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Interested in opinions as to waterfowl bucket list hunts. If you could hunt any waterfowl in the continental US, what would it be and where? Thanks in advance.

Always was intrigued by those big sea ducks in Maine

That sounds interesting.

Mallards are always worth chasing. Maybe in a new place. I’ve got a few ideas in mind. Specks are exotic to me. I’ll plan a trip one day targeting them. No sea ducks for me. I like to eat what I shoot.

Emperor Goose, Stellars Eider, Spectacled Eider, and Puffin are about all that left on my bucket list.

A decent male Old Squaw would be nice too, it would be an interesting mount.

One more trip back to the PNW, some of the very best public duck hunting in the country.

I'm old now, still hunt a lot but a price be dammed hunt with a lot of birds, a guide putting out the decoys, a warm blind, a lodge with good food and comfy beds would be fun.

I suppose it is what is uncommonly/never seen in my area.
I rarely see a cinnamon teal on the west side here, when I do the season is over and they are on the refuge anyway. Blue winged teal usually are not in full color here either. Consequently I've shot neither.

I have shot and eaten a number of Eurasian wigeon, which might be a mountable bird for some others?

King eider, harlequin, and a few others will likely remain on the grail list forever

My true bucket list hunt would be waterfowling in New Zeland. From what I've seen, the duck hunting can be phenomenal, Canada geese are pests and the scenery is fabulous. I might even try to catch a few trout. It's too far to take my dog, though. Hunting with her is a big part of the fun. Still,......maybe someday.

Have hunted mallards in timber adjacent to river in my neck of the woods. Never really had consistent shoots but, when it was on it was something special. Wouldn’t mind going somewhere for a timber hunt, don’t know where.

My travel hunts for ducks now are with my group of buddies. We are always targeting puddle ducks and while we've had some fantastic hunts, it's mostly just about having a good time and having a guide service do some work and break their gear, instead of us.

I suppose maybe one day I'll shoot a sea duck or two, buy have little interest.

I’ve never duck hunted but often thought about it. That said I like teal I’ve always thought they were beautiful.

I want to do a snow goose hunt with no limits, no magazine capacities and target rich environment.

I also want my Airedale to retrieve as many different species as possible.

Did you ever notice how skinny their thighs are?

Just sayin'.

Since AK is part of the NA continent... and I have shot almost all of our ducks, geese, and cranes, though rarely arf they prime... would love to shoot 2 spectacular gadwalls. one to mount and one for tying flies.

A lot of the bucket list birds from elsewhere are everyday birds here. Harlequins are a serious favorite and virtual gimme. NR hunters are only allowed 3-4 per year now, but residents can shoot 10 per day???

If I was a WA, OR, or CA waterfowler I would head to PWS and shoot a dusky just to get even with them for shutting down so many areas, so many times. We only get to shoot 3 per day...

Emperor geese are open again here...

You start off with "bucket list" and then decided to limit it to the U.S. I am sure there is good, even great, duck hunting in the U.S. I am absolutely positive there is BETTER duck hunting outside of the U.S. Specifically in Argentina where the U.S. dollar stretches pretty far. I did a mixed bag hunt last year. Mostly ducks, but hunted perdiz and pigeon/dove as well. I will never hunt ducks in the U.S. again. Not worth the time/money. This is my AAR on ShotgunWorld:

Original Thread on SGW

I just back 10 days ago. I did mixed bag with 4 Seasons Argentina (4 Seasons Adventures Argentina). The lodge is about 15km North of Darregueira which is itself about 180km North-Northwest of Bahia Blanca. It's still in the Buenos Aires province. I spent 5 days hunting. Mostly ducks, but did hunt perdiz 1 day (those buggers are HARD to hunt) and dove/pigeon twice. I don't have a full write-up done, but will answer your questions here:

• There is a huge drought in Argentina right now. So, "normal" hunting spots are not necessarily being used. My outfitter couldn't do ducks in their normal spot as all the ponds were dry.
• If you are a duck hunter, there is NOTHING like hunting ducks in Argentina. 3-5 ducks in the U.S. is something I will never do again. Not when I got 30 every single morning. The first afternoon I got 30 ducks in around 45 minutes. It's unreal.
• According to the Argentinians, Cordoba is no longer the place for Dove. Entre Rios is. Most places are a 2 hour drive from Buenos Aires. Also, your golden dorado fishing is in Entre Rios.
• The outfitter I used has their dove lodge in Entre Rios now instead of Cordoba. They apparently moved all their operations there. For whatever reason, there are more dove in Entre Rios than Cordoba now.
• The best dove hunting is their Spring (September - December)
• The best duck hunting is June - July. Temps will likely be below freezing in the morning, but rain is highly unlikely.
• Red Stag is during the rut in March.
• No clue on perdiz and I am not sure pigeon have a "good" season.
• Pigeon is the most fun to hunt. Hunt them on roosts coming off of grain fields.
• Those eared doves are FAST buggers. They are like Mourning dove. Pigeons are more like White-winged dove. No limits on either.
• Shells are running $13-$15/box and 20 gauge is harder to come by. Gun rental is ~$50 from most outfitters. Taking a gun to Argentina is a pain. Just rent them. Take shoulder pads and slip-on recoil pads to get length if you need it.
• Most outfitters are going to be close to $1000/day. That should include transportation to/from EZE and any regional airports, food, lodging, and hunting. Gun rental, shells, and tips are extra. You can negotiate some of it with them though.
• For tips, $50 - $100/day for the bird boy/guide. More for ducks because they do a TON of work. $50 - $100/day for your host/outfitter. My outfitter/owner wouldn't accept tips for himself. Figure $25 - $50/day for "la casa". That gets split between the cooks, housekeepers, and servers.
• The American flight from MIA to EZE (Buenos Aires) is around 10 hours and is a decent flight. I would suggest spending a day & night in BA before/after your hunt to catch up after/before travel.
• They are on a European schedule. Dinner isn't until 8pm or so. Most restaurants don't open until 7pm or later and the lodge won't have dinner until then. Plan accordingly.

