Just listened to 2 podcasts from "End of the Line", with one from Bill Cooksey and the other from Bradley Ramsey. Fair amount of difference between these two, as they described their assessment of waterfowl migrations on the Mississippi Flyway. Cooksey emphasized changing landscape (VERY true!), ag changes (OH, SO TRUE!!), habitat loss (no brainer..), gun pressure (THANK YOU,BILL!!!) and......SHORTSTOPPING?!? Wow!!!!.....not many will say THAT directly or indirectly, but will get to THAT in a moment...
Bradley Ramsey, for his part, did speak of weather being so warm across the nation as being a critical factor for this season's waterfowl DRAMA. No argument there, Bradley, It is A FACT which cannot be dismissed.....HOWEVER, as he got a text from someone in the Pacific Flyway, the same scenario is being seen there. Pacific Flyway is a BIG area with the lowest amount of waterfowl hunters in all 4 flyways, so let's break down, to where the MAJORITY of the hunters are in this flyway-California, Oregon, and Washington.
If you want to talk facts on MALLARD migration as Bradley was discussing, here are some for the No.2 duck killing state in the country (yep, California): 1) 70% of the mallards harvested in California are raised in California and Southern Oregon (kinda HARD to blame weather, Bradley, but the nice days they are seeing currently without the "Pineapple Express" storms means duck don't fly much), California's specklebelly population at one refuge (I will pick Sacramento NWR for a comparison)winter more specks than the whole state of Arkansas, the No.2 state in speck harvest (California is No.1), 3) California had a 6 Canada Goose limit DURING THE REGULAR SEASON before any state did in all 4 flyways, and now it is up to 10. So, point taken? The most populous state in the nation has enough habitat to support a resident mallard population AND a resident Canada population (NOT the Giants, but step down....Western Canadas) with a liberal harvest of 7 mallards and 10 Canadas daily during the regular season (or 10 specks....dark geese in combination thereof). So, basically.....any state West of the Rocky Mtns. which has cool summers and calcium in the soil (any state that has a pheasant population) and enough water with lots of cattails (did I just describe the Dakotas?), will have a mallard population (not the same as the Mississippi Flyway from Southern Missouri south, huh?)
Bradley and Rocky also spoke of Kansas and Oklahoma as places now to kill mallards.....and what is up with THAT?!? Jeez, guess I need to EDUCATE THE EDUCATED....ok, boys, if you get a chance (if READING is something you both do) check out "The Arkansas Duck Hunter's Almanac", by Steve Bowman and Steve Wright. One chapter they describe the ESTABLISHED migration route ducks follow thru Kansas and Oklahoma, head E on the Arkansas River, and onto the Grand Prairie. Kansas and Oklahoma waterfowl biologists lobbied for and received dollars from state/federal resources in the 90's and give their respective states hunting opportunity......which bring me to one of my FAVORITE pages from my FAVORITE book "Waterfowl Tomorrow" (page 516, Chapter: State Areas) "States must share with a migratory resource that is produced in Canada and USA, and winters in USA and Mexico.
What one state does in acquiring and developing areas for waterfowl hunting may profoundly affect hunting in a neighboring state. Because only so many birds come down the flyways, the duration of their stay in any state depends largely on the quality and quantity of habitat available to them. Managed land and water projects can change ancestral patterns of waterfowl distribution. Several million acres of state lands are now managed specifically for hunting waterfowl, and there are more to come. The result is a growing interstate problem on how best to share the waterfowl resources." THAT was printed in 1964, and the book is a Department of Interior publication. FYI, 1963 duck season was 19 1/2 days with a 1 mallard limit, so the Feds were doing their part with the soil bank program (prelude to CRP and WRP), and EDUCATING waterfowl hunters who ACTUALLY read......tell me those words don't apply today more than ever ( I DOUBLE DARE YOU!!!)
Now, as we were speaking of Bill Cooksey....He described Louisiana no longer wintering Canadas as areas were created for Canada Goose Hunting in the upper portions of the Mississippi Flyway (THANKS, BILL!! YOU ARE SO RIGHT!!!) Again, from my "BIBLE" (page 199, Chapter: Mississippi Flyway) "1962-1963 midwinter survey count of Canada Geese was more than 400,000, highest on record. Distribution and harvest of the birds, however, leave much to be desired. Most are shot in a few places in Michigan, Indiana, 3 spots in Illinois, Missouri, and Louisiana. Improving distribution and harvest of these birds is currently one of management's biggest challenges". To be pointed out, Minnesota and Michigan harvest combined comes close to 400K (mostly resident birds, but you get the idea). By 1971, Louisiana had only 1,700 wintering large Canadas (Interior Canadas, to be specific), which resulted in no season for Canadas for 20 years ( lessers from Texas finally drifted over in migration change allowing Louisiana a season in '91). Other than the resident Giants from Mississippi and Arkansas, Louisiana still has not seen a migration of large Canada Geese, and the only state E of the Rocky Mtns. which does not have any type of September Canada Goose season.......sad. Some call that progress....
Cooksey is most correct on the time when it was 30 days and 3 ducks, Canada Goose hunting became more popular (70 days plus and 2 compared to 30 and 3...not a hard choice to make), though snow geese for Louisiana picked up? Yeah.....but the specklebelly goose was the more proximity to the Canada, not the snows. Louisiana harvested 60,000 specks in '91, a number Arkansas now kills in their current seasons, and theirs is 3 compared to Louisiana then was 2. Arkansas shot 4500 specks in 1991.
Cooksey also stated in '98 his one blind shot 3000 birds. WOW.......and they hunted every day. That comes to 50 birds a day for a 60 day season. Do I believe him? Sure do! Do I believe those birds were SHORTSTOPPED?.......'YA THINK? His area mentioned in hunting was also part of the Canada Geese being stopped, so why not believe ducks as well???
Any rate, hope everyone reading this had a great Christmas, and if you want to get more' EDUCATED on waterfowling, my advice to any of you LISTENING to these podcasts, please do your own research, and have reading material available to say whether or not such is true (and the internet as well). "Waterfowl Tomorrow" maybe over 50 years old, but the words written are as true today as they were then. You can get one online for less than 2 boxes of 3" steel 4's. Develop a relationship with your state waterfowl biologist (leave out the yelling and the blame, though.) Take the words spoken by individuals like Bradley Ramsey and Bill Cooksey with interest, but also to be able to "account and verify". "It's not what they say, it's what they DON"T say", the late David “ROCK” Boudreaux told me SEVERAL times when talking about what waterfowl EXPERTS speak of their FAVORITE subject. David was a 40 year USFWS contract biologist assigned to SW Louisiana. Mentored by Johnny Lynch (an author in several chapters in my "BIBLE"), he received a DOI award for outstanding achievement (not something the Department of Interior hands out like candy on Halloween). His project for the award? Creating 'REST AREAS" across his beloved Louisiana where gun pressure is the highest. NOT FOOD......only water. W.R.A.P. was the abbreviation (think you can figure out what it means.)
If Bradley and Bill and Rocky are reading this blog, look to page 283 on "Waterfowl Tomorrow" (if you have a copy). Johnny Lynch has an EXCELLENT chapter on weather. Articulate writer, had a degree in journalism alongside waterfowl biology (he is also looked at as the FATHER of AHM model as we know it...... He came up with it back in the 60's.)
Merry Christmas, everyone......hope you add bands to your lanyard soon enough!!! At least Flyway Federation is actually doing something to try and fix it...……. WITH FACTS!