Russia Duck Hunting Trip - Way More Than Mallards *w/ PICS*

[Double R 2]

It's a very big world, as the latest trip demonstrates, and you better believe it's duck season somewhere.

Russia duck hunting is available during the fall and briefly during the spring, when breeding plumage is ideal. While a few species will be familiar to US hunters, there is an abundance of European species that are uncommon to virtually nonexistent in the US. Near-term trips include even greater variety, stay tuned.

A very few lucky US hunters are presented with the opportunity to shoot these beautiful birds each year, but I never tired of looking almost daily down the barrel at Eusasian Wigeon...



An interesting aside, we scouted The "Shupa" River one afternoon and my hosts took me by a small hydroelectric plant that provides an impressively sizeable rural area with power. The exterior was riddled with bullet holes dating to the Bolshevik Revolution.




Full Trip Report:
Fumbling hurriedly through loose ammo that’d also been dumped into the coat pocket, the wooden duck call was retrieved just in time to blow 4 lousy notes that squelched due to dried cork. It was enough. The drake mallard’s head yanked as he hit the end of an invisible tie, he turned on a dime, locked onto a solitary, paintless decoy and descended cupped-and-committed until his feet were right above ice-rimmed creek water. He recoiled backasswards at the clap of a single shot and I could only chuckle at having traveled such inconceivably great distance to start the hunt with a ordinarily beautiful greenhead. It was only the beginning.

Russia duck hunting offers one of the few spring waterfowl hunts remaining in the world and it coincides with hunting for Capercaillie and Black Grouse during their famous courtship rituals. Nearly everything I knew about Russia derived from watching James Bond reruns. The real thing was much better. Click to continue reading: GetDucks.com Reviews Russia Duck Hunting



VIEW - RUSSIA DUCK HUNTING & BIRD HUNTING PHOTO GALLERY



Your trip of a lifetime deserves - and gets - our full attention: Ramsey Russell 's GetDucks.com is a full-time, full-service travel agency specializing in wingshooting with major emphasis on trophy duck species and trophy duck hunting experiences. We're also proud DUCKSOUTH.COM SPONSORS. Our expert travel assistance includes not only the best wingshooting location at the right time, but also customized itineraries, airline schedules, customs assistance, hunting licenses and permits, hotels, dining, car rentals, travel insurance, and trophy bird importation to our taxidermist or yours. GetDucks.com carefully reviews each destination.

[ACEINTHEHOLE]

What is that flying away in photo 26? Pretty bird.

[RedEyed Duck]

Thanks for sharing Ramsey!

[teul2]

Love it Ramsey.
Going to need a quote with payment plan setup sent over on this one please.

[Double R 2]

Following the first capercaillie hunt, our guide got "lost." I say "lost" because he sensed he knew where we were, but couldn't find his way back to the truck right away. We walked into a single-landowner holding of 247,500 forested acres that was bound on the east side by a river and looked exactly like the millions (and millions) of acres of surrounding land. During the brief interim between dusk and dawn, we could hear a dozen or more capercaillies fight posturing. We walked in on stalks, and Tom even shot one. The capercailie calls drew us deeper into the forest, further from the bear trail we'd walked in on.

At some point (after I peered over his shoulder to view the gps that I immediately recognized he couldn't read - he did much better in subsequent nights following natural features) I realized we were heading slightly down slope towards the river. We'd walked miles, but between endless daylight-induced sleepless euphoria and the incredible environment we were walking in, I was just living in the moment and enjoying the scenery - despite wet feet from having tripped in the slushy snow twice and walking on squishy-sounding feet.

From a knoll on the river bank we saw a pair of whooper swans swimming, and guide Roger (not his name but closest I ever managed to pronounce it) made a cell phone call to who I couldn't imagine until about 20 minutes later a small blue oar-powered rubber raft came around the bend. That was right after watching Roger touch off the back trigger of his shotgun and stone-dead head-shoot a drake goldeneye that whistled down the river 65-70 yards distant.

[Double R 2]

The 2-man rubber boat ferried Roger and Tom across the river, picked me up and headed towards where it'd come. They didn't speak english, I sure don't speak Russian, so I just went with the flow. That was right after I stepped into the boat and damnned near flipped it over - I still grin everytime I think about the look in the oarsmen's eyes at the point he realized he was fixing to get wet, but he probably laughs thinking about the o-chit look on my face too.

We paddled up to a camp. I smelled smoke and walked up hill. He and his two friends were spening a beautiful, 35-degree spring day fishing. They had 2 pike in a bag and a huge fire of 2 6-foot long logs going. A tea pot was warming in the ashes, and they'd cut themselves a few pallets of pine boughs to keep off the ground. They had a typical field lunch laid out on a flat stone - cheese, cold cuts, coarse bread, tea bags and sugar (always carried in a plastic Walmart bag). There was a small transitor radio hanging up playing Russian opera-esque ballads (the other channel was techno-disco). I don't have a clue what that guy on the radio was singing about but it might as well have been about how great it is to be miles from nowhere on an enchanting spring day, with hot tea and food, a fire to dry your socks and boots and warm your feet, overlooking a beautiful river in a far away country. By the time Roger and Tom made it there, I was dry, had dozed off and was ready to resume our miles-long trek to the truck.

[The Waterfowler]

What is that flying away in photo 26? Pretty bird.

Female Capercaille

[kris Schaumburg]

The peru trip didn't spark much excitement for me, this however............

[billjohnson]

Looks like and awesome trip Ramsey. As always, I enjoy your posts and pics.

[The Waterfowler]

Great trophies for the collector.

[Bill Cooksey]

Awesome trip Ramsey. I had a friend that hunted somewhere in Russia when it wasn't Russia. I forget what year, but it was still the USSR. They got into a very high volume mallard hunt. Just wondering, for those bloodthirsty folks, if the high volume mallard hunts are still possible in certain areas and/or times.

[ransco33]

What is that second picture Mr. Pat? That is an awesome looking bird!

[The Waterfowler]

Smew. In the Merganser Family.

[Double R 2]

Awesome trip Ramsey. I had a friend that hunted somewhere in Russia when it wasn't Russia. I forget what year, but it was still the USSR. They got into a very high volume mallard hunt. Just wondering, for those bloodthirsty folks, if the high volume mallard hunts are still possible in certain areas and/or times.

The short answer is YES. Technically there's a 20 bird limit, but 16 hours into the boondocks, abidance and enforcement are regarding much different than here in the US. "Volume" hunting would strictly be a fall hunting thing. Paired birds in teh spring - same as here in late January - bird behavior much different; teh pairs are all about being to themselves. And during the spring season, females are off limits (even though I saw some Europeans and Russians blatantly ignore this for the sake of collecting. Still, it was an incredible trip and experience. Like I told a buddy at lunch today, I've had a long-term love affair with Argentina, but am fixing to trade her for a wild and exciting Russian.