When I go back to bird hunt next time, I would either hunt solely ducks (maybe an afternoon on pigeon/dove) for 3 - 4 days or hunt pigeon/dove on a day hunt out of Buenos Aires. My plan, right now, is to hunt red stag in Patagonia in March 2025. I may, or may not, do a day hunt out of BA for pigeon/dove then. If I was taking my wife/family to BA for a vacation, I would do a single day hunt while they did their own thing. It's a 2 hour car ride each way. 6am leave and return by 8pm just in time for dinner.

Oh, as for cost, this is my estimate: The hunting bill (hunting, lodging, food, shells, guns, transfers, and flight inside Argentina) came out to $6500. That included 2 nights in a hotel in Buenos Aires. I spent $1200 on tips and another $300 buying trinkets/souvenirs and meals in BA. The flight from Austin - MIA - BA was $2200 for upgraded seats (Main Cabin Extra). So, all told, probably $10,500 including the muck boots I bought and some other incidental things.

Worth EVERY SINGLE DOLLAR.

You go on a hunting (shooting?) vacation for 5 days per year? It sounds like you had a great time. Sounds like it may have spoiled you. YMMV, but I'd much rather hunt more days in more places than that.

A collection of all the teal mounted on a long log would be something..

That is not the only hunting trip I make. It is just the only DUCK hunting trip I will make. I hunt deer, dove, and pheasant each year as well.

I would say that "shooting" vacation might be semi-accurate. I never heated the barrel up so much I couldn't hold it. I also didn't do a dove specific hunt where you can shoot 1000+ in one day. I wouldn't want to do that anyway. 100 - 250 dove in one day is about right with 250 maybe being too much. 50 ducks in a day was a lot, but I never wore my shoulder out. One day was ~100 birds with 30 ducks in the morning and dove/pigeon in the afternoon. It was a blast.

I would also point out that the daily bag limit for ducks in Texas is 6. Possession limit is 18. The season is split in 2 and is, at most, 76 days except in special places. 26 weekend days. I would have to limit every Saturday and Sunday of the season to get close to what I shot in Argentina in 5 days. Just putting numbers out there to illustrate that where I am (Texas) is not ideal for duck hunting anymore.

I guess my true bucket list duck hunt took place last year. Wife, myself and youngest daughter met up for a week on the prairie. Totally DIY, we were the scouts, guides, callers and dog handlers. We struggled at times but, in the end, we shot ‘em hard. We stayed in a cramped motel, fixed our own meals and processed the birds. I wouldn’t trade that hunt for the finest lodge.

I'd be happy with a good flooded timber hunt for mallards. Coastal Alaska for a mixed bag would be fun.

One of the bucket list hunts I had was early fall up in Sask for geese. 3 of us went in sept of 2006 for 10 days of snows. Stayed at a b& b, never had any access problems at all and made a point of allways asking for permission. we would scout late afternoon for early set up and getting access. Load the truck for an early start.we had a pile of shells and sock decoys, and 3 layout blinds. Shot about 200 geese mostly snow and blues, 2 doz specs and 4 canadas. At 11: 00 am we'd pickup for the day and hit some abandoned farmsteads for a walk to shoot huns the 3 of us about tagged out on huns. Farmers were plain glad to see us and a couple times we were invited to dinner. We made a big bunch of goose jerky for field snacks and another group staying there were fishing gave us a big bag of walleye fillets and our hosts at the b & b brought us a big bag of garden produce. We ate like kings, cleaned geese and partridge like serfs, drank Canadian beer and were showered with Canadian hospitality. Cost us each about 1000 bucks Canadian. It was a trip of a.lifetime for me. Mb

It is hard to beat a flooded green timber hunt. I have been lucky to partake of this for about 20 years. We considered our first timber hunt a “bucket list” hunt, but we just kept going. Be built a lot of memories in the timber.

Did a trip to central Oklahoma 2 years ago and the numbers of lesser Canadas and mallards were jaw dropping. We hunted winter wheat and harvested peanut fields and shot limits every day.

For me - easily this
1. Flooded timber ducks down south
2. Big ag field Canadian geese
3. Did snows once - would love to do it again

Not a bucket list guy but, like Teal, an open field giant Canada/big orange-legged Mallard hunt would be fine. That said, in my limited experience duck hunting the small puddlers like teal and woodies rank high. After getting a Woody pair for a mount, I quit taking them — pure beauty in flesh, blood, and feathers — and just not enough of them around here.