But i have eyes…an they dont seen no ducks no wer they ustah see hundreds and hundreds….congratulations…yall have extincted them

I had business in Guntersville twice last week and didn’t see the first duck on the lake. Just some coots.

Good maybe the dynasty guys will read this. They are where they are being fed.

You mean where the rich people hunt

You can blame it on duck dynasty all u want, they helped get the ball started like 10-15 years ago. But social media is what killed duck hunting. TikTok, Instagram, hat brands, logos, etc etc. mommy and daddy’s money had no end to it. Look, young boys couldn’t kill many the old ways, so with baited holes and shooting every thing that cupped down, duck numbers has went south. Or that’s my thoughts anyway. Lol

Then what caused the decline of ducks in Alabama starting in the 90’s?

Pressure started it.

Lots of duck hunters way back in the 50s-70s. Early 80s rapid decline of hunters. Then the number of hunters started ramping up. I started in the 80s and the old duck hunters were saying y’all hurting the population. Kinda scolding us. Here in the shoals hard to find many duck hunters back then. The sport starting growing again and ramped up. Pressure started and we weren’t seeing what we used to. Still a good number of ducks so with the popularity and hunter screaming we need more more more. Well we got it. 4/45. Better equipment and tactics came along. Hunters scream more more more. Well we got it. 6/60 and the new era of representing our brand arrived. It fed itself even though duck numbers were declining in the south.

Goose hunter in the Midwest turned to smashing ducks because of declining Canada goose populations. More pressure hits and state realize the boom water Fowlers bring to their economy. So promoting becomes increasingly important to the states bottom line. Measure were taken to hold birds. Shortstopping them along with pressure changes migration patterns. Duck dynasty was formed for tv because of the young men and wanting to market to them. Bigger expensive brands take over and the cool factor kicks in.

Now we have well dressed cool kids representing their brands and no ducks. 😝

There is 2 distinct migrations now. The early one and the late one that rarely shows up unless forced

Big ducks now relate to freeze lines going back and forth. They also went west to escape constant pressure. Hunters are not moving in that direction. Money is no object because now it’s about social status.

Greed is what happened. Pressure is what happened

Greedy hunters wanted more more more

Greedy corporations saw and marketed hunters into buying their brand

Hunters ended up with much better equipment and staying all day

It’s really simple
We actually did it to ourselves.

I knew things had changed when a gal I knew asked if I was going to the DU banquet. Her husband and friends were going. Their business catered to the who’s who of the Shoals and were not hunters.

That was my sign things had shifted.

I have heard that the reason we quit getting big ducks in the Mobile Delta was because nutria moved in and at all the duck weed and all that the ducks fed on their. Not sure if that’s true or not but that’s what I was told.

I don't know if this is factual or not, but it sounds good, and the increasingly grumpy old man trapped inside my body is inclined to agree. I'm worried it's starting to happen with turkeys too. I've only been turkey hunting for around 10 years now, but even I can see a LOT more publicity on social media about it compared to when I started.

Loose lips sink ships. Age old

It’s a combination of Mojo decoys, social media, OnX, 180 month financing at 6% on boats, $1000 waders, and Boykin Spaniels

Sitka camo

Even though there are multiple companies selling $800-$1200 waders with lifetime warranty, the "normal" waders that were $250-$400 are now $400 - $700 waders that STILL only last a season or two before the same leaks they were plagued with at $300 are still there in the now $500 waders with no improvements in quality...exact same waders with a higher price that leak in the exact same places with the same extremely limited warranty.

Come on now.....I've got a Boykin who refuses to lower himself down to the level of Duck Retriever. He is a professed Pheasant Dawg!!

Duck Hunting in the 90's was fantastic for me. The weather pattern seemed to of changed and the duck numbers swinging through Guntersville started to decrease. The DDDH 100% made me stop duck hunting, as it totally ruined it.

No til planting has changed the patterns. Birds don’t need to move. Food staying on the ground not getting turned under. It takes snow to cover the food in most cases.

I actually love Boykins, they’re great family dogs and just little goobers. It just cracks me up seeing them being used primarily as waterfowl pups

Boykin spaniel looks like a female country music singer from 1994

That’s like when I payed $995 for SBE. Friends were making fun of me spending that much when they were buying 870s for $350. I still that hun and it’s had not telling how many cases thru it.

Buy once cry once. I abuse guns so after a buddy saw how well that gun held up he bought one.

Same with waders
I bought a pair of Banded. $600. First pair of breathable and leaked the second year. Wouldn’t cover replacement. MPWs literally had thousands of pairs returned.
Chene $1000, much more comfortable than those Banded and lifetime some will see.

Glad I hunter them hard when we still had the ducks. We wore them out the first few years after the tombigbee was flooded by dams. Think that was early 80,s. And we were about the only boat on the river hunting ducks back then. It was like hunting lower La those first few years when it was flooded around Gainesville. Good memories. Back then the big numbers showed up as they were pushed south by the freeze line. I would think this cold snap would have pushed some south sounds like that’s not the case now days ?

I’ve seen pics of lots a good strap lately. If you got open water the ducks are working in easily.

X2. I've got a couple of buddies that are hammering them in North MS. Killing mallards, gadwall, teal, and even pintails in timber that isn't frozen. All the fields up there have been frozen for like a week

That was when I first noticed not seeing the big numbers of ducks on Pickwick and surrounding swamps. Years ago I blamed the Tombigbee waterway opening. I know some guys that used to hunt it in MS and those backwaters produced big numbers for some years. A guy I knew deer hunted but some of their deer flooded and he said he’d alway seen woodies but after that the green heads showed up.

