No more Pintails???

737 Views 15 Replies 13 Participants Last post by headhunter_60, 2 d ago

Hollywood_Mallard

Discussion Starter · 4 d ago

I was listening to the Buzz this morning with Trey Reid, and he briefly mentioned that we were real close on not being able to shoot pintails this upcoming season. What's y'all thoughts?
Maybe it's just me but I've seen more pintail in the last few years than ever.

Reactions: 2

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SwampCat

· #2 · 3 d ago

The bag limits are based off the northern surveys and if those numbers are below an established value, they will adjust the bag limit accordingly. Numbers might be down nationwide, but the bulk of them might end up in eastern AR, so it seems like a lot. Seems like a few years back, you could only shoot a pintail for about half the season. We never had a lot of pintails where I hunt - but always killed a handful every year. I havent seen one in the last two or three years.

Reactions: 3

Whistling wings

· #3 · 3 d ago

I hardly ever see any except way up high traveling. I would hate to not be able to shoot one if it came in cause they’re my favorite duck. But it really won’t effect me cause they are slim to none in the areas I hunt.

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tmeredith

· #4 · 3 d ago

I have seen more in nea in the last 2 or 3 years than I ever have.

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sam

· #5 · 3 d ago

First off the fact that Trey Reid said it casts serious doubt on how factual the story is. I still remember it being told that he had a breakdown and hid out for weeks after Hillary lost to Trump, enough said.

Reactions: 5

rhpierce

· #6 · 3 d ago

I've seen a similar thing posted elsewhere. The population is not doing well from what I understand.

The guys out West have been wanting to up the limit on Pintail for years since they seem to have a good population, but the Fed basically manages all of them together.

Even with a closed season, there will still be some shot in Canada and elsewhere. Wish they could figure out how to get them to nest and breed like shovelers...

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OFD

· #7 · 3 d ago

Have seen more in the last two years than I maybe ever have. Could have shot no less than 20 pintails on a single hunt multiple times last year

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Duck Dawg

· #8 · 3 d ago

www.ducks.org

DU Special Report: Pintails on the Brink | Ducks Unlimited

With a record-low breeding population surveyed last spring, pintails just missed the threshold that would have required a closed season. Following is an update on the status of these highly admired birds

www.ducks.org

Reactions: 1

Hollywood_Mallard

Discussion Starter · #9 · 3 d ago

Same here @OFD. I couldn't tell you how many times last season we had already filled our pintail limit and had to watch groups of 50+ birds work us. It's an amazing thing to watch.

Reactions: 2

rhpierce

· #10 · 3 d ago

Hollywood_Mallard said:
Same here @OFD. I couldn't tell you how many times last season we had already filled our pintail limit and had to watch groups of 50+ birds work us. It's an amazing thing to watch.

It's been 10 years ago or more now, but I was on a hunt north of Augusta, and the birds weren't wanting to work where we were, so we went to check out another spot that we had access to. We could see the field was full of pintails, and four of us had our pintail limit in one volley. After that, it was sitting and waiting on the ducks as everything was freezing solid, and they wanted to be where we were...almost entirely pintails with some mallards in bunches and mixed in. We would have to try and pick out mallards from bunches of pintails and shoot "around" the pins; we would let them make three or four passes to see if the mallards would be just far enough apart that we could risk a shot or two.

Have never seen anything like it before or since. That wall of pintails flushing when we got to the edge of the field is still burned in my head...I can't even tell you how many.

Tells you how far things have fallen when pintails used to be 10-point ducks...a 10-pintail limit would be something to see...

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Reactions: 5

bishman32

· #11 · 3 d ago

sam said:
First off the fact that Trey Reid said it casts serious doubt on how factual the story is. I still remember it being told that he had a breakdown and hid out for weeks after Hillary lost to Trump, enough said.

That would make me doubt any persons word for sure! Lol

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firehog

· #12 · 3 d ago

I’ve seen a lot. Can remember when it was really special treat to see one but last 2-3 years we see big wads of them.

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OFD

· #13 · 3 d ago

firehog said:
I’ve seen a lot. Can remember when it was really special treat to see one but last 2-3 years we see big wads of them.

One of the hunts I referenced above was just me and my dad. We shot ours out of a bunch of probably 150, and then had two more bunches that size or bigger work the same afternoon.

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armallard

· #14 · 3 d ago

Last year a farmer had 2 fields about 100 yards from each other and I seen more pintails than mallards in it.

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matt_jones105

· #15 · 2 d ago

They need to let you kill at least 3 of them stupid things. I couldn’t count how many times we had groups of 50-60 of them hovering over the decoys last season. We killed a banded hen that was banded somewhere in Alaska

Reactions: 2

headhunter_60

· #16 · 2 d ago

I’ve saw more large groups of pintails this past year than I did mallards.

Reactions: 1

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