A Decoy Trap for Breeding-Season Mallards in North Dakota

Abstract

A modified decoy trap was effective for capturing wild adult male and female mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) during the 1980-81 breeding seasons in North Dakota. Key features contributing to the trap's success included a central decoy cylinder, large capture compartments with spring-door openings, an adjustable trigger mechanism with a balanced door attachment that was resistant to trap movement, and the use of F, wild-stock or game-farm female decoys. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 51(4):711-715 Decoy traps that use a live female of a target species to attract and capture ducks during the breeding season have been developed for several species (Dzubin 1952, Rogers 1964, Seymour 1974). Blohm and Ward (1979) improved trap effectiveness for gadwalls (A. strepera) by placing the female decoy in a separate compartment attached to the center of a funnel entrance trap. Anderson et al. (1980) and Blums et al. (1983) found funnel entrance traps ineffective for capturing diving ducks and improved trap success by substituting spring-door or drop-door entrances with trip-rod triggers. During the breeding seasons of 1978-79, we found that traps with funnel entrances and those with decoy compartments adjacent to the outside wall of the trap were ineffective in capturing female mallards. In addition, trip-rod-triggered traps and those with drop-doors were unreliable when exposed to wind or waves, or when attempting multiple captures (D. E. Sharp and J. T. Lokemoen, unpubl. data). Therefore, we designed a more reliable triggering mechanism, added a removable centrally located decoy compartment, increased capture compartment size, and incorporated spring-door entrances to build a decoy trap specifically designed for capturing mallards. Our objectives were to determine field procedures for optimum capture efficiency and to evaluate trap effec-