Post Season

[DComeaux]

Modern age Market Hunting.

[Rick]

Couldn't have market hunting without a market. Clicked through the video pretty fast, but do you suppose the weather helped?

[DComeaux]

Couldn't have market hunting without a market. Clicked through the video pretty fast, but do you suppose the weather helped?

I clicked through it myself to more of the in the blind segments. What an awesome day of waterfowl hunting.

[DComeaux]

Taken from a post on FB. The hunter is from Louisiana.

Update from Mallard I Harvested with a Telemetry Device:
Okay, so I harvested a hen mallard with a telemetry device this year and I am still waiting for the maps now, but I have been in contact with the biologist that haven been tracking the information. While one of them does believe that corn is playing a major role, the other does not. So let me explain both answers for you all. The one biologist that does see corn playing a factor is from South Dakota. He states that because of the flooded corn, the birds have become majorly imprinted to the Midwest and as a result this actually causes an accelerate migration for his home state. Interesting right? On our end we say it short stops us, which it does, but on his end it actually causes an accelerated migration! Furthermore, the biologist that does not blame corn raises some good points about the migration in general. While she does not blame corn directly, she indirectly makes some statements that support short stopping so maybe she is just one of the many biologist that wants to deny what is actually occurring. Her studies indicate that the mallard migration is substantially slower than in the past and what adversely occurs is a slower migration for all other duck species. The reason behind this, which is some what common knowledge, is because mallards are very aggressive feeders. Usually, your smaller ducks migrate ahead of the major mallard migration to reduce competition levels for feed. So, that being said, if the mallards are flying through the Dakotas overnight and then staying in the Midwest, your others species can feed with little to no competition in southern Missouri and all over Arkansas. I believe her studies to be very accurate, however she needs to just go ahead and realize that the delayed mallard migration is primarily due to corn. The mallards are now enduring harsher winter conditions, withstanding what used to be "big fronts", solely based on the fact that there is an over abundance of flooded corn and supplemental feeding sanctuaries.
I hope this shed a little scientist light on what we are seeing. As stated before by myself and the admin of this page we are fighting a very complex issue, but with knowledge comes power! Hope you all enjoyed my little updated and let's talk below I'm interested in feedback.

[Rick]

Interesting interpretation of the "science," particularly since it ignores all the new acres of corn now left on dry ground by ethanol production and no till farming. Don't suppose it came from the FF's page?

Have no idea who the author's biologists were, but if you ask the one (originally from North Dakota) running the telemetry study what happened to our migration, as I have, he'll tell you to start by looking around and how much our habitat landscape has changed just in the 15(?) years he's been down here. Hence the effort to identify what still holds them in hopes of developing more of it.

[SpinnerMan]

Science, what is it? It's adherence to certain ways of doing thing and accepting ALL known facts. The truth, what science seeks, is not the truth if inconsistent with a single known facts. Facts are hard to come by.

What is one known fact? Why is the gold standard approach the double blind study? Because it is a fact that humans and that includes all of us including the most highly educated scientists is going to have an inclination to see what they want. If corn is what they believe is dominant, they will look very hard for the data points that prove they are right and rationalize away those data points that suggest they are not. And the smarter they are, the more complex their explanation of contradictory facts will be making them ever more certain they were right all along because nothing contradicts them.


The above post is one great example of how that works. Corn is it is the belief. Then you divide the two days points, one agrees and one disagrees and start explaining why the one that disagrees really agrees. More common it's to disparage them, but there are many ways to convince yourself that you were right all along. Good scientists focus most acutely on proving themselves wrong. Every time you prove yourself wrong, you have learned more and focuses on overcoming human nature.

The true difficulty when dealing with populations is that they don't behave as one. You can drop a million rocks, they all behave predictably. A million ducks born in Canada, some head to southern LA early and some never move an inch further south. We are now into complex statistics. Are there multiple subpopulations that tend to behave differently. For argument sake, let's split it into 3 perfect groups. North, middle, south. No matter what, the south goes far south and the north stays far north. High pressure on the south can lead that population to decline and very low pressure leads the north to grow. A big improvement in habitat in the middle causes that population to grow. How do you prove that versus a shift? It's crazy hard. But that is an ideal simple situation. Reality is far more complex

Facts. Why do we have mallards in January and not earlier most years?

