We need that arctic blast up north to develop, mature and stall out for a while….and then hope it freezes all the way down the flyway to us.

Every year from Christmas to New Years I go to my in-laws who live about 60 miles south of Lake Erie. For the last 20 years and especially the last 10 I am reminded of why I don't shoot as much waterfowl as I used to.

I looked up the place that guy was talking about yesterday, coon creek farms. Very impressive

If this is the place I think it is, my BIL grew up with the owner. They have an impressive operation and attract a lot of wild ducks. They also release a ton of mallards prior to the season and with all the food and water on their farm, those ducks usually stick around.

Apparently a small % of those released ducks get loose every year and interbreed and now there aren’t many truly wild mallards in the eastern US.

This is probably not a good thing. Pretty cool podcast I listened to talked about it. I’m a bit surprised just releasing ducks into the wild is legal, honestly.

The gamekeeper podcast had a good biologist on talking about the impact of farm ducks on the wild population. The data was quite eye opening

Pressure is what makes duck hunting hard. Ducks imprint on properties where they don't get shot. Over the years those areas become duck magnets. Go look at the refuge in Decatur or Lake Ashbaugh in Arkansas. These areas hold ducks. The ducks there are hard to kill because they retreat to the safe areas at the first sign of pressure. If there is not a safe area then there are no ducks. Managing pressure on a piece of ground isn't easy.

The way to create a good duck hunting property is provide food and not hunt it for years. Then only hunt it once or twice a year. Get in and get out. Most of us are too greedy or don't have the resources needed .

Absolutely

The ducks are on the refuges during the season. Not just the Federal refuges but anywhere that isn't hunted. They are on lakes at the city park, the old lady fish pond, the swamp on the deer club and anywhere they are not shooting at ducks. Create one of those refuges and you can keep ducks in the area. The sucky part is that if you hunt it then it is no longer a refuge.

Talked to a guy today that said he’d live to see it go back to 3/30. I agreed wholeheartedly.

It’s gotten stupid and if you don’t have deep deep pockets duck hunting gonna be sporadic at best

I’ve heard talk of putting 20 hp limits and no mud motors on some wmas. Maybe was Arkansas

I agree completely. Sadly so much money has been poured into the state and local economy they’ll never change it. Best we could hope for are rest days or split seasons.

Talked to a guy today that said he’d live to see it go back to 3/30. I agreed wholeheartedly.

It’s gotten stupid and if you don’t have deep deep pockets duck hunting gonna be sporadic at best

What got me going the other day was talking to a guy that’s hunted some of the best holes from the Delta thru Arkansas and over to Reel foot since the 90s, his family has connections. He made mention it’s been downhill since 2017 forward. Hes 15 years or so younger than myself and made mention his son will more than likely, will not know what it was like.

What changed around 2017 that negatively impacted duck hunting?

I haven't researched the issue but my guess is that duck dynasty started in 2012 and was gaining in popularity bringing out a bunch more hunters. At about the same time it seemed like we had a stretch of warm winters that influenced the migration. Those two things could be some of it. Ducks can have high fidelity to past migrations. It only takes a few years to have a great impact.

Also, I know several people that travel north to duck hunt earlier in the year. From what I've been told it used to be easy just to go find a spot in North Dakota and ask permission. Now it is overrun. So, these ducks see lots of pressure all the way down the flyway. No wonder that by the time they reach the Mississippi Alluvial Plain (starting in southern Missouri and Illinois) they mainly feed at night and loaf on the refuges all day.

Also think that YouTube videos played a role in showing the good things of duck hunting. The decoys, calling to em, the boat ride, timber hole hunting ie. Then it got to be all about public land hunting and that flooded the scene. Not saying social media is to blame but it definitely had an impact. I also think farmers tiling their fields making them not hold water was another notch.

A definite uptick in hunters and how many days afield. Not just days but longer hours per day. They’re hunting almost all day now. Back I the good old days it was rare to go past 8 for our group Andy times we were done by 7 and the ducks could have it after that. Now they get no rest all day or all season unless they find a refuge of some sort.

Another buggy is the likes of satellite imagery, there is no unknown holes

Ok the fields finally have plenty of water. Nobody is hunting ,no pressure where are the ducks?

Ok the fields finally have plenty of water. Nobody is hunting ,no pressure where are the ducks?

