Rare piece of jewelry on my duck?!?

[stickbuck]

So it was quite an interesting day yesterday. It was about 9 AM when I had a bunch of ducks lock up on the decoys. There had to be at least 50 of them. Their wings were locked up and the landing gear was down and there was no doubt that they were all going to start landing. All of a sudden there was a ton of shooting off to my right and all the ducks flared and flew away. I questioned myself why I didn't shoot but I was so caught up in the moment and how awesome it was that I forgot to shoot. Well, one of those ducks that flared came back a minute later and landed off to the left of my spread. At that point I looked up and noticed that this Pintail hen was nudging up alongside of one of my Pintail drake decoys. I stood up in anticipation that she would jump up so that I could shoot, but she just continued to flirt with my decoy. About two minutes went by and she finally noticed I was standing there and when she went to fly away, I dropped her. With the wind as bad as it was I had to hurry up and get out of the blind in order to retrieve her before the wind blew her to the other side of the pond. As I picked her up and turned her over, I noticed that there was a small clam clamped to one of her feet. I opened the clam and noticed that it was still alive. The weird thing is that the strength of the clam was strong enough to break the small tendon or small bone that makes up that part of the web on her foot. I was completely beside myself wondering what the chances were that this could ever happen. I figured I'd have a better chance of shooting a banded hen than one with a clam on it. Definitely a hunt that I will never forget.

[jrebel]

   clam tried to eat a duck?

[dreamunelk]

Seen it before.  Apparently she stepped on the clam at the wrong time.  It is vary rare to find and I would even bet that you have better odds of getting a band.  So the pick is the proof and better than a band.

[seth30]

Wow!

[Widgeondeke]

  very cool. Maybe a band is in the near future for you. 

[JohnVH]

get it mounted, with the clam on it!

[carpsniperg2]

That is very crazy wow!

[stickbuck]

JohnVH, mounting it was the first thing that came to mind. The only problem is I've already taken my deer, bear, beautiful Pintail drake, and two turkey fan mounts to the taxi this year. One more trip to the taxi and I'm sure my wife would pack my $@&!   

[PatoLoco]

I shot a hen pintail last year, also with a clam on its foot. I saw its leg dangling down in this flock of 8 or so while they circled and was able to drop her out of a tight pinny group as they came in. On the Farmed Island Skagit Co. so she was probably fresh off the bay.
 Hopefully this pic loads...

[JLS]

Hang the clam from your duck call lanyard!

Anyone can get a band, not everyone can get a clam...

[johnnyaustin44]

That's pretty sweet. I guess pintails love clam beds. pretty rare find id be getting that mounted.

[h2ofowlr]

Nice.  Don't see that everyday.  I usually see them coming out of scoters in the bottom of the boat.  Not hanging on the feet.

[pips4bucks]

That's awesome!

JohnVH, mounting it was the first thing that came to mind. The only problem is I've already taken my deer, bear, beautiful Pintail drake, and two turkey fan mounts to the taxi this year. One more trip to the taxi and I'm sure my wife would pack my $@&!   

Personally I'd do whatever groveling or brown-nosing I had to do to get that one mounted.  That's just so rare.  I hope you bought a lottery ticket!

[Helix]

Are clams in season?

[whtelk]

do you need a shell fish license?