doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Any reports from the Great White North?

Thanks for that link, Hal. Very interesting. Ringnecks are fun shooting.

SRH

When I shot ducks in Arkansas, the guides called ringnecks "termite ducks". I questioned why and he said because they'll eat through a box of shotgun shells like a termite infestation. I completely understood then...Geo

A lot more fun to shoot than to eat. Ringnecks often feed on minnows, which imparts an odor to them and affects the flavor of their meat. I keep all the woodies and teal, most of the mallards and pins, but give all the ringnecks away. It's all about the taste.

SRH

Stan, I grew up shooting more ringnecks than anything else. They were just what we had down here. Put enough barbecue sauce on them and they taste just fine.

The first time I went to Canada to hunt with visions of barley fed mallards dancing in my head, we stopped at a pothole on the prairie and got out of the truck to stretch our legs. Tactical as always, I had my shotgun in the other hand. A single duck flew over and I killed him. Guess what; a ringneck...Geo

Ringers will build up in number here, in the latter part of the season, on farm ponds. They're great flying targets, and I make no apologies for not enjoying eating them. But, there are some neighbors just down the road who will take all I bring them.

I ate ringnecks when I was younger ...............until I found out how much better acorn fed woodies, and corn fed teal are. Woodies are pretty ducks, and fine eating, but for many years I under-appreciated them, in my more salad days, for want of green timber mallards. I appreciate them more now, in my later years. There is no sportier duck shooting than a woodie diving into a beaver pond at first legal shooting light, twisting and jiving through the trees. I am humbled every season by them.

SRH

You guys ever think of talking on the phone ?

And miss out on the opportunity to irritate you ?

Nah.

I sure wish you had thought of that back when yOu and Amarillo Mike were looping your insults for page after page. Just saying...Geo

anybody flush a grouse north and east of virginia?

if so, dont molest it...

it could be one of the last ones left in the northeast...

I've never heard of Ring-necked Ducks feeding on 'minnows'. I rank this duck just below Canvasbacks and above Lesser Scaup and Redheads, as table fare. Indeed, Clarence Cottam shows their diet to be overwhelmingly plant material (82%), with another 10% insects. Mollusks make up most of the remainder and fish are not mentioned at all. Here in the fall they commonly feed on crustaceans (brine shrimp) in beds of sago pondweek along with the scaup in our formerly brackish or subsaline lakes that are now filled with freshwater fish. Canvasbacks and swans ate the sago tubers while scaup and ringnecks ate the shrimp.

https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/CAT86200638/PDF