Alan,

This year I only was able to go on one one "hunt" (or as you stated, one "shoot") where 5 hunters limited out or bagged 30 ducks. However, my nephew is an avid hunter, and I occasionally have access to a number of his birds each year.

In south Louisiana, we primarily harvest: green wing teal, gadwall (gray ducks) spoon bills, American Wigeon, ring-necks, lesser scaup, motteled ducks and mallards, plus a few pintails. My friends in central and north Louisiana harvest large numbers of wood ducks, but unfortunately, those feathers are a bit more difficult to obtain. Mergansers, buffelheads and coots are readily available but rarely collected. Folks in Arkansas harvest significantly more mallards than those in Louisiana.

By the way, folks might like to know:

La has the most duck stamps sold and ducks harvested. More ducks were harvested in Louisiana most years than in the entire Atlantic or Central flyways, with a total of more than 2.7 million ducks in Louisiana during the 2010-’11 waterfowl season.

According to Ducks Unlimited, Louisiana’s harvest accounts for 18 percent of the United States harvest. Arkansas had the second highest harvest with 1.4 million ducks. Factoring in hunter numbers, Louisiana’s harvest equated to 30.6 ducks harvested per hunter for the season. http://www.wildfowlmag.com/louisiana...waterfowl.html


How about a short treatise on duck feathers. Which feathers do you prefer from which ducks.

Historically I have tried to obtain all the wood duck flank that I can for my friends across the country. I also obtain the flanks off green wings, gadwall and shovelers and wigeon and the bronze shoulders from mallards.

Which other feathers should I also "grab"?

Bowfin47