What do you attribute the migration change to?

1 and 2 only.

1 and 2

But 2 has more to do with grain waste in Midwest, not LA

I'm not sure about South LA, but in NWLA & SWAR almost everything that can be flooded for ducks gets flooded now. It spreads them out a lot more than they were 15-20 years ago. This area of the state has the fewest birds to begin with, you spread them out and there's not many to go around. A couple of seasons of 30 & 3 wouldn't hurt my feelings too bad if it got rid of all the topwaters.

Crop management and weather are more 1a and 1b

I think weather, evidenced by new species like tree ducks and white-wing doves, etc., and as far as the east side of the state is concerned, the raising of the river levels in the 60's and 70's absolutely had an overall negative effect on habitat there. My old man and his friends cashed in on the recently flooded green timber in the 70's and 80's, I got in on the 90's, but it's gone to hell since. Stagnant water in previously seasonally flooded woods has led to dead snags and permanent invasive aquatics. Sucks.

As stated, the ducks rarely have anywhere else to go besides a duck hole, and those holes, although numerous, are a drop in the bucket compared to what used to be.

Agree with everyone else. Weather and Ag practices are the top reasons.

Reason 3 and 4 are irrelevant. Ducks don't know they are going to get shot at down here, at least not the majority.

And they don't know 1000 miles away what the habitat looks like. Maybe over time, but the numbers wouldn't keep fluctuating up and down like they are. The amount of marsh we have is not fluctuating. It is dropping every year.

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got rid of all the topwaters.

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Would that be all of the Duck Dynasty wannabes?

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2 then 1

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For those that think the cropping is the #1 cause, and were around long enough to actually see those changes, my question is this: did the birds come down regardless of snow cover prior to the mass changes in agricultural practices?

I can understand the argument that more food is on the ground now because of no-till, but I would still think weather would drive the migration. But I wasn't around prior to all the mass changes, so I can only speak for what I've seen and (Think I) know.

ETA: Just saw the post above that gives a pretty good explanation, although I still tend to lean weather then ag.

A duck dynasty, boom scouting, face paint wearing poser. They usually shoot 3.5 inch shells, run the ducks off with their loud arse mud motors in the afternoons, sky blast on the corners, show up at daylight, and generally just get in the way.

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But they aren't, and the coastal WMAs can be hunted all day unlike the inland WMAs and Refuges that are closed to hunting by 2 pm.

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They are though. Biloxi Marsh holds substantially less birds now than it did prior to the duck dynasty revolution, and I mean substantially less. Like very noticeably for those of us who have hunted the area our whole lives. Same with the Wax. I don't ever hunt PAC, so I don't know how the pressure is down there, but the pressure Biloxi Marsh gets has been unreal the last few years.

I respect the other side of the argument for sure, and I don't profess to have perfect knowledge about WMAs I've never hunted, but I've seen that happen firsthand.

ETA: The same thing applies to a lot of the "private" land areas that are glorified public land now, like Delacroix. I've gotten to where I'd rather hunt public land than deal with the shitshow that private land duck hunting has turned into in a lot of St. Bernard.