New topic: Mallards/non divers Grabbing on to bottom

[WilcoKen]

I don't know of a better title. I shot a greenhead Saturday and winged him pretty good. He stayed low for about 150 yards hit the water and disappeared. We got over there pretty quick and he was nowhere to be found. What have y'all seen them grab on to in cases like this? There was a hollow log half sunk and it was about 25 ft long. Maybe this duck went in there. But I'd love to hear your stories of what non divers you've seen grab on to when they disappear. I know a diver can swim a long ways under water....maybe a mallard too?

 

[MickThompson]

Early season wood ducks are the worst about it

 

[JDUB]

We sailed a pintail out of a group that fell 200ish yds from blind. Found it and before i could get a shot it dove and stayed underwater for another 300 yds. I gave up on it but we ended up seeing it
from the boatshed and retrieved it. They are tough critters!

 

[TNGunsmoke]

I've had them dive and suspect that they grabbed onto weeds and drown never to appear above water again. I have seen them swim off with just the top of their head above the water and lost them in vegetation. It's bad when a dog can't even find them when you know you are looking in the right area.

 

[WilcoKen]

If the water was clear enough I'd love to see what they latch on to. You'd think when they died they'd release and float up.

 

[GUNNERX2]

I'm a non-believer. All animals, including ducks, have a will to live. They aren't going to commit suicide. They have an innate ability to hide and that is their survival mode. Just a bill above water is hard to see. They can and will swim under water for great distances and you'll not find them looking where they fell. I've found cripple ducks in places you couldn't imagine.

 

[Pic IN the Casa]

I'm a non-believer. All animals, including ducks, have a will to live. They aren't going to commit suicide. They have an innate ability to hide and that is their survival mode. Just a bill above water is hard to see. They can and will swim under water for great distances and you'll not find them looking where they fell. I've found cripple ducks in places you couldn't imagine.

Agreed. Someone may prove me wrong but physiologically they have nothing but a bill to grab on with.
It's my experience that they simply see you approaching, dive and pop up 30-120 seconds later out of my field of view. Then repeat the process over and over and over.

 

[Iglow]

I've seen puddle dux completely submerged and holding on to something with their feet I guess, just hiding perfectly still under water. I guess they were waiting for me to pass by but the 2 times I've seen it and approached them 1 popped up and took off and the other stayed till I reached down and grabbed him.

 

[WilcoKen]

I've seen puddle dux completely submerged and holding on to something with their feet I guess, just hiding perfectly still under water. I guess they were waiting for me to pass by but the 2 times I've seen it and approached them 1 popped up and took off and the other stayed till I reached down and grabbed him.

This is what I was wondering a puddle duck could do--if someone had actually seen it. This answers my question. I understand they could swim far distances, but wasn't sure about the "grabbing" on under water.

 

[Schap]

Go after em quickly and get another shot on them. That said lost 2 geese getting after them slowly this season on the river.

 

[WaterSwatter]

More times than not, if a duck finds the bank, you ain't finding them, especially without a dog. They are masters of hiding.

 

[Mud Creek]

More times than not, if a duck finds the bank, you ain't finding them, especially without a dog. They are masters of hiding.

Few years ago a buddy of mine shot a woody. We watched it fall beside a log in the knee deep water. We found it about 30 yards from the log up on the bank hid in a patch of briars as we were leaving. I couldn't believe it made it up there then got hid in so little time....and without us even seeing it!

 

[WaterSwatter]

Few years ago a buddy of mine shot a woody. We watched it fall beside a log in the knee deep water. We found it about 30 yards from the log up on the bank hid in a patch of briars as we were leaving. I couldn't believe it made it up there then got hid in so little time....and without us even seeing it!

They're crafty. On a slow day I've spent literal hours searching the bank for a cripple. Find feathers and blood but often never find them. So many logs, holes, brushy areas for them to hide. Sometimes impossible to spot them, especially a drab hen.

 

[Iglow]

More times than not, if a duck finds the bank, you ain't finding them, especially without a dog. They are masters of hiding.

That nose on a dog is near priceless for finding cripples, it's worth 10,000 eyes.

