January Duck Survey

I haven’t looked into it but saw a shitload of ducks this morning on our place in NELA while deer hunting. I have been so uninterested in shooting ducks the last 2 seasons because the green was few and far in between. After what I saw this morning though, my brothers and I will probably shoot some bird. Sunday AM. I’m being serious when I say I saw more mallards this morning than I have any other morning in the last 2 seasons

Haven’t seen green but once this year in La and on a trip to Amarillo

Saw geese yesterday

The folks I know that have great duck holes that grip and grin on Instagram have been radio silent this week as far as posts...and I know they are hunting. These are places that always have birds. That speaks volumes to me.

Magazines and Merchandise ain’t gonna buy itself Baw.

I have made one trip down to my buddies house boat in Venice this year. It isn't even worth the drive it seems. You will have one good day here and there but not like it was when we started hunting down there even 6 or 8 years ago...

I've spent the last ten years managing my family farm for duck hunting, and have been able to increase my personal annual harvest numbers from 300 in 2014 to just over 500 birds this year on 44ish hunts/year. Four years ago, we released Rouen ducks on our 12 acre swimming pond, and that year we had teal, mottles, and mallards on the pond for the first time ever instead of straight ringnecks. We don't shoot the birds on the pond, and our production has increased steadily ever since the introduction of farm ducks. This year, I've had two scratches while my lease blinds have had only one. There were many times in the past that we would have dead periods where no ducks would be seen for a week at a time. All this to say that safe holding ponds are more important than most realize.

Finally, I couldn't believe how loud the surface drives were when I hunted the Wax for the opener. Anyone that hunts the marsh should be very concerned that noise pollution is directly related to negative production trends. There is simply nothing remotely as loud in the rice fields that ducks associate with hunters/pressure.

My two cents...

Predators are a problem. I've had to replace them every year, but I think this year's bird may make it. They haven't picked up the habit of roosting on the levee. $10/ea shipped to my door, and I buy 10 each year. Raising these ducklings has really given me an appreciation of how much food ducks require. They absolutely plow through food and water until I release them. I'll supplement feed for some period after they are released. Eventually, they post up at the fish feeder waiting on the timer.

The state and feds don’t go by DU or deltas counts fellas. Also when you factor that 500k acres that were prime duck habitat 40-50 years ago are now barely marginal or crawfish or non duck habitat now.


You have what we have now. Combined w ag changes up and down the fly way.

When people in KS and NE are hammering ducks in Jan. We in trouble. And it ain’t the heated ponds....spot in NE is .650 miles from any heated pond

My contact in ks was killing ducks in dry fields that were resting / roosting on a reservoir


And nobody wants to blame increased mechanized human traffic


Ducks come down w fronts and then vanish quickly - they didn’t do that years ago