Originally Posted by
Oldtimr
The solution for that is if you don't know what they are don't shoot them. Mergansers don't fly like other ducks and they look different in the air than puddle ducks and other, even in poor light just like Cormorants, if you can see them you can tell if they are mergansers. I have been hunting ducks for a long time and I know a merganser in the air before it is in gun range. Some people can stomach them just like some people can stomach Coots. I am not one of those people so I just flat don't shoot them! If I have to go through all kinds of antics to make something that tastes like crap taste like a fart so it isn't as bad I let them go on by.
,,after 40 something years, I still can't always tell a merg from big divers everytime. But, can identify cormorants at distance always.
I would prefer incidental shooting of them and either make awesome chicken fried merg or make dog treats right then and there. Cause, shooting them is fun albiet a tad disappointing when retrieved.
Nobody I have ever hunted with and there have been many, can always identify all birds without fail...always. We don't shoot over dekes, I can see how doing that would make ID easy peasy. Our birds are typically streaking down the river or pouring it on over the dikes and we are only human, thankfully.