Why only a 2 wood duck limit?

[black dog]

I got to thinkin' about this the other day in the deer stand next to the Big Black when I could have killed enough limits for everyone on this site. Isn't the wood duck the most populated duck on the planet? What do you think about raising the limit on these timber rockets?

[River Hunter]

Hey man dont know about them woodies but if you could kill enough limits for everyone on this site why are you in a deer stand?

[black dog]

I don't duck hunt in the afternoon, too many crazy things have gone wrong when I did, thought I would quit while I was ahead.

[River Hunter]

I'm sure there are a few of us on this site that will take your spot in the afternoon

[greenheadhunter2000]

I completely and whole heartedly agree,black dog.Took a ride on Pearl River Monday morning and jumped probally close to five hudred or more just traveling the river.And every slew I passed was stacked full of them.I think we ought to be able to take atleast 4 or more.

[Nitro Mag]

I have 2 sloughs that has held a hundred or more wood ducks all year. For some reason though I have not seen a wood duck in them this year. They haven't been shot I do know that. I wonder if the ol woodrows can get west nile. These sloughs up until this year at daylight and dark would look like a huge swarm of bees falling into them, but for some reason the wood ducks aren't there anymore. Anybody got any ideas?

[SoftCall]

Nitro Mag - I have noticed the same thing. I have had several opportunities to shoot them this year but I just didn't....not saying that there is anything wrong with shooting them. I just don't see anywhere near the number of woodies that I used to 4 or 5 years ago. I used to think that most of the woodrows were local...but that isn't the case. Maybe they are all up in MO still. Truth be known, I don't hunt in wood duck habitats when the ducks are in thick because I spend a lot of time in the fields. My fields happen to be away from the big stands of timber on our place.

[Double_R]

They don't raise the limit because they are unable to accurately survey the wood duck population like they do on the prairies.

[Newtduck]

Double R is right, the feds have a difficult time estimating wood duck populations because of the type of habitat they use and also because they are so wide spread. We have a Sept. season for them here in Kentucky. This was a 13 yr. experimental season, it was evaluated 2 years ago and they were considering closing it because of the difficulty of estimating populations. However the Ky Dept. Fish & Wildlife put together a very effective presentation and saved the season for us.

These little ducks leave us usually sometime in Oct. It is pretty rare to kill one here during the late season. Our local population was down this year and I don't understand why. We had good conditions for nesting.

One reason why you guys are not seeing as many in traditional places could be because of the tremendous amount of water you all have down there this year.

[Shoot]

Your not seeing the numbers of woodies because of the over abundance of water. All scattered out.Happens when we get a good amount of rainfall. And everyone and their brother flooding feilds and timber.

[hotty toddy]

I was like softcall. I thought that all our woodies were local but the banded woodie that I killed this year was banded in Wisconsin.

I havent seen the numbers in my little slough in the hills. It usually holds a few woodies all year but I havent seen more than 10 or 12 at a time this year. We usually shoot it late in the season when we get a few big ducks and good numbers of woodies but I guess I won't set foot in it this year. There looks like there is no use.

I sa keep it at two. There were near extiction not to long ago. (decades)
Keep it at two but maybe add on a limit of 1 during early teal season.

[peewee]

Got 2 woodduck holes on my camp that are slap full of them. It did take them longer to get here this year but right now those 2 holes are full of them.