so how did u do this year?

[ea oneal]

some of the boys were over last night and duck season came up .I did fair but must say worked way to hard for what I got.most were not happy and a number of kids are not going any more. du has been pushing weather as what made low duck numbers in the south in years past .i don't think that will hold up this year .a doctor we used to hunt with bragged how he shot all he wanted at THE HONEY BAKE LOGE and how du had fixed them up right over at the loge .pissed more than one of the boys.iv allway,s supported du but starting to think about it. saw some numbers as to what states put in the most .seems like were the one that get the least. i know about the spend the money on the nesting areas deal but if that that worked and all the cold up north why still low numbers in south?

[bill herian]

It was a strange year to hear it told by the southerners on the board. Poor Rick was getting on by the skin of his teeth while Comeaux was living high on the hog in that same parish. The No Coast Hunt posted modest numbers despite no lack of skill, and merely two weeks later it was 'every man for himself' for my lack-wit band of miscreants not a day's flight south.

Who knows anymore?

[Olly]

It was a strange year to hear it told by the southerners on the board. Poor Rick was getting on by the skin of his teeth while Comeaux was living high on the hog in that same parish. The No Coast Hunt posted modest numbers despite no lack of skill, and merely two weeks later it was 'every man for himself' for my lack-wit band of miscreants not a day's flight south.

Who knows anymore?

I think you summed it up pretty well. I know the west coast boys did way better than I did this way this year.

[ea oneal]

I just don't get how it can be so hit or miss .I get if no cold up north slow down south but that old lie wont work this year .I even felt bad for you guys up in the north .each year we are told look at how much good we do with your tax,du,and lics money well I know some see it but I don't feel its the little guy

[aunt betty]

Calender migrations are history. Way too many factors to talk about.
Giant Canada Geese in Illinois, no-till farming, many refuges with flooded corn, and don't forget weather.

[banknote]

Very slow here most of the season. Last week or so were best for me because I found where the pintail wanted to be, but that's only good for two a day, plus whatever else we could scratch out in teal, super sketched out mallards and the occasional widgeon. We're blaming it on very little rain, which had birds concentrated in big, open water, like Sturgeon Lake which is refuge. A couple weeks after season ended we got a ton of snow/rain, rivers came up and filled the marshes and the ducks are everywhere, now.

[gila-river]

It was stellar by our standards in early November but, the late season which is usually our bread and butter was a total bust.

[vincentpa]

Good year for us. Middle part was slow due to warm weather but it picked up nicely in late November thru December. We got screwed the last week of duck season with that freeze up/warm up within a week. It was 50 degrees and raining on the Saturday after a week of below zero weather. The rain on the ice and ice cold water created a thick fog everywhere. We still scratched together a pretty good season even without seeing so many divers.

[hudson]

It was average here I guess but you should see the ducks in my marsh now

[Rick]

It was a strange year to hear it told by the southerners on the board. Poor Rick was getting on by the skin of his teeth while Comeaux was living high on the hog in that same parish.

If you look at the logs, http://www.pitblind.com/index.php/forum/dcomeaux-13-14 and http://www.pitblind.com/index.php/forum/rick, you'll see an example of the vagaries of perception. Dave's duck season was actually much tougher than ours, which sucked compared to most recent years, so it appears I'm just more inclined to piss and moan about it, while he's more happy go lucky. One man's boom may be another's bust.

The logs on that site are archived for the seven seasons they've been offered, and a check of mine will show that 2012-2013 and 2011-2012 before it were actually the best of those seven for me and mine. Having hunted the same morning blind daily for all of those seasons, those logs would seem a very fair gauge for that particular location. And given that gauge, it would be hard for me to turn this year's worst of the seven into a picture of long term doom and gloom.

My best guess is that we suffered an anomaly predicated by last year's late Spring and subsequent late hatch. We began seeing that when our September teal survey reported its lowest numbers on record, some 79% below our long term average, and the region suffered generally poor to terrible teal hunting to support the survey's finding. But the bluewings weren't just a little late moving, as a number of our traveling hunters reported them being primary targets on their Dakota and Canada trips well into November. By similar token, we generally have good numbers of mallards in my area from early November on, so there's a significant part of their population that's not as weather driven as some of us tend to think them, but my blind's first split mallard bag was 70 birds shy of either of its past two first splits.

Still guessing, here, it seems to me that when birds programed to migrate on the urge brought on by shortening daylight hours couldn't do so because their broods weren't ready for the flight, the urge passed and they became part of the more external pressure (feed and security) oriented migration.

So why didn't cold weather push them? My guess is because cold weather doesn't bother ducks much, and it wasn't accompanied by lasting snow cover deep enough to limit their food supply. (Except, of course, in areas too far east to seriously affect our Mississippi/Central Flyway migration.) Ice alone may keep us out of our honeyholes, but ducks are masters at finding and maintain open water when need be.

