Duck and Geese trip

Headed to Arkansas later this morning for a 3 day hunt. It is looking good for the weather for those days. The sun is finally going to come out again!

Will try to update.

I hope this front pushed some new birds down. The reports from the last week have been terrible.

I’m on my way back from hunting southeast Missouri. We killed 1 hen teal yesterday and nothing today. We saw a few high fliers yesterday, but it is dead today. Hardly even saw any geese.We were hunting right on the Missouri/Arkansas line. It’s worse than I’ve ever seen it.

Good luck. we have a couple hundred westerns on the farm everyday lately, I'll prolly go harass them tomorrow.

Yea, everyone I know headed back Saturday, we were heading over but I doubt it now.
Strange year, we have had Golden Eyes here on the river for almost a month, they are late season birds.

We had a lot of early birds that flew on to parts south probably.

Hopefully y'all will have birds EH, I've heard of a few spots holding decent numbers in and around the timber

We have very few ducks left in our area of SW la. There was a decent amount of birds at the beginning of the season and good hints were being had. Lots of blue wing teal and gadwalls. Well all the cold weather pushed the blue wings out and then they started struggling. By the last week of the season, lots of the guys I know weren't even going anymore. Even the marshes were doing poorly. O heard some good reports down along the coast around Creole and Grand Chenier. Hopefully the 2nd split will be better.

I haven't been,but it's been pretty slow in W Tennessee from what I heard...

Most reports are slow, but there's a few places killing em pretty good.

Won't know unless you go.

Once more I'm so glad we went to dry ground specks over ducks.

Just postponed my trip to SE Missouri looks like rain and guy said no birds

You made a wise choice.

I went to South LA last week. Some birds around but we didn't have the kind of hunt we normally have. Been slow in West TN.

The good ole days have come and gone unless everything up north is locked up this is getting harder and harder as each year passes. We use to have holes we could shoot every day for 40 years and in the past 10 it has gotten tougher every year.

This...

Hunted NW Tennessee end of last week and did pretty good. Had been slow but looked like birds were moving in.

I've been saying this. When I was growing up we killed more ducks and geese in our back yard than most people see in a lifetime. I live right in the transition from marsh to rice fields. I'm surrounded by some of the best duck habitat in the state of Louisiana. The hunting has been getting worse and worse for the last 15yrs or so. Our farm is 6k acres and the landowners work and flood no less that 1k acres plus they flood most of the rice stubble and don't hunt it, just trying to hold birds. 20yrs ago you wouldn't be able to stand it around those field because they would stink so bad because of all the ducks a geese in them. I saw decent groups of teal and pintail twice so far this winter. They were there one day and gone the next. I don't know what is happening but I don't like it. Lots of guys I know are telling me they are not renewing their leases because it's not worth it. The sad part is my kids love to hunt and I want nothing more than to take them hunting but like they said, they done want to go out and just watch the grass move. I really hope they make a come back so they can experience some of what we did growing up.

25 confirmed cases of bird flu in southern states from Louisana to flordia, it’s a super strand of this virus wildlife biologist are in a panic, they are not coming out publicly as of yet ,because this strand usually kill every bird/flock it comes in contact with. Could this be the end of waterfowling???

Do you think that more people up North are managing for waterfowl now and the birds are staying until they are absolutely frozen out?

I'm not sure what's going on. Some say it's the changes in farming practices. Some say it's to many crawfish ponds. Combines are to efficient and not leaving any grain behind. To many fields are now being worked up in the fall and there is nothing for the birds to eat. The ducks and geese don't eat these new varieties of rice. Hell I've heard just about everything you can imagine. I think they just don't have the numbers and the few birds that make it down has no place to rest because every field or pothole in the marsh has a blind in it. Duck blinds are big money and some people will pay for the blind. Just like we pay for deer leases. I think pressure is the main factor in our area. Just my opinion

EVERY PLACE MIZZOU TO THE GULF IS HUNTED!!!! Bingo! Very little rest area!

I've heard this one too. Doesn't really make sense though, because a harvested corn field sprouts up a whole new field of corn before the last frost. They're leaving a bunch behind still.

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.

I TOTALLY agree with just about everything you said. APCO will never do anything for waterfowl, period.

I am going to chase a rabbit just a little. We REALLY need to be looking at changing the season dates. Postpone it for the 60 day season about 30 days. Start weekend before Christmas and run into February. Over the last 10-15 years, while out fishing, there are no telling how many ducks I have seen in February. Big birds to divers, all of them. Like the old question, "mamma always cut the turkey in half to put in oven. Daughter does same until mother asks why are you doing it this way. Daughter says, "you always did it, so I am". Mother says, "my pot would only hold 1/2 a turkey that is why I did it". Gotta quit doing things the same way, it aint working.

Migrations have changed, weather patterns have changed (and always will), and TV has created a new group of DD hunters. I do not do much of it like I used to. Hell, I was eat up with it for 30 years. But now, it seems like more of a hastle than it is worth. I have a 19 yo son that is eat up with it and I cannot for the life of me get excited. For his age, he has already been to North Dakota and that he paid for himself.

