Ok, I am a deer hunter - a new one at that. On my lease i can hunt anything legal.

On a pond near my stand I see these 6 or so ducks fly in and hang out there all the time. I have no idea what kind of ducks they are.

I was thinking of taking my shotgun this weekend and getting one or two.

Can some one help me out to the legality of this... are there differences in killing male vs female ducks? Are all ducks the same - as in when you can kill and how many?

Would you shoot if you did not know what kind of duck it was?

Thanks.

JAK

You must have state, and federal waterfowl stamp, and shoot them with steel shot.

different species of ducks have different limits, with you not know ing what kind of bird it is. Kinda hard for anyone to tell you. But if you just shoot one. No way you will be breaking the law. SOme speicies you can shoot 5 of. Just depends.

Good luck

Best bet is to go read the regulations on http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/.

You will need your duck stamp, steel shot, ect.

EDIT** http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_k0700_1014.pdf

That is the PDF of the Regs...

go to www.ducks.org to look up the species i.d., this is important because there are several kinds of ducks in which you can only shoot one or two of such as 1 hen mallard, or 2 wood ducks.Do you have your state and fed bird stamps? If you do go down to shoot some as far as legality goes you will need to use steel shot and have a plug in your gun, so you can only have 2 shells in the mag, and one in the chamber. Good luck, your gonna get hooked.

I have the Texas super combo -- I take it that I need something other than that? Duck Stamp?

My buddy thinks they are wood ducks. So I will only shoot two just in case.

I will run to Wal-mart and get a plug, some steel shot, and a duck stamp.

Anything else?

Thanks for the help.

how will you retrieve them? need some waders? try jumping them up and then shooting them when they are over land. More sporting that way!

Walmart wont work for a duck stamp, unless they started selling them in the last couple years, you can use a pencil for a plug, cut it so you can only get 2 shells in the magazine.

You can get the duck stamp at Academy or the US Post Office.

Like said before go to www.ducks.org and click on the waterfowl ID link.

And make sure you can retrieve them. It's considered unethical not to retrieve them and the game warden could cite wanton waste to shoot them and leave them out there.

When you cook them don't overdo it they taste better medium rare.

Different ducks have different tastes.

If you are not sure what kind it is make sure you shoot them one at a time so you can identify and the proceed. I think the math involved is what keeps most deer hunters from the sport

Where the hell do you get the stamp? I am looking online and cannot find a place. I see they are starting the e-duck stamp but cannot see where to buy it.

OMG. It is a real stamp - I kept getting back to the same page that had DUCKS on a STAMP but I thought that was for collectors. It is a real POSTAL STAMP!

Do I go to the post office?

Yep, post office will fix you right up. Put in on back of your Hunt Lic and SIGN your name across it! Must do that to be legal!

Also only shoot the ones with greenheads! You can kill 5 of them! Makes it real easy..........
Read this ..............
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_k0700_1014.pdf

Yep, Post office.

Man, I love how honest you were with your realization. Reminds me about how hard it was for me to get started. My dad taught me deer hunting, but I have had to pick up most of the duck stuff on my own or by making friends.

Good Luck!

dont forget the camera!! looking forward to reading how it goes for ya!