The King of Minnesota Ducks.........your nominee

[RumRiverRat]

It is the Canvasback for me.

Hands down no recount needed.

*All hunts with multiple Canvasbacks involved 2 hunter....for all the internet Game Wardens.*

A few of the Cans that have finished into my decoys for the last time the last 2 seasons.

With a bonus Hooded Merganser

A video that I found on Youtube that I cannot stop watching.

[leech~~]

Well according to all the feed back I received on a post a few weeks back and even though it's not a Duck. I would have to say the COOT!

Ah, beautiful!

[fishersofmen]

I may have to agree.....awesome bird.

[Bryce]

Pretty sure that sawbill will use up any bbq sauce left over from the coot feed.

[HugoBox]

Pretty sure that sawbill will use up any bbq sauce left over from the coot feed.

HA! Not sure if all the BBQ sauce ever made since the beginning of time can help those lawn darts taste good!!

For me the Can rules. I'd set out a whole bunch of blocks just to watch them work.

[Stringerless!]

I agree RRR. And I have never even shot one.

[fishuhalik]

i love a good late season scaup hunt! only had a couple but man were they fun! they taste like garbage though, so i'll have to say mallards

[123fish]

King can without a doubt. Like those bulls with the white diamond on the underside of their bill.

[RumRiverRat]

I agree RRR. And I have never even shot one.

I could probably make it happen for you.

Lots of them around on the lake I hunted yesterday and will be hunting Sunday morning.

[BrdHunter01]

Cans were of abundance this year. Shot a few limits of them but yet u can only get 1 a piece. Had can fever many times this year after we had our limit. Everything looked like a can then. I did watch 2 guys that must have shot 6 cans. I was going to call tip but they left immediately! Sad to see. They are such a dumb bird, it seems like everyone on the lake gets a poke at the same flock. Sometimes they will even come back to make sure u were actually shooting at them

[life=outdoors92]

i love a good late season scaup hunt! only had a couple but man were they fun! they taste like garbage though, so i'll have to say mallards

i've never thought scaup taste like garbage....thought they've always been one of the better ducks.

I wil still go with a big ole drake woodduck. nothin prettier and usually excellent table fair

[Scott M]

Cans are gorgeous and taste pretty good. Other than a couple here, couple there, I only seem to see them in NoDak.

I believe scaup used to be the King of Minnesota Ducks, I think it might be ring-bills now. We actually have good nesting habitat for ringers - bog and wild rice lakes in north central MN.

[Ufatz]

Nothing wrong with the taste of Scaup (bluebills) unless you are cooking them in chocolate sauce or boiling them in a rubber pot! They eat the same stuff the C-back does.

[Scott M]

Scaup are big crustacean eaters, mussels and clams. That's why there is concern over bluebill die offs when they ingest trematodes or when they ingest molluscs on the river that carry high levels of heavy metals that could affect reproduction.

Cans are big vegetarians for diving ducks. They are known to seek out sago pondweed and wild celery. Their scientific name, Aythya valisineria, is a reference to eating valisineria, the scientific name of wild celery.

[Ufatz]

Well, lets assume you are right about the Scaup diet. Then please explain to me the huge harvest of bluebills during the prime years when Minnesota was a major duck hunting state and people came from all around the country to hunt here. Why in the world would my grandfather maintain his big hunting place where his guests shot ducks, including bluebills, for 75 years, And how could my family have eaten hundreds of them during the 40's, 50's and 60's.

Something doesn't make sense. Some days much of our bag was bluebills. My memory just CAN'T be that bad!

Can it?

[Ufatz]

Sudden thought. Are you thinking of coastal migrating Scaup? It IS true they will eat "meat" in both shallow and deep waters along the coasts.They are not much to eat.

I have seen lots of bluebills along the Alaskan coast and would not eat them. We let them fly by and hunted the sloughs for pintails and mallards and teal etc.

Bluebills WILL eat a portion of their diet in clams etc. but the main diet is the same thing Cans and Redheads eat.

Are we talking about the same duck here?

[Superduty]

Thousands of Scaup (AKA Bluebills) have died in recent years from eating mussels on northern MN lakes. It is a complex parasite/host relationship that ends up killing the ducks. Scaup in Mn do eat plenty of "meat" as Ufatz reffered to it.

[Ray Esboldt]

The only place that I have shot scaup and thought they were decent eating was in The Pas, Manitoba. However, that may have been because my palate was dulled due to eating so many of them. I will say they are 100x better than a goldeneye, but so is cardboard.

Nothing more fun than shooting (or shooting at) bills. When 50+ come blowing through the decoys that is about as fun as duck hunting can get. Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly rare.

I'll vote for the mallard as the king of Minnesota ducks.

[fishuhalik]

Nothing more fun than shooting (or shooting at) bills. When 50+ come blowing through the decoys that is about as fun as duck hunting can get. Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly rare.

i'll never forget my 1st good bluebill shoot. winnie, 1st year duck hunting, in the gap. about 30 mph winds, snow, & thousands of bills. i think i went through about 5 boxes of shells to get a limit as i tried to pass shoot em. dad shot his limit in about 10mins & watched (laughed) at me the whole time. good memories!

[Gordie]

The ones that get my heart pumpming are Bluebills and Ringnecks. When they come over your head and about 100 plus of them.. I love that sound

[strait-meat]

Cans are 1st on the list for a diver duck in my book b/c they finish off well too. And I would say Mr. Mallard for the puddle duck.

[Ufatz]

Mallard the "king of ducks"?....are you guys pulling my chain!!? Start looking closely. Mallards are about the only duck that sits on sewage treatment settling ponds. A mallard will eat a dead fish with relish. A mallard walks around your city parks eating whatever kind of [PoorWordUsage] it finds.Mallards run to the people who will feed them bread crumbs, Cracker Jacks, pretzels,apple slices or piazza chunks.

Mallards are the Lady Gaga of ducks: colorful and loud-without substance. A canvasback is the Helen Mirren of ducks: quietly attractive,gentle in speech and rich in character.

Phooooey on you guys and your mallards!

[magnum mike]

The greater scaup is my vote. I too remember flights of these birds by the 1000s. There is nothing like the sound of 100+ bills as they hit the pocket of your spread during a November snow squall. I don't know if we will ever see those sights in Minnesota again but I treasure the memories of when we did.

[Feathers Rainin]

Golden Eye is my vote for sure. I love cans and bills but nothing is better than a late season Golden Eye shoot. These were a few taken on a quick hunt before work last week. We were able to take our time and pick out drake limits this weekend.

Never seen a duck commit to the decoys from so high up and come in so fast. Pretty impressive acrobatics to say the least.

[fishuhalik]

thanks for rubbing it in with that pic feathers! i shoulda called in sick saturday...