What do others think of changing/moving season start dates?

State sure screwed the pooch again on a dumb ass decision. Split youth season up? One day at front and one at end? Whose bright idea was that? Chuck?

Sorry to hijack the thread, the more I typed, the more pissed off I got.

Solid post, Goatkiller. Things sure have changed dramatically from when my father hunted in the 1950s-70s. Thing I remember hearing him and his friends complaining about most often was skybusters who wouldn't work the birds. Now there aren't any birds with regularity to even bust at.



Where is this coming from, WDT? Would like to know more about this.

From the earliest days of the "conservation seasons" for snow geese this always was one of the threats -- avian flu or some disease, possibly spread in part (key phrase, in part) by snow geese since few people want to fool with them, they're so prolific, etc.

Goatkiller, are you talking about white lake preserve as in south of Gueydan. If that's the case than you were in one of if not the best duck hunting marsh SW Louisiana has to offer. I grew up hunting the marsh that borders it to the west. It's know as the Lake Arthur Hunting Club. I was simply amazing the birds that would be seen and killed in that marsh. Back when Amoco owned that Whitelake property, they would control the water and had a large area that was a reserve. My blind was about 1/2 mile west of this area and some mornings the sky would be covered with ducks heading that way. Words could never describe those days out in that marsh. I'm afraid those days are gone. I talked to some of the guys that hunt my old blind and they told me the first split really sucked.
As far as the blue wings. Most have moved on. They don't like really cold weather. They have been a majority of birds killed from what I understand. I hate seeing the way duck hunting is heading because I truly love it and I'm not real good at much but I know duck hunting and I am dam good at it. I would love for my kids to be able to enjoy it but they rather go deer hunting or go to the camp in Alabama and deer hunt and fish. Maybe one day.

I’d say you nailed it!

Yep, I agree. y'all should sell me all your duck hunting gear, give me your farmer's phone numbers and stay in bed with mama.

The Feds determine the dates for the States.

Truthfully the BIGGEST Change has been Hunting Pressure and Tactics.

We worry the heck out of waterfowl from the beginning of the season until the end. When I started some 30 plus years ago we would hunt the mornings no later than 8. Usually had our 2 mallards and woodie by then, if not so be it.

Fast forward until the past few years, hunting parties stay out all day, trying their darnedest to shoot at every group of ducks they can.

It's a competition now, tohellwith everyone else, it's all about me, me, me me and post away on FB and other sites. Shoot daylight to dark, heck ducks ain't flying chase them down in the boat, blast the heck out of them. Shoot them until dark every evening, had a great roost shoot is a common topic these days. No wonder the birds don't stick around.

Look at it from a ducks perspective. Why come down when they can hang out and feed where the season is closed and no one is bothering them. The season is closed in WI and other parts just North of here, open water and NO PRESSURE whatsoever, it's not rocket science to figure it out.

The worst thing that ever happened to duck hunting is 60 day season and 6 duck limits. Bear in mind cause of it our equipment is 100 times better than it was just a few short years ago.

Duck Dynasty didn't create this monster, Duck Dynasty Capitalized on it!

Halleluyer said Medea! The 60-6...second worst was 5-5 which didn't last long. And the SWD's......

There's no reason for the birds to head south early if there's not weather to puch them down. Here, it's been mild and so-so on the ducks. If a front north pushes them down, we get more action. Big winds here push our birds out. We just not getting some scrappy weather

Saw thousands of ducks and geese. Had flocks land in the same field with us but out of range. Twice we had over 5,000 birds land within a few hundred yards. I had never seen anything like it. The birds were there, they just wouldn't play with us.

We killed 1 teal, 2 shovelers, 3 snows, and 3 specs. We were hunting near Newport. TONS of specs in that area.

We hunted Northeast Arkansas last Thur-Sun and put a pretty good whooping on them. It was hard to leave Sunday, I almost stayed another day or 2. Mallards, Specks, and Teal mostly. Pintail were out in full Sunday

I know nothing about duck hunting. Decided to get into it this year for something
different. Been Probably 8 times and have fired one round at a Legitimate Duck.
I think they were Buffleheads doing about 80mph.
Other than huge amounts of Coots, I aint seen crap!!.

^^^^ that’s a hell of a picture.

Hell of a dog too, he has one of those 5 letter prefixes

It was scary quiet here in SW La. You couldn't ask for a better duck hunting morning here. Light rain, south wind, not to cold. Perfect morning!!! I have been out since daylight and could count the shots o heard on my 2 hands. Just unbelievable how there is no birds in our area. The outfitters in the area are starting to cancel hunts due to lack of birds. If it wasn't for the geese most hunters wouldn't kill anything at all. Sad part is we are only in the first week of the 2nd split and hunters are already giving up.

Cartervj, I know it is all up to the feds to set seasons and limits.


We need to remove most of the "old hats" on this committee and start new. Use solid science with some practicality. Anyone that has hunted in the last 15 years cannot say migration has changed as well as timing.
when you see 50-100 blue winged teal the first of May on Neely Henry, chit aint right!