January - Part 1 - Canvasbacks in Rhode Island

      January is usually a bittersweet month for waterfowl hunting.  We have three weeks left in the season and the birds have moved in.  Sleep deprivation is at an all time high.  It's hard to wake up each morning, but we do it anyway, because before we know it, it will be over and we'd give anything to have it back again.  As I have written, this year was slower than most and we didn't hunt on our usual schedule.

     The month did start out with another high point.  Kyle scouted a local pond and found two canvasbacks, a beautiful diving duck known in the waterfowling community as "the king of ducks".  They are one of the most regal and elegant ducks there is, and are widely desired among duck hunters everywhere.  We rarely see them in our area.  Kyle has taken a canvasback in RI and was generous enough to send Jim and I after them.   Usually the flock of cans (their obvious nickname) on this particular pond numbers in the neighborhood of fifty or so birds.  This time, there was only two, sitting with a flock of ruddy ducks, a somewhat common diving duck to our area, mostly ignored by hunters.

Canvasbacks

Ruddy Ducks in summer plumage.  Unlike other ducks, ruddies come into breeding colors during the late spring and summer months. 

      Our plan of attack was to use our kayaks to (hopefully) float close enough to the birds for a shot.  Our best bet was to use the wind to move us so we had to move as little as possible, all the while keeping the sun at our backs to help hide us from the birds.  On paper this sounds easy, but getting close enough to most ducks on open water is a challenge.  Although canvasbacks aren't easy to get close to, ruddy ducks are.  We hoped this would help keep the cans from flying before we got into range.  It took us two tries that day, but we were able to get about 25 yards from the two canvasbacks and before we knew it, we had taken them both.  It worked better than we could have planned. Although we have both taken canvasbacks on hunts in Canada, this was a first for both Jim and I in Rhode Island.

Our two trophies, both destined for a good taxidermist.