# Saw/Shot a rare duck?



## huntingdude16 (Jul 17, 2007)

Just curious who all here has saw or shot a very uncommon duck in ND, or know someone that has. Rare enough that there are no regulations on them like cans. Ringnecks would be a good example, or goldeneye.


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## ryang (Jul 16, 2006)

That's funny :roll:


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## dakotadux (Nov 9, 2003)

About 8 years ago or so my brother and I were hunting on water over decoys near Alice, ND. This dark looking duck would come and circle us a few times and leave. This happened 6 or 7 times over an hour or so. Finally the thing committed to the dekes and came in. My Brother dropped it...turned out to be a White Winged Scoter!


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

huntingdude16 said:


> Just curious who all here has saw or shot a very uncommon duck in ND, or know someone that has. Rare enough that there are no regulations on them like cans. Ringnecks would be a good example, or goldeneye.


Cans are common in ND. Cans do have regulations.

Just so ya know...


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## Jungda99 (Nov 17, 2006)

well last year our group shot a Drake Goldeneye (mounted it) and we also shot a Banded bluebill with a color marker on its bill. Not that bluebills are rare but this particular one was pretty rare.


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## Sasha and Abby (May 11, 2004)

I saw/missed a white wigeon in NoDak last year. Never heard of it before... Thought it was a Ross's until it cupped and came in. I was caught off guard and saluted it three times on the way out.


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## johnsona (Dec 4, 2003)

dakotadux said:


> About 8 years ago or so my brother and I were hunting on water over decoys near Alice, ND. This dark looking duck would come and circle us a few times and leave. This happened 6 or 7 times over an hour or so. Finally the thing committed to the dekes and came in. My Brother dropped it...turned out to be a White Winged Scoter!


 

Talk about rare for ND. Isn't that usually a coastal bird? Wikipedia says they can be found on the great lakes, but he was still waaay lost. Nice work though.


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## E (Oct 5, 2005)

Three years ago I shot an albino duck of some sort. We believe it was a mallard because it was basically all white except the head was tan along with the markings on the wings. Anyone else ever seen this?


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

> Rare enough that there are no regulations on them like cans.


You are joking, right!!??? :eyeroll:


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## huntingdude16 (Jul 17, 2007)

Sorry, I didnt word that very well.

I meant, ducks that are rare enough that there are no regulations, like cans have, as in, they are rare but do have regulations.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. :wink:


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## mnbirdhunter (Sep 15, 2005)

Well I wasn't hunting in ND but yesterday I shot a Goldeneye and had three more land in my decoys today when I was picking up.


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## honkerslayr (Dec 14, 2006)

ya last year we managed a goldeneya but i didn't think it was anything special and it was also a drake but they are nice ducks


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## Triple B (Mar 9, 2004)

about 10 years ago we shot a brant in northern ND.


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## NDJ (Jun 11, 2002)

shot a young hen surf scoter near East DL a few years back...hear a few reports of sightings of these each year.

I would like to see a "storm wigeon"... Also that post last season of that oddity taken near Leeds, need to refresh my memory on what that was...

Would shoot common whistlers often on DL in Nov...


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## ryang (Jul 16, 2006)

On bigger bodies of water here in South Dakota I usually see at least a few scoter every year. Pretty rare but you do see them. I've also heard reports from guys that know their waterfowl identification that they've seen oldsquaw occasionally.


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## wyogoose (Feb 11, 2006)

Boy, any of you nodakers wanna trade some Goldeneyes for Cans? We have them everywhere here. I wont even shoot at a Goldeneye anymore!


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

Ringnecks are far from rare in N.D. It seems like we shoot more of them than Bluebills the last few years. Goleneyes are fairly common. Big water this time of year. I had 4 buzz me with their whistling wings yesterday, but didn't come close enough.


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## fishhook (Aug 29, 2002)

When i was about 15 years old a buddy and i where hunting a slough late in the season. 2 small ducks came in and we each dropped one. We went in and picked them up. The odd part is they looked like a canada goose with white patches on the cheek to under it's chin and around. But they were small...like a teal if i remember right? It was a long time ago (18 years or so) but i am pretty sure they weren't buffle heads. Any other ideas of what they could have been? I didn't carry a camera back in those days so the proof is long gone.


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## FlashBoomSplash (Aug 26, 2005)

Fishhook

They were probably Ruddies.


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

I think I saw a fulvous whistling duck out by Alice last year!!!!  :wink:


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## fishhook (Aug 29, 2002)

FlashBoomSplash said:


> Fishhook
> 
> They were probably Ruddies.


definately not a ruddie. I knew what a ruddie was back then. these ducks were all black. probably will never know.


