Preseason

[DComeaux]

Breaking news..... Read rumors so far.....Public land hunting is a joke. Time to weed out some of this s*%T!

https://www.wbbjtv.com/2021/01/25/tbi-investigating-deaths-at-reelfoot-lake/?fbclid=IwAR2vYDG5X_SZW1j6-OcpeLBWAelkt0TT8gR71CAaxBOA7olYgRXH5HpbZsI

[Duck Engr]

Not the first time that’s happened

[Duck Engr]

Also reminds me of the last piece of advice my Dad gave me before letting me go on my first public land hunt without him. “Son never mess with an old man who plays a young man’s game.”

Alleged shooter is 70. Deceased were in their 20s. Lessons to be learned on both sides of this unfortunately.

[DComeaux]

[Deltaman]

Made me want to forkin' cry, seeing the data show the migration South drying up, but not because of weather or overall duck numbers. We might be hearing some crying in the midwest, but know that it is an empty cry based on where the birds have stopped.
Liked the guy in the second video.......no wonder you keep talking about that multi-million dollar acreage you just needed a couple more people to share with you

Thanks for sharing Dave!

[DComeaux]

Blake sent me this video link via email with the subject "open wound salt". Seems it was a January teal hunt. Those big groups turning are beautiful. His gravy recipe had my taste buds a bit confused, though.

[Rick]

Glad they weren't my decoys.

[DComeaux]

Glad they weren't my decoys.

I saw that.

[Johnc]

Foam filled higdons

Noticed a lot of missing on first shot

[DComeaux]

Ignorance of the law.....

Screenshot (16).png

[Deltaman]

I killed and ate quite a few of them as a kid. Our empty local baseball park, armed with a wrist rocket, a bag of marbles, and a book of matches, I played my own version of survivorman

[DComeaux]

Interesting video.

[Rick]

Went from "our habitat's gone" to "up-North's the problem" in a blink.

[Darren]

Delacroix's marshes where they hunt are super fragile, heavily influence by the Caernarvon diversion; as a result each storm just wrecks shop and opens it up. As a comparison, closer to Hopedale and Shell Beach it's much more sturdy, hardly any changes observed following storms, even this year with Zeta blasting right through the area.

[DComeaux]

Delacroix's marshes where they hunt are super fragile, heavily influence by the Caernarvon diversion; as a result each storm just wrecks shop and opens it up. As a comparison, closer to Hopedale and Shell Beach it's much more sturdy, hardly any changes observed following storms, even this year with Zeta blasting right through the area.

It's simple. Just Let the Mississippi river overflow through that area as it once did. Oyster fisherman and shrimpers seem to be very much against any sort of freshwater diversion in that area and I can understand this, but it's going to come down to either the Oysters or land building for storm surge protection. It can't be left to continue as is if the latter is to be achieved.

[DComeaux]

[Duck Engr]

Ironic thing is that was posted after last season. They’re probably really losing their minds after this season.

[DComeaux]

Ironic thing is that was posted after last season. They’re probably really losing their minds after this season.

You know it.

[Ricky Spanish]

Sorry to butt in but I'm bored.
What I noticed driving all freaking over the place in semo and NEAR was...
Cotton cotton cotton.
If I had to guess I'd say demand for cotton outbid demand for rice. Farmers do what makes the most money. That affects us big time in ways many can not fathom or comprehend.
Is that what you guys see too?
I'm just a city kid and don't know but I keep mental notes on regions where I hunt.
Rice is now Cotton

[Duck Engr]

I see more cotton and a lot more turned over fields that aren’t flooded.

[DComeaux]

Talked to our lease holder today and was told that he spoke to the land owners son who rode our marsh very recently. He told him that the ducks were so thick he could have "killed em with a stick". That was confirmed by another very reliable source down there as well. Not sure if most of those are stopping in for a customs check or not, but I hope they enjoy their time with us and remember where they rested unmolested. I was also told that our water was dabbler low, which I hope we can keep that way this fall.

My lease holder will be surveying our lease with a guy that owns a marsh equipment company in a week or two. He will get an estimate for the repair and rebuilding of the property levees and possibly some Island building..... My bank account is very nervous.

[Duck Engr]

Best tell your bank account to “brace for impact”. Good news on all the ducks hanging out at the lease. Better late than never I suppose.

[SpinnerMan]

My bank account is very nervous.

Good news on all the ducks hanging out at the lease. Better late than never I suppose.

