Wigeon in a snow storm = season over

I had to make today my last day of the season...have recurrent ground training for work the next 4 days. Went out with my brother and my buddy Kurt. 3 Wigeon fell, but I really felt like today should have been a slamming day. Snow was falling heavy, NE winds 10-20mph and the water was rough. We worked our asses off. Two seasons ago on a day like this we would have shot 18 Wigeon. Today really represents how it has been the entire season. A LOT of work for just a few birds. None the less, I was born hooked on quack and you can throw the worst seasons at me all you want, because I still make the best of them. Didn't shoot big numbers this year, but when you score a few trophy birds to put on the wall, you can't consider it a waste. In fact, every bird I shot this year I felt like I earned more than any other because it was so tough. Here's to hoping that the 2012-13 duck season is a complete turn around.

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Awsome job Davey! Hell of a way to end th season.

Nothing wrong with a few wigeon. Had a mallard, a black, and a gadwall myself this morning so I'm happy to close out the season on a high note, though I agree in other years I would have been home and limited out by 9am.

Very Nice !

awsome birds!love them widgoen!

middle bird is a stud, congrats. very true today had great conditions but didnt have the birds working that we should have

Not bad for your last day. At least you went out with a bang.

Thanks guys. Have to come up with an idea for a mount for the Wigeon pair (the middle drake and the hen). I also have those 2 Gadwalls I'd like to mount as well. I like dead mounts, but I already have a nice Gaddy in a dead mount. Was either going to mount the wigeon and gadwall pairs together in a standing mount on driftwood or do the wigeon pair on driftwood but have the Gaddy in a flying mount.

Nice birds Davey. Awesome way to finish off the season.

My taxidermy guy sold me on a standing wall mount for my drake widgeon. He claims it will show off the colors and the overall characteristics of the widgeon better. Have not gotten the mount back so I can't tell yet...

a cool widgeon mount would be mounted with some brant at low tide feeding, stealing food I always see these guys stealing

Nice job Davey!

Go down to North Carolina and shoot a swan.... Get the cotton tops mounted in a feeding swan sceen.They LOVE swans!

nice looking drakes their Dave!!!

DANG!! Nice birds Davey, me and Athony ran after them Wigeon , but ended with Blackies.

farrukh ashraf wrote:DANG!! Nice birds Davey, me and Athony ran after them Wigeon , but ended with Blackies.

They're touchy little bastards they are farrukh! Me and a buddy have been wasting plenty of hours trying to shoot a few this year. Funny how guys are shooting box after box of ammo at buffleheads this year while half the time we didn't even the pull the trigger trying to get these Wigeon. Then when we finally did shoot a few, it was like unbelievable.

They just may become my newfound obsession ahead of the Pintails. I do love me some Gadwalls too...my perfect bag limit would be 2 Drake Wigeon, 2 Drake Gadwall and 2 Drake Pintail. I'd be on cloud 9 for days.

They are some goodlooking birds!congrats

ive got some ideas,but to long to post.

That Gadwall is nice too. I thought about this pose for the Drake Gadwall-

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But I also liked this -

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And I like this for the Wigeon pair -

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This Birdman guy does really nice work.

they r nice, or even a group flyin mount, flushing ,or comin in, or a fly by.

Yeah I'm kind of leaning towards sitting mounts for carving and painting reference. I'm changing alot of my painting techniques this year to incirporate the airbrush. Haven't done any wigeon or gadwall decoys yet.

is cut off the feet, make sure they are clean, pose them anc carefully wrap with paper towelling, then set in freezer, using bags of frozen peas to keep shape. Problem with mounts is UV light, dust, general floating debris in the house!
I have some in the shop freezer that are light as feathers now. Once frozen, they can be put into marked bags and kept for eons!!!
I even breasted some cans and redheads, filled the cavity with towelling, carefully wrapped and froze--Am a sucker for the meat from those two yummies!!!
Just a heads up from an old decoy maker!
BTW, someone mentioned widgeon with brant--Considering the diet of the brant, no self respecting baldpate would want to steal sea cabbage! BLECH

george w wrote:is cut off the feet, make sure they are clean, pose them anc carefully wrap with paper towelling, then set in freezer, using bags of frozen peas to keep shape. Problem with mounts is UV light, dust, general floating debris in the house!
I have some in the shop freezer that are light as feathers now. Once frozen, they can be put into marked bags and kept for eons!!!
I even breasted some cans and redheads, filled the cavity with towelling, carefully wrapped and froze--Am a sucker for the meat from those two yummies!!!
Just a heads up from an old decoy maker!
BTW, someone mentioned widgeon with brant--Considering the diet of the brant, no self respecting baldpate would want to steal sea cabbage! BLECH

Thats a great idea George, I just don't have a freezer for that nor the room to get a freezer like that (at present time anyway). Have you ever tried skinning the bird, defleshing the skin and just saving them like that? I guess at that point might as well buy a manakin and mount him anyway.

One of my good friends is a great taxidermist and he actually showed me how to taxidermy a duck. It was gross as hell, but educational. I've thought about doing some mounts just for study reasons.

like this?
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when i kept a large garden, and when we kind of stopped the big part, it became a repository for specimens for the shop--Problem with skins is that they cannot be posed very well on a bench, I just found freexing to be a more efficient, and less expensive, method of caring for specimens for the shop.

beautiful birds! good way to end the season