re: It’s good to be a Louisiana duck, duck hunter - Article quoting Larry Reynolds

Be careful about context ........ That was what a reporter sifted from a 1-hour presentation with over 40 slides covering a wide variety of topics at 3 spatial scales.

I showed 20 years of data showing that Louisiana used to winter 60% of MS Flyway ducks, but now only 48%. 30% of MS Flyway mallards, now less than 9%. 80% of MS Flyway speckle bellies but now only 32%. I talked about loss of coastal wetlands, loss of rice agriculture, expansion of invasive aquatics, and climate change, all of which negatively impact our state's capacity to winter ducks. I also showed that ducks and geese wintering further north is a hemispheric happening; its occurring in Europe and Asia as well as North America.

BUT ...... we have had high duck populations for the last few years, and we still winter more of them than any other state. From a regulations standpoint, it is still a good time to be a duck and duck hunter in Louisiana. Missouri doesn't rival us in either ducks wintered or killed despite hunters often claiming "we don't kill any ducks anymore, they are all in Missouri or Kansas or Oklahoma etc.". That was the context of my comments.

There is no way wintering populations and duckhunting in Louisiana can be the same as the past, with the deterioration of our habitat base and climate changes, but it is still comparatively good.