marshmud - just FYI we were hunting White Lake didn't have a great hunt. Birds just didn't want to work and there were a lot of blue wings in there so I don't know if that is normal down there year round, you would have to weigh in on that, blue wings in TN or MS during the regular season would be a rare occurrence. Claiming a late migration this year doesn't make sense with the kind of weather we have had.

This is what I think has happened to us - The seasons went to 60 days in the mid 1990's with the plan on staying there for financial reasons. When they moved to 60 days I read the report that justified that move and it basically is an economic white paper. It had little to do with actual duck numbers only to say that we had more ducks then than we had ever had and somehow that has never changed since no matter what the counts have been. They have always been at or near record numbers of birds. Based on prior experience I have always found that odd.

Reset the table with 60 day season... What that did was allow the people in the Northern 1/3 of the flyway more opportunity to hunt. They all got an increase to 60. Then they spread seasons out with different zones and different season dates that overlap. Previously they had to "guess" at the season dates and at some point they typically got iced or snowed out. That all changed. Now they can waterfowl hunt for literally 3-4 months if they have multiple leases or hunt public waterways. That's a lot more hunting pressure in general.

The second major impact of going to 60 days was to justify your Federal Gov, DU and other organizations to grant all these people WRP acres where your Gubberment spent our stamp revenue, tax dollars, matching funds, etc. to improve habitat. People basically got duck holes built for free to enhance habitat, yet these are not refuges. People hunt on them. They lease and guide on them and we will talk a bit more about that in a minute. Over the last 20 years they have build more and more and more private duck habitat in the Northern 1/3 of the flyway. Over 25 years the amount of Acres obviously increases substantially if this is a steady program. FYI - I think Alabama sends nearly ALL out State Stamp money up North it sure does not appear they use hardly any of it around here.

Short Stopping - This is not a new subject back in the 80's we all claimed they were short stopping ducks by dumping out corn on refuges and we made all kinds of ridiculous claims. I think that was mainly just hot air. They spent money on refuges in those days to be fair but I don't think there was anywhere near the investment in private holes.

Another change along those same lines - A farmer in Iowa use to not bother with Waterfowl hunters. He might get iced out and putting water on the field was not optimal for Spring soil conditions and hurt yeilds. They just didn't bother with it. They couldn't get big money for the lease. Fast forward to 2018...

1) a 60 day seasons is now a total lock....

2) Also consider that today a lot of farm revenue comes from non-farming revenue generating activities, i.e. such as setting up entertainment venues for something like a wedding, bed and breakfast, and the one HUGE revenue produced - Hunting Leases or Guiding. They are looking for other revenue streams.

3) An explosion of duck hunters with the Duck Commander popularity.

Result - Millions of acres now leased and hunted that 25 years ago did not.


To me the trend has been steady and I just think that now we have finally reached the proverbial "crossover point" where the hunting is just never going to be what it use to be. 10 years ago we would still get good pushes of birds on these weather fronts and today even those appear to be dwindling away. "They" should focus more on spending our money in the Southern Flyway now. Spend money on the LA Marsh and improve Southern Flyway Refuges. Look at Wheeler here in our own state of Alabama. They could use a LOT of monetary help in the form of projects. They could expand Swan Creek by building more de-watering areas, etc. Is that even on anyone's radar in this State with our own Stamp revenue? NO. What about AL power they don't have a single waterfowl unit on a single river in this entire State. What do we do.. send our stamp money North along with everyone else.

Obviously if we have record numbers of birds every single year they have done a fantastic job up North. Now is the time for that to End in the North and they need to spend money on the Southern Flyway. That may have little impact but the bottom line is the need to STOP building more habitat up North of us it has hurt our hunting and there is NO DOUBT about that.