Originally Posted by Goatkiller
Originally Posted by Semo
Duck hunting has been pretty hot since last week. Problem is my kids have been out of school since the start of Christmas break. As soon as they go back I'll hit it harder. But, if I left my wife to take care of them and work while I was off everyday hunting I don't think that would be a good long term decision.


Duck hunting has always been dependent on location and timing but those 2 factors in years past simply meant you shot a "few" birds because you were not on the "X" that day.

This season as an example.... there are no birds on those days and you walk away with 2 or empty handed. Because there are no birds there. They are riding the ice line north and only fly south because they are forced to do so.

I judge this by the numbers of birds I see in the air not what comes into my decoy spread. Seen less and less birds in the air for going on at least 10-15 years. Every year it's a little worse.

Someone somewhere is going to smack them on any given day. That's just how it's always worked but this does not mean there are not fewer birds overall and I personally think we've got far less birds that migrate now because we have shot the piss out of everything that migrated. Once upon a time back in the early 1900's when people had more common sense.... they put bands on their legs so that they could see they came back to the same spots year after year. They also in some locations released birds... thinking they would come back and bring more with them. Because that actually worked. Because that's how this whole thing works which we have known for 100 years.

When you shoot them all they don't come back.....

Everything in life doesn't have to be complicated. This was never just a "theory".

We always have birds where I live. Question is will they fly during the day. It has started warming up a little during the afternoons so the birds are feeding the thaw. Thus, we can shoot them. When it is warmer they just feed at night.

Gone are the days of sitting in my deerstand and seeing tens of thousands of birds flying around and thinking about being in my waders. Now I sometimes am in my waders only seeing hundreds (sometimes less) of waterfowl and thinking about being in my deerstand.