We got up for the aerial waterfowl survey of the Illinois and central Mississippi rivers on Monday, December 9th, 2024. After a couple of weeks of ice, we started to see some open water this week. Duck abundance remained above LTA along both the Illinois and Mississippi rivers this week. I estimated ~208,000 ducks in the IRV on Monday, a 23% drop from our last survey, but 7% above the 10-year average of ~195,000 ducks. Mallard abundance in the IRV, estimated at ~148,000, also remained above LTA this week (+12%). I estimated ~541,000 ducks on the central Mississippi river, a 15% decrease from last week but 4% above the 10-year average (~521,000). Mallard abundance (~252,000) remained relatively constant along the CMRV this week but fell 15% below the LTA.

Last week was hectic in the airplane, especially along the lower MS River as we observed a migration event during our peak combined with significant ice coverage concentrating birds. The partial thaw this week seems to have moved ducks around on the landscape, while simultaneously some birds are certainly moving on south. The theme of this week's survey was "birds in the air!" Indeed, my estimates on Pool 19 of the MS river and Goose Lake on the upper IL are likely conservative due to large flocks of birds moving around in the air. While boat traffic was the culprit on Pool 19, I'm still not sure what happened at Goose Lake. Regardless, it was a phenomenal sight watching waves of ducks moving to find open water.

This week's numbers and more info on the survey can be found at the link in our bio.

#reportyourbands | #illinoisrivervalley | #mallards | #greenwingedteal | #dabblingducks | #aerialsurveys | #DuckScience | #waterfowl | #duckhunting | #duck | #mississippiriver | #divingducks | #canvasback | #lesserscaup

How much does it cost to get birds to release. I am not promoting it I just wandered

I've duck hunted for over 40 years.

The unfortunate thing is that Alabama isn't on a flyway. .

I've duck hunted for over 40 years. For fun and commercially.

It use to be common knowledge that ducks migrate and imprint on an area. They return year after year. Banding waterfowl probably started in the early 1900's.

Everyone knew this.

Now enter 60 day 6 duck seasons. You have 1 billion ducks... ok.... but how many come to your area? And what happens after 20 years of shooting at them daylight to dark for 60 days with a 6 duck limit?

I think that's what has happened. We've shot up all the ducks that migrate in the name of money. The 60 day season is all about MONEY. More days afield = more hunters, more leases and more licenses.

The unfortunate thing is that Alabama isn't on a flyway. So what has happened in N. Alabama has been accelerated due to that fact. Whereas in Arkansas they are on the flyway so it is inevitable and appears after a couple weeks into the season.... success is dependent on open water and the ice situation.


So no matter what happens... we... meaning those of us on the Southern End of the Flyway continue to kill all the migrating ducks year after year. And I guess we'll just keep doing it until we ruin it because some dipchit in a plane somewhere says he's "counted" plenty. And it's always more than the LTA... go figure.

That ignores everything we use to know as fact and this is clearly NOT how to appropriately manage our Waterfowl. When we went to 60 day season I said we'd never go back and we'd have record numbers every year until hunter's success is so bad people quit.

The ones I knew of doing it money wasn’t an issue, not even close.

I looked into it and it wasn’t bad per duck it’s was getting the setup going that stopped me.
Supposed to get them young like jot flying or barely flying so they’d imprint on the area.

I've duck hunted for over 40 years. For fun and commercially.

It use to be common knowledge that ducks migrate and imprint on an area. They return year after year. Banding waterfowl probably started in the early 1900's.

Everyone knew this.

Now enter 60 day 6 duck seasons. You have 1 billion ducks... ok.... but how many come to your area? And what happens after 20 years of shooting at them daylight to dark for 60 days with a 6 duck limit?

I think that's what has happened. We've shot up all the ducks that migrate in the name of money. The 60 day season is all about MONEY. More days afield = more hunters, more leases and more licenses.

The unfortunate thing is that Alabama isn't on a flyway. So what has happened in N. Alabama has been accelerated due to that fact. Whereas in Arkansas they are on the flyway so it is inevitable and appears after a couple weeks into the season.... success is dependent on open water and the ice situation.


So no matter what happens... we... meaning those of us on the Southern End of the Flyway continue to kill all the migrating ducks year after year. And I guess we'll just keep doing it until we ruin it because some dipchit in a plane somewhere says he's "counted" plenty. And it's always more than the LTA... go figure.

That ignores everything we use to know as fact and this is clearly NOT how to appropriately manage our Waterfowl. When we went to 60 day season I said we'd never go back and we'd have record numbers every year until hunter's success is so bad people quit.

Seeing a few hundred Canada geese flying around today.... but I am about 60 miles south of Lake Erie.