Anecdotal evidence, random rewards and punishment (good days and bad, good years and bad), ... We see what we want. Vegas was made on the flawed human response to this. I find it interesting because I like duck hunting and it is a crazy complex science problem. Of course it's not if you assume it is very simple to explain the behavior of 10's of millions of ducks over dozens of generations subject to countless changes in land use, weather, and millions of hunters.

[DComeaux]

Its really just common sense and logic.
All migratory animals be they feathered, furred or finned migrate to and for a food response stimuli which centers around the need for nutrition and thus fecundity and overall survival of the species.
Mother nature and natural selection have installed premises which lead that the ones who find the best food source first and repetitively are selected for and as such will prosper while the others are selected against.
Food most certainly imprints and is a huge if not full part of the migratory instinct driver, such has been known since the beginning of animal behavioral sciences.

[SpinnerMan]

Its really just common sense and logic.
All migratory animals be they feathered, furred or finned migrate to and for a food response stimuli which centers around the need for nutrition and thus fecundity and overall survival of the species.
Mother nature and natural selection have installed premises which lead that the ones who find the best food source first and repetitively are selected for and as such will prosper while the others are selected against.
Food most certainly imprints and is a huge if not full part of the migratory instinct driver, such has been known since the beginning of animal behavioral sciences.

I don't believe that is common sense. Look at mallards. They are distributed from far to the north far to the south. BWT are spread from North America to South America. How is this very wide distribution explained by a food response stimuli? Are the BWT that pass over what is obviously sufficiently good food in southern LA and fly all the way to South America doing it as a food response stimuli? I would argue it cannot be. Same with the mallards or any other species that does the same. There are adequate food sources scattered far and wide, which is why the species winters over areas far and wide. Clearly it is not close to the full part of the migratory instinct driver and it seems hard to argue that it is a huge part when large numbers fly over large amounts of obviously desirable habitat as indicated by those that do not fly over it.

Do the same birds even go to the same place? I heard recently that the birds that we see where I hunt late season are disproportionately older birds. If true, this would be contrary to imprinting on food because if they are older birds on average then that means when they were juveniles they had gone somewhere else. I don't know if this is true or not, so it may be rumor or anecdotal and not fact.

My pure guess is that there is a tendency for younger birds to go further south and mature birds to stay further north. The younger scattering farther and wider to benefit the species by mixing in with other populations. The older birds staying further north to get back to the breeding grounds ASAP to start making the next generation by claiming the better nesting locations with the younger birds getting the poorer locations since they are less likely to be successful anyways. However, there is massive noise in the system and large variation from year to year requiring a massive amount of data to ferret out all the many factors that would be required to explain the behavior of 10's of millions of ducks in any given year, let alone the behavior over many generations.

My point of my previous post is everyone should challenge their beliefs. It's obviously not easily explained by a simple explanation. Just look at the banding data. The birds follow some patterns, but there is also a large fraction that scatter to the wind. Not to mention telemetry data where you get individual birds flying over many states in a relatively short time after having headed south. Even the best scientist can easily make of the data whatever they want without having to make a completely crazy explanation.

I find it hard that food explains the peak winter distribution of pretty much any duck species. You have them scattered over a huge range. You have bluebills in the Great Lakes and in the deep south. There is food all over the place for them. Probably enough zebra mussels that no bird ever need to head south. An even bigger smorgasborg than corn for mollusk feeding divers.

[DComeaux]

http://www.lawff.org/waterfowl?fbclid=IwAR3wPBs_R7upWJXodU0y3l8WBc2amYwfYeUHs9bZ_UI5bqaYFqJUV5Qxdd0

[Johnc]

Bwt are photopic migrators ——differences in amount of light in the day triggers migration correct?

Mallards are food source freeze migrators correct? Or stay close to freeze line

Spoons,gadwall and pintail photopic too

Now bwt wintering here. Tree ducks. Etc... I think that permanent change

Some of this other stuff, is it cyclic or “is it is what it is “ situation—- I don’t know

[Rick]

http://www.lawff.org/waterfowl?fbclid=IwAR3wPBs_R7upWJXodU0y3l8WBc2amYwfYeUHs9bZ_UI5bqaYFqJUV5Qxdd0

So much for keeping what the neck collars look like from the general public - though I guess it's unlikely roadside snipers will be browsing the LDWF site.

