I thought farm raised mallards are exempt from hunting regulations? Probably most common duck on farms except maybe Muscovy ducks.

Game warden notes
Dogs are known for bringing home undesirable objects. Sometimes they do eat your homework. But, when a Texarkana man recently told game wardens the mallard ducks they discovered hanging in his warehouse came from a retrieving dog field trials competition in Arkansas, eyebrows raised. In this case, the wardens were able to verify there had been such a contest that uses farm-raised ducks, and the mallards showed no evidence of having been shot. The wardens then explained to the man that a wildlife resource document is still required in order to possess the birds. They issued the appropriate citations and warnings, and the cases are pending.

Regardless of whether any limitations apply, as a mallard duck, a game bird, they should still be accompanied by the proper wildlife resource documents. Would I expect everyone to follow the law in that situation, no. It is the correct way of going about it though.

I would be interested in what brought the wardens attention to this guys warehouse? Not saying the wardens did anything wrong, just curious what brought them there.

“Flying Malards” is what I ordered from a website. Got about 10 left out of the 20 I bought originally (they aren’t as skidish as I’d hoped and the coons eat them just as fast as the white farm ducks). So according to this post I should have documentation that they are farm raised and not wild? That’s news to me, I’ll have to check on this not sure the wardens are correct.

They aren’t wild and have never been, they are farm raised, why do I need a WILDLIFE resources document?

Have any of you seen what these ducks look like after 2 days of use in a hunt test?

They were most likely killed at least two days prior. Then they've been piled in buckets and depending on weather left in the sun for most of the day while waiting their turn to be slingshoted and retrieved multiple times.

I've had the great experience of dispatching over 200 mallards over a weekend and then disposing of those same mallards after the event was over. It ain't pretty...

Farmed raised ducks stink anyway and after going through being used for a field trial or hunt test they already start to rot.

I can't imagine what he would want to do with them? They aren't fit for the table. It possible he might want them for training if were able to get some that weren't too bad but you'd want them frozen immediately.

Think i would have to go to court on that charge.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/50/21.13

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/50/21.13

Depends

It sux for the guy who got the citations. That violation is up to interpretation by the GW. More common sense latitude is warranted. However, a Mallard, wild or pen-raised, is a 'wildlife resource' where they occur naturally. Kinda like a whitetail in the eyes of the law.

cases like this give a lot of people the general idea that theyre all... There are no laws that are technically up to interpretation of a GW, they are put into place to enforce existing laws. They do not get to make the laws, or interpret them how they want, the way the general public thinks that they can. It's nothing like a whitetail to the law, theyre regulated by the state and each state differs, migratory birds are a regulated at the federal level.

#1 I agree with claypool ---- wardens have never checked my garage,,, what were they doing there.
#2 ---- You can't set up a commercial duck hunting place where there is a flyway, wild ducks might mix with the tame ducks.
#3 -- IF the guy's story checked out, it is the type of bad law enforcement that gives normal people a bad taste for LEOS.
I would suspect it was federal wardens, they are known for being ------ unreasonable at times.

No different that "farm raised" white tail deer.....

Game animal is still a game animal....

I'm not entirely schooled on the laws but I can't imagine they treat farm raised ducks the same as whitetail.

I know when we buy ducks to use for hunt tests we do get some type of license or paperwork of some kind but after two days the ducks aren't usable for anything and get thrown away.

feather legged GW writing a feather legged ticket...the bad part is that its gonna cost more to fight it than just pay it, so right or wrong this guy is stuck like chuck

Watermelons and onions. You cannot order whitetail deer on the internet nor can you go to tractor supply and buy a couple.

Several years ago at retriver club had some green jeans show up throwing tickets around like cheap women. They all got thrown out with the junk mail. It's a little waste of time and resources. Someone should be reprimanded for this.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdf...ation_sheet.pdf

Here are the TPWD rules for hunting and possessing pen-raised ducks, and other game birds. If the ducks in the barn were banded and the man in the barn had the appropriate permits, then this case should be thrown out. If not, well.

I went to the quail guy Saturday and bought 10 birds. He gave me a receipt for said birds that I must keep in my possession. Me and 4 dogs went to the farm and worked those 10 birds, resulting in my killin 7 of them (note to self...go shoot some b4 the open). If I had gotten stopped on way home and not been in possession of the receipt I would have been cited for hunting out of season. Been that way as long as I've been buying birds.

That almost resulted in a coffee snort this morning. Lol.

That is enough shenanigans you two.

May be the same kind of deal, but maybe 5-6 years ago, Rockwall had a big hunt test with a bunch of clubs and a local dog trainor that put things together.
I was shooting the pen raised mallards with lead shot from a blind for the tests when all the sudden a bunch of GW's showed up and shut things down for a little while until things got straightened out, they took some of the spent lead hulls with the boxes I had used and got my license information.

After a long discussion they let us continue and no tickets were issued but they did appear to be very confused with what was going on.

The issue was that the ducks I was shooting were coming straight out of a crate but the leg tags had not been attached. We learned to attach them after that.

This right here. They’ll either gas them or you’ll have to help euthanize them. After 30 dogs retrieve those ducks, their guts are hanging out, etc. it’s nasty AF.

I bulk ordered 20 pounds of bluebonnet seed last year. That's 4,000,000+ violations right there.

You can’t expect the GW to have the entire criminal code memorized any more than the rest of us are experts in every aspect of our job. Work with them, follow the rules, and move on. I’ve been frustrated by a few of them but I can’t imagine what shape our conservation program would be without them.

No, but I do expect them to excerise some common sense. Showing up at a retriever test and trying to write tickets for different technical violations seems a bit over bearing to me and while I for the most part agree with you, if I am gonna cut the GW’s a break for not knowing the criminal code by heart, perhaps they could do the same with the public in some instances. No busting up a retriever test over technical violations is not about protecting the public or the outdoor resources and much more about money & harressment.

Still wondering what brought GW’s to the warehouse mentioned in OP, in the first place?