, I recall "collecting" a number of waterfowl on Long Island for this research. The birds were shipped off to our lab at Hale Creek and the edible tissues were analyzed for a variety of metals and organic chemicals. The result - sadly but not unsurprisingly - was that significant levels of contaminants were found in most wild waterfowl. The DOH Health Advisory and the recommendations in our annual Waterfowl Syllabus suggest that the fat in ducks and geese - where most of the bioaccumulated toxins are stored - be avoided. So, most waterfowl are now filleted before cooking, rather than being plucked; most of the fat is thereby discarded.
One group of waterfowl, though, got special attention. The mergansers - also known as Sawbills, Shelldrake and even Shellpecker - eat fish almost exclusively. This dietary fact puts them higher on the food chain than other ducks. It also means that they consume and accumulate more contaminants. The DOH Health Advisory regarding the consumption of any merganser is clear and terse: "Eat none."
It is a plain fact that my hunting companions hereabouts shoot (or catch) only those creatures that they intend to eat. It is equally plain that my hunting companions always manage to find one thing for which they can heap ridicule and even disdain upon this author....
I suppose I make it easy for them. While I generally subscribe to the "eat what you shoot" convention, I have for many seasons now (see last year's A Bull Fit for a Matador) made it an annual practice to take one prime drake Common Merganser - a Bull Shellpecker in gunner's parlance - if one presents himself correctly. The goal is not to simply shoot a nicely plumed drake. The shot must have something about it - speed, height, angle of approach - to make it a "memorable" shot. As with any fine repast, presentation is critically important. I seek drama. Thus, entire seasons can come and go without the appropriate opportunity. Until yesterday morning, I was thinking 2017 might be another "year without bull".
Although a Saturday morning - and despite a thorough canvass of the troops - yesterday found me hunting solo along a favorite riverbank. A variety of infirmities and inclemencies kept each of my potential partners/witnesses home in bed. It was a dark morning, with an icy drizzle that commenced just as I set the last decoy. The river was mostly free of ice and the water level was low. Clad in whites, I sat quietly for about a half-hour prior to shooting time. I was disappointed to detect no early birds - no whirring wings or chuckling overhead, nothing landing in the decoys or drifting down on the rig from upstream. This duck-free condition continued even once the legal moment had arrived.
My hunts this time of year are brief - lots to do just before Christmas. I planned to sit until 7:30, about 10 minutes after sunrise. About a quarter-past-seven I began to see some life. Three Hen Shellpeckers roared in from downstream, over my left shoulder. They were losing altitude fast and sat down out of sight, upstream. As expected, they floated down minutes later. As is typical, they were dunking their faces to look for prey whilst cruising with the current. I simply enjoyed them as they continued past. Several minutes later, a single Hen flew upstream. She was right on the deck, cranking along a full speed. Again, I simply enjoyed the spectacle.
Just minutes before 7:30, I watched a Great Blue Heron descend from a great height. He was parachuting slowly and gracefully, intent on alighting somewhere upstream from where I sat. I was disappointed only that he did not join my 10 Mallard and Black Duck decoys. But, 7:30 was soon upon me, and so I prepared to pick up the rig.
Here I need to mention my gun. Old "Locomotive Breath" - the 1925 Winchester Model 12 still aglow from that sweet double on Black Ducks a mere 48 hours previous - remained full of bullets as I waded out into the riverbed. It stayed ashore with my gunning box and wading staff. Had I companions along, it would have been unloaded and cased at this juncture.
As I walked out to collect each decoy, I first noticed the Great Blue. He was standing on the south bank, head tucked down into his hunched shoulders. More important, though, were the dark forms I could make out just beyond him. They clearly became ducks - Blacks or Mallards - as I watched from amongst the stool. At first just 2 or maybe 3, I could ultimately see perhaps 8 or 10. As I turned from the Mallards to pick up the Blacks, they took off. Most looked like Mallards. Perhaps if I had sat longer, they would have drifted down....
Just as I grabbed my first Black Duck decoy, I heard that marvelous sound from above. Not a quack or chuckle or whistle - but that sonorous croak, croak emerging from the gullet of one Mergus merganser. I glanced skyward to be rewarded with the image of a big, salmon-blushed drake, winging powerfully upstream, about 20 or 25 yards up. A sweet presentation, but - sans Model 12 - I could only watch once again. I smiled to myself and thought: "He was probably my Ought-seventeen Bull."
Back ashore, the hunt was over and I got organized. After setting the now-full decoy bag on snow, I removed the 2 shells from the Winchester's magazine. Before I could eject the chambered shell, though, I heard - or somehow detected - something behind me on the river. I glanced downstream to glimpse two Shelldrake right on the deck, streaking upstream (Shelldrake can show Mallards and Blacks a thing or two about flying....). And, the first bird showed lots of white! I glanced at the gun in my hands and initiated a brief but wordless conversation: "Should I? Is it okay to come out on a bird with but a lone bullet in - of all firearms - The Perfect Repeater? Can I make the shot?"
As he has for many decades now, Old Mister Winchester, perhaps a little hurt or annoyed that I should ever doubt the strength of our partnership, answered in the affirmative: "Are you kidding me? Of course we can! Let's just do this!" So, I wheeled around and took in the scene: a presentation I crave! Left to right, swinging the barrel as fast as I can to catch up with the lead bird. My brain stepped aside. The muzzle got out ahead of the drake and my eye told my fingertip "Now!" The Ought-seventeen Bull crumpled immediately, dead before he could hit the river just a couple of feet below.