[SpinnerMan]

Bwt are photopic migrators ——differences in amount of light in the day triggers migration correct?

Mallards are food source freeze migrators correct? Or stay close to freeze line

Spoons,gadwall and pintail photopic too

Now bwt wintering here. Tree ducks. Etc... I think that permanent change

Some of this other stuff, is it cyclic or “is it is what it is “ situation—- I don’t know

The point is it is very complex which is why there are ducks scattered over 1,000 miles or more. It's not conducive to a simple explanation. Some mallards migrate early and head far south, some don't move an inch further than they need to, and many fall in between. I suspect the drive to spread far and wide is an adaptation to avoid a localized issue causing major damage to the population. I think this natural spreading makes explanation of behavior challenging because there is a ton of noise (randomness) in the entire process.

[DComeaux]

Go-Devil Manufacturing
1 hr ·
Summary of 2019-2020 Duck Season in Louisiana by Warren Coco
How was your season? Mine, not so good.
Last weekend I went to pick up decoys and bring the floating blind back from my hunting property to Baton Rouge. I usually enjoy these weekends following the season to decompress and reflect on what usually has been good times at the camp with family and friends. But the last two years have been brutal here in South Louisiana for duck hunters, especially in the areas that I hunt in Southwest Louisiana and Central Louisiana near the Mississippi flyway. Some of you may have read my report around this time last year that the 2018-2019 season was my worst in my 50 years of hunting. I regret to report that this season stunk. The 2019-2020 season was, for me, even worse than 2018-2019.
To contrast, in 2014 (just 5 seasons ago) I had 2 blinds on my place in Southwest Louisiana yield 880 ducks - and I don't usually hunt much during the weekdays except for a few extended weekends around holidays. This year, most of what we shot were Gadwall and Greenwing teal. Approximately 130 ducks in those same two blinds, which is a sharp contrast to 2014. I had more "scratch" days than I ever had in any hunting season. These last two years make that 2014 season feel like the "hay days" of hunting here. Last year we had high water in much of South Louisiana due to rainfall either locally or in the northern parts of the flyway flowing to Louisiana. Last year was also quite warm throughout the country and especially in South Louisiana. This season started again with too much water in my local area and with warm temperatures, despite a record cold opening weekend arctic blast. I usually gauge whether a season is cold by the number of times I burn my wood stove at my camp, and the number of times I drain the water lines in anticipation of a freeze. I burned my stove once and only drained my water lines in the camp once during the entire season.
I get to hear reports from my loyal customers across the country throughout the season. The reports suggested that it was quite a bit colder in the northern parts of the country, and it got a little colder in the Arkansas region which possibly contributed to a slightly better season there. The reports I got from Arkansas were sort of similar to South Louisiana with regards to patterns; they would have a good hunt one day contrasted by a bad one the next, but an overall improvement for Arkansas over last year. Southeast Texas started out doing well not too far from my property, though I did not hear how they did in the later part of the season. My farm in Central Louisiana along the Black River flooded last season and the water did not leave until just before the season in August. As a result, we did not get a crop in the ground and there was little food for the ducks. The hunting there was very poor. Numerous other areas nearby in Central Louisiana suffered from prolonged flood conditions. In portions of South Louisiana the ducks went to "prime" locations (some pumped sediment locations, new delta areas) and some hunters experienced good hunting there. Areas usually flush with ducks throughout my lifetime, such as the Pecan Island area, were mostly void of ducks. Although there were pockets of success here and there, my general opinion supported through the lens of so many customers, is that we had a very poor season in Louisiana overall compared to long term trends. If I may add, usually the weekends nearest the closing we get a strong migration "final" push here in Louisiana. On my way to my camp last weekend in Southwest Louisiana I noticed several hundred Gadwalls off highway 27 across from the LNG plant which would ordinarily leave me to believe that I would see clouds of ducks in my marsh. After I launched the airboat and ran to my property, I arrived at my camp right before sunset and made a quick round where I spotted only a couple of pairs of Greenwing teal and about 75 Ringneck. Just the day after the season closed though, one of my friends jumped 1000 Greenwing teal at one of my blinds. This patchy/spotty observation was par for the course this season.
I do not have all the answers to say why the ducks did not come to South Louisiana, and I've been at this for a long time and observant of patterns and trends. Fact is, we hardly saw certain ducks other than Gadwalls and Teal here in Louisiana. Personally, I feel it got cold enough this winter nationwide to drive the Gadwalls and Teal to Louisiana which makes up the majority of our typical bag, but they never showed up in the numbers I would have expected to see. Perhaps the gadwall showed up because residual corn feed available in the northern parts of the flyway doesn’t stop their preference for aquatics instead of grain.
For years I have said everything changes when the first shot is fired and everything changes when the last shot is fired; a statement I've coined to suggest a reason why we typically see a lot more ducks when the season is closed as hunting pressure is off and they are leaving the refuges and spreading out to find more food sources. A lot of hunters, whether they disagree with me or not on this, want to extend the season later suggesting that the ducks just got here. While that may be the case, we need to refrain from the heat-of-the-moment and have respect for the biological science and long-term consequences of ignoring the fact that when the ducks start pairing up, it is time to quit hunting. Lastly, I'll end with a casual observation. One thing that is constant with duck hunting is that everything changes. The moment you think you've got it figured out, the world changes around you. I have killed more ducks from one famous duck blind in South Louisiana than a thousand duck hunters might kill in their lifetime. That same place hasn't seen a duck in 20 years.
I will work as hard as ever to improve my grounds and anticipate next season. That's what avid duck hunter's do.
For what it's worth, the picture of this early February sun-bathing alligator with turtles on its back demonstrates the warm conditions in South Louisiana.

