Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk AL Wingshooters Rank your AL duck season

Easy for me - ZERO. Didn't go a single time this year. Absolutely no birds on the property I hunt. We used to kill 150-200 per season up until last year when we had no ducks then either. I think it has a lot to do with the lack of duck on Guntersville lake since the milfoil eradication began...

Less and less ducks every year. Did not see anything other than a wood duck until about the 15th of this month. Finally scratched a few big ducks and divers the past week.

Better than last. We’ve picked up 7 wood ducks this year.

Sucked in south bama due to lack of rain drying out our holes. Was pretty fun up in north bama

Killed a grand total of 7 ducks in Alabama on 2 hunts. Not really a bad average but my property will not hold up to a lot of pressure. Will try to get in one more hunt. Arkansas season was decent.

Alabama rating 5 and Arkansas rating 7.

I did not hunt in AL. I did hunt in Missouri and KIlled a total of nine in two mornings.

Y'all killing mallards or other ducks, woodies count different too in my book.


To answer the question, no doubt it is my worst season in 40 years. That was last year until this year happened
Haven’t been to arkie in two years. Not worth it for a few ducks and honestly used to kill more here than there anyways. Driving 4 hrs to not fire shot gets tough when it cost what it does.

Pressure is hurting us, drought is hurting us, big money feeding ducks to hold them and keep water open to keep them.
I’m afraid many ducks don’t know we exist. They’ve been imprinted further north and west.
Looking at those GPS transmitter tracking, Arkansas and West Tennessee seems
To be as far south as they make it.

I’ve asked the question if pushing the January 20 to the end of the month have anybody influence for change. Can’t get an answer but before we got that biologist were gel bent against sending the season since many ducks are began pair bonding at that point

LOL. Sums mine up

I know yall said Alabama report but up here it’s been boom or bust day by day.

Less than a handful of quality hunts in the delta this year. I won’t even invite friends anymore cause it’s not worth it. As bad as we all hate it, years of flyway manipulation has eliminated duck hunting as a reliable sport in the lower third of the country.

For those that say the migration is weather dependent

Only answer I have to that is shoulda been there yesterday

I keep cell cameras in my duck hole.

Not Alabama but I can tell you down here in “The Duck Capital”, there is lots of disappointment and disgust with the lack of ducks here. Outfitters have turned more hunters away this season then ever before. All my buddies that have camps in the marsh have all but quit hunting. The NWR that’s just down the road from my house hardly has anyone hunting it and it’s usually loaded with people. The rice field hunters have picked up all the decoys and closed the blinds up on most farms. It’s crazy and disturbing to see the changes in the last 5 years. I hope something changes but I have my doubts. I think duck hunting is soon to be a thing of the past.

I once hunted in NE LA. Those boys are struggling. Hunted there one time on the opener. Now I hunt NE AR. I was there for the handful of good hunts. Had my best speck hunt ever which greatly improved the season. The good duck hunts would have been average 10 years ago. My expectations have been reset. AL was good but the vast majority of ducks shot were wood ducks.

AR 7 AL 6 LA 3
Revised numbers.

Duck hunting in the Southeastern US has already become "a thing of the past"... Looking back on what it was like in the late 60's, 70's, and 80's and comparing to what we have now in 2024-25, I can will confidence say that the duck hunting in N. Ala is absolutely pitiful now.

Ditto the above. I've got 60 days of pictures from 3 different game cameras in N.AL. Not a bird to be seen the entire season.

Hunted Eufaula refuge Wednesday morning for their last hunt of the season. All woodies, hoodies and ringnecks and not many of them.

Didn’t see a single big duck.

Hit the river this morning and squeaked out a limit of woodies to wrap it up.

54 retrieves for my shorthaired buddy this year.

Every season is a good season. Thankful to be able to get out and do it.

10+

Killed one woodie in 3 trips. Had several landowners around me in Jackson that was a bust also. We had fields with rice -grain sorghum- corn and Japanese millet. No pressure so that is not it. If you have land close to a large creek or have a well where you can have the early water is the ticket. I am going back to deer and turkeys on mine . It ain't worth the effort anymore. I am talking about some of the best duck land in Alabama up until 15 years ago

It sucks and I understand

Only thing is the pressure is well above you now
They don’t make It here like they used to

Like others mentioned, I started I the mid 80s and nothing compares to the numbers back then and thru the 90s. The biggest falloff for me has been the last 4-5 years but it was noticeable a few years prior. We just had good spots. The best holes don’t produce often now.