What bird do you consider a "trophy"? Top 3?

What bird would you have to get mounted?
My top three would be a speckle belly, cinnamon teal, and whistler. My top five might include a hoodie. I just killed a perfect hoodie and it is my first drake. I'm probably going to get him done. Would you?

I like bluebills, cans and redheads. The scaup require a fair amount of seasoning though.

In our part of the world, we want, what we ain't got.

1. Cinnamon teal
2. Canvasback
3. Redhead

Black mallard
Cinimen teal
Eurasian widgeon

All of them. But 1 or 2 a year so the tax bill stays with inflation. I want all drake puddlers and a hand full of divers on the wall. It just takes time to get a mature, undamaged bird to fill it out.

Might be a dumb question but is a black mallard the same as a "black duck". I'm new to TX and have done most of my duck hunting in the mid-west. There we killed black ducks, which are similar to mallards. Sometimes people would confuse the, with hem mallards but they are much darker. They are a beautiful duck to mount.

Yes. Sorry for confusion. Street name

Bull Sprig
cinnamon teal
Purple head Gadwall
Storm Widgeon
Bluewing
Banded Drake(anything)

Sorry, I got carried away and took it to 6!

Cinnamon teal
Eider
Eurasian wigeon

Very hard to pick for sure 1) plumed out BWT
2) Canvasback 3) old squaw

I shot 2 cinnamon teal opening day of early teal 2 yrs ago. Couldn't figure out what they were, so I ate em....smh. I got pictures of em. Won't make that mistake again

A Banded Spoony!

No woodys?

Harly
Cinny
Can

I'm tellin yall right now, if a harly ever got lost and wound up in front of my blind, the entire duck hunting world would. Know about it

Woodie would be in my top 5 too.

Where did you shoot that?

1. Ring neck - because they taste so dang good.
2. Da Coot - because they taste second to Ring Necks
3. Merganser - cuz you said to name three

Wood Duck
Ringneck Pheasant
Bull Sprig

1) King Eider
2) Harlequin Drake
3) Storm Wigeon

the man has a point

I don't know my ducks. What is that?? That's a beauty.

For me, the importance of the ducks you mount is the story behind each one, but if I had to choose 3 I would put it like this.
1- Pintail Drake / Hen pair
2- Canvasback Drake / Hen pair
3- Cinnamon Teal Drake / Hen pair

ps- I really like the idea of a drake/hen mount rather than a single bird mount.

Thats the kind you hoop and hauler about all the way to your taxi man.

The kind your wife and bank account have no say in the matter.

Cinnamon teal

I already have a wood duck, pinner, 3 cans, and (son's first) green on the wall.

1. Harlequin
2. Cinny drake
3. Plumed BWT drake

I'd take 2 & 3 and do the teal trio...

Bull Canvasback
Plummed Blue wing
Cinnamon teal(probably never kill one or see one in East Texas)

In my area it would be a

1. Cinnamon teal
2. Fully plumed blue wing teal
3. Storm Wigeon

I've got a nice GWT, Redhead and Hoodie. I've also got two pins and a buffle head in the freezer.

Here are the two pins I'm going to have done next.

somma yall would be pi$$ed...
shot 2-3 Buffleheads many yrs back...
ate 'em...
had a drake cinnie spend a few weeks on my tank... left him alone...

Saving my monies to mount these guys. Shot this limit last day of the season last year.

Ha you are a bonafide coon azz

Canvas back
Cinnamon teal
Woody

That's about as pretty a pintail as you can get. Awesome Pair!

Have all the teal family and a pair of Canvasbacks. Just wish that I wouldn't have passed on Whistlers when I was still back in TX.

Did ya drug em or shoot em the legs? No blood or ruffled feathers. Great looking birds there.

Cinnamon Teal drake
Storm Widgeon
Tree duck
Wood duck
Bluewing Teal
Mallard
Gadwall
Dark/Dusky/Black Mallard

I'm planning for future years, already have a Bufflehead, Pintail and GWT

1.Drake wood duck, 2. Canvasback 3. Pintail Drake 4. Cinnamon teal if i get lucky.
Got my first Canvasback this morning!

Wood duck pair
Canvasback pair
Pintail pair

Banded Mallard - got it
Banded Woodie - got it
Banded Black Duck - got it
Banded Pintail - still need it

Canvasback
Perfect Widgeon
Black Mallard

Lots to choose from
I'd like a black, mottled and a cinnamon. No specific order really.

1) Mature Snow Goose - got it, Dang hard to get because you have 10,000 eyes looking you over
2) Fully Barred up Speck - got it
3) Black Duck - got it (not the Mexican Duck, no offense meant!)- got it
4) Bufflehead and Goldeneye drake - don't got it!
5) I think a mature Gadwall drake with that faint purple cast to their heads, is a beautiful but understated bird.