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## FlashBoomSplash (Aug 26, 2005)

Fishhook

Did it have a saw bill. Was it a hooded Merg.


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## huntingdude16 (Jul 17, 2007)

fishhook, theres something not right about your description. The only duck that has that kind of white patch is the ruddy, so i'm not sure what else it could be.

Rick, where do you see so many ringnecks? I see bluebills all the time, but I think i've only seen one ringneck.


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## honkerslayr (Dec 14, 2006)

djleye, are you joking? a cant tell if you are being sarcastic or not. but if you are serious that is off the hook, wish i was that lucky wow, nice. :beer:


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

huntingdude16 said:


> fishhook, theres something not right about your description. The only duck that has that kind of white patch is the ruddy, so i'm not sure what else it could be.
> 
> Rick, where do you see so many ringnecks? I see bluebills all the time, but I think i've only seen one ringneck.


I've shot them in the N.E. for the last several years. Like I said, seems like they out number the bluebills on some of the bigger water in my area. Haven't gotten a nice mounter yet!

Could this mystery bird be a surf scoter? They have 2 white patches on the head with a clown beak and they are all black, maybe it was a juvie Surf Scoter?


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## scottjes000 (Jan 26, 2007)

i've shot those over here in Washington I think they are juvenile scoters of some kind


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## twodoghunter (Oct 12, 2007)

A friend of mine was out this past weekend hunting with us, and he shot a Long-tailed Duck (aka Oldsquaw) at the Alice WPA west of Fargo. It was the first one he had saw, and then he shot it. We were all very pumped!


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## Hunter_58346 (May 22, 2003)

Check my avatar


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

twodoghunter said:


> A friend of mine was out this past weekend hunting with us, and he shot a Long-tailed Duck (aka Oldsquaw) at the Alice WPA west of Fargo. It was the first one he had saw, and then he shot it. We were all very pumped!


picture please!

I think a bunch of posts on this thread are a bit far fetched... pretty soon someone will see a Mandarin duck in the sewage lagoons in Jamestown...

8)

Ryan


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

fishhook said:


> When i was about 15 years old a buddy and i where hunting a slough late in the season. 2 small ducks came in and we each dropped one. We went in and picked them up. The odd part is they looked like a canada goose with white patches on the cheek to under it's chin and around. But they were small...like a teal if i remember right? It was a long time ago (18 years or so) but i am pretty sure they weren't buffle heads. Any other ideas of what they could have been? I didn't carry a camera back in those days so the proof is long gone.


Immature wood ducks


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

djleye said:


> I think I saw a fulvous whistling duck out by Alice last year!!!!  :wink:


 :rollin: :gag:


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## goosebusters2 (Jan 13, 2006)

Three years ago I shot a Eurasin teal. I thought it was just a drake green wing teal with a wierd puff on the back of his head. When I got back to camp that evening I set it on the boat trailer and when I woke up it was gone.(I know that sounds like an excuse and mae up story but it is true. I'm guessing a Racoon or sommething got to the ducks.)

Anyways I didn't realize it until I was looking in my DU magazine about a month back and saw a picture comparing both a green wing teal and a eurasin teal. When I looked at the picture in the magazine and then showed it too the guys I was hunting with that day we all agreed that what I shot that day was more than likely a Eurasin Teal.


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## NDJ (Jun 11, 2002)

> Could this mystery bird be a surf scoter? They have 2 white patches on the head with a clown beak and they are all black, maybe it was a juvie Surf Scoter?


The description wouldn't fit a scoter, as they are on the larger size similar to a redhead or goldeneye(I'm now a ND Scoter expert :lol: )

The poster knows that ruddies have disctinctively different summer/winter plumages???

& it was a ruddy shellduck that I couldn't think of(hunter583**)


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

goosebusters2 said:


> Three years ago I shot a Eurasin teal. I thought it was just a drake green wing teal with a wierd puff on the back of his head. When I got back to camp that evening I set it on the boat trailer and when I woke up it was gone.(I know that sounds like an excuse and mae up story but it is true. I'm guessing a Racoon or sommething got to the ducks.)
> 
> Anyways I didn't realize it until I was looking in my DU magazine about a month back and saw a picture comparing both a green wing teal and a eurasin teal. When I looked at the picture in the magazine and then showed it too the guys I was hunting with that day we all agreed that what I shot that day was more than likely a Eurasin Teal.


