I am new to hunting and was trying to figure out what kind of ducks we have in Illinois. I have been told a lot of Mallards, but my friend didn't know what else there was. I live in northern Illinois basically at the Wisconsin border. Thanks for the help!
Duck is one of the finest meats available in the world. It is highly coveted in both French and Asian cooking. It used to be very popular in the US, but somehow over time, people forgot how to cook it properly, and now most people turn their nose up at it out of ignorance.
Duck is a red fowl, and should be cooked similar to an expensive steak. Fat side down, cooked medium/medium-rare, sliced across the grain, and usually served with a sweet or savory demi-glace. Duck confit is also a great way to do it, low and slow, or one of the more famous dishes like Duck a l'orange.
A similar question came up in a duck hunting chat room back in August 2008 that dealth specifically with Illinois Duck Species... See below. I grew up in Illinois and used to duck hunt from a very young age with friends of my parents. The Illinois River is one of the best duck flyways in the US. As you can see, just about every species can be found in Illinois with Mallards and Pintails probably being two of the most common. Check out this link: Illinois Duck Species : Illinois Duck Hunting
I’m new to these forums ...and new to duck hunting
. I have a general question about Illinois ducks. Would anyone be interested in shedding some light on the duck species that exist in Illinois? In particular... What species of duck travel through our great state and which of those can we legally hunt?
Thank you very much in advance!
by goosehunter64 » Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:42 pm
Just about every species at one point or another.
The most common species that come through in the fall are,
1. Mallards
2. Pintails
3. Wigeon
4. Gadwalls
5. Shovelers
6. Black Ducks
7. GW & BW Teal
Divers & Sea Ducks
8. Canvasbacks (No Season This Year)
9. Red Heads
10. Ring Bills
11. Blue Bills
12. Old Squaw
13. Scotters
14. Eiders
Up here in Michigan, we start out the season with a lot of wood ducks early on with a few mallards. Then we get lots of mallards, fair number of black ducks, some teals, the rare canvasback, red heads, teals, and some mergansers (I got a hooded merganser this year). If you're closer to the big water, there's a lot more diver ducks obviously.
My guess would be that you would probably have quite a few wood ducks early on, then move on to mallards, black ducks and other puddle duck types as listed above.
That's awesome. I want to elk hunt so bad! Maybe someday!
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