I thought I’d bring this back. It’s old but I never posted the mount. I’m glad to have it.

Pat did these for me, shot all three on the same morning in January at a very popular public spot close to DFW..... I know everyone likes a cinnamon because of how rare they are for us but a plumed out BWT is my favorite.

That is a STUD Merganser. Great mount.

I have a hoodie, green wing and red head but my top birds would be:

Storm wigeon
Cinnamon teal
Blue wing teal

Can (I ate the last one I shot 40 years ago)
Cin teal
Ring neck (probably do that one this yr)

Ring neck isn't top of list but it's time to put one on the wall. It's what I shot most with my dad when I was young.

as for number one trophy 'bird' it would be an all white pigeon, wanted it since i was 12. got him two years ago and he is mounted up. for waterfowl it would be 1. storm widgeon 2. full plumage drake northern shovelor 3. great looking snow goose as i have never shot a snow goose. i would like a teal trio like the awesome mount above.

Have killed everything in our flyway, including a few cins. Not big on mounting birds but you can bet your last dollar that Blue Phase Ross is going on the wall when he pops up. Anything with a radio tracker will get the nod also.

1. Golden Eye Pair. (I actually shot a pair while guiding a group but they wanted it so had to give it to them.)
2. Cinnamon Teal
3. Wood Duck

I’m not big on putting birds on the wall, only have one.
But, if I ever get the chance, I’d take a harlequin, king eider, cinnamon/silver teal and a mandarin straight to the taxi.

Pretty much exactly what I'd do. Except I'd swap the cinny and GWT. Cinnies are leaders, GWT are followers.

Same here.

A field biologist/bird watcher/professional photographer changed my perspective after my wife and I were invited over for dinner. I was much more impressed with his waterfowl photographs than Iwould be with a stuffed dead bird I killed on a hunt.

Most impressive mounts I've ever seen was a collection of South American Arachnids pinned on velvet in flat display cases. The Giant Bird Eating Spider was the piece de resistance.

Spiders don't typically bother me or my wife, In the summer, we see tarantulas walking around most days and scoot them off the road and fish them out of the pool several times a week. We find them in the garages and house once or twice during the summer and they get scooped up and put outside. If the same situations occurred with Giant Bird Eaters, I'd move. If a cat was analogous to a tarantula, a Giant Bird Eater would be a tiger. Their size, the speed of the live specimen he kept chasing and killing an adult rat, was impressive. to put it mildly.

A mounted specimen would get a heck of a lot of attention for sure

I lived in the Amazon for a time. Never saw a giant bird eater but i saw enough 5" scorpions and bushmasters for a lifetime. Saw a jaguar too. Most things would prefer to kill you down there.

1, Cinnamon Teal
2, Bull Can
3, Black Duck

Bull sprigs are my favorite.

I've got 1 and 3 and 2 is tops on the wish list

I'm not into mounts but that BW is a work of art.

Any of the great aerial hunters and a few of the more colorful ducks!

But my weapon of choice for taking those would be a camera and hang the pic on the wall.

Whooping crane

Got 2/3 top trophy birds today. Don’t think I’ll be getting the king eider here in Tx...,

Nice storm.




And a bpr that I’ve been watching on the farm for over a week. Had it swing inside 60 yds twice and passed. First small group today and Bazinga.

The one I regret eating and not getting mounted is a Black Mallard I killed while in College.

1) Spooney
2) Widgon
3) Mallard

THIS RIGHT HERE!!!

I have a pintail drake, hoodie, GWT and a red head on the wall.

Shot a cinnamon deal but got the hen instead of the drake.

In south Texas we don’t get many mallards, so on of those and a big canvasback are the two I want on the wall next.

Cinnamon Teal
Harlequin
Eider

Heres my pride and joy duck taxidermy! King and Cinnamon would round out my top 3!

My favorite is my Bufflehead

Of the duck species I've taken before in this area, my next ones to mount if I ever get good ones are gonna be:

1. Widgeon
2. Pintail

Of course if I happen to drop something rare like a cinnamon teal or maybe a decked out blue wing late in the season, then those would go to #1.

I was stationed in VA for many years in the USN and I always tried for the permits for these in both VA and NC. Got my share of permits and took a few. Tundra Swan. This one is a juvenile I shot for the pot. Something about a flock of birds all weighing over 20 lbs coming into the dekes was special.



Never mounted one, but to me they would be the top bird. I do have a Goldeneye drake and Woodie drake mounted though.

1. Pintail Drake
2. Wood Duck Drake
3. Mallard Drake

If Mandarin ducks ever make a showing in North America again, then I would have to ad a drake to my list.

Those are beautiful, Trozacky.

Scouting a farm pond that I'm taking my son to for his first hunt and there is a drake canvasback on the water. I hope he comes back Saturday!

double breasted bed thrasher

nothing beats a whooping crane, preferably with a transmitter