Richard Wood asked what ducks can be legally hunted.  The simple  answer is 
that all ducks can be.  There are differences in season and bag  limit, but any 
duck, including rarities, can be legally hunted.
 
Waterfowl hunting is regulated primarily by the US Fish and Wildlife  
Service, not the states, because the birds are mostly migratory.  Seasons  are set 
after extensive surveys are done during the summer breeding  months.  States are 
then given the opportunity to set seasons within  certain dates and bag 
limits also within certain guidelines.  
 
Bird surveys determine whether a particular species is in trouble.  If  this 
is determined, the species may be excluded from legal hunting for a year or  
more, or strict limits placed on the number taken.  This has happened in  the 
past with wood ducks, canvasbacks, redheads and brant.  
 
The system has worked pretty well, with probably the biggest failure the  
exploding population of lesser snow geese.  They are destroying their  breeding 
marshes in Canada and are at a population level probably five times  what the 
marshes can sustain.
 
The major factor determining fall populations of ducks are the conditions  on 
the major breeding grounds: the prairie provinces of Canada and the pot hole  
country of North and South Dakota.  When water levels are high, production  
is high; when there is drought, production is low.  Hunting has something  to 
do with population, but not as much as water because ducks can respond very  
quickly to good water.  They typically lay a dozen and sometimes more eggs,  so 
populations can double in a year.  
 
Ducks Unlimited, which formed in the 1930s to offset the deleterious  effects 
of a prolonged drought, has done a remarkable job in restoring and  
maintaining marshes and other wetlands.  With mainly hunter money, this  organization 
has spent tens of millions of dollars to ensure duck production for  its 
members, but in so doing has benefited every species that depends on good  water for 
its existence.
 
The USF&WS has had certain waterfowl hunting regulations in place for a  very 
long time, to wit:
 
    1. It is illegal to bait waterfowl
    2. It is illegal to shoot from a boat under motor  power
    3. It is illegal to use a rifle, as opposed to a shotgun  to hunt 
waterfowl
    4. It is illegal to use live decoys.
    5. It is illegal to hunt at night
    6. It is illegal to hunt with a shotgun that can shoot  more than three 
shots without reloading.
    7. It is legal to use a scull or paddles in a canoe  or other boat to 
sneak up on ducks and then shoot.
 
So far as I remember (from when I hunted) it is NOT illegal to shoot a duck  
on the water.  It is bad form, however, and no real sportsman would ever do  
so unless, as Jeff Shenot outlined, the bird was wounded.  
 
The USF&WS has had a very difficult time regulating waterfowl  hunting.  
There are a lot of outlaws out there and game wardens cannot be  in more than one 
place at a time.  Louisiana coastal marshes were a hotbed  of illegal shooting 
for decades, with hunters shooting five or six or more  times the daily legal 
limit.  
 
Close by, Tangier Island was another hotspot of illegality.  Everyone  knew 
the game warden, who was based at Crisfield, and as soon as he left the  dock 
there, a telephone call was made to guides on the island and all evidence  of 
illegal hunting was covered up before the hapless warden arrived.   Happily 
that situation has been reversed.
 
Bob Mumford
Darnestown