The waterfowl industry is full of images of bearded, face-painted guys carrying limits of greenheads out of the marshes. Mallards get a lot of attention, and rightly so. Who doesn’t enjoy talking to their flock while standing still in the water’s cattails next to a quivering retriever?
The problem is that mallards and many other duck species often don’t show up when the event is supposed to start. They also can’t be found in the smaller ponds and streams that are available on public lands along most of the flyway. These bodies of water are more likely to be home to a few teal or a duck species that has probably saved more arduous hunts than any other: wood ducks.
