skip0ls

ever since i was a kid my dad told me bout the "old days" where they had canadian black ducks come here. big suckers they were with orange legs. i figured it was just his memory bein goofy cuz he was younger and whatnot. yesterday i shot a blackduck that was the size of a brant, with bright orange legs... my dog got it, and my father said... " man i havnt seen one of them in a long time" anyone know anything about these ducks.

SwampCollie

Yeah....they're black ducks.....

Just ain't as many of them around as there once was. This of course depends entirely on where you are. Along the east coast (where I am) they are about as abundant as they are anywhere....however, you boys along the Mississippi and the Central flyways probably don't see a fraction of what we do. But such is life....y'all have the numbers...and I'll trade ya a few.

I have acctually killed more blacks this year than I have total in the past 5 seasons. I am up to about 7 thus far. A couple have been real monster's, much bigger than any of the mallards I have killed. Part of the reason most are probably smaller is hybridization with mallards. Of those 7 I have been lucky enough to find dead amidist the decoys, likely of cardiac arrest, only two have been (at least as far as I can tell) 100% prime examples of the species. Others have been smaller, with a bit of white in the speculum, and a bit of mottle on the undersides of the wings. A few of those, however, have had right many pin feathers, leading me to believe they might have been young of the year birds.

superstrutter

A Black Duck is a Black Duck. Collie, you are right, they are pretty rare down here in Louisiana. I've been duck hunting for 30 years and I have killed three, and two of them were in Arkansas. Two of them are on my wall. I went fishing on Okechobee onespring and there were Black Ducks all over the place. I was surprised to see that many during the spring. A Black Duck is a prize in the Miss. flyway.

SwampTHING

Get a fair number of them in my area, 1 spot I hunt its pretty much gauranteed you can kill your daily limit of 1 every time there. Actually ran into a couple guys from Missouri that came up too the area this past year just too get a crack at a mountable black duck. The one guy is fairly well known in the waterfowl industry.. All he said was I cant believe ive never come here before,, this is the arkansas of Canada,, but you can kill ducks here! and there isnt 1/100th of the pressure even on public water,, he said he was going too make it a yearly trip.

Suprestrutter are you sure you werent seeing Mottled ducks? they look almost identical and they are indeginous too florida.

superstrutter

You may be right there. They could have been Mottled Ducks. They are pretty common in south LA., but I have never heard of any being killed in north LA. in a long time. I thought it was kind of strange to be seeing so many Black Ducks that time of year that far south. The Mottled Duck just slipped my mind.

duramaxnay6

Yeah they are probably mottled ducks. Pretty tough to tell them apart unless they are in your hand. Except mottled ducks are from Florida.

skip0ls

im not a mississippi boy, im from new york. i've been shooting black ducks since i was a kid, these are different. they look identical but are about twice the size with bright orange legs.

SwampCollie

Well, its later in the season, in fact, I thought I had heard that NY's season closed a couple of weeks ago. But I don't live there, just know a few folks that hunt up that way.

Later in the season means the birds are larger, larger things retain more heat. Ever notice that the geese stay north longer than the ducks? Smallerbirds come south sooner (hence, "early teal", then widgeon and wood ducks{aka Summer Ducks}). Moreover, the orange/red of the legs does not point to a different "subspecies". It merely means that the birds are becoming fully plummed in preparation for spring mating/courting.

canis_lupus

as far as the orange legs on the blacks .... almost all the blacks i have killed have had very bright orange legs .... but that may be due to killin the majority of them in late dec and jan .... breedin plumage ... im in the miss flyway and kill alot of blacks and black/mallard hybrids when the birds migrate .... unlike this year ... lol ..... as far as the blacks being almost dead on the mottleds .... i have to disagree .... the mottleds have a much more yellow tone to em ...at least the ones i have seen

skip0ls

swampcollie you think im some criminal or somethin? check your stuff before you yap at me once in a while. my season closes the 28th