The weird puff on the back is just a hood, that is normal for both the Eurasian and the North American Green Winged-Teal. There are 2 differences between the two species. #1 is the White patch that runs horizontal above the wing. The N.A. Green Wingers white bar runs vertical on the side pocket. #2 The Eurasian has white outline around the entire green patch on the head. The N.A. teal only has a white line on the bottom of the green patch around the eye. Here's a pic that will show you exactly. Although possible, they normaly only stray as far west as the Aluetian Isands in S.W. Alaska. But anything is possible. I want to see a picture of that Oldsquaw!


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## fishhook (Aug 29, 2002)

Rick Acker said:


> huntingdude16 said:
> 
> 
> > fishhook, theres something not right about your description. The only duck that has that kind of white patch is the ruddy, so i'm not sure what else it could be.
> ...


It's possible i guess. Sure wish i had the proof. But, that was about 18 years ago. Sticks in my head though. We used to hunt a pretty good sized shallow slough (Cattails, weed's, open water, beaver huts...the real deal pretty marshy area) when from one end of the slough these two fast, low flying, darting ducks came ripping down the slough. The went to sit in the open water area and we each dropped one. A juvy scooter is the best explanation i can think of. I'm going with it. It sure stuck in my head. Haven't seen anything similar to it since. Wish i'd have been smart enough to take it to a biologist and possibly get it mounted.

Thanks for the info guys.


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## ND_duckman (Feb 17, 2006)

One of my friends shot an Old Squaw in South Dakota last week. I will have him post a picture of it for proof!!!


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## jeduck (Aug 23, 2007)

fishhook, I don't know how to put up pictures but it sounds like a barrows goldeneye. The drake has a white patch like you described. Look it up-that may be it


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## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

Actually, I think one of the hen Scoters, or maybe it's one of the drakes, has a buffy patch on the head. Looks almost like a ruddy that is in eclipse type plummage, or their summer clothes. Maybe that was it. 
Good luck,
Dan


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## huntingdude16 (Jul 17, 2007)

That it?


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

jeduck said:


> fishhook, I don't know how to put up pictures but it sounds like a barrows goldeneye. The drake has a white patch like you described. Look it up-that may be it


He said the body was all black and 1/2 body is white on Barrows. Plus, a Barrows head is Blue/Green.

I do know of a guy in Wisconsin that shot a Barrows a couple years back! That would be rarer than rare in N.D.


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## FlashBoomSplash (Aug 26, 2005)

I saw a Burrows in the spring this year. Up by DL it was in a small slough next to the road.

Scoters are a big bird if it was a scoter it wouldnt even be close to teal size.

There is 3 ducks that are close to what you said

Ruddies
Buffies
Hoodeds

the rest of the black and whites are big.

Unless they were hen harlies.


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## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

Actually, the scoters that I've shot in Ohio were never that big. I think, if I remember, they were called black scoters. One of them...either the drake or hen...has that buffy cheek on it. I'd say overall they weren't much bigger than a little bluebill. Nowhere near greater scaup or redhead size.
Good luck
Dan


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## goosebusters2 (Jan 13, 2006)

Rick Acker said:


> goosebusters2 said:
> 
> 
> > Three years ago I shot a Eurasin teal. I thought it was just a drake green wing teal with a wierd puff on the back of his head. When I got back to camp that evening I set it on the boat trailer and when I woke up it was gone.(I know that sounds like an excuse and mae up story but it is true. I'm guessing a Racoon or sommething got to the ducks.)
> ...


you might be right I never got a picture of the duck so I guess I'll never know, it was more than likely a Green wing teal with a hood, but like you sasid anything is possible. The story is cooler with a Eurasin Teal so I just might keep telling it


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## waterfowler06 (Aug 10, 2006)

R y a n said:


> picture please!
> 
> I think a bunch of posts on this thread are a bit far fetched... pretty soon someone will see a Mandarin duck in the sewage lagoons in Jamestown...
> 
> ...


Like this one!!!


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## Skeptic (Jul 28, 2003)

About 10 years ago surf scoter and old squaw numbers increased in the great lakes. Before that it was random to shoot one and they'd blow in with a storm. The thought is since they feed on mussels, the increase in zebra mussels brought them in, it's not uncommon at all to shoot them. So you guys probably are seeing more because of this.


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

waterfowler06 said:


> R y a n said:
> 
> 
> > picture please!
> ...


Nice! How fast was it waddling away from the farmers yard pond? :lol:

What's the real story behind this one?

Ryan


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## waterfowler06 (Aug 10, 2006)

It was shot while hunting for wood ducks on a river not far from where I live. Towards the end of the hunt it came flying down the river solo and that was the end of it. A buddy of mine actually shot it.


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