Buffleheads. Anyone eat them?

[Rockyman41]

I'm new to water fowling.

I don't have permission on any fields yet or a blind and decoys yet so I have been taking advantage of some afga land on the side of a pothole lake. I have had a little success with mallards and have seen a few geese. What I have seen in very large numbers are what I believe are buffleheads. The lake is covered with them.

Are they worth shooting? They seem small but a few of them would beat the one mallard I've got so far.

On a side note: what is the best waterfowl pocket reference book? I have been using my hunters ed book at the field and google at home to help Id what I have been seeing.

[wwbirds]

It was available free from DU and not only showed all north american ducks but the zone they generally fly in.
Buffies merganzers etc usually fly low over water and are not great for table fare while mallards pintails etc fly high and drop down directly to water are better tasting.
Puddle ducks jump straight up off water and are good for table while divers usually run and flap along the surface to get airborne are not good for table fare.

I know, I know I have many people tell me they eat merganzers, eiders and even buffies but with mallards pintails gadwalls etc available in large quantity in Alberta why would you want to??

[Jadham]

R u sure they are not Scaup? Buffleheads are more of a woodland duck and aren't too common here, while Scaup are much more common. Scaup aka Bluebills are a decent eating bird.


http://www.deltawaterfowl.org/huntin...ification.html

http://www.ducks.org/hunting/waterfo...poe=mobileHome

[Secret coulee]

Originally Posted by Jadham

R u sure they are not Scaup? Buffleheads are more of a woodland duck and aren't too common here, while Scaup are much more common. Scaup aka Bluebills are a decent eating bird.


http://www.deltawaterfowl.org/huntin...ification.html

http://www.ducks.org/hunting/waterfo...poe=mobileHome

X2 were i come from a just about full plumage bufflehead is worth mounting they leave very early in sept and the males are amazing in the coulour spectrum for brizience

[Rockyman41]

Originally Posted by Jadham

R u sure they are not Scaup? Buffleheads are more of a woodland duck and aren't too common here, while Scaup are much more common. Scaup aka Bluebills are a decent eating bird.


http://www.deltawaterfowl.org/huntin...ification.html

http://www.ducks.org/hunting/waterfo...poe=mobileHome

I can't say for sure but I don't think it was a scaup. I just got back from an evening hunt and observed them through binos for a while. They have a dark head and bill with white cheeks. Very similar to a Canada goose. They have black eyes and a dark back and wings. The wing has a small white patch on top and they seem to have grey/white underside and dark legs.

They are small ducks so it may be possible that they are juvenile maybe?

[archeryman]

Could be a ruddy or a merganser. In any case, some divers aren't bad eating. I quite enjoy scaup and canvasback. Never hurts to shoot one a try it?

[Rockyman41]

Originally Posted by wwbirds

It was available free from DU and not only showed all north american ducks but the zone they generally fly in.
Buffies merganzers etc usually fly low over water and are not great for table fare while mallards pintails etc fly high and drop down directly to water are better tasting.
Puddle ducks jump straight up off water and are good for table while divers usually run and flap along the surface to get airborne are not good for table fare.

I know, I know I have many people tell me they eat merganzers, eiders and even buffies but with mallards pintails gadwalls etc available in large quantity in Alberta why would you want to??

I was talking to a du rep at the farmers market last week. He gave me lots of good info and some booklets but no poster unfortunately. I'll ask about it the next time I'm there.

Thanks for the info guys. I've tried to read as much as I can about water fowling but I'm still pretty green. Any advice is always appreciated.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by Rockyman41

I'm new to water fowling.

I don't have permission on any fields yet or a blind and decoys yet so I have been taking advantage of some afga land on the side of a pothole lake. I have had a little success with mallards and have seen a few geese. What I have seen in very large numbers are what I believe are buffleheads. The lake is covered with them.

Are they worth shooting? They seem small but a few of them would beat the one mallard I've got so far.

On a side note: what is the best waterfowl pocket reference book? I have been using my hunters ed book at the field and google at home to help Id what I have been seeing.

Here is a website that you can go thru the list and check every migratory bird id. In fact there are all sorts of birds you can check out.

http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/fram....html#Anatidae

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a great bird resource too. Has recording of birds too .

[petew]

We do have Buffleheads here, and they are not bad eating. I used to shoot a lot of them during the late winter hunting on the Bay of Funday in NB. years ago.

Pete

[Pixel Shooter]

shot a few female buffleheads this year so yes they are here still, wouldn't say great eating lol. out of all the ducks, teal have to be my favourite to eat

[pointer]

They aren't the worse eating bird out there I've shot lots and they never go to waste if nothing else toss them in with the sausage meat

[Rockyman41]

Well I think the birds are on to me. I went out last night and the divers had nothing to do with me. They peeled out as soon as they saw my canoe hit the water and stayed as far away as they could. I still managed two mallard hens so I'm pretty happy.

Today I wasn't so lucky. I decided to try another lake. Got all the way out there and realized I forgot a paddle. Since I didn't unload the night before it meant the paddle was at the boat launch of the other lake.

20 mins of backtracking and I find out that someone used my paddle for target practice. It was full of holes.

I ended up just going home.