# Have yall shot these Eurasin Widgeons



## wh1059 (Mar 20, 2010)

i shot the widgeon this weekend with a red head saturday morning and went and googled it later to find out that its a Eurasin Widgeon.... I was wondering how common these birds are and if anybody has shot them before. I copied a picture found on the web. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten it and mounted it instead?


----------



## willeye (Mar 2, 2007)

shoulda mounted it. where did you shoot it.


----------



## AvianQuest (Feb 7, 2006)

wh1059 said:


> Maybe I shouldn't have eaten it and mounted it instead?


That was the trophy duck of a lifetime. Can't believe you didn't get it mounted.

I've seen tons of them in Iceland, but they are very rare in the U.S...

http://www.ducks.org/hunting/waterfowl-id/eurasian-wigeon


----------



## aggiemulletboy (May 31, 2006)

Haha was it eating better than Am. wigeon? Cool bird.


----------



## CoastalOutfitters (Aug 20, 2004)

very rare here

was it carrying a coconut ?


----------



## [email protected] (Jun 5, 2009)

i hope you at least got a picture of it.....should have mounted it.


----------



## Hogsticker24 (Oct 7, 2008)

Noooooooo... I hope it was the best duck u ever ate. that a once in a life time bird here. congats on getting one


----------



## LandLocked (Apr 28, 2005)

Odds of shootin one of those again are purty low. Know of a few that have been killed out west but not down on the coast.


----------



## MilosMaster (Aug 18, 2005)

That's a bucket list duck for a Texas hunter for sure. Like others have said, you hear about a few every year in the panhandle and out west, but even there they are very rare. More of a California/Oregon/Washington area duck, but I don't think they are exceptionally common anywhere. Great bird, sorry you ate it!


----------



## btreybig (Jul 3, 2008)

WOW!!!! I take it you havent been duck hunting very long? That is definitely on my bucket list. I will say it again just like MilosMaster said, "Sorry you ate it!"


----------



## blueproline (Sep 25, 2007)

wawawawawa!


----------



## Bucksnort (Jun 29, 2004)

I'm not much of a duck hunter but I think if all this is true my stomach would be a little queasy right now.


----------



## Spec-Rig.006 (Nov 2, 2007)

Bucksnort said:


> I'm not much of a duck hunter but I think if all this is true my stomach would be a little queasy right now.


... it'd be similar to shooting a 200 inch whitetail on 12 acres (low-fenced) in East Texas ... and sawing the horns off and hanging them on a tree limb, and then leaving them there for the squirrels when you went home with the tenders ... !

:biggrin:


----------



## SV_DuckBuster (Sep 18, 2007)

I smell something fishy, but I've been wrong once before.

If this post is legit... I can't believe you ate it before looking up what it was. Always keep panty hose in your bag. If you shoot something like this, slip it into the hose and wrap in a towel on ice until you figure out what you want to do with it.

Once in a lifetime duck.


----------



## MilosMaster (Aug 18, 2005)

I can see not knowing if you are just getting started, or even if you just haven't poked around on the web looking at duck **** very much. I'm pretty sure I ate a Brewer's duck back in college. Having grown up hunting the coast and KP I had only even seen a handful of mallards at that time. When I moved to Dallas for school we started hunting public reservoirs and on my very first hunt up here we shot a few greenheads. I was mad that my first one didn't look right, and figured it was just not plumed out or still in eclipse. A few weeks later I saw a pic of a Brewer's (mallard x gadwall cross) for the first time and am pretty positive that's what I had. This was barely pre-digital camera for me, but if I can find the old pic somewhere I will post it later.

As a service to those new duck hunters who might not have been exposed to some of our less frequent visitors/rare ducks, here are a few to lookout for that should at least be considered for the wall:

*Cinnamon Teal* 
These guys are mainly a Western Flyway duck, but a handful get killed in Texas every year, especially out west and way down south. If not fully plumed out or a hen you can tell from BWT because the bill is a bit bigger. 









*Pintail x Mallard Hybrid*
In my mind, hands down the prettiest hybrid. As with any hybrid, very uncommon.