[Darren]

His observations echo that of so very many. His sentiments, however, do NOT echo that of the FF(L) that claims that Louisiana hunting peaked in the mid 90s and hasn't been the same since the 1998 MBTA changed. Warren says he had a strong season as recent as 2014-2015 season, which I think is one of the more recent peaks of Louisiana's harvest.

If something has changed, it's done so in last few years........but the idea that something could change so fast seems questionable, and rather more likely change(s) that also came along with the last two winters being quite mild, with far above average precip. His reference to his old blind that killed a zillion ducks and hasn't seen one in 20 years is in Manchac where it's carpeted with salvinia now, not unlike in much of SW La marshes these days, thus lowering it's value and carrying capacity for migrators.

[Ducaholic]

Warren is a top end feeder in the waterfowl food change. What he witnesses is not the same as the Average Joe who fights for a spot on a daily basis on public land or hunts a lease that he saves his change for all year to be able to afford a pit or blind somewhere in fairly close proximity of the where the ducks really want to be.

What his comments do say is it's gotten bad. Real bad even for those that can afford the best spots money can buy.

[Darren]

Warren does well, but hes not Little Pecan Island Club wealthy. That crew is at the top of the waterfowl have/have not's chain.

[Deltaman]

Looks like he is on par with the rest of us, despite having normally premium private options. Seems odd that he uses an air boat versus the mud motor that he pretty much created.

[DComeaux]

Greater white-fronted geese, commonly referred to as “specklebellies”, were once abundant throughout the Gulf Coastal regions of Texas. Over the last 20 years TPWD goose surveys, flown annually to count the number of geese wintering in Texas, showed that geese were becoming less abundant along the Gulf while numbers were growing to the north, particularly in Arkansas. To investigate this issue TPWD partnered with Texas A&M University-Kingsville, the University of Missouri, and Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to determine when, where, and why geese move throughout their annual cycle. Since 2015, over 120 GPS tracking devices have been attached to white-fronts throughout Texas and Louisiana to investigate movements, behaviors, and energy expenditure during the winter period, to understand how long white-fronts spend each winter in different regions, and to learn about migration timing, routes, and stopovers during spring and fall migrations. Advanced transmitters allow researchers to get an accurate GPS location every 30 minutes and determine specific behaviors of geese, such as feeding, walking, or flying, every six minutes around the clock. To date, nearly 1 million GPS locations and tens of millions of behavior measurements have been collected to help understand the drivers of white-front movements.
White-fronts breed primarily in the arctic tundra of Canada and northern Alaska, and in the boreal forest of Interior Alaska. Nearly 70% of all white-fronts captured during winter subsequently bred on the Alaskan North Slope, or in Western and Nunavut, Canada. Additionally, individuals captured in each wintering region summered in several different breeding regions, indicating that the entire Midcontinent population intermingles on their southern wintering grounds. During winter, white-fronts make extensive movements throughout their wintering range from Arkansas, through Louisiana and Texas, as far south as Mexico, and do so much more frequently than previously known. Most of these movements occur early during the winter period, primarily in December when white-fronts move the farthest distance each day. This information is valuable to both harvest and habitat managers because we now know that despite the large concentrations of white-fronts shifting northward, a large portion (>50% during some winters) of tagged white-fronts continue to use several regions in Texas each year. In some regions (e.g., Rolling Plains) white-fronts return regularly, and continue to use each winter, where the duration of their stay can exceed 120 days...

