# How Come They Get No Love?



## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

How come Gadwalls get no love? I think they are one the most challenging ducks to hunt. To me, there is nothing better than a limit of Gaddies. If they had a greenhead on them they'd be the same as a mallard so I don't see why guys think they are so much lower than a mallard?


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## slough (Oct 12, 2003)

They don't seem like much of a challenge to hunt, maybe its because there's so many of them. But yeah, they taste just as good and i'm not too disappointed when i do shoot one.


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## BandHunter (Dec 17, 2003)

Nothing wrong with shooting gads, but if you shoot gads early in the morning then you can get the big greenheads that come in later.. :beer: I shoot gads, but not until I know the greenheads are done flying. Just my 2 cents. 
Bandhunter


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## Anas Strepera (Nov 10, 2004)

I like Gadwalls too. :lol:


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## dwshunt (Apr 26, 2003)

Nothing wrong with the Gray Ducks to me. My buddy got a beut this past fall and is having it mounted. I've shot quite a few, but never a really nice drake. This fall in ND, there were more gaddies then I've seen in many years. Almost all the potholes had some in them or hundreds! Love to marinate them for a 24 hrs and then fry em up in slices. Better than jerky that way.

Good Hunting.


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

Gadwells are stupid! Plain and simple...If you are in a slough they want to be in, they will keep coming back til you shoot everyone or you get your limit...Whatever comes first! That's why most guys & gilrs have no love for the "Grey Duck"! When in full plumage, they are beautiful!


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## Nodak Duke (Oct 14, 2003)

Yeah, they probably should get more credit as they certainly are great tablefare. I wouldn't say that they are too smart though. If you want to see just how "smart" they are just drive by any pothole in the fall. Mallards and pinnies will usually get up first followed by teal. Guess who is left? Gads and those sexy hollywoods!! :lol:

They can really make a crappy morning good in a hurry though as it seems like you can ALWAYS get gads to attack the spread when other ducks aren't around. :sniper:


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

Im with ya on this one PJ, gads are great fun. not as tough to bring in as a mallard. but either way, i would be very happy with a good gadwal hunt ANY day.

what im curious about is, where is the love for the widgeon, yeah, i know they arnt real smart, but they are a beautiful bird. i pushed a few hundred of em off of a real shallow pond one afternoon earlier this year. walked out to the middle of it, set up two dozen mallard and pintail dekes got down on my knees in the muck by a clump of brush and waited for the return. sure enough 40 minutes later i had 2 grey ducks and 4 baldpates at 3:30 in the afternoon.


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## gaddyshooter (Oct 12, 2003)

Wow, someone agrees with me. :lol: Sure the big ol greenhead sure is the king when it comes to waterfowling, but nothing wrong with shooting some Gaddies. Most of the birds that we find when we come up there to hunt are usually the Gadwalls and Widgeon. They usually decoy very easily and are fun to shoot and very good eating.


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## Quackkills9 (Oct 25, 2004)

had a flock of gadwalls come in my dekes this fall and shot 3, my buddy shot 2 and it was pretty neat to see them come in our new decoys... thought they were neat birds!!!


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## Scraper (Apr 1, 2002)

I love to shoot the baldplates. They are second only to a mature woodie when it comes to looks. Not bad on the plate, too.


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## duckbuster808 (Apr 27, 2004)

i don't mind shooting them here in michigan. here they are harder to decoy in. they are very smart birds and if we throw 2-3 in our decoy spreads then we seem to call more birds in. here in michigan the gadwalls are the most weary birds. in my opinion the gaddy ranks right up there with the mallard and hey, you don't have to make sure that they are a hen or a drake because you can fill your limit with em no matter what!


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## Decoyer (Mar 2, 2002)

I like them, but then again I have always had a soft spot in my heart for shiat ducks.


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

Zach, maybe you should get your Dad to quit with the Gadwall call, and that is when he is blowing his goose call!!! :lol:


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## Field Hunter (Mar 4, 2002)

I was all ready to make up some Shoveler stir-fry and you'll never guess what happened to that duck. Making up some shoveler jerky for some of my friends.


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## Ron Gilmore (Jan 7, 2003)

Hey Dano didn't Monte try and feed us some of that Spoonbill Jerky! Seems to me you wanted more and went hunting them wide bills!


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## mallard (Mar 27, 2002)

Dan,You are the only guy I ever heard of that likes eating those smiling mallards.