 

[WaterSwatter]

That nose on a dog is near priceless for finding cripples, it's worth 10,000 eyes.

Have not hunted with a dog much but worth having one for this reason alone. I hate losing crippled birds.

 

[MickThompson]

Have not hunted with a dog much but worth having one for this reason alone. I hate losing crippled birds.

Mine has found birds I didn't realize I hit

 

[tickweed]

In agreement. Not so sure they would drown themselves. I believe they swim under, resurface, hide. On a day with a slight chop on the water, they will just have tip of bill exposed, better get on them quick.

 

[MickThompson]

They're crafty. On a slow day I've spent literal hours searching the bank for a cripple. Find feathers and blood but often never find them. So many logs, holes, brushy areas for them to hide. Sometimes impossible to spot them, especially a drab hen.

I was scouting the opposite end of a knee deep impoundment this season with some corn and moist soil in it and started seeing occasional ripples in front of me. I assumed it was a muskrat. Finally after the 3rd or 4th time I saw half of a ring neck's head. Took my safety off to finish it off and I never saw it again.

 

[WaterSwatter]

Mine has found birds I didn't realize I hit

I've definitely had that happen quail hunting.

 

[GUNNERX2]

Along the same line, I can recall at least 4 times, maybe more, that not giving up on a difficult to find bird resulted in getting bands. Of all of those, the most incredible was my son crippling a drake mallard on the river. By the time he got to his boat, he'd lost sight of the duck. He beached the boat and started looking on land. For 30 minutes he searched and found nothing. Walking back to the boat, he noticed a few bubbles through a hole in an undercut bank. He plunged his hand and arm down the hole and came up with the duck, kinda like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. It was wearing a Jack Miner band.
I had shot a pair of geese on a farm pond out in the middle of a pasture, both were apparently dead with their necks stretched out on the water. Back in the layout blind, I noticed one of the geese not drifting along with the wind but moving in the opposite direction, it's neck still stretched out on the surface. Took me a few minutes to get up out of the blind, grab a few shells and walk around the 2 acre pond. On the other side, no sign of the goose. I looked high and low but nothing. This was out in a pasture with no place to hide. There was a fence 100 yards away with a few weeds growing but nothing there. About 200 yards further out was another pond with some willows growing around it. I walked over there and finally found it hiding in a tangle of willow branches, finished it off and discovered it was banded. From the banding site, it was banded in Saskatchewan.
Another goose chase was on the river late one afternoon on a dark, drizzly day. Just before quitting time, a wad of geese came down the river and we cut into them. Really couldn't see the birds fall as the background was a bluff wall, we counted splashes on the water. Before we could get to the boat, another wad came down the river and we cut into those as well, counting splashes. Gathering up our equipment, loading the boat took a few minutes. When we picked up the dead, we came up one short of the splashes we counted. By now, it's plum dark. Finally, we heard some scratching around and with the aid of a spot light saw the goose 100 feet up the bluff wall. It was a tough climb but I made it up to the goose and it was trying to hide underneath a log. I snatched it up and it was banded, this time in Iowa.
Ya just gotta keep lookin'.

 

[tickweed]

Along the same line, I can recall at least 4 times, maybe more, that not giving up on a difficult to find bird resulted in getting bands. Of all of those, the most incredible was my son crippling a drake mallard on the river. By the time he got to his boat, he'd lost sight of the duck. He beached the boat and started looking on land. For 30 minutes he searched and found nothing. Walking back to the boat, he noticed a few bubbles through a hole in an undercut bank. He plunged his hand and arm down the hole and came up with the duck, kinda like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. It was wearing a Jack Miner band.
I had shot a pair of geese on a farm pond out in the middle of a pasture, both were apparently dead with their necks stretched out on the water. Back in the layout blind, I noticed one of the geese not drifting along with the wind but moving in the opposite direction, it's neck still stretched out on the surface. Took me a few minutes to get up out of the blind, grab a few shells and walk around the 2 acre pond. On the other side, no sign of the goose. I looked high and low but nothing. This was out in a pasture with no place to hide. There was a fence 100 yards away with a few weeds growing but nothing there. About 200 yards further out was another pond with some willows growing around it. I walked over there and finally found it hiding in a tangle of willow branches, finished it off and discovered it was banded. From the banding site, it was banded in Saskatchewan.
Another goose chase was on the river late one afternoon on a dark, drizzly day. Just before quitting time, a wad of geese came down the river and we cut into them. Really couldn't see the birds fall as the background was a bluff wall, we counted splashes on the water. Before we could get to the boat, another wad came down the river and we cut into those as well, counting splashes. Gathering up our equipment, loading the boat took a few minutes. When we picked up the dead, we came up one short of the splashes we counted. By now, it's plum dark. Finally, we heard some scratching around and with the aid of a spot light saw the goose 100 feet up the bluff wall. It was a tough climb but I made it up to the goose and it was trying to hide underneath a log. I snatched it up and it was banded, this time in Iowa.
Ya just gotta keep lookin'.