I disagree. Better never than late. Never. I didn't miss out. Late, just pisses me off. Especially if that appears to be the pattern.

They were debating moving our duck season into January and our goose season into February. Had they, it would have been a beautiful thing this year. As it was, the seasons closed two weeks early. That seems to be the pattern And the tease of considering it and them bailing

On this regard I am all in with Dave. I'll bet it's those effing flooded corn people. They want the season as early as possible because once they freeze out, they are basically done. They actually had the political influence to redraw our duck zones and screwed the river hunters out of the best part of the season. My guess is they prevented this change as well.

[DComeaux]

On this regard I am all in with Dave. I'll bet it's those effing flooded corn people. They want the season as early as possible because once they freeze out, they are basically done. They actually had the political influence to redraw our duck zones and screwed the river hunters out of the best part of the season. My guess is they prevented this change as well.

I am totally against later seasons no matter the state. As I sarcastically posted to someone on FB wanting later seasons, "why don't we just go north and shoot them off of the nest in Canada and the pothole regions?". We need to give these birds a rest at some point. We cannot chase them from can till can't and expect everything to be okay. The migration is scrambled at the moment and I think the added pressure due to the liberal seasons is one of the contributing factors. I'd like to see the white goose conservation order done away with as well. Money and political influence screws up a lot of stuff.

[SpinnerMan]

On this regard I am all in with Dave. I'll bet it's those effing flooded corn people. They want the season as early as possible because once they freeze out, they are basically done. They actually had the political influence to redraw our duck zones and screwed the river hunters out of the best part of the season. My guess is they prevented this change as well.

I am totally against later seasons no matter the state. As I sarcastically posted to someone on FB wanting later seasons, "why don't we just go north and shoot them off of the nest in Canada and the pothole regions?". We need to give these birds a rest at some point. We cannot chase them from can till can't and expect everything to be okay. The migration is scrambled at the moment and I think the added pressure due to the liberal seasons is one of the contributing factors. I'd like to see the white goose conservation order done away with as well. Money and political influence screws up a lot of stuff.

What is late season? Ours ends over a month before the latest seasons in the south. I'm talking duck into the 2nd week of January and Geese into the 2nd week of February. This still shuts down a month before many seasons close down south.

My ideal is a split season. Maybe the first weekend through the end of the second weekend in October. Hunt the wood ducks and other early migrators. Also, the geese seem more huntable. Then ends the first Sunday in January after the 10th. So between the 11th and the 17th. That would put the start Nov 22-28.

We really have 3 season based on bird habitat/behavior.

Early which is best before our season opens for wood ducks and other early migrators. Late Sept/ Early Oct.

Middle around early to late November for birds that migrate on cold and hunted over water. And when we get a hard cold snap in late Oct/early Nov, it screws up the middle season which is where most of our season falls. Which seems to be the pattern lately.

Late for the hardy birds that don't migrate unless they have to and are hunted over fields or the remaining open water (big rivers, cooling lakes) and this happens late December through January.

Right now we miss out on two of them because we have continuous 60 day seasons without a split. So it often opens too late for the early birds and nearly always closes too early for the late birds. A split season would be a huge help. Move the front up two weeks and the back back two weeks, and a month in the middle when there rarely is good hunting.

On an aside. We aren't killing enough local Canada geese. They have thought about very late seasons. The problem is they haven't taken the step to push them late enough. I think it is fear of the complaint about shooting nesting birds. But if you don't push it that late you end up killing migratory geese which runs the risk of overharvest. And who cares if you shoot nesting birds if one of the population control methods is shaking eggs to kill them.

[DComeaux]

I don't have any concerns with the Canada goose at the moment and know they've become a nuisance up there, so have at it. I would like to see an early opening for duck in the Mississippi flyway with a 30 and 3 or 45 and 3 for a few years no matter what the population estimates are said to be. It would be very interesting to see if this would alter migration or local distribution.

I feel that the fowl are showing us things and it's being ignored. This brings my thoughts to your political influence comment, and I'll throw in money. I feel management today is influenced (read squelched) by both. No one in that realm dares to speak up for fear of repercussions, and those that have are ignored. Pressure = money collected from hunters. I liken it to an attempt of eliminating a rich mans welfare. We do not have to hunt ducks to survive and they should be managed that way.

[SpinnerMan]

I feel that the fowl are showing us things and it's being ignored.

I think those things are large scale land use changes, climate change (not catastrophic end of the world BS, but a generally warming climate probably enhanced by carbon emissions), and increased pressure (and distribution of pressure). The relative importance of those three is different in different places.