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

I have never in my life shot a shoveler,never, not even by accident!! I have only seen one guy in my life shoot and then walk thru the greasiest crap I have ever seen just to retrieve a shoveler (now before you jump all over me, yes, I agree he should retrieve what he shoots, I just wouldn't have shot it). I thought the big man was gonna need CPR after that one, and if he did, he was a dead man, I wasn't gonna give him mouth to mouth!!!!


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## Field Hunter (Mar 4, 2002)

Thanks...Tonto!


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

I don't shoot any ducks that have not been feeding in a grainfield...ie...Mallards and Pintails.When you shoot the rest of those LBD's and you gut them and it smells like the bottom of the slough...not good eating. :eyeroll:

And I'm talking about eating duck....not overpowering it with jerky,marinade or pepperstick seasoning.


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## dlip (May 16, 2004)

I think that gadwalls are not the smartest birds, but hey, it don't matter how smart they are, cause they are just as dead when you shoot em. Did that make sense? :roll:


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

maybe the spoonies i shot were eating something good, or i just dont pick out the taste like everyone else. cuz i thought they tasted fine, but then again i think mallard and teal are the good eatin ducks, and the divers and the "shiat" ducks all the taste the same. maybe i'll get a bad spoonie someday and change my mind.


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## PASS SHOOTEM (Sep 29, 2004)

Ken... I do believe that gadwalls will feed in grain fields. I have personally shot quite a fewover a field.

And to tell you all the truth any duck cooked right tastes great!


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## AvianQuest (Dec 22, 2004)

Yeah, nothing wrong with shovelers as far as eating.

I wouldn't bake them up like a mallard or pintail, but there are plenty of other ways to cook them.

If you care that much about the best tasting ducks, the best tasting ducks in the world are black-bellied and fulvous whistling ducks....mallards, pintails, wood duck and teal need not apply.

If you care that much about how smart a bird is, and how much of a challenge it is to fool, then the snow goose reigns as king.


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## Anas Strepera (Nov 10, 2004)

What about cranes? They are tougher than snows.


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## ARMallardSlayer (Jan 8, 2005)

I give them all the love my Baikal can send them out of the barrel.......a full limit of gadwalls is not a disappointment to me, I'll take em.


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## qwakwhaker883 (Jan 19, 2005)

I'll shoot gadwalls anyday. Last year out in ND me and my dad shot 15 gadwalls, 2 gw teal, 3 redheads, and 4 mallards. The gadwalls were just about the only thing we got shots at. Best couple days of hunting i've ever had.


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## BIG BEN (Jan 4, 2004)

You could say this about alot of ducks.


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## Chris Schulz (Sep 7, 2004)

Gaddie? spoonbill? whatever! but they are still a duck and any duck is fun to shoot in my book unless it flys 20 feet then looks back at me!


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## robert roche (Feb 18, 2005)

In Tennesse Gads are welcome. You guys that live in duck country should try to decoy a Gad to a part of the slough he dont want to be. The reason the green boys are king is they respond to the call.

Take your dog hunting and you wont have to hunt your dog


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## duck991 (Feb 17, 2005)

I wiil shoot a gadwall but only on a slow day or when the large drakes are around.I hate eating them, for me they are just above a coot on the food chain. :lol:


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

I've never tried coot before.


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

Monte love 'em!!! uke:


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## Draker16 (Nov 23, 2004)

i think where i hunt sometimes the gadwalls are do stupid that its not even fun to shoot them. If theirs no mallards around I might shoot a couple gadwalls.


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## weasel73 (Apr 6, 2005)

Its alot of fun shooting gaddies..but when you shoot a really nice mallard the gaddies dont compare to the excitement..


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## gundogguru (Oct 7, 2003)

I like Gadwalls too. :sniper: I'll bust a big ole gray duck in a heart beat. Covered in gravy you can't tell a gray duck from a green head.


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## saveaduckkillaskybuster (May 29, 2005)

DON'T SHOOT EM HIGH....SHOOT EM IN YOUR FACE AND IF YOU CANT DO THAT THEN JUST WATCH EM FLY!!!

thank god finally someone with some sense!!!!!!!!


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## Goosehunterdog (Jun 12, 2005)

I will also shoot Gadwall's.I also think that they are good to eat.They aren't the brightest duck in the world.I remember one year I was out in the boat chopping ice and the gadwalls nearly landed on top of me.That same year I would be standing or working outside of the blind and have them come right into the decoys and land.


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