Hen or Drake ?

[RayG]

I recently shot a young mallard that had what looked like a drakes bill, dark yellow green not orange. However I could see no other markings that indicated it was a drake. I felt like I had to count it as a hen in my bag limit, but am wondering if it really was. Anyone else have this happen?

[WollMan]

Any more info? Black Duck? What did the body look like?

[RayG]

Looked like a hen mallard, except for the bill. Seemed like a pretty young duck, breast wasn't well developed. I'm in SW MN so probably not a black duck.

[LOTWSvirgin]

You have to count it as a hen I am sure it has to have atleast enough green on its head while still flying to count it as a green head More then likely up to the COs on how its counted hen or drake. Good question like to see what others think

[RumRiverRat]

You have to count it as a hen I am sure it has to have atleast enough green on its head while still flying to count it as a green head More then likely up to the COs on how its counted hen or drake. Good question like to see what others think

If it is a Drake it is counted as drake, even if the head is not green.

If it is a drake and the CO says it is a hen the CO is wrong and vice versa.

[broken_line]

if you cant identify it by its feathers look up how to sex a duck. it may be a little dirty in the feild but its worth not getting a hefty fine

[shortfatguy]

I shot a blackduck in northern mn a couple of days ago. Why wouldnt they be in southern mn?

[creepworm]

They stay east of the Mississippi for the most part. Very very rare to see them in the prairie region, such as SW MN.

[mixxedbagg]

Oddly, we seem to have a few overwinter most years with the Mallards on the river downstream of the power plant in Cohasset. I even found a hybrid one year.

Looked a little like this:

[Quackaddict9]

My groups has shot young drake mallards this year with alnost no color on it and has yellow bill rather than orange with black splts on it like a hen has. Sounds like it was a drake.

[fasternu]

We shot a blackduck last year near Worthington. It is possible.

[NR]

As mentioned, feather color has little to do with whether it's a drake or not. If it has a weenie, it's a drake.

White bars on the speculum? Mallard, not black, or possible hybrid.

A CO giving a duck ID presentation said the white bars on the hen extend inward toward the body beyond the color of the speculum. On the drake, the white bars end with the speculum.

Also, off the cuff, the tops of the hen wings will tend to be brown and the drakes will tend to be gray, even in eclipse or juvenile plumage.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

My groups has shot young drake mallards this year with alnost no color on it and has yellow bill rather than orange with black splts on it like a hen has. Sounds like it was a drake.

ditto. i've shot a few this fall that i had to let pass through the decoys 4 or 5 times before i could get a positive id on the beak color. the beak is about the best indicator you can have w/o holding it upside down and opening the cloaca vent.

[Muskie456]

you can accually sex the bird by his wing. The white bars on the speculum are differant on a hen than a drake. The white bar will exstend past the blue patch on a hen or is it a drake. I'm not sure which is which but that is how you can tell.

I had a final in collage that was 50 duck wings and we had to i.d. and sex the bird off of the wing.

Ringnecks are the toughest to tell.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

you can accually sex the bird by his wing. The white bars on the speculum are differant on a hen than a drake. The white bar will exstend past the blue patch on a hen or is it a drake. I'm not sure which is which but that is how you can tell.

I had a final in collage that was 50 duck wings and we had to i.d. and sex the bird off of the wing.

Ringnecks are the toughest to tell.

its tough when the drakes are young of the year or eclipse plumage to see the white bar while the bird is flying though. heck for youth waterfowl day we were landing mallards in the decoys, i would look at them with the binocs (the birds were only 30 yards away) and see if there was any hint of green in the head, as many of the young hens and young drakes' beaks were near solid black yet with only hits of orange or yellow/green.

[Muskie456]

You can do it with pinnies. I guided in Alaska and there were loads of pintails and teal. The hen Pintails just have that white line while the drakes have the colored speculum. I would tell guests to look for it. Those birds were very dumb and you could get them right in your face.