Mallards and Teal calling

[mosinmaster]

Do you guys have experience with Mallards responding to teal calls?

 

[the spank]

Yes, I have found often as the season progresses and the birds become "conditioned" to duck calls that a pintail whistle used softly and sparingly to imitate a drake mallard will often seal the deal!!

 

[sherlockbonez]

No, but I've had lots of pintails come to mallard calls tho.

 

[mosinmaster]

Sorry, I typed pintail, when I meant TEAL. When you use the Teal whistle do you just blow 3 short peeps.. wait for a bit.. and then repeat?

 

[the spank]

Sorry, I typed pintail, when I meant TEAL. When you use the Teal whistle do you just blow 3 short peeps.. wait for a bit.. and then repeat?

What you're describing sounds pretty close if memory serves.

I use a Morwhistle...you can make about 6 or 7 different whistling duck sounds on it. I no longer have the card describing the sequences but when I first did and I followed what it said the Teal peeps worked well on Teal. I am sure if I looked I could find instructions on it online.

 

[badgreenbird]

It's the drakes (of pintail, teal, wigeon, etc) that make the whistle calls.. the hens still quack - tho differently than a mallard. I always have a mixed spread of dekes and try to mix up the calling. I have an old whistle that I removed the ball from that makes a perfect wheezy whistle, like a drake wigeon.

As was said earlier, once the mallards have been spooked a bit, the smarter ones tend to respond to different cues..