The Miner is the unbelievable one.

 

[Westtnduckhtr]

I had the same thing happen in the 80's. Was hunting a pond we had hunted for years and had decent success over the years. Shot a greenhead that headed for the bank and hid in a hole. Paddled the boat across the pond and searched for a while, found a hole and reached in, out came a Miner Foundation banded Mallard. Here he is today after a Shane Smith mount.

 

[GUNNERX2]

The Miner is the unbelievable one.

I can assure you that happened just as I wrote it.

 

[WaterSwatter]

The Miner is the unbelievable one.

A friend of mine (RIP) was out taking a poop on the bank and found a partially decayed black duck with a Jack Miner band on it.

 

[Displaced_Vol]

Along the same line, I can recall at least 4 times, maybe more, that not giving up on a difficult to find bird resulted in getting bands. Of all of those, the most incredible was my son crippling a drake mallard on the river. By the time he got to his boat, he'd lost sight of the duck. He beached the boat and started looking on land. For 30 minutes he searched and found nothing. Walking back to the boat, he noticed a few bubbles through a hole in an undercut bank. He plunged his hand and arm down the hole and came up with the duck, kinda like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. It was wearing a Jack Miner band.
I had shot a pair of geese on a farm pond out in the middle of a pasture, both were apparently dead with their necks stretched out on the water. Back in the layout blind, I noticed one of the geese not drifting along with the wind but moving in the opposite direction, it's neck still stretched out on the surface. Took me a few minutes to get up out of the blind, grab a few shells and walk around the 2 acre pond. On the other side, no sign of the goose. I looked high and low but nothing. This was out in a pasture with no place to hide. There was a fence 100 yards away with a few weeds growing but nothing there. About 200 yards further out was another pond with some willows growing around it. I walked over there and finally found it hiding in a tangle of willow branches, finished it off and discovered it was banded. From the banding site, it was banded in Saskatchewan.
Another goose chase was on the river late one afternoon on a dark, drizzly day. Just before quitting time, a wad of geese came down the river and we cut into them. Really couldn't see the birds fall as the background was a bluff wall, we counted splashes on the water. Before we could get to the boat, another wad came down the river and we cut into those as well, counting splashes. Gathering up our equipment, loading the boat took a few minutes. When we picked up the dead, we came up one short of the splashes we counted. By now, it's plum dark. Finally, we heard some scratching around and with the aid of a spot light saw the goose 100 feet up the bluff wall. It was a tough climb but I made it up to the goose and it was trying to hide underneath a log. I snatched it up and it was banded, this time in Iowa.
Ya just gotta keep lookin'.

Those are great stories thanks for sharing, Gunner.

 

[tickweed]

I can assure you that happened just as I wrote it.

Oh, l believe it! Just the odds of a Miner are so slim. I've duck hunted more than most will ever hunt. I have 78 fed bands lve killed myself. Five sets of reward bands. 38 neck collars. One wing tag, one toe tag, three trackers. Not to mention how many bands lve been in on, didn't even draw, gave em away. My dream is a Miner. Never been in a blind when one was killed. I keep thinking one day. Lol

 

[Westtnduckhtr]

I have been fortunate to kill two. The Mallard Drake in the earlier story and a Canada Goose, my first goose ever. Went out to get it, had a original Jack Miner goose band.

