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Where da ducks at?

Posted on 12/16/18 at 9:46 am
Posted by Houdini
Member since Aug 2017
131 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 9:46 am
It’s 9:30am second day of opening of the second split. Arguably one of the best weekends in recorded history for duck hunting in SWLA. I’m sitting in a pit blind in east of Hayes this morning in the middle of over 4000 acres of farms of second crop rice stubble some bean fields and not a stalk of sugar cane in sight. Have had the privilege of hunting here off and on since I was a kid in the 80’s. We have had 3 big ducks within shooting range this morning and 2 teal gave us a flyby at daybreak. In the far distance we have seen less than 10 flights of ducks be them super high or at the limits of our sight. Probably 20 specks and 100ish snows flying at different heights and distances nothing remotely close enough to us to even bother calling at. This is a sobering moment to these old timers we have in the blind this morning. They don’t understand, they don’t get it. Where are the migratory game birds at?
Posted by Lwagne7
Member since Feb 2018
94 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 9:50 am to
Shot a couple wood ducks this morning. Thats about all i hope for these days.
Posted by PolyPusher86
St. George
Member since Jun 2010
3357 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 10:07 am to
Posted by Scoop
RIP Scoop
Member since Sep 2005
44583 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 10:11 am to
My step son went yesterday somewhere around Monroe and everyone in the group limited.
Posted by 34venture
Buffer Zone
Member since Mar 2010
11369 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 10:20 am to
There is a fella on Facebook that knows exactly where the ducks are, all you have to do is ask him.
Posted by Houdini
Member since Aug 2017
131 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 10:47 am to
I’m not a die hard duck guy. I’ll catch both split openers, a hunt or two with my BIL and a few scattered across the state with old high school and or college friends thru the holidays. I’ve made 9 total hunts this year so far and over the next 17 days off from work I’ll make at least 6 or 7 more, so I’m not a connoisseur by no means. But the places I do hunt have been known for holding waterfowl my entire life. These places are barren and have been for sometime now. Not a genius on the migration but I also I’m not ignorant on the fact something is wrong. Now the answer to that is a very complex situation with a ton of contributing factors. I do think it will take your big organizations wanting to come together with USFG to have “tell the truth” session before changes will be made. Right now there is too much $ at risk to do that. I think we can all agree to that
Posted by MadtownTiger
Texas
Member since Sep 2010
4204 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 11:40 am to
Simple, the last decade and a half, there have been a boat load of DU sponsored projects in the plains, OK especially. The ducks can stay there cause even when the ponds freeze they are broken up the next morning by farmers or lease owners. So the ducks don't necessarily have to leave.

What LA could do is move the season later, IMO. When these ponds hard freeze after OK and KS seasons are over and the ducks have to move down. But thats wishful thinking and only a theory.
Posted by JohnnyBgood
South Louisiana
Member since May 2010
4288 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 11:46 am to
I say close duck hunting completely for one whole year. Give the ducks a chance to repopulate and get the numbers back up to where they used to be.
Posted by jimbeam
University of LSU
Member since Oct 2011
75703 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 11:47 am to
quote:

What LA could do is move the season later, IMO
Paired up by then
This post was edited on 12/16/18 at 11:48 am
Posted by wickowick
Head of Island
Member since Dec 2006
45810 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 12:24 pm to
quote:

I say close duck hunting completely for one whole year. Give the ducks a chance to repopulate and get the numbers back up to where they used to be.


So you think closing duck season will fix the issue?
Posted by Ron Cheramie
The Cajun Hedgehog
Member since Aug 2016
5143 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 12:39 pm to
quote:

duck numbers back up to where they used to be


what years we talking?

2010s?

2000s?

1990s?

80s?

70s?

Posted by Whatafrekinchessiebr
somewhere down river
Member since Nov 2013
1581 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 1:02 pm to
quote:

What LA could do is move the season later


Ah, the Siren Song of skyscreamers. There is no doubt we are witnessing a major change in migration patterns but anyone who parrots this idiotic “solution” is just ignorant to what is going on.

Just multiple levels of stupid.
Posted by Capt ST
Hotel California
Member since Aug 2011
12835 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 1:42 pm to
quote:

There is no doubt we are witnessing a major change in migration patterns


Seems like its shifting westward in addition to stalling out north of us.
Posted by Geauxtiga
No man's land
Member since Jan 2008
34377 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 1:50 pm to

quote:

what years we talking?

2010s?

2000s?

1990s?

80s?

Definitely 80s. A limit could include 10 male pintails.
Posted by choupiquesushi
yaton rouge
Member since Jun 2006
30555 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 1:59 pm to
quote:

quote:
what years we talking?

2010s?

2000s?

1990s?

80s?

Definitely 80s. A limit could include 10 male pintails.




Only for the first 4 years of the 80s

The decade ended with a 3 duck 30 day season


The migration is changing not because of du but because farming practices are changing. Smart farmers north of us are making more money off hunting than farming


Louisiana’s changing land use and rapidly declining habitats chickens are coming home to roost...

Posted by Bossier2323
Bossier CIty
Member since Sep 2014
1910 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 2:05 pm to
I went hunting with your step son
Posted by choupiquesushi
yaton rouge
Member since Jun 2006
30555 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 2:10 pm to
quote:

quote: There is no doubt we are witnessing a major change in migration patterns Seems like its shifting westward in addition to stalling out north


Tribe of SDH alumni and legacies made a recent march north and west through 4 states


Yep. Dats a fact on northwestward shift
Posted by biggsc
32.4767389, 35.5697717
Member since Mar 2009
34209 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 2:25 pm to
They haven’t come down yet
Posted by speckledawg
Somewhere Salty
Member since Nov 2016
3918 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 5:04 pm to
We killed a 2 man limit of mallards in MS this morning, but there really weren't many ducks flying.

Posted by JohnnyBgood
South Louisiana
Member since May 2010
4288 posts
Posted on 12/16/18 at 6:12 pm to
1990s and early 2000s were phenomenal. There were just more ducks, period. I believe Louisiana harvests around 2 million birds a year, so once you combine it will all other flyaways, you talking about over 15 million ducks killed every year. Shut it down for 1 year and the duck pop will explode and hopefully become a nuisance like geese. I know it’ll never happen, but it’s depressing to not see a bird in the same fields that we would come out with solid limits every morning back in the day.
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