Who Here Shoots Pintails Often?

[danwattsmessick]

Bucket list bird for me. Have yet to come across one. Same with a drake Spoony.

 

[Bigred323]

I don’t get to get out too much lately duck hunting wise but pretty shoot a pintail every hunt it seems.

I’ll hit you up if I get a nice one to see if you still need em.

 

[wanderingwolf24]

We shoot loads of them here in South Texas along with redheads. Hardly any Mallards though

I might be able to get one shipped later in the year when it gets cold enough to hunt.

 

[NorCal Mixed bag]

Shouldn’t be a problem to help you there Ace; PM me your address and digits.

 

[Fowl Play]

Major changes in farming practices in Canada leading to very low nest success, is my understanding. Pacific flyway has a lot of pintail, but most of our pins come from Alaska where we don't have the same isues as the central and east.

The “changes in farming practices” you always see mentioned mean the farmer plowed his field with 1,000’s of nests in it. Typically happens when they switch to a crop that needs to be planted earlier in the spring or harvested later.

DU and other orgs try to identify Canadian farms that have high nest densities and pay them to wait until the birds leave. Not sure if they have lost traction on that in areas where pintails nest or not, but I know they have been having a hard time.

To the OP, I don’t shoot many pins near me, but I’ll keep a lookout. Your taxidermist should be able to get some pin feathers as well.

 

[matchu865]

I’ll shoot a decent number of them in January, especially with the limits increasing in WA to 3/day, but normally don’t keep around the sprig feathers.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

Still get lots of them on the coast in Texas along with the Redheads. Hunting the bays you can usually count on getting your coastal limit (two Reds and a Pin) then trying to fill in the rest with other birds. I'll keep an eye on this thread and see if you still need any when we get after them in January.

 

[MTtrout]

When I was in UT we would shoot a good amount of them. One of my best duck hunting memories there was using ice fishing sleds as a layout blind on the ice next to spring openings. This was late season when weather conditions allowed. The only hunts we would pass on countless drakes to shoot the ones with the longest sprigs.

Can’t help you with giving you sprigs but sounds like some folk might. Best of luck

 

[sambo3006]

Bucket list bird for me. Have yet to come across one. Same with a drake Spoony.

I've only shot one pintail drake ever in SW MO where I hunt. No long sprig feathers unfortunately. I had never killed a spoonbill until 5 years ago when I killed a 6 bird limit of them with 6 shots including a triple and a double. My buddy killed 6 birds with 7 shots, 5 different species. It was an epic day. The next day our shooting shrunk our big heads back down a little.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

We shoot loads of them here in South Texas along with redheads. Hardly any Mallards though

I might be able to get one shipped later in the year when it gets cold enough to hunt.

Funny.... I "guided" a guy in NC Montana a few years ago. Semi begged me to take him. We were all Upland hunting but I was the die hard Duck Guy. Guy shot like an Olympian. Think 8 shots for a full strap of Green in just a few minutes. His waders were poking out with the first fat northern Greenhead. Same....just dont get them in McAllen, TX

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

Also "glassed" a wad of a couple THOUSAND Widg yesterday after deer hunting. The Pins stuck out like white bleach bottles floating among the mass.

Never really saw a stud Pin in there either. Frustrating. Seems you'd have to shoot 100s to get a stud.