[pigeonhunter]

is it just me. because on two diffrent occasions I have had gadwall that have been shot at return to the decoys the first one was when I was hunting a public marsh and a guy at another blind about 175 yds away had decoyed them then shot at them and as they swung over my decoys they dropped right in.#2 I was hunting private land when I saw a flock hit them a greeting call and decoyed right away and dropped a single so then for the heck of I hit them with a comeback call and they came right back and dropped I a pair of drakes(when they're flying its hard to tell drakes and hens apart)so there I was with three drakes of the what must be the stupidest duck on the planet.
has anyone else had a similar encounter?

 

[Rick618]

Actually it all depends on where you hunt them. When ducks first come into an area they have to learn all the perils that it entails. That's why you hear folks hoping for cold weather to push the new birds into the area.

Here on the Tennessee River the gadwall is one of the most common and one of wariest birds around. The reason is that they get to see the same ol same ol routine all up and down the river. It's amazing to see how how they can climb just to go half a mile down river and these ducks will flare at a duck call something fierce. When the pairs come into a group they are apt to land very wide and then swim into the group as opposed to just landing right close by.

In the LA salt marsh the gadwall is the predominant bird that decoys readily throughout the season.

 

[Salmoneye]

I have seen the same behavior on many species from Mallard and Bufflehead, to Scaup and Ringneck...

I live in Vermont, and we have always said that it was a Northern/Early-Season thing...

Have yet to even ID a Gadwall, let alone bag one here in the Lake Chamaplain Basin...

HTH...FWIW

 

[fivemile]

I can't get them to decoy in my area. They just circle and circle and dip and then go back up and circle some more. Most shots are passing shots.

 

[gbottger]

I've had good luck getting them to decoy for me. Once you have there attention don't over call them. Give them the standard 3 quacks nice and easy and not too loud. Do that a few times with a single thrown in and they drop in the decoys everytime for me.

Most of the ones I see around here are early in the season. A few of them are juvies but most are mature birds.

 

[Guest]

I have seen them do some really stupid things. My brother in law and I had just got our first cup of coffee poured in the blind and two gadwall came screaming in and landed 15 yards in fron to f the blind, we hadn't called a bit. We put our cofee down and yelled at them to get them up...no go. They just sat there, unbelievable. I must have yelled at them 3 times before the got up off the water, they just sate there looking at me. Strangest damn thing.

 

[Guest]

I no longer hunt ducks, but when growing up in NW Florida, most of the puddlers I killed were Gadwalls and Baldplates. Methought both species were quite bland and not very flavorful.

What have others found with these birds?

 

[Birdbrained]

Taste-wise, it all depends on what they have been eating. Put a mallard shot in the salt marshes of the coast that has been eating eel grass and crustaceans next to a corn-fed inland bird, and there's no comparison. As for smarts, any duck smartens up fast after the early season, which is why I like to hunt mallards the most; they get very wary, are very vocal and fun to talk to and cajole with my call.