Variety

[jwilliams]

NICE!

[acebasinman]

That's super cool.

[DoubleSprig]

Had not seen this. Thanks for sharing!

- RH is one talented man. Storyteller, photographer, and hunter.

[HEAD]

Jealous…still waiting on my black duck and goldeneye….

[Drylok]

There had to be a lot of time and effort putting that video together.

Thanks!

[Boduke]

That is awesome RH thanks for sharing with us.

[Fish]

Pretty neat video. I have a question.

Are you including those mergansers in your duck count?

Did your old squaw leak green ooze?

Are you holding out hope to kill a rare, western desert duck here in SC? Have you given any consideration to going out there where they live?

Very nice A5. I say that about all of them, though. Is it a magnum? I have an A5 light, and I keep thinking about getting a magnum. I also really like the 3" 1100. A good friend has an 1100 and he said he'd work something out with me, but I could go either way. Maybe I'll just get both.

[cajunwannabe]

How many years did it take to get those 25 ducks? You have a swan too right?

Wish I'd kept a journal of any sort over the last 50 years.

[Rubberhead*]

Pretty neat video. I have a question.

Are you including those mergansers in your duck count?

Did your old squaw leak green ooze?

Are you holding out hope to kill a rare, western desert duck here in SC? Have you given any consideration to going out there where they live?

Very nice A5. I say that about all of them, though. Is it a magnum? I have an A5 light, and I keep thinking about getting a magnum. I also really like the 3" 1100. A good friend has an 1100 and he said he'd work something out with me, but I could go either way. Maybe I'll just get both.

Yep - the three mergansers are in my duck count. When I started there were 32 ducks on the list. Spectacled and Steller's Eiders are not huntable and Eurasian wigeon doesn't reliably breed in the US. But, "they" have split the Mexican Mallard out of the Mallard complex so the list is actually 33 ducks now.

Nope. If you killed an oldsquaw that oozed green, I suspect it was maybe malnourished and the green was bile. It did poop (I've never had any other duck do that) but it looked like a big wad of bird poop.

I kill a lot of bluewings, mostly in September, so I always hoped one was a cinnamon hiding in eclipse plumage. But, cinnamon drakes have red eyes even in eclipse and every one I've ever killed had brown eyes so I think killing a cinnamon in SC, although a possibility, is a lightening strike.

The A5 is a Sweet 16 that my mom's uncle gave to his son, Al, in 1956 on his 16th birthday - he was their only kid. Sadly, Mom's Aunt and Uncle outlived their son but Uncle Aiken made sure to get me that gun before he passed. I'm eternally grateful. I never use that gun without thinking of Aiken and Al.

[Rubberhead*]

How many years did it take to get those 25 ducks? You have a swan too right?

Wish I'd kept a journal of any sort over the last 50 years.

The 25 ducks were all killed in SC and solo (except for the Common Eider). I've also killed blue, snow, and Canada geese in SC and Brant in SC. I've killed swans in NC and Cackling geese in ND. I have everything except for the brant documented in a USFWS wing-survey too. Here's my list - the swan and cackling goose are in black-and-white to remind me that I haven't killed them in SC.

[JABIII]

Top row- I have only shot a ruddy. (Think maybe an oldsquaw but I am old and forget stuff so no count)
2nd row- Everything but the Barrows
3rd row- All of them
4th row- Everything but the tree ducks
5th row- Everything but the brant (never seen one) and swan which I have counted coup on a banded one.
Bonus for a blue Ross.

[Jay]

Of the ones you haven’t killed, which have you actually seen in sc? Any close calls?

[Rubberhead*]

Of the ones you haven’t killed, which have you actually seen in sc? Any close calls?

I've been under/near the black-bellies a lot. Either they were a little too high, a little too early, during the teal season, or (the one that hurts) I had just put the gun up. I've photographed a king eider hen but it was a bird from ebird and probably crippled/hurt. I had a common merganser hen buzz me from the back then over the decoys, I didn't get a shot off and she refused to re-decoy. I've only killed one greater scaup and didn't get a video.