I’d always hear that when the numbers first started falling off. Snow cover always took care of that too and snow cover doesn’t happen as early as it once did
I will say we used to killed ducks and geese in chiseled fields in Wisconsin. I hated walking in those fields. I’d say it as 50/50 as to where we hunted and killed ducks and geese. I really saw no difference up there

No one wants to address the shifts from 3/30 to 4/45 and how 6/60 seasons. We have doubled the pressure not just in time in two months but also time spent in the field trying to get that limit daily. Duck hunters never hunted all day back in the 80s and early 90s. Heck most of our hunts we’d be limited out by 7:30 and if not we’d wait for that 8:00 flight and then leave so ducks could rest the remainder of the day.

On the river we hunted til 9:30 or 10 if we hadn’t limited out by then and then the ducks could raft up and eat and hangout

These days guys are out there running ducks up all day long and some take it a little further run and gun them

Ducks are not gonna hang around long after that

That’s the reality of what is happening.

The hunters themselves but everyone looks at themselves as the last thing hurting duck hunting

Wrath plays a factor but back in my early days of duck hunting they migrated, even in warm years we’d see numbers of ducks. In the early 2000s is when the pressure started hard and really ramped up a good 10-12 years before duck dynasty was even thought of

I’ve alway heard you can’t sling a dead cat by its tail without hitting a musician in the Shoals. Now I’d say the same thing about hitting a duck hunter. And a huge and I don’t see near as many that are deer hunters.

The other huge factor being ignored

Party hunting, used to be several guys out there not blinds accommodate 10-20 shooters at a time. They will annihilate a flock.
I’ve seen pics on FB of 30 plus hunters standing in front of a pile of ducks and geese

We hunted a big timber hole with 18 guns in Arkansas. Everything was locked up but that hole and we smashed them. Folks trying to claim birds was hilarious

I think better vehicles play into it and a higher standard of living. How many people could affird to drive hundreds of miles and miss work in the 1980s? A very select few. Waterfowl hunting was mostly done by 2 groups. Locals and the rich (doctors, lawyers, etc). Now, blue collar workers have nice trucks and time off. It is a great thing, except for the resource. I know a bunch of people in their 30-40s hunting 4-5 days a week. I only knew a handful of men doing that in the 80s.

technology has helped too. My buddy works while.we hunt and can mute his conference calls while he is calling and go back and forth like that and the people on the other end have no clue what is happening. Amazing to watch, but would have been impossible in years past.

Lots of added pressure.

Talking to a guy the other day about the draw on the public. He has been 16 times and they only drew 1 time and had a reservation another time. Something like 120 parties and 20ish spots. Crazy, back in the 90s I hunted that place and got turned away only a few times and that was only on school breaks or weekends.

That and now the BIG money is locking down the best spots. The field south of where I was friday is being leased for $40k. And they have to pay extra for water. Crazy. But my buddy said his electric bill was $500 last month to keep the ice out and water up in the fields. Some expensive duck/goose meat.

The folks i worked for in texas are billionaires(oil)..besides owning about a 150k acres of just places to deer and quail hunt..they own a property in arkansas and south Louisiana..Arky was around 2k acre..and the LA was a little over 4k acres both properties are engineered for duck hunting…and they have unlimited money to spend..duck hunting is their primary outdoor sport..and they spend more time doin that than any other…compete with that…i know for a fact the Louisiana property..they leased it from a company for a little while..an they got out bid by somebody one year an that pissedem off so they just found the land owner an wroteem a check for it…F U money

Like White Oaks?
There hundred of properties like that. One of local rich guys owned the old Coca-Cola place. It was top notch. The guys that own now kill ducks.
They places also buy out lands around them for one reason

Remove pressure from their oasis.

True. There lots of layers to that but it all boils down to more folks are out there for longer hours into the day and longer overall season.

Biologist looking at the numbers see nothing but slight changes here and there. They also recognize Hunter sentiment is declining

We rarely had a bad season until the last several years. We went from having our limit or close, to at least we didn’t get skunked. 😂

That is hunting the same places for the last 20-40 years. Something has changed

Honestly I setting to see something happening to the Specks. There getting targeted hard for lack of ducks. I don’t blame anyone. They’re fun and taste good. But there really fixin to get hammered hard.

Kind alike gadwalls and how they were the stupidest duck we felt bad shooting them. If you killed one or two the rat kept coming back looking and talking trying to find their buddy. These days them jokers are tough if you our not in the X. They like skirting and putting down outside of the decoys. And if you hit hard with that duck call they gone. Only light quacks work.

Folks that are 20-30 years old only know what they’ve experienced and are oblivious to what things were like.

Only 6%? Please...

I'm convinced if you can kill one limit of gadwalls in Mobile Bay you are are having a fantastic year...Can't speak for how it was prior to moving here in 2017 but I wholeheartedly believe that they are the hardest ducks to kill in North America...


Causeway hunters have no doubt dropped off BIG time since 2016. I'm sure many others who drive to and from Mobile every day can attest to that.



Last year I hunted only in the afternoons on the weekends south of the causeway and I averaged hearing probably 5 gunshots per hunt...


I think it's started to pick up this year with some with out of state hunters I would consistently see parked at the ramps...really weird...

A good friend that we’ve duck hunted since I the 80s has a friend that duck hunts somewhere down there along the causeway. They had a good year a few years ago he said. He did mention his buddy said everyone had quit and he wasn’t telling no one. Lol