After a long day of flying south, there is nothing nicer for a mallard to find than a little open water and a little food.   West Virginia offers many places that serve up just this type of rest stop for a migrating green head.  Since 1999, the King & Rooster have been hunting these areas with success.  Through trial and error (experience), we have built up a catalogue of mallard options.  So if it is cold or warm, high water or low, we have places where we can hunt mallards.

1999-2000

After two years of duck hunting the King & Rooster had made progress in a lot of areas.  We had improved our gear, tactics, and shooting to a point where we were confident that if there were wood ducks around, we would have a better than fair shot to put some in the bag.  However, we began to want to explore other waterfowl hunting options, specifically the magical green head.  We had seen mallards during previous hunting outings, but had never made a serious attempt at going after them.  However, in the fall of 1999, the King scouted an area that, while we thought primarily would offer wood duck opportunities, also offered potential mallard options.  As it turned out, it offered both and so, on a unseasonably warm and drizzly evening in November, we got our first mallard, the only one for the season.

Unknown

An early fall picture of one of our favorite hunting areas, the one that produced our first mallard.    

11.24.99

The King with the famous "in the headlights" shot of our first mallard (a hen) with a wood duck. 

11.24.99

The Rooster with pictures of the birds.  The day had been warm and misty, and we were soaked through and worn out by dusk. 

In the first two hunting days of the 2000-2001 waterfowl hunting season, we never took a shot.  On the third day, we took a chance and went to a lake that the King had scouted a few weeks before and found it populated with a good number of mallards.  Before the day was over, we had an amazing 6 drake mallards in the canoe.  As good as that day was, it would get better.  In December, calling for the first time, we brought in duck after duck and left with five more mallards.  All and all 2000-2001 was an incredible hunting year for green heads.  We got out more, and brought home more mallards than any other year.  We ended up with 13 mallards for the season and memories to last a lifetime.

10.07.00

The King and Rooster with the Wood Duck Stalker in the background.  On this day, it would do just fine as the Mallard Stalker.

10.07.00

The Rooster with the six mallards taken from the canoe.  Notice that all are drakes.  We try, whenever possible, to take drakes first. 

10.07.00

A shot of the King mid-hunt with three green-heads.  The look on his face tells the story - there is more hunting to come.

10.07.00

Classic K&R shot that shows how experience and hard work pay off. 

Fall 2000

The King grilling up some of those early season mallards.  To the victors goes the meat.

12.16.00

We set up before dawn on a beautiful central WV impoundment and hunted until a little past noon on this day.  The only ducks we saw were two mallards that flew over the King's head when he was repositioning the decoys.  Not uncommon, ducks love to appear at the least opportune times.

12.27.00

The Rooster sitting behind a perfect natural blind.  Five mallards would fall over this bind today.

12.27.00

The King blowing a hen mallard call.  After only a summer of practice, he brought in one green head after another.

12.27.00

The Rooster showing off the drake taken on the first call of the day from the King.

12.27.00

The King after retrieving two mallards dropped in the river.  The current was fast, and we had to get out and get dropped ducks quick.

12.27.00

The duck lineup from the day's hunt.  We took four hens, which we normally try to avoid.  On this day, however, we were shooting the mallards high out of a light sky, and sexing the birds was difficult.

1.05.01

The King with a beautiful green head taken on the flush.  The 2000-2001 winter was bitter cold, and open water limited.  Just the way we like it.

February 2001

Another awesome duck and stuffing meal prepared by the King.  The number of ducks taken allowed us to feast several times.

2000-2001

A sunset to a memorable season.