Wish List: A Waterfowl-of-the-Month Club

This is an easy choice, as seasons for teal and resident Canada geese open Sept. 1 in my home state of Wisconsin. The teal aspect is relatively new, having only been open four seasons, but it's a welcome bonus. Honkers really command my attention during this time, as the green, sunny days of summer have slowly turned toward fall, with family groups of geese visiting freshly cut oat, wheat and hay fields. Years ago, I dismissed early goose seasons as silly attempts to cull nuisance birds. Now, I cannot imagine a September without wind-blown cries of these big birds approaching a spread.

Photo © Images on the Wildside

This might seem like an odd combo, but it's because I typically take a road trip before Halloween. Woodies are the bread-and-butter early season duck for many Northern hunters, as their numbers border on ridiculous, and opportunities abound. Sure, you'll find other ducks on the strap, including mallards, teal and early calendar migrants, such as wigeon, gadwall, shovelers, redheads and ringnecks. Still, no one can dispute that the wood duck reigns during the first weeks of the season.

Gaddies become No. 1 when I head to the Dakotas in late October. I always target mallards, of course, and love to take advantage of pintail and wigeon opportunities when possible, as those species are more abundant on the prairies than at home. Yet ultimately, the reliable gray duck is typically our top bird. Why not? They're abundant, decoy well and make great table fare. And I don't shoot many of them after returning east.

Photo © RCK_953/Shutterstock

As an avid open-water hunter, I target scaup (lessers and greaters) hard during their peak migration through my area, which typically occurs the first or second week of November. Honestly, they're my favorite duck. Swift, agile and often willing to decoy, bluebills can provide weeks of enjoyable wing-shooting. And they can frustrate the heck out of you, too, changing their rafting or feeding areas daily or twisting your body into a pretzel as you fire three shots into air. November would be quite empty for me without 'bills.

But there is the little matter of the king ‚ that is, the canvasback. We shoot a few where I'm at, but the Mississippi River, three hours west, offers up an almost biblical display every November. Somehow, I wouldn't consider a fall complete until I watched tens of thousands of canvasbacks pour from refuges to open water to feed on wild celery or loaf the day away. Oh, and I like to shoot one or two, too. They're gorgeous and tops on the table.

Photo © Images on the Wildside

After Thanksgiving, ice begins to grip the Wisconsin landscape, often sending many birds south and concentrating hardy mallards, goldeneyes, black ducks and Canada geese in open water near available food. This is hard, cold hunting ‚ and no season would be complete without it.

Mallards get my top vote during this time, as taking a few fat, prime drakes over ice holes or in free-flowing streams almost seems like sweet revenge. Decoying plump honkers over cut corn with a bit of snow on the ground comes in a close second. And I must give honorable mention to goldeneyes, the hardiest of divers ‚ tough, gorgeous birds that put a brilliant coda on each season.

Photo © Bill Konway