Widgeon

D

Dick Sargeant

Well-known member
Today the tide was wrong for my area and I knew the clammas would be out in force so I drove 104 miles down to westport and set up in the westport river. Good conditions around 20 with a stiff NW wind. There is an awful lot of freshwater frozen down there and I expected to see a lot of birds. Was very slow but I did get a beautiful widgeon drake with remarkable colors. I don't see too many of these and have not taken a drake before. The bill is a dusty blue color. My gunning partner today got a drake spoonbill which I have never seen taken in this area.

Of course, the birds piled in about 10 minutes after legal time while we were picking up the spread. Two sneakboats working together can put out a nice spread of ducks and geese without much heavy lifting and then set up in such a way as to cover several angles safely.

From what I have read by Worth and others, I imagine the west coast guys see a lot of widgeon. I am thinking about mounting this one but the breast feathers got all bloody - so it might not work. The boss has also pointed out I could save 150.00 by eating the duck - but what does she know !

sarge
 
Today the tide was wrong for my area and I knew the clammas would be out in force so I drove 104 miles down to westport and set up in the westport river. Good conditions around 20 with a stiff NW wind. There is an awful lot of freshwater frozen down there and I expected to see a lot of birds. Was very slow but I did get a beautiful widgeon drake with remarkable colors. I don't see too many of these and have not taken a drake before. The bill is a dusty blue color. My gunning partner today got a drake spoonbill which I have never seen taken in this area.

Of course, the birds piled in about 10 minutes after legal time while we were picking up the spread. Two sneakboats working together can put out a nice spread of ducks and geese without much heavy lifting and then set up in such a way as to cover several angles safely.

From what I have read by Worth and others, I imagine the west coast guys see a lot of widgeon. I am thinking about mounting this one but the breast feathers got all bloody - so it might not work. The boss has also pointed out I could save 150.00 by eating the duck - but what does she know !

sarge
Click to expand...


Dick,

Don't worry about the blood on the feathers. That won't have any affect on the mount. Things that will ruin a bird for taxidermy is broken feathers or feathers that are ripped out of the carcass (lying a bird on the deck and then freezing).

When you bring the bird home, tuck the head along the breast and wrap in two layers of plastic wrap, and then two layers of butchers paper, label and freeze.

I've used Todd Huffman for years, and have had great work. I can't recommend him enough.
http://www.birdmanstudios.com/

Best,
Steve
 
Spectacular bird, aren't they? It's a shame we don't see more in our part of the Atlantic flyway.

I never had one decoy this year in VT.
 
Congratulations on taking a drake widgeon. What Steve said is correct. You don't need to worry about the blood on the feathers. That will get washed off. However, if you had blood on your Dall sheep cape, then you really need to worry! Taking a gorgeous bird like this if you don't see many makes you a lucky man, indeed.
Here are a couple of pics for you to look at. I took these last year after I broke my leg duck hunting. There were maybe a thousand of them on the golf course at the time. This year there aren't very many of them.
Al

_MG_5509.jpg


_MG_5528.jpg

 
Thanks guys - I talked to the guy I use in this area, Brian Yacino, and he said the same thing so I think I will try to mount this bird. I have a couple of mounts that Brian did over 10 years ago that are still excellent - he's in northern conn. and does great work if anybody is looking for this in our area.

sarge
 
[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]
There were maybe a thousand of them on the golf course at the time.
Click to expand...
Ahhh, now we have Widgeon,,,, the other park duck.

(for those of you not into Iowa pork products, the above is a play on the advertising campaign slogan which goes; Pork,,,, the other white meat. )
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Nice job on the Widgeon. I was down there on Saturday and saw a flock of Ringnecks with a drake greenwing teal which surprised me. I hunt down there often but have never seen any Widgeon. With everything frozen up there is some good mallard shooting down there now. Have a safe and fun rest of the season.

Kenley
 
[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]
There were maybe a thousand of them on the golf course at the time.
Click to expand...
Ahhh, now we have Widgeon,,,, the other park duck.

(for those of you not into Iowa pork products, the above is a play on the advertising campaign slogan which goes; Pork,,,, the other white meat. )
[/font]
Click to expand...


Dave,

Frankly, I never cared for that ad campaign, really puts pork in a comparison with mediocrity...I prefer the catch phrase " A rib a day keeps the vagans away" much better.

Chuck
 
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