Thread: Do you think i am really stupid ?

Latest Rod and Rifle magazine but you are not alone, I see it all the time in other magazines on tv or on whatever ... A pile of ducks all laid out for a photo and what do we see ? All the drakes belly up and all the hens buried underneath... If you want to pretend that you dont shoot hens, dont put them in the photo, if you are happy to shoot hens then mix them up for the photo.

But the hens don’t have nice photogenic green heads!

I was thinking that was a rhetorical question.......

Originally Posted by Mohawk .308

Didn’t even know that rod and rifle mag was still being made. Can’t even remember the last time I bought a hunting mag..

Its from the library

We do it. I wouldn’t say it’s hiding the fact we shoot hens.. couldn’t care less. In my mind we just appreciate a really nice green head so they get top of the pile.. If you shoot a big stag I guarantee the photo won’t focus on the shitty spiker beside him.

still trying to stick to drakes and conserve hens wouldnt be a bad thing would it.

Originally Posted by gsp follower

still trying to stick to drakes and conserve hens wouldnt be a bad thing would it.

Yep it makes for challenging shooting!

I try to do this with bigger mobs. Or if there is a pair I try to take the drake out first. Helps out in the spring with more mums around for next years batch!

Originally Posted by gsp follower

still trying to stick to drakes and conserve hens wouldnt be a bad thing would it.

For sure, opening can be a great time to do it when there’s ducks everywhere

IF the ratio of drakes to hens WAS an issue.....making a drake only season in July august or september would make far more sense to me...targeting the rapist mobs would give mother duck a break to raise her broods without being pounced on constantly.
we shoot what comes in,usually try to target drakes first and it seems to run at about 60/40 ratio at end of tally up....
other than parries..the whitehead goes down first....often drake will come back if you dont get him too.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

IF the ratio of drakes to hens WAS an issue.....making a drake only season in July august or september would make far more sense to me...targeting the rapist mobs would give mother duck a break to raise her broods without being pounced on constantly.
we shoot what comes in,usually try to target drakes first and it seems to run at about 60/40 ratio at end of tally up....
other than parries..the whitehead goes down first....often drake will come back if you dont get him too.

I have not been able to find any data on NZ but i was under the impression [rightly or wrongly ?] that the mallard drake hen ratio was 70 /30 in favour of drakes, due to predation of hens during the nesting season.

Here is a bit of info from Nth America where it talks about the hunter harvest for drakes is 2 or 3 times higher than for hens and yet drakes still out number hens.
https://www.ducks.org/conservation/w...owl-sex-ratios

Jenn Sheppard who did her thesis on breeding ecology and productivity on mallard ducks in NZ dedicated her thesis to those who "go for green and stay within the limit" which infers to me that she sees hen harvest a limiting factor in mallard numbers ? One of her influential professors also said that "one of the simplest ways that people can manage waterfowl populations is refrain from harvesting females " again hen harvest is a limiting factor in waterfowl numbers ?

So the whole mate for life in pairs thing is a load of crap then?

Do female ducks taste better as with most other species of mammals and fowl?

Im not a duck hunter just in case you cant tell

Mating for life ends when a life ends. The other just moves and and finds a new mate for the rest of the next life.

parries pair up and stayed paired for the most part....if you shoot one,as SS has said,life is ended and the remaining bird will "live to love again",there must be the occasional divorce but it gets hushed up.
I BELIEVE greys stay in their pairs
Mallards however live by the four F mantra
comparing KIWI mallards to American mallards is dumb...nest predation over there has snakes n coyotes to take into account compared to our mustilids and cats which they also have....
there has been ooodles of research over the years about greylards...grey mallard crosses/crossing it appears to be contrary to what you would think...its actually grey drakes pairing with mallard hens that produce the most offspring...MAYBE because dad sticks around to help out...unlike the hen who is woed by the shiney green head who has his wicked way,often in a right royal gangbang session with his buddies then buggers off to find next hen,leaving hen with fertilized eggs and NO HELP at all.
Ive seen mallard gangbanging mobs chase hen away from her brood (dont care if she has headache or not in mood) the ducklings were out in open paddock with no help at all and hawks got stuck in while Mum was trying to get away from drakes
the absolute worst Ive seen was a road killed hen on grass verge outside our yard...DRAKES kept visiting for 3 days till ground was muddy all around her by now cold carcass.....I did nt actually see any necrophilia happen but hen was looking rather worse for wear as days progressed.

Yes

Dunno what this thread is about just read title