Monster Wood Duck invades NY creek

[skyhunter]

the ducks have arrived here in NY so I came out of my winter trail cam hibernation and put out some cams. after making the rounds last week I was both amazed and frightened at what one of my creekside units had captured.

 

the wood duck drake appears to dwarf the large evergreen tree along side and seems to be taking up half of the width of the creek. estimates put him at 3 meters wide and roughly 500 lbs.

 

not sure I want to go back to that set being that there is a genetic mutant fowl on the prowl. might have to take the shotgun along next time and swap out the #6's with OO buckshot. 

 

[Five Seasons]

That's awesome. That cam takes some nice pics

Edited March 29, 2014 by Belo

[Pygmy]

Fantastic picture, Sky...I look forward to your creek cam shots every year.

You are truly the king of waterfowl photographers.

[Terry]

Great pic!!

[Cabin Fever]

Great pic! Aren't you afraid of the cam getting submerged in rising water? LOL

[PWGUNNY]

Nice shot.

[Lawdwaz]

Wonderful shot.  Kind of makes me not want to shoot another...........NOT.

 

Tasty too!

[Hardcore]

Sky, you are using homebrew cams? Excellent pics

[NFA-ADK]

NO way he is 500lbs, closer to 700lbs!  LOL 
What a shot!  Love it! 

As always your shots are amazing!

[skyhunter]

  On 3/29/2014 at 11:42 AM, Cabin Fever said:

Great pic! Aren't you afraid of the cam getting submerged in rising water? LOL

 

thanks. yes, I am and the trail cam unit was partially submerged.  the window covering the camera lens was actually 1/3 below the surface as a result of rising water from ice melt combined with rain. I do run high risk sets and have had many a cam go under.

[skyhunter]

  On 3/29/2014 at 1:30 PM, Hardcore said:

Sky, you are using homebrew cams? Excellent pics

 

thanks, yes I do run homebrew units along with some commerial.

[skyhunter]

  On 3/29/2014 at 2:22 PM, NFA-ADK said:

NO way he is 500lbs, closer to 700lbs!  LOL 

What a shot!  Love it! 

As always your shots are amazing!

 

 

I'm glad you appreciate the ducks. they are awesome critters and my favorites to target with trail cams.

[GreeneHunter]

Nice Pic ... Great color !

[sits in trees]

That's insane, what could possibly make a duck get that big???

[gjs4]

Gorgeous pic!

[skyhunter]

  On 3/30/2014 at 12:21 PM, sits in trees said:

That's insane, what could possibly make a duck get that big???

 

I'm thinking of 2 possibilities:

 

1) something in the water; as I just recently caught this Mallard in the same location, or

2) some kind of "Battle of the Titans" going on here. kinda like Sosa and McGwire using human growth hormone, but in this case it's not "HGH", it's  "QGH"  (quacker growth hormone)

 

[Shedder]

Man I love your creek photos!

[hunter49]

   That is one monster duck!  again great pics. thanks.