In the September issue of Ducks Unlimited magazine, there’s a story by Wade Bourne in the Mixed Bag section called “Drifting for Early Ducks.” As Mark Twain described in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there’s no better escape than to drop a boat in a free-flowing stream and let the current take you. Like Bourne, I’ve had some of my most memorable waterfowl hunts on flowing waters, from the Mighty Mississippi to spring creeks in southwestern Montana.
Perhaps my favorite stream hunt took place several years ago on public land. When a severe cold snap froze our regular hunting spots, my dad and I decided to try a hunt on a series of beaver ponds on a small creek that we knew would still have open water. As we launched our canoe just before dawn, we could hear mallards calling to each other up and down the creek. We didn’t have a mud motor, so we had to get to those ducks the old-fashioned way. Despite the bitter cold, we broke a good sweat paddling against the current and dragging the canoe over a series of beaver dams. We kicked out quite a few ducks along the way, but we had no idea how many birds were concentrated upstream.
When we finally got to the ponds, we flushed at least a thousand mallards. I don’t think I’ve ever seen more ducks packed into such a small area. Needless to say, the rest of the hunt was a slam dunk. We barely had time to throw out a few decoys and load our shotguns before ducks started coming back, first in small groups and then in droves.
Getting there can be half the fun while float hunting, but a word of caution is in order: Before you go, be sure you know the trespassing laws in the area you intend to float. Riparian property rights can vary considerably from one state to the next. And any time you venture onto the water, especially in cold weather, be sure to wear a life jacket and practice good boating safety. A handy list of safety tips is available online at boatus.com/foundation/sportsnew/.
What about exotics? Eurasian wigeon occur in fair numbers in the Pacific Flyway, and every year some of them are taken by hunters, largely in Washington, Oregon and California. Most of these birds come from Siberia, but reports indicate that a small breeding population also exists in Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Smaller numbers of Eurasian wigeon occur in the other flyways and likely include a few vagrants from Iceland, the United Kingdom and mainland Europe. Tufted ducks, a Eurasian relative of the ring-necked duck, also occasionally show up in North American marshes. Other exotic species are taken by hunters from time to time, but most of these birds turn out to be escapees from zoos or private collections.
