Never Hunted ducks

Ok this is probably a stupid question but I was wondering how you guys identify which duck to shoot since you have a bag limit based on type of duck. Are they that easy to recognzied in the air?

Ground check.... Just kidding. Go hunting with someone who knows and you will start to figure it out from expereince. Size, coloring, and flight characteristics can tell you a lot.

If you are not sure google can help but nothing is like first hand experience

I'm not picky. I shoot them all. Or you can just let them land, then ID and shoot.

X2

It takes a while to learn to identify them on the fly. As of this season, I can identify about 5 different species of birds flying, or alot of times I can at least identify what its not. For my purposes I shoot whatever and ground check it....if I have my limit on a certain number, then I dont shoot any birds that are questionable.

Most of the birds that have the reduced limits are fairly easy to ID in the air, I know what 99.9% of the ducks I shoot are before I pull the trigger, species and gender. But sometimes people do make mistakes, if someone tells you they have never mis-iditified a duck, and it got them over the line, they are either lying, or don't shoot many ducks (of hunt areas that only have a few species)

this is what i do. one of my best buds knows them well. Im learning but its taking time.

It's taken some experience, but I found that this year I've gotten better and better at identifying ducks in flight.

What I've found works best for me is using the internet to look at images and learning the visual characteristics of ducks.

The drakes are easier to pick out because they are almost always more colorful. The hens are tougher, but my rule of thumb is that if I've got a limit of hens and I see a brown dull looking duck, don't shoot it.


Also, listen to them. A group of mallards will almost always have a hen in there quacking a way. Most new hunters only know the hen mallard call. Learn the drake whistle, the widgeon whistle and others. It just adds another dimension. If you can hear them and know what different species sound like, then it makes it easier.


There are also differences in the sizes of ducks. For example, mallards, pintails, and mature widgeons are bigger than teal, mergansers, buffleheads, and wood ducks.

So, in my situation it's taken two things:

1. Teaching myself what they look like via the internet (including colors, sound, and size)

2. Experience

Just takes time been hunting for about 5 years and am still wrong....that's mostly because I don't get to see a whole lot of birds when I go. This season got to go out on some good ones and learned a lot about how to tell by looking at their wing beat and head as well as size.

get a good book, it takes time

If your patient and let the ducks work in it’s a lot easier to identify them when they are 10 yards out trying to land in your decoys. If you are pass shooting it’s hard to identify a duck flying past you at 30+MPH