 

[GUNNERX2]

Oh, l believe it! Just the odds of a Miner are so slim. I've duck hunted more than most will ever hunt. I have 78 fed bands lve killed myself. Five sets of reward bands. 38 neck collars. One wing tag, one toe tag, three trackers. Not to mention how many bands lve been in on, didn't even draw, gave em away. My dream is a Miner. Never been in a blind when one was killed. I keep thinking one day. Lol

Just being in the right place at the right time. I think it was 2017 season, we had an open water blind on Old Hickory and across the cove was a food blind. We watch a wad of ducks go in on them, heard the volley and shortly thereafter a lot of whooping and hollering. They had shot 2 mallards with Jack Miner bands only 2 numbers apart. I heard a lot of the story online but verified it with the Jack Miner Foundation in looking up their records.
Again, on Old Hickory, the blind just up from us shot a Jack Miner banded mallard and a week later shot a Jack Miner banded Canada goose.
Most of my old hunting buds have killed Jack Miner birds but that's because, just like me, they are long in the tooth and have hunted Old Hickory all their lives. Old Hickory seems to be a magnet for JM bands.
I got mine on a cold, windy, sunny day on Old Hickory. I had taken a newby and when we had a pair of mallards come in, backflapping over the decoys, I told him to take 'em. He didn't shoot and again I told him to take 'em and again he didn't shoot so I killed them both. I looked over at him and he was just standing there, shaking. The hen was a JM banded bird. That was back in 1991.

 

[tickweed]

⁰

Just being in the right place at the right time. I think it was 2017 season, we had an open water blind on Old Hickory and across the cove was a food blind. We watch a wad of ducks go in on them, heard the volley and shortly thereafter a lot of whooping and hollering. They had shot 2 mallards with Jack Miner bands only 2 numbers apart. I heard a lot of the story online but verified it with the Jack Miner Foundation in looking up their records.
Again, on Old Hickory, the blind just up from us shot a Jack Miner banded mallard and a week later shot a Jack Miner banded Canada goose.
Most of my old hunting buds have killed Jack Miner birds but that's because, just like me, they are long in the tooth and have hunted Old Hickory all their lives. Old Hickory seems to be a magnet for JM bands.
I got mine on a cold, windy, sunny day on Old Hickory. I had taken a newby and when we had a pair of mallards come in, backflapping over the decoys, I told him to take 'em. He didn't shoot and again I told him to take 'em and again he didn't shoot so I killed them both. I looked over at him and he was just standing there, shaking. The hen was a JM banded bird. That was back in 1991.

Im long in the tooth. Lol. Have hunted in some really good clubs, owned some good spots. Been In on more ducks than most will honestly ever. God sent me one yrs ago, l just missed being there to accept delivery. I had a club, hunted it that Friday morning. Vert slow. A friend and myself decided to hunt another blind we had, different farm the next morning. That Friday nite, l got a call that ducks had poured into the bottom we had just hunted that morning. I called my friend, told him to go ahead to other farm, l was gonna back out, go back to farm we had just hunted that morning. Well, the next morning l go back to same farm we hunted day before, no ducks. About 9am, my phone rang. I saw it was my friend. It was weird, l knew what it was before l answered. Since l backed out, he invited a young guy, bout 18 yrs old to go with him. My friend hunted rt end of blind. Kid hunted my spot. Left end. A pair of mallards fell in, friend kills rt drake, kid kills left hen. Dog brings hen back. My friend bent down, took duck, saw miner. Bout passed out. Kid still doesn't even realize, 20 yrs later. So, l guess l had my chance. Just missed delivery. Lol. It is odd Old Hickory kills several. Harvest numbers are no where near what west Tn kills, not even on the map. Just being in the right spot.l still have hope. Maybe someday

 

[GUNNERX2]

@tickweed My curiosity got he better of me and I checked the current (back 3 years) JM band reports and it seems that most of the reports are from areas just straight down from Kingsville Ontario. Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. There were a few from the eastern states...Pennsylvania and Maryland. It seemed that most of those reported were east of the Tennessee River going all the way to east Tennessee. In west Tennessee there were a few from Reelfoot and Bogota.
Keep after it and maybe your day will come.