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I was at Ducks Unlimited yesterday in Sacramento and heard news that was yet another blow to two years of scraping and scratching for a falconry season. The Feds have proposed that the season on Canvasbacks shoud be closed this year.Â
Paul Schmidt, assistant director for migratory birds for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has stated that the decision was based on a “precipitous†drop in canvasback populations since 2007. Spring surveys count the North American canvasback population at 489,000, down 44 percent from record levels in 2007 and 14 percent below the long-term average. The Feds feel that this year’s population is at a level that’s too low to sustain a national harvest — and it breaks my heart.
I don’t know what it is about the canvasback ducks that makes them my favorite. A redhed looks rather similar. A bufflead is more stunning in color and speed on close inspection. Still, it’s the canvasback the I dream of during the hot summer nights – not of hunting them, but of peaceful hens paddling in a pond that I only wish exsited in my side yard. It’s their wingbeat I can best imagine when I close my eyes. I have seen canvasbacks outwit, outfly and overpower the peregrine. I have witnessed their imposible moments. But I won’t be witness to such things this year and there will be no Canvasback for Christmas dinner, either. They are only duck I really want to grace my plate — not because I need to kill, but because when the falcon already has, I want to honor the duck as well. Beautiful, strong, clever — if only a couple of bites would be enough to embody a creature that magic.
No canvasbacks, no Whitewater. The season hasn’t even started and I’m already depressed.
Sad news. Fly for pintails, perhaps? Their numbers have been down the last few years, but they still have had a season and those big drakes are awfully showy.
Would that it were an easy transition. I’ve never even seen a pintail on a flyable pond in my area. They like bigger water. Not only that, but they always wait for the other ducks to come off and the falcon to be otherwise occupied…and then they sneak out the back way. No bullsprig for me!
Ah, I had no idea they were that wary. I’ve seen them on small stock tanks in southern TX and frequently on the Rio Grande. Love that photo (again).
well– I may need to do a lot more out of state hunting this year.
Two words for you: Shortwing.
Ok, that’s one word. But you get my point!
I have two words for you too — temporary insanity.
well– I may need to do a lot more out of state hunting this year.
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Come on over. Canada geese are already starting to come down
Hi Rebecca,
Long time no talk or hawk. That’s too bad about the Cans. They seemed plentiful in my area. Vader’s second to the last flight last season was a double on a pair of cans. Vader was up about 900ft., we flushed 6 cans, he dropped a huge drake and and kept going and caught a hen. He hit the drake so hard that he bruised his foot. One of the most jaw dropping flights I’ve seen. I’ll try to send you a pic.
Jing Santos