Two Mallards and Sterlingworth Pin Gun

[Mills]

Some pen raised Mallards and my Sterlingworth Pin Gun. Was good fun.




Sunrise over farm pond

[Jeff S]

Thanks for sharing your pictures. I really enjoy seeing pictures from all of the members. Now, let's get down to the "nitty gritty". When you say "pen raised" mallards, did the ducks have clipped wing feathers and were swimming in the water, or were the ducks airborne? If my questions are too personal, let me know. Jeff

[vaturkey]

Interesting. I'm guessing these are pen raised mallards that are raised on site and then banded and allowed to fly away and return as they desire. I think (could be wrong) that in some locals one can pen raise mallards and then shoot them sort of like a preserve and have extended seasons beyond the seasons the Feds normally set. Freely admit I could be wrong. PS. I think there is a place in Maryland (Pintail Point) where they do something similar. Anyway, would be nice to know the details.

PS. Here's a add from Pintail point. Think it explains the process fairly well.

http://www.theriverplantation.com/activ ... ore_md.asp

[OH Osthaus]

MIlls can explain about preserve mallards, i know he has explained the flighted ducks before
preserve birds be they quail pheasant or even ducks may not be the challenge of wild birds but many of us use them for dog training, kids training or to get an older hunter out

[Mills]

Basically, they release them in the summer, feed them and then they grow up sort of half wild and half tame. Not the same as wild birds, but it works.

[Jeff S]

Sounds like fun to me.

[vaturkey]

I turkey hunted in South Carolina a number of years ago at a place where they flooded fields and turned loose 100's if not thousands of mallards and had designated blinds. The hatch was down that year, so the turkey's weren't around, but I was intrigued by the ducks. They had a pretty nice little lodge as I recall. Wonder if this might be the same place.

[Mills]

This place has not been around too long. It is not like wild ducks but a good way to put them in the freezer. Also fun to shoot these old guns

[Mills]

Click on the pictures for a better view

[Jeff S]

"Raised" games is okay, and quite frankly it's good way to keep the population up. In the late '60's (maybe early '70's) my dad raised pheasants. He would order fifty "day old chicks" from Sears and Roebuck and they would be delivered to the post office. They lived in an incubator in our garage for a while and then we would move them to a pen outside. The mortality rate was terrible. There are plenty of predators that love young pheasants, but usually a few would make it to September and fly out into the fields. If we were lucky, we would flush a few in October. I suspect the local fox and hawks ate more than I did.

[Stan Hillis]

I turkey hunted in South Carolina a number of years ago at a place where they flooded fields and turned loose 100's if not thousands of mallards and had designated blinds. The hatch was down that year, so the turkey's weren't around, but I was intrigued by the ducks. They had a pretty nice little lodge as I recall. Wonder if this might be the same place.

Was that Bostick Plantation, near Estill, SC? Joe Bostick was the first person that I know of to release mallards, decades ago.

SRH

[Mills]

It is near Bostick