The retrieve was easy. The thrill of seeing a perfect Bull Shellpecker in peak plumage never fades. In hand, the beauty of stark black and white, the salmon wash, the blood red bill and the forest green headdress overwhelm the eye.
View attachment sm Bull 2017 02.JPG
View attachment sm Bull 2017 01.JPG
View attachment sm Bull 2017 03.JPG
For the last few days of the season, every Common Merganser is now a non-game species. I am hoping a Black or a Mallard will present itself before this week's impending frigid air will seal up our waters and send everything south to coastal waters.
All the best,
SJS
Last edited:
jode hillman
Well-known member
What a treat! Thanks Steve
Nice, Steve.
I must say, though, that I am surprised to find there are two people in the Eastern Flyway who WANT to shoot a drake mergie.
That photo of the tailfeathers has me wondering whether there might be some fly tying applications I have not considered in the past.
Our season just closed, but for anyone who would like such an opportunity next season, I'll be happy to provide local merganser coordination here in Maine. I spent a lot of late season coastal hunts this year hoping for black ducks or whistlers while watching sawbills strafe my decoys.
I must say, though, that I am surprised to find there are two people in the Eastern Flyway who WANT to shoot a drake mergie.
That photo of the tailfeathers has me wondering whether there might be some fly tying applications I have not considered in the past.
Our season just closed, but for anyone who would like such an opportunity next season, I'll be happy to provide local merganser coordination here in Maine. I spent a lot of late season coastal hunts this year hoping for black ducks or whistlers while watching sawbills strafe my decoys.
joe Sarrantonio
Member
A story told in the true Sanford fashion - AWESOME!
Thanks Steve
Thanks Steve
Thanks Steve,
The last day of the Champlain zone we watched flock after flock of merg's trading up and down the lake, they would come in numbers from 20 to 50 stay till they pulled some mallards in and then moved on. My friend dropped one right before sunrise and I informed him I was not putting my dog in the water for that (-13 at the time) in the canoe he went and we had a good laugh most of the morning that are limit would be filled with that thing in the count.
Now off to the finger lakes in a few days once this cold blast passes
The last day of the Champlain zone we watched flock after flock of merg's trading up and down the lake, they would come in numbers from 20 to 50 stay till they pulled some mallards in and then moved on. My friend dropped one right before sunrise and I informed him I was not putting my dog in the water for that (-13 at the time) in the canoe he went and we had a good laugh most of the morning that are limit would be filled with that thing in the count.
Now off to the finger lakes in a few days once this cold blast passes
Neil Schrieber
Active member
Great Story.......neil
Steve Sanford
Well-known member
Good morning, Jeff~
Here in NY, Commons tend to stay on freshwater; the Red-breasted is the common Merganser on salt water. On Long Island, the few Commons are found on some larger, inland lakes - and make it out onto salt only when we have hard freezes.
Commons nest throughout upstate NY - but we have only a record or 2 of RBMs nesting.
All the best,
SJS
Here in NY, Commons tend to stay on freshwater; the Red-breasted is the common Merganser on salt water. On Long Island, the few Commons are found on some larger, inland lakes - and make it out onto salt only when we have hard freezes.
Commons nest throughout upstate NY - but we have only a record or 2 of RBMs nesting.
All the best,
SJS
Steve Sanford
Well-known member
Good morning, Kevin~
Minus thirteen! I wouldn't let my canoe get in the water at that temp.....
My wife's cousin just sent us photos of Champlain (Port Kent area) steaming to beat the band, making ice all the time.
Best of luck in the Finger Lakes.
SJS
Minus thirteen! I wouldn't let my canoe get in the water at that temp.....
My wife's cousin just sent us photos of Champlain (Port Kent area) steaming to beat the band, making ice all the time.
Best of luck in the Finger Lakes.
SJS
Steve, a lot of my coastal hunting is on either freshwater but tidal sections of rivers, or salty water within a mile or less of a large freshwater lake. Late in the season as the freshwater is freezing, red breasted and common mergs are both found in the remaining open water. The commons are certainly commoner the fresher the water is. Based on where we see them, I think a lot of these birds are feeding on runs of sea-run rainbow smelt, which are also concentrated at the salt water/freshwater boundary in early winter. This year we had enough early cold weather we could have gotten in a mergie hunt in the afternoon, then hit one of the commercial smelt shack operations after supper. The best of the smelt fishing seems to occur right at freeze-up, then again in the early spring as the spawning runs crank up.
Kurt Hendricks
Member
I do not where you are located, and with this cold snap, the spot I am thinking of is totally iced up and not accessible. But the Delaware River is a major flyway for them. During the last few weeks we saw hundreds of them in flocks from 5 to 100 travelling down river. They decoy some what well when inclined. Pretty cool to watch them deviate from their flight path like a bunch of widgeon and dive bomb the spread!!
Matt Masters
Active member
I’m in Alabama but will travel !
RLLigman said:
That would sure attract the smelts . . . .
Not sure if the zooplankton would concentrate at the salt/fresh interface, but smelts may be staging there now to be ready for spawning in the spring, taking advantage of whatever feed is available. The spring time concentrations of common mergs on the Kennebec River just after ice out are spectacular, and they are feeding like crazy, presumably on the spawning run of smelts.
Wonderful Steve. I was right there with you, even to the point of feeling that chill of rain and wind.
Larry
Larry