DU? God bless 'em, they claimed way too much credit for "saving" the ducks when times were good and now that's come home to roost in the form of too much blame when times are tough. The birds affected by their activities are actually a small fraction of the overall population. Would make a lot more sense to cuss no till farming.

Damn I'm windy.

[Bufflehead]

That one guy told everyone the Mississippi flyway birds were going to migrate to the Atlantic because of drought.

[3legged_lab]

Several good points there Rick. I walked away from this season feeling like it was my worst in multiple years but my records show it "alright". Totals were pretty average on ducks, still a little low on honkers, but I made more outings so I guess the ducks/hunt are on the low side. I guess not bad considering we were froze over solid and didn't see a duck for at least the last 6 weeks of season.

[rebelp74]

My goose numbers were up significantly form the past seasons. Been getting more and more stopping here each year. Duck was average at best.

[ea oneal]

It was average here I guess but you should see the ducks in my marsh now

well I was -INFORMED BY THE RESADENT LDWF AGENT- on the la sportmans mag site we in la shoot 2x more ducks than any other state and its all due to the great work by DU and ldwf.

[Woody]

We saw more puddle ducks in late November than any season I can remember, but didn't see many diver ducks in locations we always saw them in the past. In the early part of the season, we usually clean up on woodies and for the opening weekend it held somewhat true, but it died off quicker than normal and then there was a month long lull.

[hudson]

Had a lot of woodies in my marsh during teal season and I saw the most woodies I've ever seen on a refuge in the Northeast part of my state.i mean thousands and thousands

[Woody]

Had a lot of woodies in my marsh during teal season and I saw the most woodies I've ever seen on a refuge in the Northeast part of my state.i mean thousands and thousands

Well, maybe they knew it was getting colder earlier this year, and headed south early.

[hudson]

Had a lot of woodies in my marsh during teal season and I saw the most woodies I've ever seen on a refuge in the Northeast part of my state.i mean thousands and thousands

Well, maybe they knew it was getting colder earlier this year, and headed south early.

it blew my mind.i was up there for 8 days deer hunting and will have my shotgun next year when I go back

[3legged_lab]

It was average here I guess but you should see the ducks in my marsh now

well I was -INFORMED BY THE RESADENT LDWF AGENT- on the la sportmans mag site we in la shoot 2x more ducks than any other state and its all due to the great work by DU and ldwf.

Its cute that the LDWF agent takes credit for ducks that come through an entire flyway.

[assateague]

My year sucked balls.

[jarbo03]

My year sucked balls.

Donkey balls, monkey balls, or elephant balls?

[assateague]

All of them. At the same time, hooker-style.

[Feelin' Fowl]

My year sucked balls.

Donkey balls, monkey balls, or elephant balls?

Probably muskrat balls!

[ea oneal]

woodys is mostly what I got.i hunt the river as its close .last year we had gadwall a few mallards and a but load of teal .but this year was slow and if you did not hunt all day you just did not do well. but to hear the bi-oligest,s we had a record year and mopped up . I almost want to say that to prove that we need them the the ldwf shift the number,s to make it look good.

[jarbo03]

All of them. At the same time, hooker-style.

I was gonna say that my season sucked, but I nowvfeel that I shouldn't.

[GadwallGetter530]

Good. Can't complain. Did about average for this season. The lack of weather didn't hurt my hunting much at all.

[bill herian]

It was a strange year to hear it told by the southerners on the board. Poor Rick was getting on by the skin of his teeth while Comeaux was living high on the hog in that same parish.

If you look at the logs, http://www.pitblind.com/index.php/forum/dcomeaux-13-14 and http://www.pitblind.com/index.php/forum/rick, you'll see an example of the vagaries of perception. Dave's duck season was actually much tougher than ours, which sucked compared to most recent years, so it appears I'm just more inclined to piss and moan about it, while he's more happy go lucky. One man's boom may be another's bust.

Interesting stuff Rick. Seemed that either Dave or Hudson were posting heavy straps all year. Might be their combination that had me disillusioned.

And shame on you for holding out on us all those great pictures.

[Tiler_J]

My season was alright but not what I was hoping for. Between my buddy Jim, our guests, and I, we averaged just over 4 birds per hunter per day. I was really suprised when I added it all up. Hoping for even better next year.

[The Duck Hammer]

Saw a lot of divers late in the season. Puddle ducks were almost nonexistent. First time I've ever seen canvasbacks.

[QH's Paw]

My worst numbers in awhile. My excuse, I spent most of my season driving to and from the damn WFF hunts.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.