General Information on the Duck

Duck hunting is one of the many areas a fellow hunter can choose from. Wild ducks fly with amazing speed and cover great distances. The teals are said to attain a speed of more than sixty miles an hour. In their annual migration some ducks travel from the Arctic Circle to South America and back again.

There are three main groups of ducks; the surface feeders or marsh ducks; the divers or sea ducks; and the fish eaters or mergansers. The surface feeders or dabblers, are generally found in small ponds, creeks, and marshes, where the water is shallow. The divers or sea ducks prefer the deeper water of lakes, rivers, and the sea. The mergansers have long narrow bills with tooth like projections along the edges, designed for gripping fish.

Of approximately fifty species of wild ducks native to North America, the larger numbers breed in the north across Canada, and winter southward from the Great Lakes. They follow four great flyways as they migrate; one along the Atlantic Coast, one along the Pacific Coast, and two through the central plains.