Trophy bird thread

[Banded_spooney]

Starting what I hope is a long running thread of guys killing their dream bird. Pics and story required. I’ll go first. I’m a widgeon guy through and through. I’ve killed a few euro widgeon but I’ve spent 25 years obsessed with wanting to kill a Storm. Last week the sun broke after a stormy morning and a solo drake came down from the heavens right onto the Avain spinner. Got out as quickly as he came in but I killed him on the way out. Didn’t realize what I had until the dog came back.

Not a perfect storm but best one i will ever see. And no one I know has seen one as nice.

 

[Mojave]

Black Grouse, Austria last year. I was going to shoot a capercaillie this year in the same area, but they shoot them out the kitchen window of a cabin. So I am going to hunt them in Sweden in December on skis and try not to die.

 

[Taudisio]

Doubled with my dad. I told him to shoot the big one. He shot the solo bearded Tom that rolled into a mud puddle. Had a little over 11” rope. I meant for him to shoot the multi bearded bird. I wasn’t going to let him get away. Unofficially 6th largest bird killed in Oregon by NWTF standards with 4 beards. Didn’t hurt that I got the whole thing on video. I shot an unofficial 4th place archery turkey the year before. NWTF is a pain to get them scored without ruining the meat. I refuse to drive them 2 hours one way to wait and have someone else measure them.
Dad has an albino green head mounted next to an Eurasian widgeon on the wall. We have killed a few storm widgeon but none quite as full as yours.

 

[Oregon]

I’ve got some wigeon. No story, they just came into the decoys.


Aleutian Teal.

 

[Macintosh]

The equivalent of posting a pic of a skipper doe…
This is my first-ever mallard. In almost 40 years of hunting I’ve only duck hunted a very little, all with much more experienced friends, up until last winter. Ive shot a handful of ducks, but mostly woodies, teal, a couple black ducks, but never a mallard. So this was my first season 100% on my own, my scouting, my spot, my decoys, my setup, my calling, etc. This was an afternoon hunt mostly to scout for the next morning, this bird came in alone and committed 100% to the decoys, was a perfect 20 yard shot with landing gear down. So this represents a couple firsts.

 

[fatlander]

This is what I’d call a trophy bird. We fooled with him a handful of times throughout the whole season. We killed him on the last day. First call to him was around 7 am, finally got him to come in something after 1 in the afternoon.

24 pounds
1 5/8” spurs
11” beard


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KurtR]

Got this spec mounted. It was the last place my yellow dog got a retrieve before he got cancer and then the first place my black dog ran a real long blind i didnt think he had a chance Cedar was helping from up above . Picture doesnt do the mount justice.

 

[Banded_spooney]

I’ve got some wigeon. No story, they just came into the decoys.
View attachment 817851

This is the sexiest thing I’ve seen all day

Dirty Storm euro hybrid, is next level. I saw Matt Judy had killed one on IG. This one might be cooler.

 

[Oregon]

This is the sexiest thing I’ve seen all day

Dirty Storm euro hybrid, is next level. I saw Matt Judy had killed one on IG. This one might be cooler.

Not sure who Matt Judy is, but we’re pretty fortunate to shoot almost 1000 wigeon a year, so we have lots of opportunities for extremely handsome birds. Most unique puddle duck out there. Everyone different. On the sea duck side, old squaw only have more color variations.

 

[JeffP_Or]

Lucked into a redhead a few weeks ago; first one ever in hand. Pretty rare for the north Willy Valley and I rarely get divers on the places I hunt. A week or so after this, I lucked into a hen Can.