My primary spot for hunting in November has largely collapsed because of land use changes. It used to be the number one producing club in the state. This year we barely killed 100 ducks.

My late season spot exists almost exclusively because of land use change (i.e., the cooling lake) but has declined because of later arrival of winter weather. Pressure doesn't really matter.

Down where you are, it sounds like all three play a role.

I don't think having a bunch of seasons helps either. I think everybody opening and closing at the same time is ideal. It would spread pressure a little, but also ducks wouldn't be able to move north or south a relatively small distance for them and have nothing but refuge. There are obviously some practical problems with this.

A guide I hunted with had an interesting (probably completely impractical) idea. We currently have 60 days to hunt ducks, but for most people, they are not happy about the dates. Instead, you get 45 days to hunt ducks. You decide what those days are before the season. So say the season is open everywhere from mid Sept through mid January. However, you pick three 15 day stretches where you can hunt. For me, I'd pick first two weeks of October, first two weeks in January, and probably two weeks after the second shotgun deer season in Illinois or maybe the entire last 30 days and give up on the middle season. It would reduce pressure and spread it out. I theoretically like the idea but completely impractical. I'd happily give up 15 days for that option.

What is the probability of a duck dying that goes no further south than central Illinois? He's hunted from mid Sept in Canada to mid December. 3 months in places with much lower hunting pressure. Now that same duck heads to the Gulf Coast. He's hunted from mid Sept in Canada to the end of January. 4.5 months in danger and passes through Arkansas and Louisiana where there are far more hunters per acre than up north. It would seem that hunter mortality would be at least 50% higher if not 100% higher or more. It wouldn't take a lot of generations to shift populations north. So to shift them back south, close you all's season and double ours Less total ducks would be killed and those that hang north would be under greater pressure and those that move south would be under less.

I think duck populations are completely fine. I think the hunters are telling us two things. 1) Nobody's ever satisfied because the good old days always feel better. 2) We have a distribution problem, not a population problem and that affects some much more than others.

Right now, I'm kind of like you. My days hunting ducks are going way down. I think I only targeted ducks 10 days this year and I hunted 72 days. I used to target ducks 30+ days.

[DComeaux]

I'm concerned about the health of those that stayed up there over the last few years and are there now in this brutal weather. Energy expenditure has got to be way more in -25 wind chill with everything frozen solid versus 25 to 30. I would think the flight down to the gulf coast would be a lot less detrimental to the fowl. Maybe this will teach em a lesson.

[SpinnerMan]

I'm concerned about the health of those that stayed up there over the last few years and are there now in this brutal weather. Energy expenditure has got to be way more in -25 wind chill with everything frozen solid versus 25 to 30. I would think the flight down to the gulf coast would be a lot less detrimental to the fowl. Maybe this will teach em a lesson.

I really don't think it is.

They seem completely oblivious to the cold. They'll fly into your spread with -20 wind chills and just go to sleep like they are chilling on the beach in summer.

If the little bitty snowbird that weigh less than a half an ounce doesn't freeze to death, I think a duck that is more than 50 times larger isn't really expending much energy to stay warm.

They are so well insulated that they can stay in contact with 32 F water indefinitely. Contact with cold water causes far greater heat loss than contact with cold air. I think these arctic temperature make no significant difference. Plus they are not stupid and will just fly to warmer weather if need be.

I think the much bigger effect is snow and especially ice. The energy expended by their digging to find food. Which is why they head south when the snow gets too deep and head back when it isn't. Losing their roost is the problem with cold. I don't think it really has much if any energy impacts. Plus, they are always sitting on open water when they roost, so that's 32 F or higher regardless of the air temperature on land. On the cooling lakes and other warm water discharges it is much higher. They don't seem to care about water temperature only weather the water is ice or liquid. And Canadas are just fine on frozen water and will roost on a frozen lake until it gets snow on it.

I think that thick layer of down makes even the coldest temperature feel like it's 70 degrees out all the time for them. After all, if people want to go out into 30 below windchill, what do we put on? A duck down coat

[Duck Engr]

I saw Paul link posted today that 3 of his transmittered specks and 2 mallards died within a 36 hour period across Kansas, Illinois, Arkansas, and Iowa during this storm.

Also has had more than 20 reports of dozens to thousands of dead ducks and geese.

“Likely the worst non-disease waterfowl mortally event in my lifetime.”

Makes me queasy.