Colorado Waterfowl in flight ID question?

[durangobrad]

I am new to waterfowl hunting and have got some private access on the river. I built a blind, got some decoys, learned to call and have had some really good success.

The season goes until January 28th but regulations state that no Scaup can be taken after January 9th. The problem is I have not shot any Scaup yet and wouldnt know one if I saw one.

We have been mostly shooting all the ducks that pass through and then learning what they are after the shot. Making jerkey and such from the divers that are "less than desirable" table fare. I dont want my season to be done on the 9th but Im just not good enough to know the ducks in flight before I pull the trigger. What would you do in my shoes?

 

[New Yoraska]

I would get a good field guide and start practicing quick identification on the wing.

The Crossley ID Guide: Waterfowl just came out and looks to be a really good resource because he uses a bunch of pictures that illustrates what the bird would look like in many different viewing angles and positions.

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[Hunter6]

Just go a only shoot ducks you can ID for sure, like larger puddle ducks. Mallards are some of the easiest to I’d on the wing especially if they are talking coming in.

This might take some discipline by not shooting at first light and passing on a duck you can’t ID

I have been duck hunting all my life and can id them well in my option. But with the one pintail limit this year I pass on some ducks that might be a pintail (ie solo hen pintail verses solo widgeon, both common where I hunt). Still fun. Sometimes I bring a pocket pair of binocular’s to help with the identification.

Duck Unlimited has an app that has an of field guide in it.



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[LongWayAround]

Look up some diver hunting videos on YouTube and you should get a pretty good idea of what they look like in flight.

Basically, a dark, football shaped duck coming in low and fast might be a scaup.

 

[durangobrad]

Look up some diver hunting videos on YouTube and you should get a pretty good idea of what they look like in flight.

Basically, a dark, football shaped duck coming in low and fast might be a scaup.

I can definitely recognize divers vs dabblers in flight. But it would be a pretty slow morning if we couldnt shoot ANY divers. Over half our limits have been from shooting divers.

 

[colonel00]

It just comes with experience. I'd suggest going out, even after the season is over, and just observing the birds as they fly by. You will soon be able to recognize certain things like the white bellies of bluebills. Bluebills and ringers will look similar but you can soon start to notice when they aren't other ducks. Sometimes it isn't seeing what they are but determining what they aren't as well.

And yes, it sucks when you can't shoot but it is important to be able to positively identify what you are shooting. Over Christmas, I was home and got to get out hunting a few times. One of those days was the absolute perfect hunting day. Light snow, low ceiling, fog over the water and ducks in our faces all day. We had our limit of mallards in 30 minutes and that was after loosing one. However, our limits allow for 5 mallards but 6 total ducks. So we sat there for another 3+ hours waiting to fill our limits on birds we could legally shoot. I don't know how many flocks of mallards (and other puddlers) we passed on that were landing in our decoys because we couldn't get good ID's on the birds in the dark conditions. It was absolutely laughable and a ton of fun just to call and work the birds without having to think about shooting them. Anyway, eventually we had a group of Gadwall come in that we could identify (white on their wings) just as they were about to splash down and our limits were filled.