Speaking of released mallards.....

[Aging Baby Boomer]

Suppose you're on public water or your own private wetlands where you don't release mallards. You get lucky and kill a few birds, including two mallards. There are no clipped toes and no leg bands. Which of you can tell FOR SURE if they are wild or released birds?

If you can, how?

[duckman88]

The way I can tell most of the time is the way the birds fly, low and slow. If they fly low and slow and also seem way to eager to get in your decoys then they are probably tamies.

If they fly low and slow, seem way to eager to get in your decoys and you are hunting anywhere near lake marion, you most likely have got some tamies.

If they fly low and slow, seem way to eager to get in your decoys, you are hunting anywhere near lake marion and it is the last week of the season, you have definitly got tamies.

If they fly low and slow, seem way to eager to get in your decoys, you are hunting anywhere near lake marion, it is the last week of the season and you shoot at a pair kill one and miss the other quack a few times and turn the other back and kill it, YOU GOT TAMIES.

All released ducks are required by law to have something that shows they are pen raised (used to be bands, now mostly one clipped toe). That does not mean everyone does.

[highballing22]

i completely disagree with that theory...i have seen wild mallards lock up and come in on a string after being shot at by everyone in the slough.

i have also seen 50 mallards in a day, come from a tamie pond near public water and stay 500 yards up in the air and never go into anyones decoys.

the way i see it, its kinda like white people and mexican people...u got some smart ones of each race and you got some dumb ones of each race...one race may have more of one variety than the other....but u definately have some of each.

[murraywader]

Released Mallards are usually smaller.

And they will circle 50 times.

[duckman88]

I know there's always going to be exceptions highballin.

[BEAR]

Released Mallards are usually smaller.

What about released mallards that have been loose for a few years, and hang mostly around docks? Have you seen those? They get HUGE!

[duckman88]

If we find those ducks we get 300 yards away toss out a few deeks out in the middle of the cove/lake and get em to come take a look. The little old ladies that have names for each bird are not very happy though.

[highballing22]

If we find those ducks we get 300 yards away toss out a few deeks out in the middle of the cove/lake and get em to come take a look. The little old ladies that have names for each bird are not very happy though.

it works even better, if you just ask the little old lady there names...then go 300 yards away and call them....it doesnt take near as long to get them too commit...lol

[duckman88]

hahaha, this is true

[MDman]

If when you breast the birds out and the breast is small and pink or light red and it is soft to the touch, its a tamie.

if the breast meat is firm and Dark red. wild bird

if you have killed enough wild birds, you can look at a release bird and tell, from their plumage, size and head colors

[Hunt Master]

If you put a released duck and a wild duck side by side that are the same age, you would not be able to tell the difference. They only fly different at the beginning of the year. At the end of the season, the only way to tell the difference is if there toes are clipped. PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[2thDoc]

i think there are some good points being made. yes, they are required (by law?) to have a clipped toe.

i dont see as many released birds as I used to in my area, but I agree that they often circle 50 times and talk a lot. a wild duck tends to make up its mind quicker to stay or go. one screw up and you lose. you can make mistakes with a tamie and still win sometimes.

most tamies i have killed are poorly plumed and smaller. i give the few mallards I kill away, so i cant comment on the meat.

[Aging Baby Boomer]

The reason I ask, is that we killed a mallard drake on an SCDNR draw hunt this year. At checkout, I held my hand over the bird's feet and played "stump the warden" with the biologist. Is the bird wild or released, I asked. His answer - unless I see the feet, I can't tell you for sure - and anybody who says he can is full of BS! (BTW, this bird had a clipped toe.)

Yet there are folks - MDman is an example - who are sure that they can see a difference. Hunt Master says that birds of similar age cannot be told apart. I don't claim to know the answer. In hand, they all look the same to me.

Wouldn't most of us agree that there is significant variation in body size (weight) even among true wild mallards? Bellrose gives an average of 2.75 pounds for 1,809 adult males, with a range of 1.5 to 3.8 pounds. Are wild and released mallards genetically different enough to consistently produce observably different plumages/colors?

Any biologists out there who can weigh in on this?

[highballing22]

The reason I ask, is that we killed a mallard drake on an SCDNR draw hunt this year. At checkout, I held my hand over the bird's feet and played "stump the warden" with the biologist. Is the bird wild or released, I asked. His answer - unless I see the feet, I can't tell you for sure - and anybody who says he can is full of BS! (BTW, this bird had a clipped toe.)

Yet there are folks - MDman is an example - who are sure that they can see a difference. Hunt Master says that birds of similar age cannot be told apart. I don't claim to know the answer. In hand, they all look the same to me.

Wouldn't most of us agree that there is significant variation in body size (weight) even among true wild mallards? Bellrose gives an average of 2.75 pounds for 1,809 adult males, with a range of 1.5 to 3.8 pounds. Are wild and released mallards genetically different enough to consistently produce observably different plumages/colors?

Any biologists out there who can weigh in on this?

well seein as how, hunt master is a CERTIFIED tamie exucutioner(sp.) and also a CERTIFIED badass...i would go with his explination.

[GMAC]

I'f you've hunted long enough, you have had the experience of having a pair of blacks, six pintail, a pack of widgeon try to light on your head while you're picking up the decoys. There's no accounting for why ducks that will circle, circle, and leave, will sometimes bomb in while you're messing around. So what? Beat a cur dog a few times, and he'll stay away from you. The fact that some may have learned to be careful hardly redeems the practice.

[chocolate lab84]

That is simple....if you killed any mallards in SC then they were probably released. Everybody knows we don't have any ducks!

Next question.

[Mergie Master]

In hand...everyone knows you can tell by their toes.

On the wing, pay close attention to the tail. The tail tells the tale, it never fails.

That's a hint and it's all I'm saying on the matter. Now that you know where to start, learn it for yourselves.

[Aging Baby Boomer]

But an unbanded bird with all toes doesn't guarantee it's a wild, migratory mallard. Right?

[Hunt Master]

The unbanded bird with all the toes could very well be a duck that came from two released birds doing the nasty. But then is it considered a tamie since it was not released by anyone but was born in the wild?

[wskinner]

i think its ridiculous that we even have to have this conversation. its sad when you have to second guess whether a dead mallard with all his toes is wild or not.