MS River

[greenheadgrimreaper]

This is alot better dialogue than "aw' they just done shifted".

[TODO]

I drove from Clevland to Memphis this morning and didnt see the first duck. Only one or two fields are even flooded along the highway. I say its a lack of water plain and simple this year. I bet the guys in the marsh in louisiana are hammering them, they just kept flying south until they met better habitat.

[goosebruce]

Not taking pressure into account means not taking this conversation seriously. 60 day seasons are a recent event... and now after 12 years of the longest seasons since they have been seasons, welp, some sheet changed. Go figure. travis

[Blake Williamson]

The Flyway has shifted - North

It hasn't gotten cold-enough for long-enough to push birds out of areas that still have ample food, water and shelter. Not enough snow cover either. It takes 3 days of lows in the mid-teens and highs below 35 to create dconditions that will make a duck THINK about uprooting and going into the war-zone (unknown).

I disagree. Dec/ Jan last year averaged roughly 54/34. This year has been roughly the same. Maybe a degree or warmer. Currently there is snow all down through Missouri. 4-6 inches at least. Last year was on of the worst and this year has been one of above average (If you had water). Lots of things have changed in the past twenty years.

Here is my guess
1)A larger percentage of ducks get shot in the MS flyway. If both the MS and the Central Flyway have 1 million ducks and we shoot 10% of ours and the central boy shoot 7% of their it doesn't take long for the numbers to increase in the central flyway stictly because the number of birds returning after winter. Look at the number of ducks shot by Mo, MS, AR, La and Iowa.
2)Notill drills, land level fields, and better farming all together. I don't know much about farming. Just enough to sound real ignorant to a real farmer so I apologize if I'm off base. No-till farming and seed drills allow less topsoil disruption. Seeds and winter grasses and ag byproducts can stay all winter long only to be cut and sprayed in the spring. More food in areas that drill. Mostly up north. I havent seen a new pivot in dozens of years so I'd suppose more fields are being land leveled and irriagated that way. More consistent crops. Fields that drain better. More seed for the farmer less food.
3)Weather- Ducks don't know what the temp here is when they are in des Moines. I don't believe that ducks move back north once the come down. Satellite ducks have shown this as well. Our weather the past two years has been good enough. Maybe not great but plenty good enough.
4)River- The river was at flood stage or near flood stage almost all of last year. A river out of its banks can suck up alot of ducks. Most folks I know of last year had a poor year just because #were down. This year the river is super low. River hunters are suffering and so are those who don't have water. If you have water this year then you probably are doing fair to better than average. The dry fall allowed most farmers to prep their fields if they wanted to. Less grain in fields, less weeds and invertebrate as well.

My 2 cents.

I second that with ya.....

I have killed more Greenheads this yr then in the past 4 yrs.....Now my woodies on the other hand have been kind of spread out... And I'm thanking thats bc of all the damn rooste hunters in my area..... I can remember going and seeing flock after flock after flock of woodies in places and this yr you may be lucky to see 20 fly by in those places......

[greenheadgrimreaper]

Not taking pressure into account means not taking this conversation seriously. 60 day seasons are a recent event... and now after 12 years of the longest seasons since they have been seasons, welp, some sheet changed. Go figure. travis

DING DING DING!!! That is THE main component, I believe. There are guys hunting who have no idea that a season doesn't HAVE to be 60 days, it's all they know. The birds are getting hammered year in and year out. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry duck hunts now. In my area no less than 3 years ago we were the ONLY ones hunting, with the exception of a few older fellows. My buddy was checking facebook the other morning and it was 4 different groups of people with status updates about hunting the swamp. One was a chick that, combined with her husband, would set a weight scale on fire. This is in East MS at that; I ain't even going there with the delta, as we all know.

Waterfowl hunting has reached its carrying capacity with hunters. We have attained maximum density and unless a drawdown occurs it's only going to get worse. A shortening of seasons won't be needed because in 10 years waterfowl hunting will primarily be a thing to go north and do. Hell for most of us it already is. Im not talking about killing some greenwings and a few mallards and gads either. I am talking about doing it like waterfowl hunting was meant to be done.

I was talking to an old timer Saturday about Nanih Waiya and the old days. Just as far back as the early 90s we had an incredibly larger number of birds-big birds. I remember stories from my great uncle talking about hunting rivaling the delta. Back when they would fly over the delta in a buddy's plane, find birds, knock on a door and slaughter them. Something has changed in our area as well. And while the chance of a limit of green gets lower and harder to find each year around here, the number of people hunting them goes up. One thing is proportional- the fewer the ducks int the delta the fewer here.

Intelligence-wise, a mallard duck is becoming like a tom gobbler. They have adapted to us, and they are winning. For the sake of waterfowl hunting lets hope some fellows in the woods and marsh wave the white flag. That is, if commercialization doesn't swipe our heritage away first.

[browning007]

I do not go for the flyway shift, lack of water, etc. Here's my opinions, let me know what you think:

*Maybe there aren't as many ducks as is reported every year. Gotta keep selling guns, ammo, licenses, decoys, hotel rooms..etc
*Maybe the use of electronic decoys, mojo's..etc have taken a toll on the juvenile ducks that are being shot every year
*Maybe there is just too many guns shooting at them from the far North all the way South. There are no secret places anymore...if a duck lands somewhere, sooner or later there will be a couple of guns there.

I'm not a farmer, scientist, or a master of knowing ducks but I have hunted them now for 15 years and there is definately something different. Everywhere I've been and everyone I've talked to always says the same thing, "it seems to get a little worse every year...not quite what it was a few years ago...with the exception of a decent year every once in a while."

Maybe all that is wrong...who knows!