*"Storm" Wigeon*
Not a real taxonomic name, but this is what people commonly call wigeons that have a creamy white head instead of the salt/pepper coloration. I'm starting to think these aren't THAT uncommon as we have killed 2 this year and seen another, but we have also killed 200+wigeon. 









*Gadwall Variations*
There are several gadwall variations that are rare and attractive to collectors. First would be the purple headed gadwall - not sure if this is only on super mature birds or only on CERTAIN super mature birds, but either way they are pretty neat looking!
This one is an extreme example, most are less pronounced.









Black Neck Ring - The purple headed ones almost always have this as well, but the black neck ringed ones don't all have purple heads, which leads me to believe it is a maturity thing with birds that carry some certain gene. Or something like that. Here is one I shot last year.









*Brewer's Duck (Mallard x Gadwall)*
This is supposedly the most common hybrid and thier appearance can vary pretty wiely, but most I have seen pics of looked pretty similar to this.









*Goldeneye Hen*
The drakes are fairly easy to spot since they are all black and white and have, well, golden eyes. The hens are weird looking and not terribly common away from the coast in Texas - this is the duck I see the most "what did I shoot" threads for on hunting forums. Maybe not wall worthy on her own, but neat and uncommon for sure.


----------



## MilosMaster (Aug 18, 2005)

SV_DuckBuster said:


> I smell something fishy, but I've been wrong once before.
> 
> If this post is legit... I can't believe you ate it before looking up what it was. Always keep panty hose in your bag. If you shoot something like this, slip it into the hose and wrap in a towel on ice until you figure out what you want to do with it.
> 
> Once in a lifetime duck.


DO NOT put a duck in pantyhose!!! I was told the same thing and carried panty hose around in my blind bag for years until I was edumacted. Any good bird taxidermist will tell you that is about the single most damaging thing you can do - feathers can easily get caught up in the hose and get mangled. Especially if the bird is wet when the hose are put on and subsequently frozen.

According to my taxi (Matt Smith - www.birdworkstaxidermy.com) you should lay the head back against the body and put it in two ziplock freezer bags with as much air squeezed out as possible. If it is going to be frozen for a long time wrap wet newspaper around the bill and feet.


----------



## great white fisherman (Jun 24, 2008)

My son has a nice cinimminum he took a few years ago in West Texas. Lots of color and his had some spots.


----------



## SV_DuckBuster (Sep 18, 2007)

MilosMaster said:


> DO NOT put a duck in pantyhose!!! I was told the same thing and carried panty hose around in my blind bag for years until I was edumacted. Any good bird taxidermist will tell you that is about the single most damaging thing you can do - feathers can easily get caught up in the hose and get mangled. Especially if the bird is wet when the hose are put on and subsequently frozen.
> 
> According to my taxi (Matt Smith - www.birdworkstaxidermy.com) you should lay the head back against the body and put it in two ziplock freezer bags with as much air squeezed out as possible. If it is going to be frozen for a long time wrap wet newspaper around the bill and feet.


To each their own. You just have to be careful when using hose.


----------



## saltwatersensations (Aug 30, 2004)

Its rare poop now.


----------



## AvianQuest (Feb 7, 2006)

There's better things that go in pantyhose...


----------



## sotol buster (Oct 7, 2007)

AvianQuest said:


> There's better things that go in pantyhose...


Probably, but if it is "wet when the hose goes on and subsuquently frozen" a ziplock bag would be just as good.


----------



## [email protected] (Jun 5, 2009)

Thanks for the pics on the hybrids; good lesson


----------



## btreybig (Jul 3, 2008)

MilosMaster said:


> *Gadwall Variations*
> There are several gadwall variations that are rare and attractive to collectors. First would be the purple headed gadwall - not sure if this is only on super mature birds or only on CERTAIN super mature birds, but either way they are pretty neat looking!
> This one is an extreme example, most are less pronounced.


I shot this Gadwall last year. I was told that it was a Gadwall x Wigeon cross but I just figured it was a mature Bull Gadwall. None the less its a trophy to me.


----------

