To become a top mallard duck hunter, you have to study and learn as much as you can about the mallard duck. You have to:
Without question the most common duck throughout North America is the mallard duck. Its range extends from Northern Canada and Alaska south into Mexico and from coast to coast. It is the bread-and-butter bird for many duck hunters regardless of the state, region or flyway they hunt.
The mallard duck's extensive distribution is the result of its uncanny ability to adapt to many types of wetland habitat. Whether you choose to hunt cattail marshes, rivers or streams, secluded backwaters, large open water, agricultural fields or flooded timber chances are their will be mallard ducks nearby.
The mallard ducks life-cycle is driven by its annual migration south in the fall and back north in the spring to breed and repopulate itself. As with any wild creature mallards need three things to survive: food, water and safety or adequate habitat.
Mallards are omnivores and depending upon the time of the year, food availability, weather conditions and energy requirements mallard ducks will eat a wide variety of aquatic plants and invertebrates as well as crops.
Late in the spring, throughout the summer and into the early fall mallards will typically eat small seeded water plants, grasses and invertebrates. These include duckweeds, smartweeds, grasses, sedges, pondweeds, rice-cutgrass, wild rice, arrowhead, wild and seeded millet, crustaceans, mosquito larvae, insects, small fish, tadpoles, fish eggs, small frogs, worms and spiders. Smartweed, wild rice and millet are late summer and early to mid fall favorites for the mallard duck.
As the temperature starts to fall and the energy needs for migration occur and fat storage requirements necessary for successful breeding increase, mallard ducks look for food sources that are high in protein and energy. These food sources include corn, rice, wheat, barley, sorghum, flooded soybeans, and acorns in bottomland hardwoods. Mallards will also continue to use millet as a food source especially during a mild fall or winter.
Flocks of mallards will often feed in the early morning and late afternoon in nearby harvested fields, returning to water after feeding.
Mallard ducks migrate along a number of well established migration routes but the greatest concentrations move from Manitoba and Saskatchewan through the Central and Mississippi Flyway of the United States. Weather is a key factor in determining the size and scope of the fall migration.
Among puddle ducks, mallards are one of the latest fall migrants. In fact, among dabbling ducks, the mallard duck has the most extended migration period. Their migration period begins in late summer and can extend into early winter. Once the migration is underway it is quite common to see large rafts of mallard ducks congregating together.
The further south mallards are hunted the more important the migration is to the overall success of the state or region. As the past few years have demonstrated, mallards will stay in Canada and the Northern United States until both their food and water sources are no longer available. Often times this means that snow cover must be present to move massive amounts of mallard ducks further south.
Although migration is a key to a mallard duck hunters success, research has shown that it is less important in some of the Great Lake states, Northeast states, Mid-Atlantic states, the Dakotas and the Pacific Northwest as the majority of mallards harvested in these states are "home grown".
The sounds produced by ducks and geese are considered calls rather than songs because these sounds are short and instinctive in nature. Ducks and geese use these sounds as a means of communication in a variety of situations as a primary means of conveying information.
Males and females of most species of waterfowl produce distinctively different calls because of the physical differences in the trachea and the syrinx. This is especially true of mallard ducks. The hen (female) mallard duck produces a quack, while the drake (male) produces a low grunt-whistle which sounds like raehb-raehb-raehb.
The range of calls produced by a hen and drake mallard, as with most waterfowl, are somewhat limited. Often the same call is used in a variety of situations. For example, a simple hen mallard quack can communicate contentment, loneliness or danger. Additionally, the calls produced by mallard ducks can be used to coordinate flight when preparing for migration, leaving the roost for feeding grounds or escaping potential life-threatening situations. Mallards will also give preflight calls to one another to signal their intent to change locations.
Mallard ducks tend to be less vocal in the late summer and early fall. As the fall progresses and the migration begins these same ducks become increasingly vocal. Approaching weather fronts as well as high and low pressure systems can also have an impact on the amount of calling done between mallard ducks.
Mallard ducks are extremely social and gregarious creatures. They love to be part of the crowd. As the old saying goes "Likes Attracts Likes". During the fall migration, mallards will congregate in huge numbers at key staging and refuge areas as they travel through the different flyways. Many of these key areas will hold tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of mallard ducks at one time. In Arkansas for example, there are specific counties that have held as many as one million mallard ducks when habitat and migration conditions are ideal.
When viewing a flock or group of contented mallard ducks you may notice many of the following characteristics. In many instances you will notice ducks tipping up and down as they feed, wings being flapped and stretched and splashing as they chase each other around. The majority of the group will have a low profile contented head position. Low profile head positions are those of dabbling, resting, preening, sleeping or contented ducks. There will always be some members of the flock that have upright heads to watch for danger. The more upright heads that are in the group, the more wary and alert the group is to danger.
Mallard ducks that are in areas that have a high degree of hunting or predator pressure will often seek safety in remote out of the way places. Streams and creeks, beaver ponds, secluded backwaters and small potholes can be magnets for these wary birds as they spend their day in isolation and safety before they head back to their roost for the evening.
Feathers are composed primarily of keratin, the same substance that comprises our finger nails and hair. Frequent preening and bathing are vital to the health of the feathers. While preening the mallard duck squeezes oil from a gland at the base of their tail onto their bill and methodically spreads the oil across their plumage. Since mallard ducks can't reach their heads and necks with their bills, they rub oil on them from their bodies and then work the feathers back into place with their feet. Regular bathing helps to cleanse the plumage of dirt, debris, and external parasites.
Most ducks, including mallard ducks, undergo two body molts each year. During mid summer into early fall their plumage is very drab and basic. As the fall and winter progress hormonal and dietary changes cause the plumage to become a brilliant breeding or alternate plumage. Caring for this plumage is of the utmost importance.
We suggest that you go back and reread the article in its entirety. Now that you're reading it for the second or third time pick out the key pieces of information that will help you become a more successful mallard duck hunter.
Here's an example of what we're talking about. Why is it important to understand changes in plumage? For one thing it will help you determine what color your decoy spread should be which is dependent on the time of the year your hunting.
That's just one little nugget of information that you'll find to help you become a more successful mallard duck hunter.