Anyone know of a good book or chart for waterfowl ID?

google and that is a redhead in the picture, just to get you started

Must have field book for all newbies...

The LeMaster Method - Waterfowl Identification

GW told me about that book on my first duck hunt in 2003, and I still have it. Carried it for years in my backpack.

^^This 100%

I second the LeMaster Book. I took that advice from this site when i first started duck hunting..Excellent book. I have yet to be able to not identify anything with it since i got it.

Here are two good online resource as well.

http://flyways.us/duck-identification-resources

http://www.ducks.org/hunting/waterfowl-id

It's only about $8.00 but it's one of the best charts you can get,it's been used in many books over the years I'm wanting on a nother copy to get here from Amazon.com

Get the WhatTheDuck app from Delta. I think it's still free and does a great job.

btw http://www.deltawaterfowl.org/hunting/ has a few games/quizes
to help you larn duck ID

Keep it in your blind bag, and a second copy by the place you like to sit and read magazines....

IF you have an iphone you can get an app called Duck Calls; it does a pretty good job at identifying ducks.

never hurts but I'll say take the time to learn each duck before you kill it.

That is what the one by the magazines is for.....

why are you guys carrying it in your blind bag? I thought everyone on here learned to ID every bird before they started hunting.

at least thats the impression when a new guys asks for help with ID.

I knew every bird that came into the deks. As long as it was a mallard or a wood duck. And then only after I shot it.

You need to ID in the air, but then confirm on the ground. Learning to ID ducks in the air takes years of experiences, even if you have been hunting for 10 years like I have, each season you get better and better. I suspect, even if you have been duck hunting for 30 years, you still get better each season ID’n ducks in the air. Books and the internet will not help you here, you will not learn until you start splashing them into the deeks. Most of the time you will not see the plumage, all you will see is the silhouette, I go primarily by sound, speed of wing beat, and pattern of flight.

When you are a beginner, 1) ID duck in air, 2) confirm/100% ID duck on ground with that book, and 3) only shoot one duck at a time, this will greatly reduce your risk of screwing up, in fact I'm not sure how you could screw up if you follow these 3 steps. . But until you start this process, you won’t learn jack, jmo. If you shoot a Canvasback, hang it up for the day unless you feel 100% confident you can ID another one that might fly by so you don’t shoot it and go over your limit. Same if you shoot 2 pintails or 2 red heads, or 3 wood ducks, etc… Normally if you hunt the same area, you are going to shoot the same 2 to 4 species of ducks all the time, you will get good at ID’n them.

Guy, that happened to us last year. Just about all the ducks we shot were either Redheads or ringnecks on the main tank. We did get good at identifing those 2 species.