...Understanding how white-fronts use and move about their winter landscape will help us understand the drivers of this large-scale distribution shift during winter and how we can better manage for white-fronts which remain in Texas. White-front capture and tracking will continue into 2020, aiming to deploy more tracking devices to continue to monitor geese in the future.
By: Jay VonBank, Doctoral Candidate, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Contributing Author

https://content.govdelivery.com/account ... 5137397554






GPS locations (pink dots) from over 100 greater white-fronted geese captured in Texas and Louisiana, 2016-2019.

all-gwfg-locations-1-2-2020-copy_original.jpg

[Darren]

Looks like SW la is doing just fine there.

But was it once even more than that?

[Rick]

Looks like SW la is doing just fine there.

But was it once even more than that?

When I moved here in '83, the Klondike Volunteer Fire Department was touted as the statistical center of the greatest concentration of wintering white-fronts on the continent. Went to work for Doug's because you couldn't drive through Klondike on 14 without seeing thousands of them. That's over.

[SpinnerMan]

Looks like SW la is doing just fine there.

That area SW of Lake Michigan that they avoid like the plague. That's where I hunt.

I see/here specks about other year. But you don't have to go very far south or west and there are a few around.

[Darren]

Looks like SW la is doing just fine there.

But was it once even more than that?

When I moved here in '83, the Klondike Volunteer Fire Department was touted as the statistical center of the greatest concentration of wintering white-fronts on the continent. Went to work for Doug's because you couldn't drive through Klondike on 14 without seeing thousands of them. That's over.

Yea that's what I was thinking; even if this is noteworthy recent data 2016-2019, it could still pale in comparison to what was.

[DComeaux]

Why aren't the ducks coming to Louisiana?

[Rick]

Why aren't the ducks coming to Louisiana?

When I asked Paul Link for his best guess, he said "Look around." and went on to describe how much the landscape had changed during his 15(?) years here. That, and the climate changes that have set all manner of bird migrations askew world wide.

But the last real winter we had, 2017-2018, sure was fun, anyway.

[DComeaux]

I'm afraid the fat lady has sung and left the building.

[Rick]

We'll see...

Meanwhile, I'm plotting to make the best of what's left, if the virus lets us stay in business.

[Darren]

I'm afraid the fat lady has sung and left the building.

As Rick noted above, the last time we had actual winter, we had lots of ducks. Your particular corner of the marsh may not have, but for many (most?) it was widely heralded as a strong season. Two seasons in a row now of none of my tender backyard plants needing to be cut back and we haven't had as much success.......imagine that.

Yet even with a mild winter for this past season, I logged numbers that weren't but 7% off the pace of what I've long called a solid season. That's awfully difficult to complain about. Yes it was up and down, good hunts and not, but part of it. 2 ducks one day, 10 the next.

She ain't left the building just yet, DC.

[DComeaux]

Regardless of what anyone's thoughts may be on the cause of our migration issue, If nothing changes we are very near the end. Those that are mobile along with some duck farms will tinker with a few until they finally shoo those few away.

[Rick]

Hard not to have seen the end, as we knew it, coming for literal decades. People have been cranking out more people for a very long time.

[DComeaux]

It's growing.


https://www.fws.gov/southeast/news/2020/03/public-input-requested-on-environmental-assessment-for-genetically-engineered-crops-on-national-wildlife-refuges-in-the-southeastern-united-states/