I think the flyway is shifting west (dont know why). And no-till farming practices in the midwest states keeps the food source on top of snow in those areas. So birds are'nt forced as much to leave. But my friends with leases in NELA and S.Ark. are killing 50-60 per day with 8-10 guns spread out on the leases. Coastal LA had lots of ducks first split when we had none along Madison, Tensas, Concordia until after Thxgiving.

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Posted by Jonrubberman

Metairie

Member since Jan 2010

73 posts

Posted on 1/3/18 at 9:22 am to Duckhammer_77

Duckhammer that downvote was my fault, hit the wrong arrow man lol...yea our September teal seasons have been amazing, in fact lately it’s our biggest motivation headed into the regular season but the overall decline is apparent for south Louisiana (especially late in the season like December/January). Like I said; years from now, I’ll still be out there doing the same thing I’ve always done...but it worth noting our flyway has changed

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Posted by choupiquesushi

yaton rouge

Member since Jun 2006

30868 posts

Posted on 1/3/18 at 9:23 am to Duckhammer_77

the golden age here is dwindling... no doubt..

in addition to good habitat north due to changing farming/land use practices...

degraded habitat here is huge...

and NOBODY that was in the marshes 30-40 years ago can deny the sheer number of boats in "duck" country fishing or just running about is having an impact.

by degraded habitat - marsh loss/degradation - less acreage devoted to moist soil farming. less desireable aquatic vegetation - the list is long...

my fear is that ducks are being imprinted not to use certain areas now... like canada geese were a generation before us(us meaning old farts like me)... granted we have had a good year - but we have really had to go to extremes to do it. and we have greatly restricted how much we are hunting our blinds.... honestly though - the only reason I hunt is for watching dogs work and working with dogs.... if it came to it I'd go shoot black birds and crows. but to see almost no new birds despite the recent weather - is mind boggling..

also keep in mind that states like ND and SD have 5 and 6 times the number of non resident waterfowlers that they did 20 years ago.. motion dekes thinning out young ducks at much higher rates up north.....

and the phenomenon of ducks coming into ag fields at night and leaving before first light nobody knows if this was happening years ago... I know in january of 82.. jan 10 -14... when we had a record cold blast... I killed 10 ducks (sprigs, teal and widgeon) every day after school the week of that front - and I could have done it before school too.....I am not aware of any place in la that has ducks like that this week..... but I am in aware of places in TX and OK and MO that have it like that.... years ago they certainly did not..... january 11 it was 10 degrees at my house - it was was also the fastest 10 duck limit I ever had....

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Posted by Cowboyfan89

Member since Sep 2015

12747 posts

Posted on 1/3/18 at 9:32 am to Duckhammer_77

quote:
And no-till farming practices in the midwest states keeps the food source on top of snow in those areas.

I don't know about on top of the snow, but no-till has left more food available than under previous systems. And I do believe that is a major factor, especially in years where the midwest is not covered in snow and waterways are not frozen.

Increasing rice acreage in Arkansas does not help either. As long as there is food available north of Louisiana, mallards and the hardier ducks won't make the long trips like they used to.

The name of the game for ducks (and any wildlife for that matter) is survival. It's a lot easier to survive when you aren't exhausting energy and fat reserves by migrating further than is necessary.

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