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Duckhunting

Posted on 1/26/20 at 3:09 pm
Posted by Just tired
Member since Dec 2018
33 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 3:09 pm
I'm looking to gather as much information on opinions or anything that someone may feel related to the low number of water fowl in lousiana/Arkansas.something is very wrong.I feel we might be at a crossroads in waterfowl hunting.Im not looking to bash anyone or any group.want to see if I can find some points as group we all agree on.
Posted by LSU Neil
Springfield
Member since Feb 2007
3397 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 3:15 pm to
I am not a big duck hunter. That being said, I usually hunt once maybe twice a year since 1979 era. The birds back then were everywhere. Thornwell was great. Welch as well. Geydan was the “duck Capitol of the world”.
You could see flight birds all day long in Baton Rouge and surrounding areas in the early 80s after a front.
A trip to Houston any day of the week you would see nine billion zillion snow geese off I-10.
It literally is like night and day, and as I hunted two weeks ago for two days from daylight to noon and did not SHOOT AT a duck, I pondered what the he’ll was wrong and what the hell to do about it. My conclusion? Shut down the season for a year. Nationwide. Sucks but that’s where we are at in my opinion
Posted by geauxbrown
Louisiana
Member since Oct 2006
25097 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 3:18 pm to
This is one of the things folks in Louisiana and Arkansas need to understand.

15 years ago, goose hunting was THE waterfowl hunting in southern Illinois. Hardly no one fooled with ducks. Then, the weather started to change and slowly the geese stopped making their migration run far enough south for much hunting. Where did they go? Still up north. In fact, lots of them never travel further south than Chicago now. That’s 4 hours north of where I hunt.

The other reason the ducks began to show up is because of the amount of flooding that now takes place along the Wabash, Little Wabash, Skillet Fork and Elm Rivers. Now, we have thousands of acres of water, at a perfect depth, all sitting over harvested corn and beans.

Unless the water falls out or the everything freezes (which it seldom does) those ducks have absolutely no reason to continue southward.

While I do not believe in man made climate change, I do believe that the weather has warmed significantly enough to alter the migration of waterfowl.

This post was edited on 1/26/20 at 3:20 pm
Posted by Bandit30
Lafayette
Member since Sep 2011
2208 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 3:24 pm to
Its not the fricking weather.
Posted by geauxbrown
Louisiana
Member since Oct 2006
25097 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 3:27 pm to
Okay. How much have you hunted up north? Have you experienced how duck hunting has changed up north? Are you even old enough to remember what a real winter was like in Louisiana?
This post was edited on 1/26/20 at 3:28 pm
Posted by Just tired
Member since Dec 2018
33 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 3:31 pm to
Thanks guys.I'm on the refuge on the louisiana forum.boy iv been jumped on for asking what's the point in so many refuges between Canada and the gulf.do ducks need this.I understand ag practices have changed ,weather and lots of other factors.but I don't believe.it's just that.
Posted by Bandit30
Lafayette
Member since Sep 2011
2208 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 3:34 pm to


Keep believing it’s the weather and keep being ignorant
Posted by geauxbrown
Louisiana
Member since Oct 2006
25097 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 3:35 pm to
Ag practices haven’t changed enough to make that much of a difference. Again, once you start putting water over all that grain and it doesn’t freeze, the ducks have no reason to travel south.

10 years ago, every acre of the fields I know hunt in White County, Illinois would be frozen solid by mid December. It doesn’t happen any more until January or February.

Posted by geauxbrown
Louisiana
Member since Oct 2006
25097 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 3:37 pm to
Bandit....I’ll ask you again. How much time have you spent in southern Illinois or southwest Indiana during the winter?

Why would a duck fly to Louisiana when he has thousands of acres of grain and water to winter on?

Not trying to be a-hole, just tying to get you to answer the questions.
Posted by bbvdd
Memphis, TN
Member since Jun 2009
28039 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 3:38 pm to
Go west young man
Posted by Just tired
Member since Dec 2018
33 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 3:48 pm to
I must admit I'm a bird Hunter.phesant to quail.iv hunted from Canada to gulf.hunting in North Dakota.in short sleeve shirt and watch flights of ducks n geese going over.go to Missouri on way home saw ducks pouring into a spot ask my buddy what's that.flooded corn fields.sounded like Afghanistan .the man who I speak of was not a waterfowl Hunter.told me the ducks never hung around like now till a refuge was put in and guided hunting became big business
Posted by Just tired
Member since Dec 2018
33 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 3:57 pm to
If I may ask do live in lousiana.the opinions sound exactly the same as almost all North of Arkansas.if I'm not mistaken I was grounded 3 different times this year.the U.S had 6 major cold weather events 1 was a polor vortex.what do you feel it takes to move waterfowl.
Posted by guesswho
BATON ROUGE
Member since Apr 2011
1467 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 4:13 pm to
I've hunted up north a decent amount over the years and start shooting ducks 20 years ago. Snowfall does more for moving ducks than just a hard freeze. However that's just my thoughts
Posted by Midtiger farm
Member since Nov 2014
5898 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 4:14 pm to
quote:

Ag practices haven’t changed enough to make that much of a difference.


Yea they have
There is probably somewhere around 50mil acres of corn and 50mil acres of beans combined in Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri
40% is probably no till. So 20mil acres of waste grain sitting on the ground for birds to eat as long as it’s not covered in snow
Also more corn and beans and less wheat grown in the Dakotas , Neb, Kansas than there use to be and no till is more prevalent in those states than the eastern ones
Posted by choupiquesushi
yaton rouge
Member since Jun 2006
33675 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 4:41 pm to
quote:


Duckhunting by geauxbrown
Ag practices haven’t changed enough to make that much of a difference. Again, start


Good grief yes it has... and then some

LINK


It’s also our chickens coming home to roost w coastal erosion, invasives and mechanical human activity
This post was edited on 1/26/20 at 4:43 pm
Posted by Just tired
Member since Dec 2018
33 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 5:03 pm to
Not to argue just offering a question. would a duck not have to see the coast to know it is eroded.seems from what information I've gathered not a lot ducks are looking at. louisiana
Posted by choupiquesushi
yaton rouge
Member since Jun 2006
33675 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 5:19 pm to
quote:


Not to argue just offering a question. would a duck not have to see the coast to know it is eroded.seems from what information I've gathered not a lot ducks are looking at. louisian


They ain’t staying long when they do come, many are not even being imprinted to come here
Posted by Just tired
Member since Dec 2018
33 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 5:22 pm to
Thanks for the link .but not really what I'm looking for.I want personal not stats .guide service have an agenda and pay for play may be part of the problem.iv been going to part of the keys for 20 years.10 years ago fishing was almost ruined.20 guided fishing outfits most tied in with big name outfitters.the local government got hammered by the people.all guided fishing was stopped.ran off all the experts told the biologists to take a hike .now you can get a ride to a spot and wade fish and it is awesome.bone fish every place.the economy is booming .super nice
Posted by choupiquesushi
yaton rouge
Member since Jun 2006
33675 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 5:26 pm to
Personal. I’ve been to KS Ok and Sd

It ain’t duck farms it’s much less pressure much more food lots of water (stock tanks, rivers and reservoirs). Ducks have adapted to the ag and habitat changes



Fewest ducks I’ve seen in any season in La and I’ve hunted since 1977

Rice sw la, timber and se marsh

Posted by wickowick
Head of Island
Member since Dec 2006
46269 posts
Posted on 1/26/20 at 5:31 pm to
It is the shifting of the magnetic North Pole that is altering migrations
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