Northern Pintail Duck Hunting

Pintails are some of the most sought after ducks in North America. This is mostly due to just how unique these ducks are. As neat as they are, thankfully they are not all that uncommon. It should not take you very long to find a hunter who has been able to get one of these birds, especially in the southern United States. So if these birds look really neat, and are not super rare, how many are there, where can you find them, and how do you hunt them? 

Where to Find Northern Pintails

During the breeding season (late April or May) Northern Pintails like to be in colder, “Northern”, regions. They are mostly found in the western half of Canada and the North West United States. Although when it comes time to migrate in the winter, Northern Pintails fly as far south as Mexico. Most of the population stays in the southern United States, with every southern state having a few populations.

Preferred habitat

Northern Pintails can be found feeding in wetland areas like marshes, swamps, rivers, lakes, and sheltered estuaries with plenty of seeds and aquatic vegetation. They prefer to breed in open wetland areas that have tall grass to conceal their nests.

Hunting Strategy

Luckily Northern Pintails can be hunted much like your average Mallard. Although they are known for being much more skittish than the average Mallard. So because of this, you will have to be much more patient with them when you are trying to work with them. Pintails may even move later in the morning than most ducks due to all the shooting, which spooks them. Even still, we can hunt both of these ducks at the same time. 

If you are hunting a wetland or swamp area, you can focus on hunting like you normally would Mallards. Set out ten to fifteen decoys for a small pond, twenty to thirty for a medium or large pond, and work them the same way you would mallards. You can even use a mallard call on them. Although you need to make sure you are very concealed, these birds will flare off at the sight of any unnatural movement.

On the other hand, if you are hunting a field you will need to be much more careful. If you can you should hunt out of sunken blinds instead of ones on top of the ground. You really have to focus on concealing yourself as much as possible. These ducks can live to be well over twenty years old, so they have likely seen a few hunters in their time and will flare off in a hurry if you are fumbling around in an obvious blind. You should also be very liberal with the number of decoys you use. When in an open field it is best to have a lot of decoys. Also, make sure to mix up the type of decoys you use. You can have around fifty pintail decoys in different forms but throw in some widgeon or mallards while you are at it.

Other Types of Pintails & Population Details

There are actually four different types of pintails. Although they look different and live in different areas, they all have a unique pin-shaped tail or elongated central feather. They are also all dabbling ducks. 

In The United States, when you hear a hunter talking about pintails, they are talking about the Northern Pintail. They cover most of North America and are very popular game birds. These pintails have a brown head, a white neck, and mostly grey and black body.

Currently, there are estimated to be 5.3 million Northern Pintails. After a sharp decline in the 80s, their population is recovering very well. 

Next, we have the Brown Pintail or Yellow-Billed Pintail. As its names would suggest it is mostly brown with a sort of dapple black pattern on its breast, and of course, has a bright yellow bill. 

These Pintails range all over South America. There is a large concentration in Columbia and a population in the Falkland Islands. Currently, their numbers range around 110,000 individuals. 

Then we have the white-cheeked pintail. It has a brown head with, you guessed it, white cheeks. It’s brown/dapple pattern is similar to the yellow-billed pintail. These pintails actually have a patch of red on their bills as well, which is fairly unique in the duck world.

These dabbling ducks are found in the Caribbean, South America, and the Galápagos Islands. They are rarely seen as far north as the United States. Currently, their population ranges from around 75,000 to 100,000 birds.

Last but not least, we have the red-billed Pintail. These guys also have the brown-dapple pattern as well as a mostly black head, with whiteish cheeks. Their bills are almost entirely red as the name would suggest.

These ducks are known to live in parts of Africa and have a generally declining population size. Although I could not find an exact range for their population, there are more than 10,000 birds since they are not yet considered endangered.

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