To much fun!

[fishkid]

most people go to the kenai river in alaska for the amazing salmon fishing but the real fun doesnt start till late october when you can have real fun and have a merganser meltdown. last friday we shot 28 mergansers 3 golden eyes and a mallard and missed a female oldsquaw didnt get any pics of that one and here is the picture from today. 18 mergies and 8 golden eyes. mergansers eat an average of 30 smolt (baby salmon) a day so if you do the math we are saving alaskas salmon fishery!

[BrdHunter01]

Interesting... I try not to waste my shells on those things but looks like u had a blast!

[dan z]

they are great for mounting and thats it. Ohh and the they eat lots of fish

[bemidjibasser]

barrows or common goldeneyes?

[dan z]

common sawbills and a common goldie

[Feathers Rainin]

LOL I have never seen someone mount a common merganser. Hoodies yes but that is the first common I have seen. Are those next to your coot, spoonbill, and ruddy mounts?

[Ufatz]

Well fishkid, I hope you guys didn't shoot those Mergansers just for the hell of it! You did eat them didn't you? Apparently you mounted one but what about the others?

Im going to assume you had a use for them and just didn't kill them and toss 'em in the ditch.

[dan z]

LOL I have never seen someone mount a common merganser. Hoodies yes but that is the first common I have seen. Are those next to your coot, spoonbill, and ruddy mounts?

nope there next to a blue goose, black duck , redheads, buffies, ringneck, bluebill, pintail, woodie leeser canadian, cansvasback, hooded mergie and think I got em all, woop forgot bout the monster walleye.

you got me thinkin I should get a scurry of coot for a coffee table display

[Feathers Rainin]

nope there next to a blue goose,

What is a blue goose? Do you mean Juvie Snow?

Sounds like a nice display of mounts.

[Ray Esboldt]

I like the common mergie mounts. Kind of got me thinking now.

Blue goose - blue phased snow goose. Not really a phase because I believe they stay that way their whole life. They are really a sharp looking bird. The young-of-the-year snows are basically gray, you really can't tell what they are going to morph into.

[fishkid]

they were common golden eyes. and i gave them to a philapino girl at school who wanted a bunch of them. and i didnt mount any of them. the next friday after that hunt we shot 35 more of them.

[Gordie]

they are great for mounting and thats it. Ohh and the they eat lots of fish

I found that iffin you make jerky out of them they dont taste all that bad and honestly they are no different than the golden eyes for taste I had shot a couple and along with a few golden eys and I put them in the cure and I acctually let them sita day longer in the cure then pepper seasoned them real good and cherry wood smoked them and they werent that bad at all.

besides they sure are great for practice shooting and nothing goes to waste in my camp.

Dan those mounts are really cool I think golden eyes are a really cool bird

FKid that looks like a lot of fun was had by you guys

[BoxMN]

I have two goldeneye mounted above my cabin fireplace, and they are cool Only duck hunters know what they are, the plumber thought they were some kind of "sea swan", hahaha! Even among duck hunters, usually only the late season hunter sees many of them.

I think those woodpeckers look kind of cool! And nice shooting fishkid, I bet it was fun

[mallardnwalleye]

Mergansers and Goldeneyes never have to go to waste- They make great birds to freeze and use for dog training, they are great dog food but make sure you throw them in a crock pot as the raw meat will encourage hardmouth and a bird eater. If you clean them quicly and throw them in milk for an hour or so they aren't too bad. When lightly smoked I like to call them duck sardines. They also work great frozen in the summer as lawn darts. I pass on the gansers when hunting as they are a waste of shells and may interfere with some greenheads I can't see. Many people mistake gansers in the air for pintails or mallards in the late season.

I know of a spot less than 1 1/2 hrs from the cities that in late November you could shoot your limits of both these birds day after day.

[Gordie]

I know of a spot less than 1 1/2 hrs from the cities that in late November you could shoot your limits of both these birds day after day.

I bet I know that spot as I hunt it everynow and then

[mallardnwalleye]

Yep 3/4 of the ganser flyway population or something like that. Flock after flock going over your head all day and if your in Sconnie you can shoot from a layout. I only wish a few real deal greenheads were around there anymore.